Lesson Plan for Unit 1 Section A (1a–1d)
Unit 1: How do you spend your free time?
Grade 8, PEP New Edition
1. Analysis of Teaching Material
This period (1a–1d) is the opening input section of Unit 1, focusing on free-time activities.
- 1a: Introduces core vocabulary (e.g., playing the flute, skiing, programming) through picture matching, activating students’ prior knowledge of hobbies.
- 1b & 1c: Listening tasks provide contextual input: students first complete sentences about three students’ activities, then match each activity to its purpose (relax, exercise, etc.).
- 1d: Output task guides students to practice the target structure What do you do in your free time? I like to… I do it to… in pair work.
The material connects vocabulary, listening comprehension, and oral output, laying a foundation for the unit’s theme of hobbies and personal interests.
2. Analysis of the Teaching Objectives
Knowledge Objectives
- Master 6 free-time activity phrases: playing the flute, doing calligraphy, painting, skiing, hiking, programming.
- Grasp the basic sentence patterns:
- What do you do in your free time?
- I like to / like doing…
- I do it to… (to express purpose)
Ability Objectives
- Match vocabulary to corresponding pictures accurately.
- Understand listening materials about free-time activities and complete gap-filling tasks.
- Conduct simple pair work to talk about personal hobbies and their purposes.
Moral Objectives
- Encourage students to develop healthy and diverse hobbies.
- Cultivate awareness of expressing personal interests and respecting others’ choices.
3. Analysis of the Students
- Cognitive level: Grade 8 students have mastered basic daily English and can understand simple questions about hobbies. They are familiar with general leisure activities but lack specific vocabulary for cultural (calligraphy) and technical (programming) hobbies.
- Learning habits: They are active in visual and interactive tasks (e.g., picture matching, role-play) but may struggle with listening for detailed information and using infinitive to for purpose correctly.
- Emotional traits: They are willing to share personal hobbies, which can be leveraged to enhance engagement in pair work.
4. Key and Difficult Points
Key Points
- Vocabulary of free-time activities.
- Core sentence patterns for talking about hobbies and purposes.
- Basic listening comprehension of activity descriptions.
Difficult Points
- Distinguishing the usage of like doing (habitual preference) and like to do (specific choice).
- Using the infinitive to correctly to express purpose (e.g., I do it to relax vs. I do it for relaxing).
- Extracting key information from listening materials efficiently.
5. Teaching Methods
- Situational teaching: Use pictures and real-life examples to present vocabulary and sentences.
- Task-based language teaching (TBLT): Design matching, listening, and pair work tasks to guide students to use the target language.
- Audio-lingual method: Use listening imitation and repetition to reinforce sentence patterns.
- Cooperative learning: Organize pair work to encourage oral practice and peer support.
6. Teaching Steps (45 minutes)
Step 1: Warm-up & Lead-in (5 mins)
- Greet students and ask: “What do you usually do after class?” Elicit simple answers (e.g., I play basketball).
- Show a short video of diverse free-time activities (sports, arts, tech) to activate interest and introduce the unit theme: How do you spend your free time?
Step 2: Presentation (10 mins)
- Display 1a pictures and teach 6 activity phrases one by one:
- Use gestures/short videos to demonstrate skiing, hiking, playing the flute.
- Show works of calligraphy, painting and explain their cultural meaning.
- Briefly introduce programming as a technical hobby.
- Drill the phrases: Choral repetition, individual reading, and quick point-and-say games.
Step 3: Listening Practice (15 mins)
1. 1a Matching: Students finish matching words to pictures; check answers together.
2. 1b Listening:
- Predict: Ask students to guess which activities Teng Fei, Helen, and Chen Jie might like.
- Play the audio twice: First for general understanding, second to complete sentences.
- Check answers and explain key listening clues.
3. 1c Matching: Students match activities to their purposes; discuss why each purpose fits (e.g., Hiking is to get some exercise).
Step 4: Oral Practice (12 mins)
- Model the 1d dialogue with a student:
- A: What do you do in your free time?
- B: I like doing calligraphy.
- A: Why do you do it?
- B: I do it to relax.
- Pair work: Students create their own dialogues using 1a vocabulary; walk around to offer guidance.
- Share: Invite 2–3 pairs to present their dialogues to the class.
Step 5: Summary & Homework (3 mins)
- Summary: Review key phrases and sentence patterns on the blackboard.
- Homework:
1. Copy 6 activity phrases 3 times and make 2 sentences with I like doing… I do it to…
2. Interview a family member about their free-time activities and write down 1 sentence.
7. Teaching Feedbacks
Strengths
- Students showed high engagement in picture matching and pair work, especially for visual and interactive tasks.
- Most students could master the core vocabulary and complete listening tasks smoothly.
Areas for improvement
- A few students confused like doing and like to do, and made mistakes in using to for purpose (e.g., I do it for relax).
- Some students were shy to speak in pair work; need more encouragement and simpler sentence frames for hesitant learners.
- Listening speed was slightly fast for lower-level students; consider slowing down the audio or providing partial sentence clues in future lessons.
Follow-up adjustments
- Add a short grammar drill on like doing / like to do and to for purpose in the next class.
- Provide more scaffolding (e.g., sentence starters: I like… because it helps me…) for weak students in oral practice.
- Pre-teach key listening vocabulary before playing audio to improve comprehension
