Abraham Lincoln & The Gettysburg Address

Transcription

1 Abraham Lincoln & The Gettysburg Address Note: This is a very difficult lesson. The students must be advanced in their English to learn the vocabulary and phrases. It is difficult for American students! Strategy: Dyads (pairs), or small groups Objectives: 1. The students will learn about American History. 2. The students will memorize a famous speech in American History. 3. Students will be encouraged to practice their English by memorizing chunks of English so that they will begin to have the language in their minds and therefore able to use it more efficiently and correctly in daily encounters. 4. By memorizing this speech the students will learn phraseology and diction. 5. The students will learn correct pronunciation. 6. The students will develop poise and confidence by reciting this speech before the class. 7. The students will gain in fluency. 8. The students will increase their vocabulary. ESL Objectives: Pronunciation - result of producing the sounds of speech, including articulation, stress, and intonation, often with reference to the English standard of correctness or acceptability. Pronunciation drills on the following sounds are included: /th/ /l/ /v/ /w/ /short e/ Diction - usually implies a high level of usage; it refers chiefly to the choice of words and their arrangement. This is encouraged when the students make substitutions, vary their tales, or create their own skits. We want to encourage the students to use their English! Vocabulary - learning new words of a foreign language. This includes idiomatic expressions. Fluency - able to speak smoothly, easily, gracefully, and readily. All ESL methods seek to increase fluency. Intonation - the sound pattern of phrases and sentences produced by pitch variation in the voice which distinguishes kinds of sentences of different language cultures. Jazz chants are for the purpose of working on intonation. Confidence levels increase the more students speak in front of their classmates, when the students are encouraged to vary their stories and make substitutions, through stating their own arguments and opinions, and through skits.

2 FIRST HOUR: I. Review: A. Review previous day s vocabulary point to a word on your Word Wall and call on individual students for definitions as the Chinese student typically does not volunteer. B. Review previous lesson s idiom as well. C. Rehearse a song learned in a previous lesson, or a jazz chant. This for is warm up as well as getting the brain ready to learn new vocabulary. (You have the option of doing this after IV, i.e. working to tell each other what they learned about Lincoln, prior to learning new vocabulary.) II. III. IV. Introduce the Lesson A. The students know about Abraham Lincoln from their history classes. We will begin by encouraging each student to tell the class one thing he/she knows about Abraham Lincoln. B. The Assistant will write these comments on the board. C. As a class and through discussion, compile a paragraph including all the facts given by the Chinese students. D. The Teacher will then fill in the gaps of the story the students composed. It must contain something about the Civil War, the speech we will memorize, and his assassination. E. Find the Gettysburg location on the map of the U.S. (state of Pennsylvania). Review: The students will review by working in pairs, telling each other the story just composed by the entire class. It is important to understand story before memorizing anything pertaining to it. A. Working in Pairs: 1. One option is for the student to select his partner. However, this is not always best. 2. An excellent option is to give half the class numbers (1-12), and the other half the same numbers (1-12). The student must find the person with the same number and partners are formed. (If you work in pairs a lot, this will ensure the students working with a different student every day as they get new numbers every day.) 3. Another option for selecting pairs is to have the teacher pair up a strong student with a weaker student. You will need to have the students several days before you can make this assessment. This is an excellent option for use during the second week of camp for lessons requiring working in pairs. B. Practice telling the story in pairs: 1. The students now practice telling the story to each other. 2. All Teaching Assistants will be going from pair to pair, listening, encouraging, and correcting where needed. Repetition is the mother of all learning. The students need to practice this over and over. Introduce new vocabulary. Use as many prepared pictures as possible as these are the universal language. You can copy free pictures from Google Images.com. score 20 years continent one of seven conceived think of liberty to set free dedicated set apart for a purpose proposition - set forth an idea engage participate (like in a conflict) Civil War fighting among themselves endure - last, suffer patiently, tolerate battle-field fitting and proper - right and good Vocabulary Words consecrate declare sacred, holy hallow to make sacred, holy brave - courageous fought to fight nobly - outstanding advanced - to bring or move forward devotion loyalty and dedication cause movement to support resolve - determined vain of no value, conceited measure of devotion -

