Name of the Teacher Date Level of the class Length of lesson
Estelle Terblanche 24/02/2024 B2 – Upper-Intermediate 60 minutes
Lesson Type:
Four Skills - Reading
Lesson Topic:
How is sign language adapting to climate change
Lesson Aims: Lesson Outcomes:
By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to… By the end of the lesson, students will have…
Understand an authentic piece of writing by using reading Read and understand the topic of adapting sign language to
techniques such as reading for gist and reading for detail. climate change.
Read the text to identify some specific information in the reading
piece.
Understand the target vocabulary
Anticipated difficulties: Suggested solutions:
1. Students might struggle with understanding and 1. Use the vocabulary in context during discussions and
remembering scientific and technical vocabulary related to activities to reinforce understanding.
climate change and sign language.
2. Emphasise that the focus is on understanding the
2. Students might not have prior knowledge of sign language, importance of accessibility rather than mastering sign
making it challenging to understand its adaption (not language itself.
speaking sign language, just the knowledge of it).
3. Encourage quiet students to contribute by asking open-
3. Some students may be hesitant to actively participate in ended questions and giving them time to think before
group discussions. responding.
pg. 1 Lesson plan V260423
, 4. In Italian, when you ask a question, the words don’t change 4. Teacher asks the questions with the emphasis on the
their position and you can recognise a question by the correct places to indicate to the student that a question is
intonation. But, in English, the structure of the sentence asked, and not just a statement made. Also use question
change when you ask a question. This can be confusing for words and tags at the beginning or end of the question.
the students as they would struggle to know when a
question is asked, or when there is simply just a statement 5. I will repeat the words a few times and get students to then
given. repeat these words after me. Drilling will come in handy
here, and I can also refer to the phonetic chart if needed.
5. As mentioned above, these are Italian students, so
pronunciation might be difficult to some students. 6. Help students understand that the purpose of the activity is
to help with reading for information. For that we need to
6. Students might find it difficult at first to read for scan and understand the text in full.
understanding and specific facts (scanning). They might only
skim the text and loose interest. 7. With the introduction I will already make it clear that we
are having an English reading lesson, and get the students
7. All students speak the same L1, so it might be easier to excited about it.
speak in their own language at first and not the English
language.
Authentic Text (insert reading text here or link to the listening recording)
How is sign language adapting to climate change?
For deaf children, teachers and scientists, talking about things like "greenhouse gases" or "carbon footprint" used to mean spelling
out long, complex scientific terms, letter by letter.
Now they are among 200 environmental science terms that have their own new official signs in British Sign Language (BSL).
The deaf scientists and sign language experts behind the update hope the new vocabulary will make it possible for deaf people to fully
participate in discussions about climate change, whether it's in the science lab or classroom.
"We're trying to create the perfect signs that visualise scientific concepts," explains Dr Audrey Cameron.
pg. 2 Lesson plan V260423
Estelle Terblanche 24/02/2024 B2 – Upper-Intermediate 60 minutes
Lesson Type:
Four Skills - Reading
Lesson Topic:
How is sign language adapting to climate change
Lesson Aims: Lesson Outcomes:
By the end of the lesson, students will be better able to… By the end of the lesson, students will have…
Understand an authentic piece of writing by using reading Read and understand the topic of adapting sign language to
techniques such as reading for gist and reading for detail. climate change.
Read the text to identify some specific information in the reading
piece.
Understand the target vocabulary
Anticipated difficulties: Suggested solutions:
1. Students might struggle with understanding and 1. Use the vocabulary in context during discussions and
remembering scientific and technical vocabulary related to activities to reinforce understanding.
climate change and sign language.
2. Emphasise that the focus is on understanding the
2. Students might not have prior knowledge of sign language, importance of accessibility rather than mastering sign
making it challenging to understand its adaption (not language itself.
speaking sign language, just the knowledge of it).
3. Encourage quiet students to contribute by asking open-
3. Some students may be hesitant to actively participate in ended questions and giving them time to think before
group discussions. responding.
pg. 1 Lesson plan V260423
, 4. In Italian, when you ask a question, the words don’t change 4. Teacher asks the questions with the emphasis on the
their position and you can recognise a question by the correct places to indicate to the student that a question is
intonation. But, in English, the structure of the sentence asked, and not just a statement made. Also use question
change when you ask a question. This can be confusing for words and tags at the beginning or end of the question.
the students as they would struggle to know when a
question is asked, or when there is simply just a statement 5. I will repeat the words a few times and get students to then
given. repeat these words after me. Drilling will come in handy
here, and I can also refer to the phonetic chart if needed.
5. As mentioned above, these are Italian students, so
pronunciation might be difficult to some students. 6. Help students understand that the purpose of the activity is
to help with reading for information. For that we need to
6. Students might find it difficult at first to read for scan and understand the text in full.
understanding and specific facts (scanning). They might only
skim the text and loose interest. 7. With the introduction I will already make it clear that we
are having an English reading lesson, and get the students
7. All students speak the same L1, so it might be easier to excited about it.
speak in their own language at first and not the English
language.
Authentic Text (insert reading text here or link to the listening recording)
How is sign language adapting to climate change?
For deaf children, teachers and scientists, talking about things like "greenhouse gases" or "carbon footprint" used to mean spelling
out long, complex scientific terms, letter by letter.
Now they are among 200 environmental science terms that have their own new official signs in British Sign Language (BSL).
The deaf scientists and sign language experts behind the update hope the new vocabulary will make it possible for deaf people to fully
participate in discussions about climate change, whether it's in the science lab or classroom.
"We're trying to create the perfect signs that visualise scientific concepts," explains Dr Audrey Cameron.
pg. 2 Lesson plan V260423
