Thematic Unit for ESL Reading and Writing Course

Course Description
This College Academic English for Reading and Writing course is an obligatory course
that worth 3 credits per semester in a university located in China. It is designed for the highintermediate level EFL undergraduate students (not majoring in English programs but other
programs) from this university. All the students first language is Mandarin Chinese. The class is
based on the needs analysis of students. Students meet in this class twice per week on Tuesday
10:30am-11:30am and Friday 3:00pm-4:00pm. The lesson includes individual work, small group
work and whole class work.
The overall goals of this course are to enable students to improve reading comprehension
ability as well as to conduct writings in academic and daily life related topics accurately and
appropriately. After completing the semester successfully at the end, students are expected to 1)
acquire at least 300 new words and be able to apply them in discourses; 2) manage native-like
writing skills; 3) be able to read and write in all types of topics accurately, fluently with
confidence.
This thematic unit mainly contains the introduction of Bull Framework and transitional
words and phrases that aim to help students organize the reading comprehension and writing. It
is divided into four 60-minute reading and writing lessons. The goal for the four lessons is to
enable students to use the framework and transitional words accurately and appropriately. That is
to say, the objectives of the four lessons are: 1) Students will be able to shift tenses and choose
appropriate transitional words in discourses. 2) Students are expected to achieve 80% of

accuracy in the pop quiz at the end of the four lessons. 3) Students will be able to give wellfounded reason how and why they organize their articles and comprehend information.
This thematic unit will be introduced at the second half of the semester, after students
have been taught the fundamental linguistic knowledge such as basic vocabulary, basic syntax,
language function, etc. Most ESL/EFL learners are confused by the shifting tenses when
narrating events and could possibly use the wrong transitional words. However, it is very
important for ESL learner to master the usage of the Bull Framework and transitional words due
to the fact that they are frequently used in academic works. Mastering of this kind of knowledge
based on the fundamental English linguistic knowledge can greatly benefit undergraduate
ESL/EFL students academic achievements.
The dominant teaching method in this course is communicative language teaching
approach due to the nature of this course (focus on nurturing listening and speaking skills). Being
able to communicate required more than mastering linguistic structure, due to the fact that
language was fundamentally social (Halliday, 1973). It required communicative competence,
which means knowing when and how to say what to whom (Hymes, 1971). By actively
practicing communicative activities, students will gain the ability to work with linguistic
contents cohesively and coherently. The bottom-up approach will help students learn the target
language piece by piece and then work to put the pieces in place, constructing whole meaningful
texts out of the pieces (Diane Larsen-Freeman & Marti Anderson, 2011). For example, students
will first be exposed to explicit grammatical rules and be taught deductively with the facilitation
of explanation of L1, then, they will be required to apply the linguistic contents (relative clauses)
to practical communicative activities.

The following principles adapted from a pedagogical principle list (Nation, 1993), and
they provided supportive guidelines for the designing process of this course instruction: 1)
Support and push learners to produce output in a variety of appropriate genres. Various types of
communicative activities such as debating, presentations, etc. will be used in this course to
encourage students to speak English. 2) Provide opportunities for cooperative interaction. Most
of the in-class activities require team work, therefore, students will be able to retain knowledge
under diversified topics and activities.

References:
Halliday, M. A. K. 1973. Explorations in the Functions of Language. London: Edward Arnold.
Hymes, D. 1971. Competence and performance in linguistic theory in R. Huxley and E. Ingram
(eds.). Language Acquisition: Models and Methods, 3-28. London: Academic Press.
Diane, L. F. and Marti, A. 2011. Techniques & Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford:
University Press.
Nation, I. S. P. 1993. Sixteen principles of language teaching. In L. Bauer and C. Franzen (eds.),
Of Pavlova, Poetry and Paradigms: Essays in Honor of Harry Orsman (pp209-224). Wellington:
Victoria University Press.

60-Minute Reading and Writing Lesson Plan

Brief Description of Classroom Setting:
- 10 high-intermediate EFL learners of L1 back ground of Mandarin Chinese
- Students meet in this class twice per week on Tuesday 10:30am-11:30am and Friday 3:00pm4:00pm.
- A reading and writing lesson focusing on Bull Framework and transitional words/phrases aim to
build the practical, efficient lexical and reading and writing competency. In other words, students
will be able to shift tenses and choose appropriate transitional words in discourses and give wellfounded reason how and why they organize their articles and comprehend information.
- Includes individual work, small group work and whole class work.

