What Is Written In The Stars? Renee Tsai, 2014

國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
What Is Written In The Stars?
Renee Tsai, 2014
Lesson Overview
Subject: English
Grade: 1st graders in high school
Topic: Reading—What Is Written In The Stars?
Concepts: Part of speech (esp. adjectives); Descriptive sentence writing; Reading expository
essays
Essential Questions:
1. What and how are the English adjectives used to describe people’s physical appearances and
personalities?
2. How do astrologists categorize people and what are the personality traits (key words) that
distinguish one from the other?
3. How is the distinctiveness of each category illustrated in the reading? What supporting ideas
or facts are used?
4. Is it true that everything is written in the stars?
Objectives
Students will know
1. how western astrology came into being
2. the characteristics of people in different astrological categories
3. famous people that exhibit the typical personality traits as claimed by the astrologists
Students will understand
1. how to use English adjectives in descriptive writing
2. what techniques the author uses to describe people and back up their accounts with more
detailed facts and examples
3. the structure of and expository essay as well as paragraph writing
Students will be able to
1.
2.
3.
4.
use adjectives and the given sentence patterns correctly
categorize people, words, or better, concepts
show categorization by drawing a diagram
collaborate with students at different proficiency levels, with different /similar interests in
accomplishing their writing/reading/oral tasks
5. apply their acquired knowledge of astrology into real life and think critically
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Lesson Sequence
Lesson Sequence ( Time: 6 class periods)
Reflection
Resources:
There are six worksheets used in
the lesson plan: one for the
teaching of categorization and
adjectives for appearances and
personalities, one for the
vocabulary, one smiley word
game, one reading GO, one
psychological test, and one for
keeping record of students’
progress. Please see the
appendix.
San Min Textbook B1U6 What Is Written in the Stars?
Computers, Projectors, Blackboards, Worksheets
Who?
Two classes of 37 students participated in the lesson plan. Only
two of them passed the GEPT the basic level, five others took the
same test but failed, and the rest never took the test. Few of the
students have good command of English. The spelling is way below
average and the pronunciation is a big problem. They have trouble
with parts of speech, let alone making complete English sentences.
The very first word dictation test in the semester shows that both
classes are composed of students of varying proficiencies. To be
specific, in one class, 14 reached an accuracy of 70%, 21 below 40%,
with the remaining 3 in the middle. It is not surprising that most of
the time, a majority of students show bored faces in class.
Introduction
When the lesson plan was carried
out, I’d been working with these
students for more than two
months and had accumulated
some information about their
varied abilities. Measurement of
their readiness was based on their
performances in exams during
the first 1.5 months in the first
semester. With low proficiency
came low interest/ motivation.
Since it was impossible to meet
the needs of all the students with
one single instruction, it was
hoped that through flexible
grouping and a couple of tiered
activities, students would revive
their interest in the subject and
started learning from where they
had been.
To prompt their interest in the
Knowing thyself is the foundation of knowledge and key to success. lesson and to get them more
involved in the learning tasks,
Psychological tests are tools widely used to help us understand
some personal information was
ourselves but how about astrology? Every one of us is assigned a
gathered prior to the teaching of
star sign according to our birthday. Do you agree with whatever’s
the lesson, say their horoscopes.
said in the astrology book about you and your friends? Have you
ever tried to judge an acquaintance by his/her star sign? Are you in Also, a survey composed of 10
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
the habit of checking your horoscope forecast before you leave
home? How may astrological knowledge help improve your
relationship with others? In the end, we’ll check how likely it is to
guess at a person’s star sign by certain personality traits and discuss
if it’s sensible to approach a person by use of astrological
knowledge.
Teaching strategies and learning experiences
Prior to the lesson:
The psychological test (W4) was run on the students and collected
prior to the lesson. Also, students, divided into six heterogeneous
groups of 6 (one of 7; two students of the same readiness level in
each group) were asked to copy the new words listed in the
vocabulary on a card. Each group worked on a particular
part-of-speech (v. n. adj.), depending on their draw of luck. The
assignment was collected at the beginning in the first class period.
(1)
Students of the same group (the heterogeneous group) were seated
together and each of them was given a list of adjectives (W1).
