Noah Strategy: Pairs and Small Groups Lesson Objectives: 1. The students will learn the story of Noah and the Ark. 2. The students will practice listening skills as the story is told. 3. The students will learn new vocabulary and a new idiom. 4. The students will engage in a TPR or song for warm-up, and work in small groups to learn a jazz chant. 5. The students will build confidence as they speak English in front of their classmates. 6. The students will be encouraged to speak only English. 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, through skits, and in reciting dialogues. Materials: The teacher is encouraged to visit his/her Sunday School Department for pictures of Noah and the Ark, or flannel graphs. You also have pictures attached. If you do not wish to use the attached pictures, you may want to purchase the book. Find one with excellent colored pictures (garage sales, library sales, Good Will, Dollar Store, etc.), and remove the spine and laminate the pictures. If you can find copies of this book cheaply from the Dollar Store, it would make an excellent gift for your students. Picture book: Noah's Ark by Peter Spier
FIRST SESSION: 45 minutes I. 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. Review previous lesson s idiom as well. II. Have the students stand and 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. III. Introduce the lesson on Noah. A. Over 200 different cultures scattered around the world share the same basic story: a great flood covered the earth. B. China 1. The Chinese classic called the Hihking tells about "the family of Fuhi," that was saved from a great flood. This ancient story tells that the entire land was flooded; the mountains and everything, however one family survived in a boat. The Chinese consider this man the father of their civilization. This record indicates that Fuhi, his wife, three sons, and three daughters were the only people that escaped the great flood. It is claimed, that he and his family were the only people alive on earth, and repopulated the world. 2. Teach Chinese Characters for Boat end the lesson by drawing this character on the black board. Simply point out that the story of Noah and the Ark has been in China s ancient history: The first boat mentioned in the Bible is Noah's ark. Just how many people or "mouths" were aboard this ship or vessel? Genesis 7:13 tells us there were eight people. Yet the Chinese language -- predating the Hebrew in which the Old Testament was written by at least 700 years -- records this fact in perfect detail. a. Here is a simple illustration of the Chinese language's testimony to the events in the book of Genesis. The Chinese word for boat is made up of three component radicals: The left most character means "ship" or "vessel." The upper right hand character is the Chinese number "eight." The bottom right hand character is the word for "mouth" or "person."
C. We also tell a similar story. 1. This story is often told to children 2. The story is so popular that kid's rooms are often decorated with pictures from the story. 3. There is a theme park named Noah's Ark in Wisconsin and one being built called the Ark Encounter in Kentucky.. 4. Today we will learn to tell this story in English. IV. 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. Vocabulary: decision grace dove created remember fighting creation day sin thought destroy flood mud cubic gopher wood aboard creature bosom ark hurry up wicked pour deep Mt. Ararat trouble worth rainbow Note: A cubic is about 18 inches, or the length from the tip of your fingers to your elbow.
SECOND SESSION: 45 minutes I. Review vocabulary II. Tell the following story tell is very slowly at least 3 times. A. Ask them to listen carefully for you will be asking them questions at the end. Use pictures while telling your story. You can also use your chalk board and draw stick figures. I am going to tell you a true story that happened 4500 years ago!! It is the story of Noah, his family, and a world-wide flood. B. Review Options The world was full of people who sinned all day long. They did bad things and thought bad thoughts. Soon God was sick of it all. God made a decision to destroy the whole world with water a flood and start all over again with a good man who loved God. His name was Noah. God told Noah to build a big boat longer than several soccer fields! It took Noah 100 years! The people watched and laughed at Noah. Why build a boat? It had never rained before. When the boat was finished, God told Noah to bring a he and a she from every animal into the boat. The boat is called an Ark. Then God told Noah to take his wife, his 3 sons, and their wives, into the Ark. Eight people in all were in the ark with the animals. It started to rain. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights. The wicked people wanted to get on the boat but it was too late, and they all died. Noah sent out a dove to see if the dove could find a leaf from a tree. This would tell Noah the land was drying up. Soon the Ark rested on a mountain. God send a rainbow as a promise that He would never destroy the world again with water. 1. Ask Who, what, where, why? Questions 2. begin the story and ask: then what happened? ask this question again and again to the end. This will tell you if the students understand the story. If you use this method, repeat it from the beginning, enlisting different students to answer. 3. Use a combination of both methods
III. Pair Work - Selecting Pairs A. One option is for the student to select his partner. However, this is not always a good idea. B. 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.) C. 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. IV. The students now practice telling the story to each other. A. Encourage students to help each other with vocabulary, pronunciation, and the order of the story. In addition, all Teaching Assistants will be going from pair to pair, listening, encouraging, and correcting where needed. Repetition is the mother of all learning. B. The students need to practice this over and over and get to the point where they can tell the story to you or one of the Teaching Assistants when they feel ready. They are asked to tell it in their own words, and to definitely use their new vocabulary words. C. This should take most of the second session. When a pair is ready to recite, have them notify you and either you or a Teaching Assistant will listen to them recite the story. D. You may ask a couple of pairs to tell the story in front of the entire class.