Pre-lesson Inventory:
Language objective: Students will be able to shift tenses in conducting discourse.
Content objective: Students will be able to describe life experiences properly and accurately
and comprehend the lesson(s) that they have learned from these experiences.
Materials to take to class: 10 copies of handouts, 10 blank sheets, whiteboard markers.
Equipment needed for class: Laptop for video player and PowerPoint presentation.
Assignments to collect from students: None.
Special room arrangement: None.

Activity 1: Warm-up (5 minutes)

Purpose: To introduce the topic of todays lesson.
Procedure:
- Greet the class. Write down the goals of the lesson on the board and announce the goals and
objectives to the class.
- Instructor will show a short clip of Colorado State University Campus Tour video on YouTube.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FJZRZ5eXa4)
- After showing the video, instructor will ask students how they feel about the clip and invite
students to talk about their life on campus.

Transition: Tell students that they are going to learn how to structure their experience and
opinions in a time sequenced framework.

Activity 2: Introduction of the Bull Framework (15 minutes)

Purpose: To introduce students the use of Bull Framework to help organize their writing.
Procedure:
- Give out handouts. Show the Bull Framework on the PowerPoint.
- Introduce how this framework can be used in writing process and explain the reason to the
students.
- Ask students to compose simple sentences to demonstrate the framework.
Transition: Notify students to pay attention to how this framework can be used in the upcoming
activity.

Activity 3: Tense Correction (15 minutes)

Purpose: Ensure that students are able to comprehend the information and tell the difference of
tense shifts in discourse.
Procedure:
- Give out handouts. Explain how the activity works.
- Students will take turns to read each sentence at a time.
- The rest of the class need to decide whether the sentence used the correct tense or not. If not,
rephrase the sentence with a proper tense.
- After correcting the whole paragraph, students need to read the new paragraph together.
Transition: Tell students that they are going to describe their life experiences by writing a short
article.

Activity 4: Joint Construction (25 minutes) (Guse, 2011)

Purpose: To assess students ability to shift tenses in discourse to describe an event and talk
about their opinions.
Procedure:
- Give out blank sheets.

- Read the topic Our School Life question and ask the class to decide on the event they want to
talk about.
- Together, the teacher and class will construct a paragraph which represents this view. Drawing
on the brainstorming notes on the board, invite students to suggest sentences which introduce the
main idea of their paragraph. Write these on the board.
- In collaboration with the class, choose one of the sentences to begin the jointly constructed
paragraph.
- Invite students to male suggestions on how to link the ideas in the paragraph.
- Finally, return to the topic question and jointly construct a concluding paragraph and students
need to read the paragraph out loud together.

Closure (5 minutes)
- A brief review of the activities and things that are taught, then ask students to come up with one
question about the class. And thank the audience for their time and patience.

Homework Assignments: No Homework will be assigned.

References:
Guse, J. (2011). Communicative Activities for EAP. Cambridge. P121-122.
Marianne, C. M., Diane, L. F. (1998, July). The Grammar Book: An ESLEFL Teacher's Course,
Second Edition. Heinle ELT, pp. 162-163.

Handout:

Tense Correction
The "big day" had arrived for Agnes Cole. She 1.______
finally is left the hospital after a long illness. Her hus- 2.______
band, Clark, is pushing her by a wheelchair. They say 3.______
good-bye to the nurse as they pass by on their ways to 4.______
the hospital entrance. Clark has parked the car there. 5.______
Agnes was illness for more than six weeks. The doc- 6.______
tors were not certain her illness. At first, they thought 7.______
that she needed operation. Finally, after many tests, 8.______
the doctors gave to her some new drugs. Now, she is 9.______
near well - only a little weak. 10.______
The problem with Television
Now I can't watch much television but a few years ago 1. _______
I was used to watch it every night. I was often 2. _______
a little tired after a day's work and watch TV 3. _______
demands very little effort. Unfortunate, there are 4. _______
too many people among my family. Some wanted 5. _______
to see the program while others preferred 6. _______
another. I am happy with any program but 7. ________
the others spent a lot time arguing and there 8. ________
was no way of settling the matter except by 9. ________
selling the set. Now someone at home reads instead. 10. ______

60-Minute Reading and Writing Lesson Plan

Brief Description of Classroom Setting:
- 10 high-intermediate EFL learners of L1 back ground of Mandarin Chinese
- Students meet in this class twice per week on Tuesday 10:30am-11:30am and Friday 3:00pm4:00pm.
- A reading and writing lesson focusing on Bull Framework and transitional words/phrases aim to
build the practical, efficient lexical and reading and writing competency. In other words, students
will be able to shift tenses and choose appropriate transitional words in discourses and give wellfounded reason how and why they organize their articles and comprehend information.
- Includes individual work, small group work and whole class work.

