9B. Practice section: Examples of lesson plans from different HLT teachers

1. Planning focused on topics related to the culture of origin

(see also chapters 11 B.4 and 11 B.5)

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Silviya Ivanova Popova: Semester planning for middle school (4th–6th grade); Theme, Bulgarian language, history and festivals

Silviya Ivanova Popova hails from Bulgaria. She has been living in Zurich for 13 years and has served as HLT instructor for Bulgarian for 9 years.

Grammar	Mankind and environment	Festivals
Verbs: different past tenses	History: Thraker, Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians	First of March “Baba Marta”, which brings us Martenici. We make our own Martenici. (Twist together red and white thread, shaped in different ways and tie around your wrist. This is a symbol of health, love, and renewal.) – Learn about the legend of Martenica. Mothers’ Day and Womens Day – March 8 Palm Sunday – name day of people named after a flower Easter – resurrection – special greeting
Verbs: forms of future tense	Chan Asparuch – the founder of Bulgaria (681)
Adverbs	The expansion and consolidation of the new Bulgarian state (Chan Omurtag, Terwel, Presian, Krum)
Main and subordinate clause, comma rules	Christianity as own religion: recognition – Knjas Boris I – 866
Direct and indirect speech punctuation	Bulgaria as major power Czar Simeon I (893–927) – Bulgaria borders on three seas – Golden age of culture and knowledge
Indirect speech	Day of the army and courage in Bulgaria	May 6 – Day of shepherds and Saint George’s Day
Essay writing: rules and structure	The Bulgarian alphabet from 855 – Kyrill and Methodus and their pupils (Kliment, Gorast, etc.)	May 24 – Day of the Slavic alphabet and culture; folk dance fest
Write essay to a given beginning Exercises to continue the leitmotif	Years of the uprisings Struggle for independence Under Byzantine rule	June14: 10-year anniversary of the association “Rodna retsch”
Forms of address Specific endings Letter writing	Liberation from Byzantine rule 1185 Czar Ivan-Asen I & Petar II	Trip to Bulgaria We visit 4 cities that played an important role in our history, and a special monument in the mountains, which is a symbol of freedom.
Essay writing on a predetermined topic Pay attention to style, grammar, spelling and structure	Czar Kalojan (1190–1207), Czar Ivan-Asen II (1218–1241)Return to Bulgarian power through diplomacy and a strong royal house

 

2. Plannning focused on topics related to life in the new country: “living in, with and between two languages and cultures”

Excellent examples in this category can be found in various chapters of this handbook. We reference here especially the following:

Chapter 6 B.1

(Albanian HLT in Arnsberg/ Germany): Double lesson with focus on “Friendship,preconceptions, life together”, for grades 5–10

The author shows how the hot topical issue in migration circles of “Friendship, preconceptions, life together”, can be treated in a highly engaging manner in terms of the instructional, social and interaction forms. Central to the topic are the students‘ authentic experiences in their new country. The references to the culture of origin are drawn mostly in the final discussion, and could of course be taken up for a highly fruitful deeper analysis in a subsequent lesson.

Chapter 5 B.3

Gaca Radetinać (HLT Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian in Karlskrona/Sweden): Double lesson with the theme of “children’s rights”

The author treats the topic of “children’s rights” in an action-oriented, illustrative manner. As in the following planning project by Nexhmije Mehmetaj concerning questions of gender, the topic of children’s rights invites further exploration within the lesson, or a subsequent lesson with focus on the differences and analogies, advantages and disadvantages in the realm of children’s rights in the culture of origin and in the new country, as well as related questions of problems and conflicts in a migrant situation (children’s status in the family, freedoms, rights and obligations; possibly with a backward-glance on the childhood of the parents and grandparents).

Chapter 4 B.2

Nexhmije Mehmetaj (Albanian HLT in French-speaking Switzerland): double lesson on the topic of gender equality/gender, designed for three levels, according to age and competence.

The author shows in her planning how the topic of gender equality can be treated in a class with three age and proficiency related groups, such that each group finds age-related access (lower level: Girls play soccer, too; middle level: Rights and obligations of boys and girls in our class; upper level: children’s rights). This can and should lead to further reflections and discussions – either integrated into the lesson or as topic of a subsequent lesson – whether and how different role assignments, behavior roles, and stereotypes in the culture of origin and the culture of the new country can lead to problems or even conflicts.

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3. Planning focused on the culture of origin and the culture of the new country

Dragana Dimitrijević: Excerpt from the planning of a double lesson on the topic “family”, upper level (7th–9th grade; simplified representation without the rubrics social form and media)

Dragana Dimitrijević hails from Belgrade/Serbia. She has been working as HLT instructor for Serbian in the canton of Zurich since 1999.

Important: As a homework assignment in preparation for this lesson, students had to inform themselves at home as to how large their families were in the last and penultimate generations, what roles certain relatives have/had, etc. (education, relationships, clothing, women’s rights, the first day of school, languages, games, toys, reasons for migration…).

