Lesson Plan for a listening class: Sukita. Vivian Flanzer

Transcription

1 Lesson Plan for a listening class: Sukita Vivian a) Class Description: The context for this class is Intermediate Portuguese for American college students. The class lasts fifty utes and meets three times a week. It has approximately 2 students. The classroom is equipped with a computer and internet connection. b) Timetable Fit: Because this is an Intermediate course Ss are reviewing and deepening their knowledge of Portuguese. The previous class was devoted to grammar, more specifically a difficult verb tense, the future of subjunctive. On the following class, Ss will be doing a reading that will prompt them to review a different verb tense. This activity, will serve as a break between two different grammar topics as it will focus on listening, speaking and pragmatics discussion. c) Learning Outcomes: After this lesson, Ss will be able to:. explain the general gist of a Brazilian commercial 2. produce language appropriate to a TV commercial 3. differentiate the shadow of meaning (connotations) of the words tio e engole 4. recognize the forms tá and né in spoken Portuguese and contrast with the forms está e não é in the written language 5. recognize body language that express discontent d) Activities, procedures, and tig Activity/ Aids Interaction Procedure Time Instruction T-Ss Teacher tells the students they will watch a 2s Brazilian commercial, but without the sound Pre-listening T-Ss T shows the commercial Pre-listening T-Ss T asks questions to the class (see examples below) and writes key-words of what they are saying on the board. (T might screen the commercial a second time if necessary). Questions: 7 What product is this commercial trying to sell? Why? What is Sukita? What do you see in this commercial? Who is in this commercial? Where are they? What they are doing?

2 2 What is their relationship? How would you describe each of the characters? Physically, their clothes, their personality What are they carrying on their hands? Why? What do you think they are talking about? What happens? What else did you see? Any other comments? Instruction T-Ss Teacher tells Ss that they will now work in pairs. They will have to imagine a dialogue for this commercial and enact it to the class. In the end, the class will vote on the best commercial (the most effective or funnier, not in terms of language being produced). T gives Handout to students and shows commercial one more time. Creation of Ss-Ss Ss in pairs create/write their version of the role-play commercial Enactment of Ss Ss+T Ss enact their versions of the commercial to the 7 6 role-play class Comparison Ss-Ss Class votes the best commercial Listening PC-Ss Ss listen to the commercial. Comprehension T-Ss T asks: what are they really talking about? What did you hear? 5 Comprehension SS-Ss+T Small class discussion. 5 Instruction T-Ss T ask Ss to transcribe the commercial (if done in the language lab and if we have time, they can transcribe it individually in their own computers. If not, T play and pauses and the class will do the transcription collectively. Transcription Ss-Ss Ss transcribe commercial 5 Instruction T gives transcription to class (handout 2), asks students to compare with their own transcription and ask questions about vocabulary or make any other comment on the language used. Comparison Ss-Ss Ss compare transcription with their own 3 Instruction T-Ss T asks class to decide which group created the closest version of the original commercial. Comparison Ss vote 2 Pragmatics T-Ss; Ss- T asks questions to the class (if those questions 0

3 3 discussion Ss+T did not show up already from the steps above) and engages in a discussion:. What does tá mean here? Tá is the short for está (from the verb estar). Brazilians will never say está, they always say tá. However, it is absolutely wrong to write tá, you must always write está. 2. What is né? Is the short form for não é and again can only appear in speech. 3. What does the young woman calls the guy tio (uncle)? He is obviously not her uncle. She uses this term to make him feel much older than her and to stop his flattery. This commercial was a big hit in Brazil and gave the term uncle a new (and widely used) connotation: an older man who dates a much younger woman. 4. What is the double meaning of engole (swallow) in the context of the commercial? To ingest a drink and (not to) accept a bad situation. 5. In the beginning a voice says sobe (up!). Why is that? I think there is a (bad!) mistake here, because we do not see an operator. 6. The man opens the elevator door. Are all elevators in Brazil like that? Not nowadays. From the commercial we infer that they live in an old building. 7. Is this commercial dealing with stereotypes? Which? Why?