Pre-lesson Inventory:
Language objective: Students will be able to tell the differences of tense shifts in narrative and
use the tense shifts in conducting discourse.
Content objective: Students will be able to describe life experiences properly and accurately
and comprehend the lesson(s) that they have learned from these experiences.
Materials to take to class: 10 copies of handouts, 10 blank sheets, whiteboard markers.
Equipment needed for class: Laptop for video player and PowerPoint presentation.
Assignments to collect from students: None.
Special room arrangement: None.

Activity 1: Warm-up (5 minutes)

Purpose: To introduce the topic of todays lesson.
Procedure:
- Greet the class. Write down the goals of the lesson on the board and announce the goals and
objectives to the class.
- Instructor will show a commercial video with English captions of Tencent QQ (the most
popular instant messaging software in China). The video is about how this software has changed
and connected the lives of families living in different countries.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XERYuGZGOOg)

- After showing the video, instructor will ask students how they feel about the clip. And what do
they use to contact their family and friends in their home countries when they want to share their
life experiences in foreign countries.
Transition: Tell students that they are going to read an article about someones life and
comprehend the passages.

Activity 2: Comprehension Challenge (25 minutes)

Purpose: Ensure that students are able to comprehend the information and tell the difference of
tense shifts in discourse.
Procedure:
- Give out handouts (copies of Hanover Square). Explain how the activity works.
- Divide the class into groups and read through the whole article.
- Using the selected text, provide one sample comprehension question on the board.
- Each group will get a chunk of the article. The groups need to compose 3 additional
comprehension questions and corresponding answers. Go from group to group and assist where
needed.
- Collect the questions.
- Each group takes a turn at answering a question which the instructor will read out. Where
students have written the question, get them to provide the answers. Note that the same
comprehension questions will not be asked repeatedly.
- Ask students to find out the tenses used in the article. Then let the students explain why the
author used these tenses. (e.g.: simple past-narrative, simple present-generic, etc.)
Transition: Tell students that they are going to describe their life experiences by writing a short
article.

Activity 3: Short Essay Writing (25 minutes)

Purpose: To assess students ability to shift tenses in discourse to describe life experiences.
Procedure:
- Give out blank sheets.
- Assign students the writing topic of My Best/Worst Life Experience Living Aboard.
- Each student need to write a short essay about their life experience overseas within 150 words.
Go from group to group and assist where needed.

- Ask each student to read out their short essay as well as to project them on the board for the rest
of the class to see what was written. After reading the essay, ask the class what tenses did he or
she used and why.
- The rest of the class will correct the errors or discuss their opinions and feelings about the life
experiences.

Closure (5 minutes)
- A brief review of the activities and things that are taught, then ask students to come up with one
question about the class. And thank the audience for their time and patience.

Homework Assignments: No Homework will be assigned.

References:
Wang, H. (2014). 60-minute Reading and Writing Lesson Plan for April, 30th.
Guse, J. (2011). Communicative Activities for EAP. Cambridge. P121-122.
Hanover Square. (2008, February 19). Message posted to
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/language_tips/book/2008-02/19/content_6466555.htm

Handout:

Can it really be sixty-two years ago that I first saw you? It is truly a lifetime, I know. But as I
gaze into your eyes now, it seems like only yesterday that I first saw you, in that small caf in
Hanover Square. From the moment I saw you smile, as you opened the door for that young
mother and her newborn baby. I knew. I knew that I wanted to share the rest of my life with you.
I still think of how foolish I must have looked, as I gazed at you, that first time. I remember
watching you intently, as you took off your hat and loosely shook your short dark hair with your
fingers. I felt myself becoming immersed in your every detail, as you placed your hat on the
table and cupped your hands around the hot cup of tea, gently blowing the steam away with your
pouted lips. From that moment, everything seemed to make perfect sense to me. The people in
the caf and the busy street outside all disappeared into a hazy blur. All I could see was you.
Many, many times I have sat and thought about that the first day. It pleases me that I can still
have those feelings now after all those years, and I know I will always have them to comfort me.
Not even as I shook and trembled uncontrollably in the trenches, did I forget your face. I would
clutch my rifle tightly to my heart, and think again of that very first day we met. I would cry out
in fear, as the noise of war beat down around me. But, as I thought of you, everything around me
would be become silent, and I would be with you again for a few precious moments, far from the
death and destruction.
I cannot tell you how strong my love for you was back then, when I returned to you on leave in
the September, feeling battered, bruised and fragile. We held each other so tight I thought we
would burst. I asked you to marry me the very same day and I whooped with joy when you
looked deep into my eyes and said "yes" to being my bride.
Im looking at our wedding photo now. I think of how young and innocent we were back then. I
remember being on the church steps grinning like a Cheshire cat, when you said how dashing
and handsome I looked in my uniform. The photo is old and faded now, but when I look at it, I
only see the bright vibrant colors of our youth.
I know both our children love you dearly; they are outside the door now, waiting. Can you
remember how we both hugged each other tightly when we saw our tiny granddaughter for the
first time? I cant believe she will be eight next month. I am trying not to cry, my love, as I tell
you how beautiful she looks today in her pretty dress and red shiny shoes. When I met her at the
door her smile wrapped around me like a warm glove, just like yours used to do, my darling.
I know you are tired, my dear, and I must let you go. But I love you so much it hurts to do so. I
wipe the tears away from my eyes and bend my frail old legs down to the floor, so that I can
kneel beside you. I lean close to you and take hold of your hand and kiss your tender lips for the
very last time.
I am sad that you had to leave me, but please dont worry because I know I will be with you
soon. I am too old and too empty now to live much longer without you.I know it will not be long
before we meet again in that small caf in Hanover Square.

Goodbye, my darling wife.

60-Minute Reading and Writing Lesson Plan

Brief Description of Classroom Setting:
- 10 high-intermediate EFL learners of L1 back ground of Mandarin Chinese
- Students meet in this class twice per week on Tuesday 10:30am-11:30am and Friday 3:00pm4:00pm.
- A reading and writing lesson focusing on Bull Framework and transitional words/phrases aim to
build the practical, efficient lexical and reading and writing competency. In other words, students
will be able to shift tenses and choose appropriate transitional words in discourses and give wellfounded reason how and why they organize their articles and comprehend information.
- Includes individual work, small group work and whole class work.

Pre-lesson Inventory:
Language objective: Students will be able to use transitional words in conducting discourse and
writing properly.
Content objective: Students will be able to discuss their opinions of things that affect their lives.
Materials to take to class: 10 copies of handouts, 10 blank sheets, whiteboard markers.
Equipment needed for class: Laptop for video player and PowerPoint presentation.
Assignments to collect from students: None.
Special room arrangement: None.

Activity 1: Warm-up (5 minutes)

Purpose: To introduce the topic of todays lesson.
Procedure:
- Greet the class. Write down the goals of the lesson on the board and announce the goals and
objectives to the class.
- Ask students what they did yesterday. Remind them to use proper tenses to express.
Transition: Tell students that they are going to learn transitional words and phrases to help them
better organize their writing.

Activity 2: Introduction of the Transitional Words and Phrases (15 minutes)

Purpose: To introduce students the use of transitional words and phrases to help organize their
writing.
Procedure:
- Give out handouts. Show the transitional words and phrases on the PowerPoint.
- Introduce how this words and phrases can be used in writing process and explain the reason to
the students.
- Ask students to compose simple sentences to demonstrate the use of the words and phrases.
Transition: Notify students to pay attention to how these transitional words and phrases can be
used in the upcoming activity.

Activity 3: Spot the Transitional Words and Phrases (15 minutes)

Purpose: To help improve students awareness of transitional words and phrases.
Procedure:
- Give out handouts. Explain how the activity works.
- Students will work in pairs and read through the paragraphs on the handouts.
- Ask students to mark the transitional words while they are reading. The instructor will go from
group to group to offer help. There will also be a list of transitional words and phrases showing
on the PowerPoint.
- Invited students to share their answers on the document camera with the rest of the class.
Transition: Notify students to pay attention to how these transitional words and phrases can be
used in the upcoming activity.

Activity 4: Linking Ideas (25 minutes) (Guse, 2011)

Purpose: To assess students ability to shift tenses in discourse to describe an event and talk
about their opinions.
Procedure:
- Give out blank sheets.

- Divide the class into small groups and ask the students to discuss about their opinions on how
will video games affect peoples lives.
- The groups jointly construct a cohesive paragraph using the transitional words and phrases as
much as possible. Then, mix the groups so that students can share their work with their
classmates.
- Invite the groups to report on their discussion to the whole class.