THIRD SESSION: 45 minutes I. Continue with any work not accomplished during the second hour. (Be sure that the students have had adequate time to practice telling the story.) II. Introduce new idiom: teach from the Known to the Unknown A. Explain that every language has idiomatic expressions and unless you know some of them, it is often hard to understand what someone is saying. An idiom is a phrase, a few words, that says one thing but means quite another. B. Write the following Chinese idiom on the black board. It literally means, one action, two responses. OR Kill two birds with one stone. yi [ee] jyu [jew] liang [lee-ahng] de [duh] C. Once the students understand idiom, use the attached pictures to demonstrate the new idiom. Idiom: It s raining cats and dogs. Example: It s raining cats and dogs, and our picnic is ruined. Meaning: to rain very heavily; to pour Origin: In England in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, many cats and dogs drowned in floods caused by torrential rainstorms, and their bodies were found in the streets afterward as if they had fallen from the sky with the rain. III. Re-tell the story A. You may ask several of the pairs to tell the story in front of the class if you did not do this Second Session. They can take turns dividing the story in half. They may use pictures. B. Because in this lesson you also have a jazz chant to learn, you may want to move on after a few pairs tell the story. Important Note for Teachers: The students must receive encouragement whenever they speak English in front of you or 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 story.
IV. Jazz Chant small group work A. Jazz Chants help non-native speakers get the "feel" of American English. The student learns the stress, rhythm, and intonation patterns by "doing" them. It's a very effective and enjoyable way to learn. B. Steps in teaching a jazz chant: 1. Be sure students know all the key vocabulary. In this lesson they have already learned it. 2. Have the students follow the chant in their Student Workbook. 3. Read the entire chant to the class slowly. Repeat twice. 4. Read one line at a time of chorus and have students repeat the line until they can say most of the words. 5. Add the rhythm (clapping, marching, slapping their thighs, pounding the table or a drum) to the chorus. Let the class do the rhythm and say it at the same time. 6. Note the underlined words. These are the words that are stressed. Jazz chants follow a rhythm or beat. Have them clap on the stressed words to get the rhythm. THIS IS IMPORTANT AS JAZZ CHANTS ARE MEANT TO TEACH THE RHYTHM OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE! C. Options to learning this chant: depending on the abilities of your students 1. Break into groups of 3 or 4 (by counting off) and assign each group the chorus plus one stanza. 2. Have the groups work on this the remainder of the period or until there is 5 minutes left. 3. Bring the entire class together and have the individual groups recite their parts with the entire class coming in on the chorus between each stanza.
Jazz Chant on Noah Made popular by Tennessee Ernie Ford (This is chanted 4/4 time) Chorus: Verse 1: Verse 2: Verse 3: Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Repeat first line 2 more times. And he landed high and dry. The Lord looked down from His window in the sky, Said, I created man but this is not why! Nothing but fighting since creation day, I ll send a little water and I ll wash them all away! The Lord said, Noah, there s going to be a flood. There s going to be some water, there s going to be some mud. So take off your hat, Noah, take off your coat Get Ham, Shem, and Japath, and build yourself a boat! Noah said, Lord, I don t believe I could. Lord said, Noah, get some sturdy gopher wood. Never know what you can do, till you try, Build it 50 cubics wide and 30 cubics high. Verse 4: Verse 5: Verse 6: Verse 7: Noah said, There she is, there she is Lord. Lord said, Noah, it s time to get aboard. Take every creature, a he and a she, And of course, Mrs. Noah and the whole family. Noah said, Lord, it s getting mighty dark. Lord said, Noah, get these creatures in the ark! Noah said, Lord, it s beginning to pour! Lord said, Noah, hurry up and He shut the door! The ark rose up from the bosom of the deep. After 40 days Mr. Noah took a peak. Said, We re not moving Lord, where are we at? Lord said, You re sitting right on Mount. Ararat! Noah said, Lord it s getting mighty dry. Lord said, Noah, see my rainbow in the sky? Take all these people and creatures to earth, And don t be no more trouble than you re worth.
What did you say? (It is raining cats and dogs!) What did you mean? (It is raining very heavily; it is pouring!)
Noah and the Ark Vocabulary : decision grace dove created remember fighting sin wicked ark deep destroy flood mud bosom pour aboard gopher wood cubic creature thought Mt. Ararat trouble worth rainbow hurry up Idiom: It s raining cats and dogs Meaning: to rain very heavily; to pour
Jazz Chant Noah Chorus: Verse 1: Verse 2: Verse 3: Verse 4: Verse 5: Verse 6: Verse 7: Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Repeat first line 2 more times. And he landed high and dry. The Lord looked down from His window in the sky, Said, I created man but this is not why! Nothing but fighting since creation day, I ll send a little water and I ll wash them all away! The Lord said, Noah, there s going to be a flood. There s going to be some water, there s going to be some mud. So take off your hat, Noah, take off your coat Get Ham, Shem, and Japath, and build yourself a boat! Noah said, Lord, I don t believe I could. Lord said, Noah, get some sturdy gopher wood. Never know what you can do, till you try, Build it 50 cubics wide and 30 cubics high. Noah said, There she is, there she is Lord. Lord said, Noah, it s time to get aboard. Take every creature, a he and a she, And of course, Mrs. Noah and the whole family. Noah said, Lord, it s getting mighty dark. Lord said, Noah, get these creatures in the ark! Noah said, Lord, it s beginning to pour! Lord said, Noah, hurry up and He shut the door! The ark rose up from the bosom of the deep. After 40 days Mr. Noah took a peak. Said, We re not moving Lord, where are we at? Lord said, You re sitting right on Mount. Ararat! Noah said, Lord it s getting mighty dry. Lord said, Noah, see my rainbow in the sky? Take all these people and creatures to earth, And don t be no more trouble than you re worth.