To the Teacher

Unit 1: The LDS Church Meeting

Introduction

The skills taught in this unit are those which students will need to use in a gospel setting. Students and teachers are provided with a video tape and a workbook. Both will compliment each other. In addition to the video tape and workbook, the teacher is provided with a packet of materials, including pictures, charts, games, and other learning tools to enhance class instruction. Because the focus of this unit is the LDS Church Meeting, the ESL classroom itself is set up to be a model of that setting, providing the students with skills and tools needed there. As students learn to practice these skills they will be better equipped to participate in the church setting. Below are the five lesson titles in this unit.

Lesson One: Making Introductions

Lesson Two: Giving Prayers

Lesson Three: Conducting Meetings

Lesson Four: Giving Testimonies

Lesson Five: Asking Questions

Class Format

The class should model the ESL class shown in the video segment of Lesson One, Making Introductions. As each lesson progresses, students will be able to perform more functions within the class. Consequently, the role of the teacher will decrease and that of the student will increase.

Every class is different, and the time needed to cover the material will vary. But as a general guide, plan on taking around three hours for each lesson. If your class is a three hour block you may teach a new lesson each class period. If your class time is an hour, a lesson could be divided up into three periods. In this case, you may want to briefly review the material covered the previous period before continuing where you left off. Regardless of your class length, the format for Starting Class and Ending Class should remain the same.

Starting Class: Class begins with the following:

Welcome: The teacher will act as Class President, greeting class members, introducing new students, and making announcements for the first three lessons. After Lesson 3 students will rotate turns being the Class President. The Class President is in charge of making assignments before class.

Hymn: The teacher or a student directs the hymn indicated in the lesson.

Prayer: A student offers the prayer in his/her native language for the first two lessons. After Lesson 2 the prayer will be offered in English.

Spiritual Thought: The teacher gives a scripture, tells a story, or gives a testimony for the first four lessons. After Lesson 4 students will give the spiritual thought, sharing their testimonies, or telling any of the previous stories from the videos if they wish. If students are not ready to tell stories, the teacher may continue to do so, and a student may give his/her testimony afterwards.

Review: At the beginning of every lesson is a brief review of the previous lesson. Reviewing will assist students in retaining the knowledge and skills they have learned. Begin the class with the review. It should be no more than ten minutes.

Video Segments: The purpose of the video is to create a natural context for learning to take place. At the beginning of each new lesson, students should watch the entire video segment corresponding to the lesson. The Language Practice section which follows uses language in context from video segments students have just seen as well as past and future video segments.

Language Practice: The purpose of this section is to use the language and situations from the video as natural models for instruction. The students will look at the language tasks and the individual parts and structures and learn how to perform them. Language Practice consists of Language Tasks, Vocabulary, Grammar, Pronunciation, and Hymn Singing. (Note: In Lessons 1, 2, and 4 the Vocabulary section is omitted from the video but is still included in the workbook.)

Task: the Task section uses excerpts from the video segment of the task being used in the lesson (making introductions, giving prayer, conducting, etc.). Students are introduces to these tasks in an appropriate context and become familiar with the structure and vocabulary necessary to perform them.

Vocabulary: The purpose of the vocabulary section is to highlight and teach important words and phrases that students will need to perform the task or be able to communicate about essential gospel and basic topics. The vocabulary is taken from context in the video. Additional vocabulary and expansion exercises are given in the workbook. Model the vocabulary words, using pictures from the packet where applicable. Try as much as possible to provide a context where the new vocabulary may be used.

Grammar: The purpose of this section is to break sown the grammar into component parts and focus on particular parts and structures. The grammar in the workbook is to serve as an additional practice in manipulating those things seen in the video. When a grammar chart is presented, explain the concept simply. You may want to write it down on a chalkboard or large paper for the students to see.

Pronunciation: The purpose of the pronunciation section is to help students focus on aspects of pronunciation with which foreign speakers may have difficulty. Model the correct pronunciation and have the students repeat after you. As the students practice together, monitor their pronunciation, providing help where necessary.