Students’ task was to categorize those adjectives as required and
discussion over the appropriateness of the categorization was
encouraged. In the meantime, dictionaries of any kind were allowed.
Fifteen minutes later, from each group a student was randomly
selected to write down their chosen words for a designated cell
and then students were encouraged to comment on or modify the
given answers. The whole activity took up about 30 minutes and for
each correction of the spelling and misplacement of words, five
points were given to the group. Then each group should select from
the word bank (W1) six adjectives to describe their group, using “S
BeV/linking verb …. “. When the task was done, each group was
to read the sentences to the whole class. Review of the sentence
pattern “S BeV/linking verb …. “ was given by the teacher to the
whole class as a wrap-up. Before the class was dismissed, instruction
on the assignment (W2) was given. In brief, students were asked to
categorize the new words in the lesson into four groups (n. v. adj.
adv.) and copy them into the given table.
(2)
The second period started with a review of students’ assignment.
Students focused on the pronunciation of each word,
spelling-to-sound correspondence, stress, and syllable structures.
Moreover, students were to investigate nouns as well as adjectives
and reported the common adjective and noun inflections (-tion, -ive,
-al, -ic) they had found. Later, Students were divided into six groups
3
interesting psychological
questions was carried out.
All the activities in the lesson
revolving around personality traits
and the use of adjectives in
describing a person.
Flexible grouping was the major
concern in the lesson plan. For
fear that the lesson plan might
fail, students were informed of
the dynamic grouping prior to the
lesson. Also classroom
arrangement (chairs and desks)
had been illustrated and practiced
several times by the time the
lesson plan was put into practice.
A well-set environment helped
the teacher with the monitoring
of the students’ team work and
students, especially those with
poor motivation and attention,
could jump at the “learning track”
with better efficiency. Moreover,
the report cards were distributed
to the students in the first class
period and the students were told
to keep the cards at hand all the
time.
(1) group work >> whole class
Writing activity (30 mins) >> Oral
activity (10 mins) >> Teacher
wrap-up lecture (10 mins)
Generally speaking, students
were very excited about the
activity, for, first, five bonus
points meant a lot to them and
second, guessing at the
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
of six (one of seven), this time, homogenous ones. Cards of three
different colors (green, yellow and red) were distributed among the
groups such that low achievers got green cards, intermediate,
yellow, and high, red. Students were told to select items
corresponding to their color cards in the word jeopardy, and if they
got the question item right, they would get two points. However, if
they chose those questions from more-dangerous colors (red >
yellow > green), they would be given one extra point. On the
contrary, if they chose the less dangerous items, one point would be
deducted with one level decrease in danger. The word jeopardy
took up fifteen minutes. Students then moved on to do Worksheet
3, which was a review on the usage of adjectives. Students hand in
their W3 upon completion. Before the class was dismissed, students
were told to review the new words at home for a dictation test in
the next class period.
(3)
The third period started with the word dictation test. Students
needed to write down the English words as well as their Chinese
translation. During the test, where there were ambiguities, students
were encouraged to ask the teacher either to repeat the English
words or to explain in English the words’ meanings. After the
dictation test, students formed the homogenous group again and
their prior-to-the-lesson vocabulary cards were distributed among
the groups so that cards with adjectives were given to the low
achievers, nouns, the intermediate, and verbs, the high. They were
asked to first correct the spelling errors on the cards they got and
for each correction, a bonus point would be rewarded to each
member in the same group. Second, together they made 6
sentences with the 6 words they chose from the given cards. The
low achievers’ sentences consisted of no more than 7 words and
those sentences made by the high achievers should contain more
than 7 words. No such a limitation was given to the intermediate. In
the process, the teacher walked around the classroom constantly,
offering help and advice on the task. After twenty minutes, the
vocabulary cards as well as the 6 sentences (only one copy from
each group) were collected. Then they were told to bid farewell to
their partners and meet new friends. The new grouping was done
based on the psychological test result (grouping by personality or,
say, grouping by their favorite foods). For example, in Class A,
students scoring over 31 made up one group, two groups of
students with scores 26-30, two groups with scores 18-25, and one
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pronunciation of each word
became surprisingly fun to them.
