What beliefs/assumptions about teaching listening underlie this lesson?

That listening as an activity, while closely tied to the other four skills, can be isolated in an exercise to spotlight certain aural factors in the language. That there is value to focusing on the sound of the language first in isolation, and then as it relates to its other forms. That learning to distinguish between ways of pronunciation is a helpful tool for people in Mexico who intend to go to the US.

Why did you make the choices you did in planning the lesson?

I began with an area of passion for me: folklore. In class when we talked about music and the idea of planning an aural-based lesson, it popped into my mind. Not only am I somewhat knowledgeable about folklore in general, but my interest stems from its value in bringing to life universal themes. John Henry is about the struggle between the individual and institutions more powerful: a theme that I expect will ring true to Mexicans as it does to many Americans. Another reason I went with this topic is that people love stories — particularly those with symbolic meaning they can tie to their lives. This lesson combines speech and music, which makes it richer. And it is a platform on which I could, in theory and if appropriate, build a whole series of threaded exercises, with a grammatical, cultural, phonetic or other theme at its core and the story as the glue.

I made the choice to focus only on the phonology of just one pair of words because it was so specific, particularly for an intro lesson, increasing the likelihood that Ss would have some success or at least comprehension at this early phase of the exercise. The lesson points to information that successfully transfers to other areas of language listening.

What did you learn from teaching the lesson to your peers?  What did you learn from their feedback?  Will you change anything next time you teach this lesson?  What?

I learned that in general they were inspired by the idea, which was great. Because of their feedback, I will focus more narrowly (as reflected in this updated lesson plan) on phonology. My original plan had been also to have students listen for tone and cadence, but now that will go in a separate lesson. They told me that I needed to present more context before beginning the lesson, which I will do. One of them suggested I move the lesson from listening and speaking to writing. While I think that’s a good idea, I think I wouldn’t do that initially (beyond writing the words “John Henry” on the blackboard along with any words they heard that they were curious about. So my peers’ feedback was really useful.

What 1-3 questions about your plan would you like Elizabeth to answer?

• Does this look like an appropriate Lesson One for a listening section for my Mexican students in Pachuca?
• Does it seem, as I think it does, to be a good platform on which to build a small handful of other lessons that expand and extend other of the four skills? E.g. getting them to write about one of their folk legends, or having them write a story about an experience they’ve had when they’ve been victorious over forces more powerful — simultaneously focusing on a language issue to be determined?