Lesson Plan of Tone and Non-Verbal Cues
English Grade IV
Students’ Learning Outcomes
· Identify and use appropriate tone and non-verbal cues for different communities’ functions.
Information for Teachers
· Non-verbal communication is used to aid expression. Non-verbal cues should not be taken too lightly when developing both the listening and speaking skills. Like grammatical structures, non-verbal communication has form, function and meaning, all of which may vary from language to language. The main components of the system are:
Ø Body motions such as shrugs, foot tapping and drumming fingers.
Ø Touch
Ø Eye contact
Ø Use of time, waiting, pausing
Ø Tone of voice, tone, volume, speed.
Ø Sound symbols, mmm, er, ah, uh-huh, mumbling.
Ø Silence, pausing, waiting
Ø Posture-position of the body.
Ø Clothing, jewelry, hairstyle
Ø Walking while talking
· While teaching the lesson, the teacher should also use the textbook where needed.
Material / Resources
Chalks/markers, duster, board, charts etc. strips of moods for activity
Worm up activity
· Ask the students which cartoon/puppet characters they like and why. Then discuss the following questions with them:
Ø How do you understand the silent cartoons? (e.g. Tom and Jerry)
Ø How do you understand the cartoons in English or any other language?
Ø How do they communicate with each other?
· In our life. Relate this with all the discussion they just had.
· Discuss the importance of using appropriate tones when speaking.
· Discuss the importance of tone and nonverbal communication system
Development
Activity 1
· Ask some students to perform silently any action of their favorite cartoon character. Ask the rest of the class to guess what they are doing/showing?
Activity 2
· Write the following moods on the board and discuss their meaning with students giving example from students’ own life.
· Then call some students one by one and ask to pick up one folded strip (already prepared by the teacher) and perform some actions according to the strip. The rest of the class will guess the expression:
(Guilty, happy, sad, bored, proud, excited, jealous, confused, afraid, lonely, angry, nervous, confident, frustrated, hopeful, etc
Activity 3
· Ask the students to think of sounds we use for communication. i.e. Shhhhh, mmmmm, errr, etc.
· Let them share one by one in front of the class and the students will guess when we use such sounds for better communication. Help the students to write the sounds on the board.
Activity 4
· Ask the students to prepare a role play with these dialogues in a group of 4. Two students will read the dialogues with expressions and two will act on the dialogues. (one student each for reading and acting on A and B)
A: Have you seen my book? I don’t remember where I put it.
B: Which one?
A: Mathematics. The one you borrowed.
B: Is this it?
A: No. it’s not the one you borrowed.
B: I didn’t borrow any book from you!
A: Maybe it’s under the chair. Can you look for it?
B: Ok-just give me a minute.
A: How long are you going to be?
B: Why are you being so impatient? I hate it when you get busty
A: Forget it! I’ll find it myself.
B: Wait I have found it!
Sum up / Conclusion
· Ask the students that how non-verbal cues and tone are helpful for us.
Assessment
· Ask the students to select any one paragraph from class 4 English textbook and read that paragraph with all required non-verbal expressions and tone.
· Guess how I feel. Have one child stand in the middle of the circle and act out an emotion. The other children can guess what it is.
· Make the class work in groups and present their own silent movies.
Follow up
· Copy any cartoon character’s verbal and non-verbal cues. (Only English cartoons or children’s programs in English). Ask the students to perform in the class next day.
· Make a chart in the class of different expressions with the moods names on it. Use these pictures only for examples and discussions.
· Remind students of this intonation in your daily conversation.
· Point it out to them when you use it, for example when you ask them in the morning, ‘How are you?’ or ‘What is the weather like today?’
