Valentine’s Day

Chantelle Innocent

Grade Level:	Academic SHS. Girls
Skills:	Writing
Materials:	Worksheet (x2)
AIM:	To write a short poem about Love

Procedure:

Greeting (5-8m)

Good morning etc. (ALT says this in a VERY sad tone of voice, looking uninterested in the class and staring out of the window) Ss to greet each other as usual (at this point, they'll be wondering what's wrong with the ALT). JTE asks "what's the matter" and the ALT asks the students if they know what day it is (Valentine’s Day).

The ALT then briefly explains that traditionally in Britain men give gifts to girls… not only chocolate, but flowers, cards, teddies, etc. (add a bit of drama and pretend to cry!) Allow for questions, talk about your teenage years and converse with the Ss.

Rhymes worksheet (10-15m)

Explain what rhyming is and give a few examples. If they don’t get it, ask the JTE to explain.

Get Ss into groups of 4.

Sts are to answer the Valentine’s Day questions by finding the rhymes.

Do the first one or two as a class.

Encourage them to read the sentences out loud as they are more likely to guess the answers. Class answer check – everyone answers.

Poem lead in (7-10m)

Write “What is love?” in big letters on the blackboard.

Ss briefly discuss in pairs what they think love is (Japanese is OK).

Feedback – ask students what they think. JTE writes opinions on the board in simple English (like a bubble chart). Then tell the Ss your thoughts.

Poem (15m)

Explain that they are to write their own poems beginning each sentence with love is.

Write:

Then using Ss' ideas from the bubble chart give some examples of longer sentences.

Then read out the whole poem. Then let them write!

WORKSHEETS and HANDOUTS

The rhyme practice worksheet is here:

http://teachingactivities.pbwiki.com/f/valentinesday_cinnocent.doc

And a supplementary worksheet by Jonathan Shepard is here