See chart:

Time	What for? Defined goals Learning steps and sub goals	What and how? Performed by the instructor:	What and how? Performed by the students
7‘	1.	1.	1.
	Family Students conduct informed comparisons about the life environment of the country of origin and Switzerland and develop for these a spirit of openness. Through a conscious examination of experiences from family, country of origin and Switzerland, they gain insights into the diversity of social contexts and interactions.Goal: learn about the functions and forms of the family in a historical and cultural context.	Distributes to the students prepared excerpts from a text (in German) with the topic “family in Switzerland”. Explains the foreign words and gives the reading assignment (targeted reading): read the text, collect the most important information (persons, family size, relationships, place, time of action).	Process the homework assignment further (see above) Read the excerpts from the book “Life beyond 80” Comprehend text content with help from prepared questions Collect the most important information
10‘	2.	2.	2.
	Students understand and name the most important information about a person by means of a text (his/her family, language skills, education, family relationships, role of an individual person, reason for emigration).	Explains queries about the text, poses questions to students. Example: where is her father/grandfather from? Why? How many children did he have? What language does he speak?	Exchange the most important information based on the collected details from the story.
20‘	3.	3.	3.
	Relationships in the family (Serbia–Switzerland); name commonalities and differences Family in Switzerland (size, role, relationships, rituals….) become familiar, understand Family in Serbia (size, role, relationships, rituals….) become familiar, understand Recognize and discuss commonalities and differences Students describe the functions and forms of families in Switzerland and in Serbia.	Processes the assignment further (see above) Selects the groups Coordinates the discussion Assignment for group: compare the collected information about the families in Serbia and in Switzerland.	Speak: Speak about, discuss and explain by means of the above questions  what has been discovered.
8‘	4.	4.	4.
	Describe their own role and their own family: the role of students in their family (in Switzerland and in Serbia).	Assigns students to groups Task: describe their own role in the family (in Switzerland and in Serbia)	Explain their own role in their family in Switzerland and in Serbia; tell their own stories by means of the collected information.

Compare also the lesson unit descriptions in 4 B.3 (Arifa Malik, London: The principle of “interculturality”, example “colors”) and 6 B.2 (Sakine Koç, Zürich: Lesson unit on the topic of “Festivals and holidays”)

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4. Planning focused on topics without specific references to the culture of origin or the culture of the new country

Preliminary remark: in this category belong topics without specific reference to culture (seasons, flowers, animals, nature, etc.) but which can be easily related to the culture of the country of origin or the new country.

Mariana Waked: Planning of a series of instructional units on the topic “Animals and Nature” (6 lessons for 3 groups of different age and proficiency levels)

Mariana Waked hails from Lebanon, where she had worked as teacher of Arabic. She has been living in Karlskrona/Sweden for 14 years and has served as HLT instructor of Arabic for 4 years.

Arabic mind map for the topic “horse” (characteristics, food, habitat, etc.).

	Goal	Lower level	Middle level	Upper level
Lesson 1	Presentation	Listening to a story with different animals. Talk about and retell the story.	Watch documentary film and take notes. Recount what we have learned about individual animals.	Read or listen to factual information about some animals. Take individual written notes.
Lesson 2	Classifcation of different animals	Logical exercises with the material. Classify animals according their food. Read words with the help of pictures. Write the initial letters or names of individual animals. Read words with the help of pictures. Draw animals.	Classify animals according to feeding, habitat, reproduction patterns. Interpret and comment a map on the geographical distribution of the animals.	Create a list of common traits of animals that live in the same environment (physical characteristics, feed, reproduction; recognize relationship between characteristics and environment.
Lesson 3	Farm animals	Visiting a farm. Observations and discussions.	Visiting a farm. Prepare an interview and picture documentation, possibly videos.	Visiting a farm. It is customary here in Sweden to keep a pet as member of the family, how does that compare to our countries of origin? Discuss the issue. What is your own opinion?
Lesson 4	Processing and follow-up of the visit to the farm	Form groups and prepare different activities with reference to the animals on a farm (worksheets, quiz, puzzle…). Learn songs about animals.	Write a letter to someone in the country of origin and relate your visit to the farm.	Create a profile for an animal that lives on a farm. Use internet and library for information.
Lesson 5	Mind map	Make up a story with 2–3 farm animals, write it down with help from the teacher, and illustrate it yourself. Introduce the mind map technique for this purpose.	Make a mind map about a selected animal. This should include everything that is necessary to write a factual text about this animal.	Select a species in danger of extinction. Consider how we can help the animals. Create a mind map and write a text about the issue.
Lesson 6	Presentations, exhibit	Presenting and reading out of the texts from lesson 5.	Presentation and discussion of the factual texts from lesson 5.	Presentation and discussion of the factual texts from lesson 5.