I grew pickier and picker with
their pronunciation as the session
activity got closer to its end. Most
importantly, lower achievers
found that they were able to
“win” points for their groups.
will be exercised in the class.
Each student is required to make
a report card for him/herself
prior to the lesson. They are to
carry the report card with them
throughout the whole lesson.
The word jeopardy game is
designed in such a way that
questions items belong to three
different difficulty levels. Ten
items will be easy, ten
intermediate and five advanced.
(2) assignment check-up (5 mins)
>> oral activity (20 mins) >>
jeopardy (20 mins) >> writing (5
mins)
Students arranged their desks
prior to the class and were seated
with their group members as told.
My students had done word
jeopardy a couple of times but
this was the first time I
differentiated my teaching by
manipulating readiness and the
output. It took me a while to
explain the rule; however, it paid
off to run the activity, students
enjoyed the fun, even though it
actually was a review test on the
vocabulary.
As always, students had fun with
the word jeopardy game. Low
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
diverse group with varying scores. On their first encounter,
students read the first sentence “I am ___, ___, and ___”at the
bottom of W3 to their partners seated in front of them, while
keeping the second one a secret. The listeners, on the other hand,
were supposed to write down what they had heard and completed
the first and second sentences on W5. If they had trouble
understanding what their partners were saying, they could ask them
to either interpret or spell the word in English. They changed hands
when the teacher said “Change!” Then students exchanged their
worksheets to check the answers.
Then the modal auxiliaries were introduced. As one of the
auxiliaries “might” was used in the second sentence on the
worksheet. Students were presented with the following words
and told that they were arranged in terms of order of probability.
(The instruction was given in Chinese.)
must > can may > could might (in the order of
probability)
S + must / can / may / could / might + VR
To check if students really got the point, two more examples were
given.
achievers enjoyed it more than
the high.
(3) individual work (15 mins) >>
group writing (20 mins) >> pair
oral activity (5 mins) >> whole
class (10 mins)
This was not my first time to ask
students to move desks and
switch seats in the middle of the
class. Students could be very
quick after one or two practices.
To save time, make sure to tell
the students the “necessities” they
needed to bring with them for
before going into action. Another
solution to teaching with flexible
grouping was to illustrate to the
students your ideal seat
arrangement with a drawing at the
beginning of the semester and
told the students no matter which
group they were assigned to, they
1. Joseph is wearing a mask. He (may / could) be sick.
2. Joseph keeps looking at the beauty sitting next to him. He (must needed to set the desks and
chairs as illustrated and before
/ could) want to have her cell number.
they headed for their destination.
Exercises A & B on p. 110, SanMin textbook were given as an
assignment for today.
Usually I chose only 10 words for
the dictation test. A quiz like this
took up less class time and made
grading easy for the teacher. I’d
(4)
conducted this activity in my class
The fourth class began with a review on students’ assignment. A
brief instruction on the pattern “S + must / can / may / could / might for long and my purpose of
running this activity had changed
have + p.p.” using the fourth item in Exercise A as an example. In
short, students were told that when they were making guesses on a from a test on students’ memory
past event or fact, they should add “have” after the modal auxiliaries for words to one that served
double purposes—to help
followed by a past participle. The following examples was given:
students improve their English
listening ability and to teach
(i) Tina didn’t return my call yesterday. She ___________ (be
collocation of important words.
angry) at me.
Students, regardless of their
(ii) Tina couldn’t find her purse. It ____________ (be stolen).
readiness / proficiency levels,
enjoyed looking for mistakes on
The teacher then led students to read through the first three
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
paragraphs. Next, students, as a group (psy group), read through
paragraphs 4-7 and completed the first 4 columns of the graphic
organizer. Also they were reminded to put ONLY adjectives in the
column “personality traits”. They were given 20 minutes to
complete the task. Dictionaries of any kind were allowed. One
worksheet was collected from each group and the teacher went
through the answers with the whole class. For this first check-up for
the third column, the major purpose was to distinguish adjectives
from non-adjectives. Finally, students counted for each astrological
category the number of people in their group and indicated the
numbers in the first column. One more worksheet was randomly
collected from each group.
the given cards. They happily
turned the pages and double
checked every single word. As for
the sentence making, those of the
intermediate level, easily
accomplish the task while groups
of the other two readiness level
suffered a bit. It was necessary to
walk around the classroom and,
observe students’ team work, and
offer timely support.