4 4 Yes. The stereotype of the rich older man who lusts after the young pretty girl. But here she would not swallow it. The commercial was considered campy and funny in Brazil, using humor to sell a product targeted to younger generation. 8. Would this commercial work for an American audience? Open answer! Post-activity for homework. Writing T-Ss T says that for homework Ss should create a similar commercial with a new twist. Ss will have to Imagine another commercial for the same product (or a similar one), using the same characters, but this time the tio will take a revenge on the girl. 2 e) Problems and possibilities. Internet connection fails or T can t open file from browser (or even worse, someone took your commercial out of YouTube) be prepared for this potential problem! Download your video to your hard drive or flash drive through Keepvid and bring it with you. 2. Total number of Ss is odd so one group can t work as a pair T asks Ss if one group would like to be a trio and create a third character, or, alternatively, if someone would like to work solo and be two characters at the same time. 3. Alternative: classroom (Ss transcribe commercial together) x computer lab (individually with their own computers and headphones). f) Reflections after teaching. As I had predicted, I encountered some technical problems before the class started but was able to get help (my class started a little late, though). This is a good reder to always arrive earlier, (before the students!!) and start setting up the computer as soon as possible to avoid problems and delays. The good news is that, for my specific context (college students), there will always be someone in the classroom that will know what to do to fix the technical problem! And we can talk about the problem in Portuguese (while fixing it) and therefore start the class in a slight different way. 2. Because my classmates do not understand Portuguese, I taught my class

5 5 in English. This way they were able to follow me, but I did feel selfconscious speaking and writing in English in front of my classmates (all Americans!). I was worried all the time that I was misspelling some word in the doc cam and that interfered with my concentration. Also, because they are native speakers of English (and I am not) I felt inappropriate correcting them when they performed their dialogues and I ended up taking no action. Their English was, of course, perfect, but two groups missed the point when they a) made the girl speak a lot when she was clearly quiet on most of the commercial and b) did not have anything offensive or rude said by the girl (see number 3 below). 3. When we see the commercial without the sound, one can see that the man speaks more than the girl and that she seems annoyed by his comments. We also notice that she finally says something that causes him to be upset, shocked and surprised. These are the body language cues that should guide the students when creating their commercials. However, I did not call my students attention to this visual pragmatics. Instead I concentrated too much in the age gap and the relationship between the two characters. Had I pointed to the body language (by asking for instance how do you think the girl feels?, does she speak as much as he does? and why does the guy make such a weird face in the end?, is there anything wrong here? ) I would probably have induced them to use the silence and the rudeness in the appropriate time. I will definitely point to the body language next time I teach this class. 4. Two (out of six) of my classmates who were observing the class wrote that they definitely felt uncomfortable when I asked my student to vote for the best commercial. By best I wasn t thinking about the best use of Portuguese or the one with the least mistakes but the most effective, the funnier or most pleasant to watch. However, I did not spell that. This is a good reder to always give instructions as clear as possible ( Class, let s vote on the most effective commercial ) and to never forget how sensitive Americans can be (especially adults) when they are in the classroom. 5. Given all the above, I think the class went OK and I was able to show a bit of my teaching style. For example, the atmosphere was pleasant and relaxed. Everybody participated in the discussion activity and I was happy to see students laughing and having a good time while doing the speaking activity they were really interested in the class and did not seem anxious at all. Second, the class had a learner-centered approach (students were prompted to talk about what they saw in the commercial and then asked to write and enact their own version of the commercial), but I was guiding and controlling the class. Third, the activities were varied and involved different skills (speaking, writing, listening, and pragmatics discussion) but were all interconnected and the transition between them was natural. The

6 6 activities had some humor in them, which is typical of my own teaching style. I used an authentic Brazilian commercial to prompt students to produce language in a creative manner. Handout : Working with a partner, imagine a dialogue based on the commercial you have just seen. You will enact it to the class. Narrador:

7 Handout 2: Transcription of the commercial 7 NOTE: I am translating the commercial for our EDC class, but would not hand in a translation to my students. In our class, everything is in Portuguese. Voice: Sobe (Up ) Obrigada. (Thanks.) Tá quente aqui, né? (It s hot in here, isn t it?) Tá gostosa, a Sukita? (Is it good, the Sukita?) Ahã Você é nova aqui no prédio, não é? (You are new here in the building, aren t you?) Ahã Eu posso (Can I...) Tio, aperta o vinte e um para mim? (Uncle, press the twenty one for me?) Narrador: Quem bebe Sukita não engole qualquer coisa. (If you drink Sukita, you won t swallow just anything )