3 SECOND HOUR: I. Review A. Begin with a quick review of the story. B. Review the vocabulary of the Gettysburg Address. If you did not get to it the first hour, introduce it here. II. Teacher reads the Gettysburg Address at least 3 times. The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. III. IV. Ask the student questions about any words or phrases not understood? Review difficult phrases. The students read the Gettysburg Address together as a class several times. V. Pronunciation Exercise: Have the students practice the following phrases. A. Seven years ago conceived in liberty B. Civil war battle-field C. Brave men, living and dead, struggled here D. Nobly advanced [tongue on roof of mouth] E. Last full measure of devotion F. Did not die in vain G. that government of the people, by the people, for the people [tongue comes between the teeth, no breath]

4 VI. Practice the Gettysburg Address A. Break into pairs for practice. (See selecting pairs above.) B. The students will practice the remainder of the period. C. They will be encouraged by the assistants with the following strategies: 1. Read and look up getting chunks of language into their minds. 2. When comfortable with the wording and phraseology, begin to memorize portions. 3. Depending on the abilities of the students, you may want to assign portions to memorize instead of the entire address. THIRD HOUR: I. Group Work :The students will most likely not have the Address memorized at this juncture. Now we would work on the piece as a group. A. Working with the class as a unit, the teacher will say a few lines of the address, leaving out words and phrases, until it has been memorized by the entire class. B. Large chunks of material are easily memorized by this method. II. III. Presentation of the address before the class. This can be done in several ways, depending on the ability of the students. (Please allow students to use their workbooks if necessary.) A. Some students may want to recite the entire address. B. Some students may only want to recite a portion. C. Some students may want to recite in pairs. D. The students must be encouraged but must also be comfortable with the task. (Please note: It is unlikely that there will be enough time for the entire class to recite before the class unless it is done in groups of two, three, or four. The teacher will need to judge this on the basis of ability, and number of students in the class.) Homework: Finally, this could be assigned as homework for all those who have yet to memorize this speech. There is no way of knowing how many will be able to do this in a morning until you assess the abilities in the classroom. You may find that you will need to assign it to everyone as homework. If so, this lesson should not be taught on the same day when an activity is planned for that evening. Perhaps you could teach this on Friday, the end of the first week. Important Note for Teachers: The students must receive encouragement whenever they speak English in front of their classmates. Always give a very specific, positive comment at the end of each one s speaking turn. Examples: I like the way Alice pronounced her /v/ sounds. I like the way Joseph projected his voice. I like the way Mary put so much feeling into this speech. IV. Extra Time: review some of the famous quotes by Lincoln and give explanation. A. The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. B. You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. C. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence. Gift Option: If you teach this lesson you may want to give them a gift to remember this lesson. One teacher gave each student a Lincoln Dollar coin. You would need to bring about 30, as you want to include your interpreter, and have enough in case your class is larger than anticipated.

5 President Lincoln and the Gettysburg Address Vocabulary: score continent conceived liberty dedicated proposition engage Civil War endure battle "fitting and proper" Pronunciation Exercises: consecrate hallow brave fought nobly advanced devotion cause resolve vain "measure of devotion" ABRAHAM LINCOLN 16 TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES 1. Seven years ago conceived in liberty 2. Civil war battle-field 3. Brave men, living and dead, struggled here 4. Nobly advanced 5. Last full measure of devotion 6. Did not die in vain 7. that government of the people, by the people, for the people The Gettysburg Address: November 19, 1863, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

6 Famous Quotes by Abraham Lincoln: 1. The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. 2. You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time. 3. You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence. Known for his top hat Abraham Lincoln Fun Facts The Lincoln penny In 1818 Abraham Lincoln nearly died after being kicked in the head by a horse. It was President Abraham Lincoln who proclaimed that there be a national Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November. He proclaimed this on October 3, Abraham Lincoln is the tallest president the United States has ever had. He stood 6 feet 4 inches tall. When he wore his stovepipe hat, he stood nearly 7 feet tall! Abraham Lincoln would keep notes and important papers in his stove-pipe hat. In 1860 a little girl named Grace Bedell from Westfield, New York wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln asking him to grow a beard. She told him the beard would help him be elected as President of the United States. By the he was elected President he had a full beard. Lincoln was the first President of the United States to wear a beard. The Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.