Visiting A Homeless Shelter: Language Experience Activity

Submitted by: Terese E. Servent
Endorsed by: Dr. Don Descy
Mankato State University

May 11, 1998

Description:

Beginning level English as a second language students often do not have common experiences form which an instructor can created lessons. The language experience activity allows for the class to gain a common experience from which numerous lesson plans and units can be built upon. To assist students with their reading and writing the instructor has the students write about their experience. The stories become the curriculum for the language lessons.

Grade Level:

Grades 8-12, beginning to low intermediate English level

Goal:

Students will gain skills in reading and writing English.

Objectives:

1. The students will recall what they experienced at the homeless shelter visit, through telling the teacher a story to write on the board.
2. The students will identify the vocabulary and spelling words they learned on a worksheet.

Background Information:

This activity can be used with students at any beginning to intermediate language level. The philosophy of language experience activities is to give the students a common experience through which they can create their own story, which will be used as the curriculum. Students appear to be much more motivated to learn when the lessons are about something they have experienced.

Concepts:

Students will be able to:

1. Orally communicate a story about their experience at the homeless shelter.
2. Build vocabulary and spelling words from the information in their story.

Materials:

1. Transportation to the homeless shelter
2. Paper and pencil
3. Chalk / Board
4. Written cloze worksheet

Procedure:

1. The students will visit a homeless shelter for one week during our class period.
2. The teacher will elicit language from the students about their experience.
3. The teacher will write a story about their experience at the homeless shelter on the board. The students will read through the story 2-3 times.
4. The teacher will have the students pick out words in their story that they do not completely understand and develop vocabulary words from the students list.
5. The teacher will have the students read through the story on the board and the students will develop a list of spelling words.
6. The teacher will ask the students to circle all of the words that begin with T and H.
The students will take turn circling the words.
7. The teacher will develop sentence strips of the story for the students. The students will take the sentence strips and put them in order to form the story.
8. The teacher will develop a "Bingo" game from the vocabulary and spelling words. The students will play "Bingo".

Assessment:

1. The students will orally communicate a story about their experience and explain it to the teacher so she/he can write it on the board.

2. The students will complete a written cloze worksheet, where the vocabulary and spelling words must be identified through filling in the blanks of the story.

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