If you're not sure what those margaritas have to do with this lesson plan, then keep reading...
You get up in the morning and outside the window you see that the grass is wet. What can we guess? That it might have rained the night before. Or that your sprinkler might have been on.
This process of guessing is called “making an inference”: in our life, most of the time we take on the role of detectives and we try to put clues together. Or simply put: we have to "read between the lines”.
Now, have you ever thought about how to help your students to uncover the hidden messages in a story?
I have noticed that when it comes to reading a text, students haven’t had a lot of exposure to questions focused on inferencing. Helping students to read between the lines will make the reading more enjoyable and will promote the famous critical thinking skills.
Grab a cup of tea or coffee. You’re about to read a lesson plan on inferencing skills around an authentic article called "An argument".
A good friend of mine wrote this article for her blog
And no worries: we won’t be talking about the pandemic.
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From here you'll get the detailed scaffolding of the lesson.
I've taught this lesson three times.
This 90-minute lesson is for a General English Class, for Adults at Level B2.
Let me know how it goes! And find out why Michelle got upset with me and what Michelle has in common with Kylie Jenner!
-- Start --
Stage: Lead-in (8 min.) [Appendix 1]
· Prepare some pictures of jobs (traditional/new ones).
· Show students (s/s) the pictures and elicit the topic (traditional jobs/new jobs).
· Tell s/s to rank the 10 professions; ask why.
· Ask if there are other jobs they would add; ask why.
Stage: Predictions (5 min.) [Appendix 2]
· Show the title of the article.
· Ask to make predictions.
Stage: Reading for gist (2 min.) [Appendix 3 and Appendix 4]
· Tell s/s that it is an authentic article (they will feel more motivated).
· Give s/s one minute to read to check their predictions; confirm.
Stage: Reading for detail (7 min.) [Appendix 5]
· S/s read the article again, answer two questions and explain why.
Stage: Making inferences (10 min.) [Appendix 6]
· Elicit from s/s what they did—they made inferences + the meaning.
· Show Example #1.
“You’re playing outside in the sun. You’re looking for your bottle of water.
Ask “What can we infer?” + “How did you come up with this answer?”
· Write:
a) Prior knowledge
b) Evidence
c) Inference
· Elicit and explain:
a) Prior knowledge = what we already know
b) Evidence = clues from the context
· Elicit and explain that when we combine what we know and the evidence, we can infer:
a) Inference = develop ideas from a) + b)
· Together, complete a), b) and c) based on Example #1:
a) We know that when we play outside, we sweat.
b) “playing”, “sun”, “water”
c) She’s thirsty.
· Point out what came from the background knowledge and what came from the sentence.
· Show Example #2.
Ask “What can you infer?”; s/s analyze the same way they did before.
· Follow same procedure for Example #3.
· Raise awareness:
What did we do?
Why is it important?
Do you think you do this in your real life? For instance?
Remember:
this is the central part of the lesson: make sure that it is clear what making inferences means before moving on.
Stage: Making inferences (15 min.) [Appendix 7]
· Give s/s extracts 1 to 5.
· Model extract 1: “We can infer that Michelle ...”
· Ask to focus on the words in bold and find other synonyms for those words.
(Optional) Stage: Vocabulary to express anger [Appendix 8]
· From “storming into,” ask s/s to brainstorm expressions around “angry” / “bothered.”
· S/s write one sentence about themselves using one of these expressions.
Stage: Discussion point (10 min.) [Appendix 9]
· S/s discuss the behaviour and whom they would support.
Stage: Freer practice (25 min.) [Appendix 10]
· S/s give a one-minute presentation about an unusual job.
Stage: Food for thought (10 min.) [Appendix 11]
· Based on the theme, s/s express their opinion and answer the questions.
Stage: Extension activity for homework [Appendix 12]
· One activity.
---End---
🗨️ Over to you:
Have you ever worked on inferencing skills with your students?
What would you say is the most challenging part?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Source:
The picture of the margaritas comes from https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/32501/margaritas-on-the-rocks/
The picture of the detective comes from
Source of the speech bubble: https://emojipedia.org/left-speech-bubble
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