The first encounter greeting
activity was more interesting to
the students than I had expected.
(5)
Because some students stumbled
Students’ half-done GOs were graded and returned to them. The
over the selection of “He” or
teacher commented on the students’ work for the third column
“She,” partly due to English
“personality traits.” Proper adjectives were offered to help
proficiency and partly to teen
students express their ideas. The work was complicated and took
temperament, I guessed.
up 15 minutes of the class time. Then the instruction on the
However, as expected, many
second sentence pattern was given.
students spelled the words to
their partners after one or two
(i) People say that S + V ….
failed attempts at “reading the
(ii) It is said that S + V ….
sentence.”
(iii)S is / are said to VR ….
For convenience, grouping by
psychological test was done with
For example,
the restriction on the number of
(i) People say that a Taurus is hard-working. They seldom go on a
students in a group. For one
vacation.
class, the size of group ranged
(ii) It is said that a Taurus is hard-working. They seldom go on a
from 5 to 7; for the other,
vacation.
however, the old grouping model
(iii) A Taurus is said to be hard working. They seldom go on a
was observed.
vacation.
Students thought the English
interpretation during the word
Following this, students accomplished Column 5 in the graphic
dictation test very useful.
organizer by modeling on the given examples; that is, to back up
However, it seemed that such a
their first statement, students should give a supporting sentence
based on what they had learned from the reading. Students did the move was of very little help to the
first cell with the help of the teacher. After accomplishing Column 5, exceptionally low achievers.
These students always
students did the fourth item at the top of W5. Worksheets were
collected for grading. The teacher used 3 minutes to go through the complained about their poor
memory and believing good
last paragraph. The teacher made a brief comment on the lesson,
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
questioning the belief “Your star says who you are.” Exercise A p.
108 was given as an assignment for today.
strategies could compensate for
the memory problem, I played
video clips featuring word
learning strategies once but so far
(6) closure
I hadn’t seen any pleasant and
All the graded worksheets were returned to the students. The
concrete effects on these low
teacher went through students’ problems / mistakes on the fifth
achievers. One student showed
column of the GO on W5 and then ran the second star-sign
jeopardy, “Guess who?” In the activity, students guessed at the name impressive progress with the
guidance and help of her peer
and the fewer the clues they used, the more points they got. The
mentor. It seemed that these
clues included information about the target person’s astrological
students required one-on-one
category, star sign, personality, and appearance. Following the
activity, students were kindly asked to accomplish their report cards peer teaching.
and commented on the truthfulness of astrological prediction. The (4) individual work (10 mins) >>
whole class (10 mins) >> group
question for the critical thinking was “ Is it true that your
work (20 mins) >> whole class (8
personality is written in your star?”
mins) >> group work (2 mins)
As expected Column 3 were
replete with mistakes. Team work
went less well than before. It
might be that a reading task like
this was too challenging / difficult.
Among all the grouping models,
this psy group received the least
fondness from the students. To
me, this was fine and served as
very good evidence for the idea
“Little about us is written in the
stars.” However, this
compromised students’ fun and
effectiveness in learning.
(5) whole class (20 mins) >>
group work (20 mins) >> whole
class (10 mins)
The review on the answers for
the column “personality traits”
was as challenging as expected. At
first, students were encouraged to
refer to W1 for proper adjectives.
However, it was time-consuming
so the teacher offered quick
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
answers to the students.
The class was the most difficult
one to the students. In fact, GO
had been ranked top 3 difficult
tasks by my students.
(6) individual work
Students enjoyed “Guess Who?”
game very much and they
reported that they learned more
about personality traits and star
signs after the game. Sadly, due to
limited time, discussion over the
question “Is it true that your
personality is written in your
star?” was wrapped in haste.
Good news was that a couple of
students were willing to share
their ideas on the issue after class.