Closure (5 minutes)
- A brief review of the activities and things that are taught, then ask students to come up with one
question about the class. And thank the audience for their time and patience.

Homework Assignments: No Homework will be assigned.

References:
Guse, J. (2011). Communicative Activities for EAP. Cambridge. P171-172.
Study Guides and Strategies. http://www.studygs.net/wrtstr6.htm
From Pong to Today. http://www.flocabulary.com/transitions/

Handout:
Using transitional words and phrases
helps papers read more smoothly, and at the same time allows the reader to flow more smoothly
from one point to the next.
Transitions enhance logical organization and understandability
and improve the connections between thoughts. They indicate relations,
whether within a sentence, paragraph, or paper.
This list illustrates categories of "relationships" between ideas,
followed by words and phrases that can make the connections:
Addition:
also, again, as well as, besides, coupled with, furthermore, in addition, likewise, moreover,
similarly
When there is a trusting relationship coupled with positive reinforcement, the partners will be
able to overcome difficult situations.
Consequence:
accordingly, as a result, consequently, for this reason, for this purpose,
hence, otherwise, so then, subsequently, therefore, thus, thereupon, wherefore
Highway traffic came to a stop as a result of an accident that morning.
Contrast and Comparison:
contrast, by the same token, conversely, instead, likewise,
on one hand, on the other hand, on the contrary, rather,
similarly, yet, but, however, still, nevertheless, in contrast
The children were very happy. On the other hand, and perhaps more importantly, their parents
were very proactive in providing good care.
Direction:
here, there, over there, beyond, nearly, opposite, under, above,
to the left, to the right, in the distance
She scanned the horizon for any sign though in the distance she could not see the surprise
coming her way.
Diversion:
by the way, incidentally
He stumbled upon the nesting pair incidentally found only on this hill.

Emphasis
above all, chiefly, with attention to, especially, particularly, singularly
The Quakers gathered each month with attention to deciding the business of their Meeting.
Exception:
aside from, barring, beside, except, excepting, excluding, exclusive of, other than, outside of,
save
Consensus was arrived at by all of the members exclusive of those who could not vote.
Exemplifying:
chiefly, especially, for instance, in particular, markedly, namely,
particularly, including, specifically, such as
Some friends and I drove up the beautiful coast chiefly to avoid the heat island of the city.
Generalizing:
as a rule, as usual, for the most part, generally, generally speaking, ordinarily, usually
There were a few very talented artists in the class, but for the most part the students only wanted
to avoid the alternative course.
Illustration:
for example, for instance, for one thing, as an illustration,
illustrated with, as an example, in this case
The chapter provided complex sequences and examples illustrated with a very simple schematic
diagram.
Similarity:
comparatively, coupled with, correspondingly, identically, likewise, similar, moreover, together
with
The research was presented in a very dry style though was coupled with examples that made the
audience tear up.
Restatement:
in essence, in other words, namely, that is, that is to say, in short, in brief, to put it differently
In their advertising business, saying things directly was not the rule. That is to say, they tried to
convey the message subtly though with creativity.
Sequence:
at first, first of all, to begin with, in the first place, at the same time,
for now, for the time being, the next step, in time, in turn, later on,

meanwhile, next, then, soon, the meantime, later, while, earlier,

simultaneously, afterward, in conclusion, with this in mind,
The music had a very retro sound but at the same time incorporated a complex modern rhythm.
Summarizing:
after all, all in all, all things considered, briefly, by and large, in any case, in any event,
in brief, in conclusion, on the whole, in short, in summary, in the final analysis,
in the long run, on balance, to sum up, to summarize, finally
She didn't seem willing to sell the car this week, but in any case I don't get paid until the end of
the month.

