On August 7, 2019, I returned to Chungder Middle School in Hu-Wei, Yun-Lin County for a one shot summer enrichment class. I had three forty-five minute periods with one group of twenty fourteen-year-olds. I would do my "Design a Park" lesson, one I have done with a number of groups I was asked to address by the Kang Xian Publisher that sponsors me.
The lesson consists of three parts: The first period is an ice-breaker. I talk with the students and introduce the concept of "reported speech", the way people tell each other what they have heard said while they were away. The rules in English are specific and quite different from Chinese reported speech. The introduction culminates in a board contest revision practicing the new skill. One student in each group writes the reported speech response.
By the end of the period, I have segued into the topic of the day: City Parks. We talk about whether or not we like parks and what we do when we are in one. The second period begins with a handout called "Improve This Park". The board contest continues with questions about the drawing of a derelict park. We brainstorm ways to improve the park; rules they would make and fixtures they would add. If they could design a park what would they want to include in there. I tell the students they will have the opportunity to design their "Perfect Park Plan" on a poster, and then describe their park to the group. I ask them to consider the size and location of the park before we take a break. That information will be critical in an introduction they will give. 
In the third period, the groups of four-students are given one poster and a set of markers. Each member of the group has a quarter of the poster to design and describe in a report show and tell. They have fun sketching and coloring in the park with items we had brainstormed. The conversation in the group is inevitably in Chinese; middle school students are more interested in socializing than practicing English language skills. It does not matter that they are to give a report in English when they are done drawing. They are having so much fun! That is the problem; they cannot finish drawing! They neglect to prepare what they are going to say in the report. Despite my circulating around the room asking questions, keeping them on task, and reminding them they must describe relative directions of features ("The bathrooms are near the entrance between the basketball courts and playground") a unified report never coagulated. 
The "Design a Park" lesson plan went well up to the last thirty minutes. It was time to go to the front of the room, put the poster on the board, and describe the park, but the students had not prepared; they had taken no notes and were at a loss to report in English. I was surprised. They had shown capabilities to do so in the reported speech and brainstorming segments of the lesson, but they had not paid
attention to the introduction I had modeled. When I called their group to the front to speak, it was a disaster. They were lucky if one student in the group could articulate more than one sentence. I knew they were capable of giving a report if they had more time to prepare. I suggested to their home teacher that he pursue the project, but it is up to him.
This was not the first time I had run into this problem with this lesson. I decided there and then: I would not have students draw their own park plans again. That motivation was not working to encourage language development.Instead of drawing parks, I will hand out photos of park plans; there are many to choose from on the internet. We will brainstorm in the same way and go over new vocabulary, prepositions of place, and cardinal directions. In this way, the students will spend their time discussing the park, identifying the features, and writing a unified report.
As in "Design the Park", each student is responsible for describing a section of the park. It might not be as much fun as drawing a poster and socializing with one's classmates in Chinese, but it will focus on the English to be practiced. Perhaps I will show the plan on the screen through an internet connection and the students can point out
the details to the class in their reports. There is something about how to show films in class, too, for maximum
ESL practice, done with periodic follow-up writing or discussion. Many teachers and students look to audio-visuals as a break
from studying instead of using it as a learning resource, but this was my last ESL picture show.
Copyright © 2019 by David Barry Temple. All rights reserved.
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