Inching through oral language for ESOL students

This lesson will use the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle to help the student use clear and precise language to demonstrate comprehension.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts

By Angela Goldberg

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Related topics

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Learning outcomes

Students will be able to retell the sequence of events from the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle by using an individually created book.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

1 hour

Materials/resources

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
• days of the week written on 5×8 index cards (for each child or a set for a small group)
• pictures of all foods mentioned in the book glued to individual index cards (same amount as above)
• paper
• scissors
• glue
• crayons
• pencils

Pre-activities

• The students must know the days of the weeks and understand the word “order.” The student must be able to recognize the foods from the story (Some ESOL students may need an introduction to the types of foods).
• The words “first, second, next and last” should be introduced, if not already familiar.

Activities

1. Tell the students that they are going to learn how to retell things in order/sequence using clear words by reading about a very special caterpillar.
2. The teacher should ask questions relevant to the topic. For example:
   • Access prior knowledge of days of weeks (during calendar time)
   • Do you think that each day you do things in order? What do you do when you get to school first - eat breakfast or play outside?
   • What do you do at home when you first get up in the morning?
   • Do you think animals might do things in order? Do you think a caterpillar might have breakfast, lunch and dinner like we do?
3. Do a picture walk through The Very Hungry Caterpillar discussing and focusing on what the caterpillar ate each day.
4. Read the story The Very Hungry Caterpillar
5. After discussing the book, have the students recall what it means to put something in order. Discuss the words “first, second, next and last.”
6. Give the students the days of the week cards and the picture cards. Tell students to match the food to the correct day of the week and put in the correct order that things happened. Let the students use the book as a cheat sheet the first time. Have the students do the activity a second time without the book. After each student has placed items in the correct order, glue each set of correct matches onto a separate sheet of paper. Bind the pages together to form the book. A book cover with a caterpillar can be added to the book by the student if desired.
7. Once the book has been bound, have each student or pair of students can retell the story using his book as cue cards. The teacher should ask questions to prompt clear and precise language. The teacher may need to model first. Also, have the students tell the story to each other.
8. Also, the teacher can compare and contrast on a “T” chart what she ate this week versus what the caterpillars ate.

Assessment

The teacher will listen for correct language during each retell. Each retell will also determine the level of comprehension by the student. The students have the completed book for the concrete check of comprehension. Teachers can also tape record students to grade for oral accuracy and comprehension of the story. The T-chart completed by the teacher and the class can also serve as a way of getting a concrete measurement of the comprehension of the the story.

Supplemental information

Comments

This lesson plan can be adapted to work for most ESOL students at the K-1 level. The teacher will need to modify as needed. Some students may need more assistance and may need more practice than others. The students must be at a moderate level of speaking English.