Students’ Work
Fig 1. A photo of categorization of personality / appearance adjectives
8
Fig. 2. Accomplished W1 sample
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Fig. 3 Accomplished W2 sample
Fig. 5 Accomplished W3 sample
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Fig. 4 The 6-sentence activity (high achievers)
Fig. 6 Accomplished W4 sample
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Fig. 7 Accomplished W5 sample-1
Fig. 8 Accomplished W5 sample-2
Students’ feedback
Fig. 9 Due to the limited time, the last two columns were left undone. Besides, it seemed weird to me to ask students to
comment on their learning activities after a delay. All in all, most of the students enjoyed the activities I prepared for them in
the lesson.
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
In addition to the given comments on each activity (Fig. 9), students’ feedbacks on flexible grouping,
specifically the heterogeneous grouping, homogeneous grouping, and psy grouping, were collected. The
homogeneous grouping enjoyed the greatest popularity among the students, followed by the
heterogeneous grouping with the psy grouping lagging behind. The survey (W7) regarding their views on
how group work (collaboration) helped with their learning showed that a majority of students strongly
agreed that working with their peers significantly boosted their learning (60%), motivation in learning
(51%), performance in class (63%), comprehension of teachers’ lectures, and relationship with their
classmates (77%). Mostly importantly the bonding they formed in class went beyond class (61%). Not
surprisingly, 57% of the students reported that they liked to work with high flyers. Few (29%) reported
unfair grading by working as a group. Obviously teens needed peer support in many aspects in their life,
including learning.
Teacher’s Reflection
According to Vygotsky (1978), learning accelerates in the learners’ zone of proximal development;
namely, students’ learning will take off and hopefully, grow to its fullest, if proper intervention is offered.
Following this line of thinking, students’ learning is the most effective when they learn from where they
are. Moreover, students learn best when they are in a comfortable and supportive environment. However,
it seems impossible for a teacher to create a comfortable effective learning environment and conduct a
single teaching activity that meets all the individual needs in a class of about 40 students at the same time.
A differentiated instruction classroom appears to be the solution (Tomlinson, 1999).
At work in the classroom, teachers are alone, struggling to bring everything in the textbook together
in their instruction and make “learning” happen. It takes superb, if not supernatural, power to attain such a
goal alone. The best way to save “normal” teachers from such a lonely, if not helpless, situation is the
assistance from the students, since they are the only people who are present at the scene. Simply putting
students in a group and expecting learning to happen is naïve despite the well-established finding that
students’ performance improves when they work with their peers. Grouping requires a good reason and
taxes on the teachers’ wisdom. To most teachers, grouping has been a headache, for there are so many
factors to be taken into consideration, like students’ cognitive abilities, interests, affective needs, etc. A
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
bad grouping brings to the classroom more problems. Besides, a fixed grouping makes a dangerous
breeding ground for typical problems such as unfair grading, peer discrimination, prejudice, etc. To avoid
these possible problems, the lesson plan centers on how flexible grouping could be exercised in standard
EFL classrooms and hopefully, it could bring about a better understanding of the relationship between
grouping and learning in various aspects such as vocabulary, reading, writing, etc.
Flexible grouping seemed to do magic in a mixed-ability classroom, for it took care of great
individual differences while avoiding problems mentioned in the above. However, it was easy for students
to get lost in the process in such a dynamic classroom. Good preparation was the only key to success in
teaching with flexible grouping. The lesson plan was done and reviewed half a month before it was
carried out, which highly increased the chance of success. Students’ help was another important factor so
before the execution of the lesson plan communications between the teacher and the students should be
carefully taken care of. Last but not least, instructions prior to each activity should be clear enough.
Repeated instruction is not a waste of time, so do it when it’s necessary.
Thanks to my students’ help, I have a really pleasant teaching experience with flexible grouping.
Also from their smiles and laughter, I know, just like me, they also enjoy the new learning experience. It
is a pity that few photos are included in the report because I was so preoccupied with the teaching in the
process that I forgot all about picture taking. Usually my students are my photographers but they are also
completely engaged in their learning, which is the major goal of the lesson plan. As for their academic
performance, they did just fine in the following midterm as usual.
