Pragmatics and TESOL Planning a Lesson on Making Requests

Running head: LESSON PLAN 1
Pragmatics and TESOL
Planning a Lesson on Making Requests
Lesson Outline Template

LESSON PLAN 2
LESSON PLAN
Name of MA Candidate
Target Students
 Foreign Domestic Workers (FDWs) working in Chinese or Sri Lankan households.
 Speech Community: ESL speakers- Filipino, Indians
 Level – Basic
 Employees working as house-help
Unit Theme / Text Type
 How to make apologies in different situations relevant to them in their everyday life in working
households.
 A training programme meant for FDWs
Language Skills in this
Lesson
 Speaking
 Politeness
Lesson Objectives By the end of the lessons, learners should be able to:

LESSON PLAN 3
 Politely apologise to their Employers at the cost of any mishaps during the work.
 Explain the situation to their Employers that lead to create inconvenience by using facial gestures,
hand movements and suitable vocabulary. For example, an FDW would have broken a glass flower
vase while cleaning, if she knows basic English she will try to explain it by apologising. This
situation would help to maintain the cultural balance between the employer and employee)
 Develop awareness of maintaining intercultural communication.
Context/Background  This 2- hour lesson is for the new FDWs, who travel from their mother land to work for
Singaporean boss. Here the Singaporean employers do not know the language of their FDWs. Both
the employer and employee need to communicate in English
 The lesson is very simple and short as it is only one module
 It is specific for the maids or FDWs who does most of the household chores in the house
 No. of Students: 10 (nonetheless the count of students vary depending on the intake of the
students)
 Age group: 18-23

LESSON PLAN 4
“Since January 1, 2005, the minimum age requirement for new FDWs was raised by 5 years, from
18 to 23 years old.”
(Tan. K.B. 2010, P.26)
 Setting - Classroom

LESSON PLAN 5
Lesson
Phase and
Duration
Methods, Activities and Materials
Rationale
(relevant theories/models/approaches/method/
principles/processes)
Pre-activity
Duration:
15 minutes
. Activity 1 (15 minutes)- Watching a Video and
exchanging aspects
 Trainer to show the video of ‘UG Toons’ funny
cartoon comedy of not saying sorry, where the
son does not know to apologise to his mother
but has enough knowledge about many other
things.
 Students to give their points of view on the
effects of not apologising properly at the right
time.
Materials
 Short video of U.G Toons not more than
2.06 minutes.
 This video is between a mother and her son. Still, the
video is to show that either the employer or anyone elder
than you will not be happy if you do not apologise when
you commit a mistake. The employer will expect you to
say sorry.
 UG Toons, a video that suggests apologising is one of the
basic manners that one should acquire at a very early age.
If the person who is responsible to apologise, ignores the
need to do so, it will create an inconvenient situation at
home.
 Aiding students to avoid miscommunication due to
cultural and age difference.

LESSON PLAN 6
 Link at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaIT7yT0Svw
 Creating an appropriate learning environment by
conducting a detailed discussion regarding the need to
apologise.
Note: The conversation takes place between a mother and her
son in the video. As long as students are able to understand
the importance of the context it would not be an issue.
Lesson
Phase and
Duration
Methods, Activities and Materials
Rationale
(relevant theories/models/approaches/method/
principles/processes)
Main
activity(s)
Duration: 1
hour 25
 Trainer to give the Language learning
handbook to the students..
 This handbook will contain the basis for the lesson. All the
possible methods of apologising will be in it. Students can
look back into the given handbook after the training period is
over.

LESSON PLAN 7
minutes Activity 2 (15 minutes)- Learning the script (Role
Play)
 Trainer to refer students to handbook , Lesson
1.
 Trainer goes through the possible methods of
openings and apologising at the cost of any
unnecessary occurrence. Trainer explains and
ask students to identify the inappropriate
openings. Trainer chooses the volunteers.
 Trainer to help students to form five different
pairs for the role play. Trainees to choose the
character of the role play and practice the
suitable apologies and its acceptance.
Materials required for Activity 2
 Language learning handbook – Lesson 1 –
Apologising- List of apologetic phrases and
 Students to know to use the appropriate words based on the
situation.” “the circumstances in which the words are uttered
should be in some way, or ways, appropriate” (Austin,1962
1975 P. 8)
 Employer employee conversation follows a script, a formal
talk. (Opening – stating the issues – explaining – apologising -
closing). At this circumstance the students will learn how to
open a conversation to deliver the incident before they explain
the situation. This will help them to avoid inconveniences
when having a conversation.
 According to an attribution theory of apology act, providing
an apology as early as feasible culminates in less dispute in
the course of conversation and surges communication
satisfaction (Ebesu Hubbard, Hendrickson, Fehrenbach & Sur,
2013). Thus the manner in which an apology is offered
dictates the outcome and the forgiveness process. For instance,

LESSON PLAN 8
acceptance.
Activity 3 (30 minutes)- Learning the script
(Continued Role Play with some props)
 Trainer to refer students to Lesson 2, Roleplay.
 Students would go through the sample role
play and list of phrases used in it.
 Students will try to figure out whether the used
words are appropriate or not.
 Trainer would ask volunteer A from each team
to read out the dialogue and Volunteer B to
reply. If the reply is relevant to Volunteer A’s
request, they can mark against the first set of
dialogues. If it is wrong they should mark it
wrong against the dialogue. Student should
take turns in asking and reviewing the
situation.
placing a genuine emotion into an apology assists in resolving
conflicts faster and aid rid adverse emotions quickly.
 Fraser (1981) indicates that the performance of apology needs
two basic conditions: first, the speaker acknowledges
responsibility for having performed some act. Second, the
speaker conveys regret for the offense which came about as a
result of the commission of the act. Neither of them can be
sufficient condition for the performance of apology speech act
 FDW needs to be polite while having a face to face
conversation. Student enact a situation that leads to make an
apology. Through this the students will learn how to be polite
and open a mishap to their employers. They will experience a
real life situation and create the needed amount of
communication skills.
 The speech act of apology has certain elements (Brown and
Attardo, 2000 P. 30). These include: 1. expressing of an