Spot the Transition Words

Way before games were what we all played, you could find me on a Rampage in the
arcade. First, it started with Pong, a table-tennis game but it wasn't too strong. For instance, it
was only black and white. Nonetheless, kids would play it every night. Next came Space
Invaders, where you shoot aliens with little lasers. Kids wanted to play. Consequently, machines
appeared all over the place, indeed Atari fulfilled lots of orders, and made 2 billion dollars in
quarters. Meanwhile, you have to know, Pac-Man was the captain at eating ghosts. And then the
80's craze, the industry experienced a golden age. PCs and home consoles came, you didn't need
to drop quarters to play games. Equally important, games were sick, Legend of Zelda in '86.
Simultaneously, Super Mario Bros, on Nintendo came in to a lot of our homes. Immediately, it
became a hit, you ran through mushrooms to get big.
Beyond sales, there's a story, these games had our imaginations soaring. Of course, we
were just in a chair, but on the screens, we'd fly through the air. We had a need for speed - honest,
so we rolled with a hedgehog we called Sonic. Then the 90s, games were ill, such as SimCity,
where we learned to build. Similarly, the game that sold the most, on the PC was The Sims, so
you know. 3D chips had us Quaking and Doomed, first person shooters came with a boom.
Despite the appeal to the youth, some saw the violence as too gruesome. Accordingly, ratings
were introduced, to make all these games easier to choose. PlayStation had hits like MLB,
Specifically Final Fantasy. Truly Xbox CDs had graphics, and the cartridges couldn't catch it.
Moreover, CDs were cheaper to make, On the other hand, CDs were cheaper to take, Cheaper to
copy and to steal, but in 2006 that's when things got real. Wii finally made games appeal, to the
whole family, and they played for real. And on mobile phones, we can all be nerds, when we
shoot down pigs with our Angry Birds. In sum, in summary, to sum up, too, On the whole, in the
end, to conclude, the transition from Pong to today, has given us amazing games along the way.

60-Minute Reading and Writing Lesson Plan

Brief Description of Classroom Setting:
- 10 high-intermediate EFL learners of L1 back ground of Mandarin Chinese
- Students meet in this class twice per week on Tuesday 10:30am-11:30am and Friday 3:00pm4:00pm.
- A reading and writing lesson focusing on Bull Framework and transitional words/phrases aim to
build the practical, efficient lexical and reading and writing competency. In other words, students
will be able to shift tenses and choose appropriate transitional words in discourses and give wellfounded reason how and why they organize their articles and comprehend information.
- Includes individual work, small group work and whole class work.

Pre-lesson Inventory:
Language objective: Students will be able to comprehend articles written in different tenses and
be able to shift tenses accordingly when they are writing.
Content objective: Students will know more about the history of cameras and the climate
change.
Materials to take to class: 10 copies of course material handout, 20 copies of pop quiz,
whiteboard markers.
Equipment needed for class: Laptop for sound track and PowerPoint.
Assignments to collect from students: None.
Special room arrangement: None.

Warm-up Activity: Fill in the Blanks (5 minutes)

Purpose: To remind students of the use of relative clauses that are taught in the precious lessons
and help them prepare for the pop quiz.
Procedure:
- Briefly review the content thats taught in the last 3 lessons.
- Ask students to fill in the blanks together. (Questions will be shown on the PowerPoint as well
as on the handouts)
- The instructor will reveal the correct answer.

Transition: Ask students to ask at least one question about relative clauses and instructor will
give a well-organized answer.

Activity 2: Comprehension Challenge (20 minutes) (Guse, 2011)

Purpose: Ensure that students are able to comprehend the information and tell the difference of
tense shifts in discourse.
Procedure:
- Give out handouts. Explain how the activity works.
- Divide the class into groups and read through the whole article.
- Using the selected text, provide one sample comprehension question on the board.
- Each group will get a chunk of the article. The groups need to compose 3 additional
comprehension questions and corresponding answers. Go from group to group and assist where
needed.
- Collect the questions.
- Each group takes a turn at answering a question which the instructor will read out. Where
students have written the question, get them to provide the answers. Note that the same
comprehension questions will not be asked repeatedly.
- Transition: Tell students that they are going to describe their life experiences by writing a short
article.

Lesson Closure (5 minutes)

- Wipe out the relative clauses on the board.
- Ask one student to answer how many relative clauses he or she has learned in the four lessons.
- The rest of the class need to replenish any relative clauses that the student may miss.
- After answering the question, ask the student to tag one other student to compose a sentence
using one of the relative clause.
- Then the student who are tagged needs to tag another student to compose a sentence with the
other relative clause. Alternate students until they used all the relative clauses that are taught in
this class.

Homework Assignments: No Homework will be assigned.

Unit Closure: Pop Quiz (30 minutes)

Purpose: To evaluate students retain of the relative clauses that are taught in the four lessons.
Procedure:
- Give out copies of the pop quiz. Before starting the quiz, ensure that every student has taken
away relative course materials and has necessary stationery to finish the exam.
- When students are taking the quiz, the instructor should maintain the classroom order and offer
help to the students who have difficulty understanding the questions.
- When time is up, notify students to stop writing and collect the quiz.