References
Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of all Learners.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press.
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國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Appendix
Worksheet (W1)
Class
adorable
attractive
beautiful
bossy
brave
careless
caring
chubby
clever
communicative
compassionate
considerate
cute
determined
down-to-earth
easy-going
enthusiastic
friendly
generous
gorgeous
Adjectives
Positive
Group
greedy
handsome
hard-working
harsh
helpful
honest
humorous
impatient
independent
insecure
Name
intelligent
jealous
large
moody
muscular
obese
optimistic
ordinary
outgoing
pessimistic
picky
plain
possessive
pretty
proud
quick-tempered
rude
selfish
shallow
short
No.
skinny
slender
stocky
straightforward
stubborn
superficial
tall
thin
trustworthy
unreliable
Negative
Appearance
Personality
Others
1. We are a __________ group.
2. We are ________________ students.
3. We look _______________.
13
4. But sometimes we are
_______________.
5. However, we remain
___________ because we are
________________________.
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Worksheet (W2) Class
Noun
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
14
Verb
Group
Adj.
Name
Adv.
No.
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Worksheet (W3) Class
Group
Name
I am __________, _____________, and _______________.
I am ________________________. (What is your star sign?)
15
No.
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Worksheet (W4) Class
Group
Name
No.
Psychological Test
1. 早上起床之後 通常吃什麼當早點?
蛋和吐司---3
麥片------1
汽水---------6
什麼都不吃--2
2. 如果你可以選任何一樣你想吃的東西當早點你會選擇什麼?
蛋和吐司--2
其它別種東西-1
汽水--------3
蛋糕-------4
3. 午餐時?你會...
不吃東西 因為太忙或擔心體重---2
吃你想了一個早上想吃的東西----1
吃自己帶來的食物---------3
問朋友要吃什麼 再一起去吃-----4
4. 一位朋友請你吃一些她/他帶來的食物 你會...
吃一小口 因為實在太餓了-------3
為了保持禮貌 只吃一小口--------1
拒絕他/她的好意 因為你正在減肥-----2
吃兩口--------------------------6
5. 你未來的男/女朋友請你吃一樣 東西 你想那會是什麼?
一塊蛋糕----1
一顆蘋果-----2 一片批薩-----5 一個胡蘿蔔-3
6. 你的狗對你奮力搖尾巴 企圖引起你的注意 你會給他...
給他一塊狗餅乾----3
一些蛋糕 ----1
什麼都不給 拍拍他就好----4
什麼都不給 還把他趕開 因為你認為不能讓你的狗養成要什麼有什麼的壞習慣----2
7. 夢中 你正在一家全世界最棒的餐廳裡 你想你會點...
菜單上列的每道菜 反正是做夢嘛!!-----2
一個大盤 裡面什麼東西都有的沙拉 --1
牛排-----------3
一個會讓你多長很多肥油的點心------4
8. 在一個熱帶島上 你覺得什麼食物是你一定要吃到的?
水果和蔬菜---4
肉和馬鈴薯---3
冰淇淋 巧克力和蛋糕? ---2
中國菜----5
9. 你現在是一個嬰兒 你媽媽正在餵你吃...
嬰兒麥片或嬰兒食物---6
肉和馬鈴薯-----4
綠色花椰菜------8
什麼都沒有 你媽正在做別的事------2
10. 你現在是六歲的小孩 你爸爸正在餵你吃...
批薩---------7
16
義大利麵-----5
泡泡糖 ------1
胡蘿蔔-------3
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Worksheet (W5) Class
Group
Name
No.
1. He / She is __________, _________, and ___________.
2.He might be a(n) ________________ because people say that
________________________________________________________(S + V ….)
3.Q: How would you describe yourself?
A: I am __________, __________, and __________.
4. After learning this lesson, I don’t think he / she is a(n) ___________________.
He / she must be a(n) __________ because he / she is __________, __________,
and __________. It is reported that ______________________________________
(S + V ….)
Graphic organizer of the reading
Category
17
Star signs
Personality
Famous
Adjectives to
traits
people in this
describe
category
these people
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Worksheet (W6)
B1U6 Report Card
1
Task
W1
What did I learn?
