Class Type: Composition

Time: 50 Minutes

Topic: Clauses vs. Phrases

Level: High Intermediate

Introduction (5 minutes)

  • Show students the trailer of a fish movie. Ask them what the topic is today (still around the environment)… yes, FISH… in particular… salmon. Have they ever eaten salmon? (if possible, bring in something for them to try). Ask Ss why salmon is important in the environment (salmon feed everyone and everything and produce phosphorous – needed for life).
    • The class was pretty unmotivated today for some reason, so our attempts at riling them up a little bit fell a little flat, but overall it went well. Some of the students shared their previous knowledge about fish and their preparation, as well as my sponsor teacher brought in some candied salmon for the class to try to see if they like it as well.

Main Activity (35 minutes)

  • Ask the students the difference between a phrase and a clause (put up example on board). Then go over the three different types of clauses: adj., adv., noun. Give lots of examples and show how they function. Once Ss are comfortable with the three different kinds, tell them today we will be reading an academic essay on salmon. Have they ever eaten salmon? (if possible, bring in something for them to try). Ask Ss why salmon is important in the environment (salmon feed everyone and everything and produce phosphorous – needed for life).Hand out the reading. Read the essay with the students slowly, checking comprehension as you go. Once finished, pair students up and have them identify the different types of underlined clauses.
    • While reading it aloud to the class, I had found it a little difficult to pull them along to the call and response within the reading that we had been doing (reading aloud most of the sentence, but then pausing to allow students to say the next word or phrase). There had been some more difficult words so we had made sure to write the new/different words on the board as a point of reference.

Closing (5 minutes)

  • Take up answer with the class. Ask Ss one thing they learned about salmon today as an exit ticket question.
    • as we had gone over the answers with the class (the underlined phrases/clauses) both aloud and using the overhead projector to ensure that students could follow along in labelling the different clauses within their given text.
    • Overall I think this class went well! I would have liked to be a little more active in the learning process, but I also appreciate being able to take a little bit of a step back and see how my sponsor teacher conducts themselves as a facilitator of learning ESL, opposed to being their student.