Teacher: Al Gonzalez

Lesson Plan

Level: Pre-intermediate

Objectives: Students should be able to list synonyms for common words. Students will also learn to differentiate homonyms based on their spelling and context.

Time: 45 minutes

Materials:

 Whiteboard  Whiteboard markers  Paper  Pens  Clock/Timer  Worksheets

Set-up: Seating in groups of 3 or 4 with the desks facing each other or beside each other.

Warm-up (Synonyms): Ask the class for a definition of a synonym. Write down what is said, or if the answer is unknown right down the definition on the whiteboard. Give examples of some synonyms. Example: cold: freezing, chilly, icy. Next write down one word and have students offer some synonyms. Explain why synonyms are useful for students. Ask students for more ideas. Some possible answers are:  Variety in vocabulary  To avoid repeated use of a single word.  If you don’t know how to pronounce a word or if it is too difficult to use in sentence, you can replace it with a synonym  Teach the expression “Could you rephrase that please?”explian why it is superior to “Could you repeat that please?”

Activity #1: Move on to activity. Have the students use the groups they are seated in. Write a word on the board for students to list synonyms. Have one person in the group write down the answers. Set a time limit of about 30 seconds or so. The team with the most synonyms gains a point. Repeat for a couple of rounds. Part 2 – Homonyms (Homophones): Introduce and explain homonyms. We have looked over words with similar meanings but different sounds, but what do we call words that have the same sound but different meanings? Give examples of homonyms on the whiteboard. Example: stair-stare, bare-bear. Activity #2: Hand out worksheet with sentences that contain homonyms and have the students underline them. Go around the classroom and see if students need assistance with the worksheets and how quickly they are completing the assignment. Go over the answers for the worksheet and ask students for answers to see if they are understanding the lesson.

Activity #3: While students are working on the worksheets, list several words on the whiteboard that have corresponding homonyms. When the worksheet activity is complete, have students line up in their groups facing the whiteboard and each student within the group will write down one corresponding homonym and then pass the marker to their teammate. If the student doesn’t know the answer they will pass the marker to the next teammate. The first group to match all of the words with their corresponding homonym wins.

Activity #4: Have the class sit back down. Use overhead to show some homonym poems and have a student read the poem out loud. What is the gist of the poem? How can we determine what the meaning of the word is in the sentence?  Use the context of the sentence  What grammatical function does the word play in the sentence? Emphasize the importance of being able to differentiate between similar sounding words and their meanings and how that can completely change the meaning of the sentence.

Activity #5: Show the class a video with homonym jokes showing the spelling of the words.

Follow-up: The knowledge from this lesson will increase the students’ vocabulary and also help them to understand using context to determine the meaning of a word.

Evaluation: Evaluation will be based upon student participation and the answers provided for the worksheets and activities given in class.