Class
Name
No.
Who did I help? How did I feel? How was my work?
☺
2
W2
☺
3
W3
☺
4
W5
☺
5
T1
☺
6
J1
☺
7
J2
☺
8
T2
☺
General
Comment
18
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
The two jeopardy games
Vocabulary Jeopardy
Guess Who? Jeopardy
19
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
(W7) A questionnaire regarding students’ views on grouping
Class
Name
No.
在參加過各種不同的分組上課活動後，我對分組上課的看法……
(1 表示非常不同意 5 表示非常同意)
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10.
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19.
20
21
22
23
24
25
Items
我覺得分組上課對於我上課的學習態度有幫助。
我覺得分組上課對於我的課業成績有幫助。
我非常了解我在小組裡面所扮演的角色以及應該做的事。
我覺得小組成員在課堂內外都願意協助我解決課業上的問題。
我希望放學後也能跟小組成員透過其他管道如網路討論功課。
我覺得我對小組的貢獻很高。
我覺得分組人數以 1) 2 人 2) 4 人 3) 6 人 4) 沒意見 最恰當。
我希望我有更多機會自己完成老師指派的課業任務。
我較能從單獨作業中獲得成就感。
我覺得分組合作對於我的生字學習有幫助。
我覺得分組合作對於我的文法、句型學習有幫助。
我覺得分組合作對於我的課文學習有幫助。
我覺得分組合作可以幫助我了解老師的講課。
我覺得分組合作促進我跟同學的感情。
我覺得分組合作讓我在課業有困難時比較能夠堅持努力不放棄。
我覺得無論有沒有分組合作我的課業成績都一樣。
我覺得因為分組合作造成小組成員成績都一樣很不公平。
我覺得因為有各種不同的分組型式，所以我的成績不受小組成員的影響，
評量很合理。
我覺得跟程度好的學生同一組對於我的學習較有幫助。
我覺得老師的分組跟我期待不同對於我的學習有害。
我覺得老師的分組跟我期待不同但我可以慢慢適應。
我希望能夠自行選擇小組成員。
我覺得如果每次都自行選擇小組成員我會因為找小組成員而感到困擾。
我覺得如果自行選擇小組成員，成績評量會不公平。
其他
20
1 2 3 4 5
國立北門高級農工職業學校 蔡淑華
Sanmin Book1 Unit 6 What Is Written in the Stars?
Reading
Astrology is everywhere. Open a newspaper or talk to a friend, and you will
surely see it or hear about it.
The Chaldeans are said to have been the first to have practiced Western astrology.
They looked at the sky and recorded what they saw. In 1930, when Britain’s Princess
Margaret was born, a newspaper published the astrological predictions for her life.
It led to a surprising wave of public interest in astrology. Soon after, reading and
learning about astrology became popular.
Like Princess Margaret, everyone has a star sign that corresponds to his or her
birthday. Each sign belongs to one of the four categories: fire, earth, air, or water. If
two people are born under signs in the same category, they might share
similar personality traits.
For example, fire-sign people are often enthusiastic and energetic. With these
personality traits, they usually make great leaders. Some famous examples
are Napoleon Bonaparte and Winston Churchill.
People born under earth signs tend to make plans before they take action. They
follow their plans and are often successful in reaching their goals. These personality
traits are illustrated in the lives of Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, and Kobe
Bryant.
Air-sign people are often friendly and communicative. They are eager to gain
knowledge and always find things to learn in new experiences. These people are
often surrounded by friends. Oscar Wilde, Abraham Lincoln, and Oprah Winfrey are
in this category.
Usually, people born under water signs tend to be sensitive to the needs of others.
They like to follow their hearts instead of their minds. They are highly imaginative
and often find great pleasure in art and writing. These personality traits are easy to
discover when you read a novel by Ernest Hemingway or Amy Tan, or when you take
some time to enjoy Claude Monet’s or Pablo Picasso’s paintings.
So, next time you are not quite sure of yourself, why not look at the sky on
a starry night? The stars may open your eyes to new ways of looking at yourself.
—By Jules Crowell