Quiz Example:
Read the following paragraph and use your own words to rephrase the information into a 200
word essay. You will need to use the transitional words and phrases and the Bull Framework to
help you organize your essay.
National Parks and Climate Change
National parks, nature reserves, protected areas and sites of special scientific interest
(SSSIs) are an important part of the natural landscape in most countries. Their habitat and
terrains vary massively, from tundra and glacier parks in the north to wetlands in Europe, steppes
in central and eastern Europe, and prairie grasslands and deserts in other areas. Virtually all kinds
of landscape are protected somewhere. And these protected areas are important for the variety of
plant and animal life they harbour: caribou, bears, wolves, rare types of fish and birds.
But these areas are under threat from a recent peril - global climate change. No amount of
legislation in any one country can protect against a worldwide problem. What exactly are the
problems caused by climate change? David Woodward, head of the British Council for Nature
Conservation, spoke to Science Now about some of these areas, and his first point highlighted
the enormous variation in nature reserves.
"Each park or reserve is an ecosystem," he says, "and the larger reserves, such as those in
Canada, may have several types of ecological subsystems within it. There are reserves which are
half the size of Western Europe, so it doesn't make sense to talk about them as if they were all the
same, or as if the microclimates within them were uniform." Woodward outlines some of the
dangers posed by climatic change to parks in the northern Americas, for example.
"If climatic change is severe, and in particular if the change is happening as quickly as it is
at the moment, then the boundaries of the park no longer make much sense. A park that was
designated as a protected area 90 years ago may suffer such change in its climate that the nature
of it changes too. It will no longer contain the animal and plant life that it did. So the area which

once protected, say, a species of reindeer or a type of scenery, will have changed. In effect, you
lose the thing you were trying to protect." This effect has already been seen in Canada, where
parks which once contained glaciers have seen the glaciers melted by global warming.
Jennie Lindstrom, Chief Executive Officer of H2O, the charity which campaigns on an
international level on behalf of mainland Europe's protected wetland and wilderness areas, is
even more pessimistic. In a letter to Science Now, she has asserted that up to 70% of such areas
are already experiencing such "significant change ... in climate" that the distribution patterns. of
flora and fauna are changing, and that all areas will eventually be affected. She estimates that the
most profound change is occurring in the northernmost parks in areas such as Finland,
Greenland, Iceland and northern Russia, but adds that "there is no place which will not suffer the
effects of global warming. What we are seeing is a massive change in the environment - and that
means the extinction of whole species, as well as visual and structural changes which means that
areas like the Camargue may literally look totally different in 50 or 60 years' time."
The problems are manifold. First, it is difficult or impossible to predict which areas are most
in need of help - that is, which areas are in most danger. Predicting climate change is even more
unreliable than predicting the weather. Secondly, there is a sense that governments in most areas
are apathetic towards a problem which may not manifest itself until long after that government's
term of office has come to an end. In poor areas, of course, nature conservation is low on the list
of priorities compared to, say, employment or health. Third, and perhaps most important, even in
areas where there is both the political will and the financial muscle to do something about the
problem, it is hard to know just what to do. Maria Colehill of Forestlife, an American
conservation body, thinks that in the case of climate change, the most we can realistically do is
monitor the situation and allow for the changes that we cannot prevent, while lobbying
governments internationally to make the changes to the pollution laws, for example, that will
enable us to deal with the causes of the problem. "I am despondent," she admits. "I have no
doubt that a lot of the work we are doing on behalf of the North American lynx, for example, will
be wasted. The animal itself can live in virtually any environment where there are few humans,
but of course its numbers are small. If climate change affects the other animal life in the areas
where it now lives, if the food chain changes, then the lynx will be affected too. Less food for the
lynx means fewer lynxes, or lynxes with nowhere to go."
Certainly, climate change is not going to go away overnight. It is estimated that fossil fuels
burnt in the 1950s will still be affecting our climate in another 30 years, so the changes will
continue for some time after that. If we want to protect the remnants of our wild landscapes for
future generations, the impetus for change must come from the governments of the world.

Reference:
Guse, J. (2011). Communicative Activities for EAP. Cambridge.
Tenses Exercise. http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_531f98e30100aqkg.html

IELTS Test Prep. http://www.51test.net/show/1515773_4.html

IELTS Test Prep. http://ielts.xdf.cn/201207/7005133.html
Handout:
1) With the development of science, more new technology ______ to the field of IT.
A. has introduced B. is being introduced

C. is introduced D. was introduced

2) --- Whos the man over there?

