Assignment:
The students will find an article and practice skimming and scanning. They will turn their homework in the following day.
Contingency plan:
If the activity goes well, two pairs discuss any answers that they disagree with. If there is enough time left, the pairs will receive a different article and continue this activity with another pair. If the class is small, the students can do this activity individually instead in pairs. This lesson could be used for advanced learners. For them, articles on more technical or academic issues are used.
Self-Evaluation:
It is very difficult for me to evaluate my lesson because I did not actually teach the lesson but only explained what I would do. Some people in the group had a few questions about the lesson mainly because I neglected to explain every single detail. For example, in the presentation section, I said I would actually show the students how to skim and scan, but I did not explain how exactly I would do that (I will use an overhead). Also for the communicative activity, I did not mention if I would check the students' answers or not (I will not do that because the purpose of this activity is not necessarily to get the right answers). These questions helped me to realize that I should have paid more attention to details to avoid confusion. I incorporated some suggestions that group members made. For instance, I decided to time the students when they skim and scan. I use bullet listing for warm-up and brainstorming for presentation. The group liked the "Agony Aunt" articles because they are not too difficult for intermediate students to read, and they are also interesting. They also liked the communicative activity because by making up their own questions on an article, the students have a purpose for skimming. In addition, those questions are practically used for the another pair to scan.