Gospel Practice: The Gospel Practice section is intended primarily for listening comprehension. Students will be able to hear the scriptural story given in the video segment once again. Students should not be required to memorize the story in the lesson in which it is presented. However, later on, as students have had ample opportunity to hear the stories they could learn to tell the stories, and possibly use them as spiritual thoughts.

Hymn Practice: The main purposes of this section are for the students to learn hymns and enjoy listening. You can use this section in varying ways: Replay the hymn and, as a class, sing along with the video. Teach the students the words and meaning of the song. Then sing it as the opening or closing hymn.

Ending Class: Class ends with the following:

Hymn: The teacher or a student directs the hymn indicated in the lesson.

Prayer: A student offers the prayer in his/her native language for the first two lessons. After Lesson 2 the prayer will be offered in English.

Teaching Tools

Practice and Repeat: Practice and Repeat is to familiarize students with a particular language task. First, model the language. Students should follow you in form and pronunciation, although pronunciation will be focused on later. Say each word or phrase aloud and then have the students repeat after you. Repeat this until you are satisfied that the students understand and can perform the task.

Practice Together: Practicing together allows students to apply the patterns or structures learned in Practice and Repeat to new situations cued by the pictures in the workbook. After modeling the example, instruct the students to use the pictures in the workbook. After modeling the example, instruct the students to use the pictures in the workbook as clues to the sentences or phrases that they will produce. This practice should be done in pairs. As the students practice together, circulate to monitor their progress and help them as they need it.

Oral Reading: Oral reading allows the students practice in reading fluency and pronunciation. You may read portions yourself for them to model, or you may have all the students as a class read together. You may also have them read quietly to themselves while you monitor, helping them with their needs.

Listening Practice: In these practices, the purpose is to sharpen students' listening skills, In some instances you will play the video segment that corresponds, and in others you will read the segment. In either case, students will listen and fill in the blanks with the words or phrases they hear.

Fill in the Blank: These activities are to allow students to use the knowledge they have just learned to fill in the gaps. Students should be able to do so using examples given previously.

Writing Practice: The purpose of writing practice is for students to apply their learning to new situations where they either manipulate structures, or create original ones of their own.

Activities: Activities allow the students to further apply the concepts they have just learned to real-life situations. These activities should be done after the students have practiced together. If class time is limited students can be assigned these activities as homework.

Additional Helps

Extra Mile: The purpose of the Extra Mile section is to give the students additional practice with the skills they have been learning. Activities include helps in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. An Extra Mile section is also included at the end of each chapter which gives extra vocabulary words which have been used in the video script. Extra Mile activities can be used as expansion to classroom instruction, as homework, or optional work.

Reading: References from scriptural passages and from Church books are given for reading practice. Some references are on the same theme as the gospel principles taught in the lesson, while others contain examples of the language structures learned. The teacher (or student, when appropriate) may choose to share one of the scriptures listed for the spiritual thought in the following class period.

Writing: Suggestions for writing practice are given which include writing sample testimonies, prayers, gospel questions, etc. Writing activities will help solidify the concepts learned.

Listening/Speaking: Ideas for communicating with others, using the structures and concepts learned in the lesson are given. These listening and speaking activities are where students will be able to put into practice the knowledge they have learned.

Vocabulary: The vocabulary section of Extra Mile lists key vocabulary words and phrases used in the video segment. Words and phrases are divided alphabetically in their different parts of speech. Learning and using these words will help build students' vocabulary, especially that pertaining to Gospel matters.

Learning Experiences Outside of Class: This section gives suggestions of what students can do to help their own learning, such as doing the Extra Mile Activities, watching the video tapes, practicing the specific task learned, and doing their homework. This section should be pointed out to the students.

Here's What You Know: This section is meant as a review, to be used by the students or the teacher. Brief examples of the language learned (task, vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, gospel practice, and hymn) are shown.

Video Script: At the end of every lesson is the script from the video at home. It is not recommended that students read the script while watching the video for the first time.