--- Its Jack.
--- Oh? ______ in Italy.
A. I think hes B. Ive thought hes beenC. I thought he wasD. Id thought hed been
3) --- I dropped in at your house at about ten last night, but you werent in.
--- I ______ regular exercises at the club.
A. did B. was doing C. had done D. have been doing
4) --- Each of the students, working hard at their lessons, ______ the book.
--- So have I.
A. is reading B. has read C. reading D. reads
5) The baby is generally healthy, but every now and then he ______ a cold.
A. has caught

B. is catchingC. will catch

D. does catch

6) It is when the plane ______ that youd better find out at the booking office.
A. would take off

B. had taken off

C. was taking off

D. is taking off

7) --- Im sorry, but theres no smoking on this flight.

--- Oh, I ______ that. Sorry, I wont again.
A. dont know

B. didnt knowC. wont know

D. havent known

Answer Key: B C B B D D B

Comprehension Challenge
One of the first designs to be published was Thomas Bolass 'Detective' camera of 1881.
Externally a plain box, quite unlike the folding bellows camera typical of the period, it could be
used unobtrusively. The name caught on, and for the next decade or so almost all hand cameral
were called ' Detectives', Many. Of the new designs in the 1880s were for magazine cameras, in

which a number of dry plates could be pre-loaded and changed one after another following
exposure. Although much more convenient than stand cameras, still used by most serious
workers, magazine plate cameras were heavy, and required access to a darkroom for loading and
processing the plates. This was all changed by a young American bank clerk turned photographic
manufacturer, George Eastman, from Rochester, New York.
Eastman had begun to manufacture gelatin dry plates in 1880. Being one of the first to do so
in America. He soon looked for ways of simplifying photography, believing that many people
were put off by the complication and messiness. His first step was to develop, with the camera
manufacturer William H. Walker, a holder for a long g roll of paper negative 'film'. This could be
fitted to a standard plate camera and up to forty-eight exposures made before reloading. The
combined weight of the paper roll and the holder was far less than the same number of glass
plates in their ling-tight wooden holders. Although roll-holders had been made as early as the
1850s, none had been very successful because of the limitations of the photographic materials
then available. Eastman's rollable paper film was sensitive and gave negatives of good quality;
the Eastman-Walker roll-holder was a great success.
The next step was to combine the roll-holder with a small hand camera; Eastman's first
design was patented with an employee, F. M. Cossitt, in 1886. It was not a success. Only fifty
Eastman detective cameras were made, and they were sold as a lot to a dealer in 1887; the cost
was too high and the design too complicated. Eastman set about developing a new model, which
was launched in June 1888. It was a small box, containing a roll of paper based stripping film
sufficient for 100 circular exposures 6 cm in diameter. Its operation was simple: set the shutter by
pulling a wire string; aim the camera using the V line impression in the camera top; press the
release bottom to activate the exposure; and turn a special key to wind to the film. A hundred
exposures had to be made, so it was important to record each picture in the memorandum book
provided, since there was no exposure counter. Eastman gave his camera the invented name
'Kodak'-which was easily pronounceable in most languages. And had two Ks which
Eastman felt was a firm, uncompromising kind of letter. The importance of Eastman's new rollfilm camera was not that it was the first. There had been several earlier cameras, notably the
Stirn 'America', first demonstrated in the spring of 1887 and on sale from early 1888. This also
used a roll of negative paper, and had such refinements as a reflecting viewfinder and an
ingenious exposure marker. The real significance of the first Kodak camera was that it was
backed up by a developing and printing service. Hitherto, virtually all photographers developed
and printed their own pictures. This required that facilities of a darkroom and the time and
inclination to handle the necessary chemicals, make the prints and so on. Eastman recognized
that not everyone had the resources or the desire to do this. When a customer had made a
hundred exposures in the Kodak camera, he sent it to Eastman's factory in Rochester (or later in
Harrow in England) where the film was unloaded, processed and printed, the camera reloaded
and returned to the owner. "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest" ran Eastman's classic
marketing slogan; photography had been brought to everyone. Everyone, that is, who could
afford $ 25 or five guineas for the camera and $ 10 or two guineas for the developing and
printing. A guinea ($ 5) was a week's wages for many at the time, so this simple camera cost the
equivalent of hundreds of dollars today.