Skip to content | Contact Us | Email | Site Map | Home

Texas Adult Education Standards and Benchmarks
for ABE ASE and ESL Learners

esl LESSON PLANS

---

Texas Adult Education Standards
Lesson Plan

Before you begin

Title: Penny Lesson

Setting: ESL

NRS Level(s):

Level 3: High Beginning
Level 5: High Intermediate

Open entry/exit: Yes

Context: Academic

Standard(s): Listen Actively

Benchmark(s): 2.5, 3.3

Objective: To build vocabulary and pronunciation and decoding skills using a common coin.

Materials: Chalkboard, chalk, overhead projector, pennies, enlargement (hardcopy or overhead) of the details on the coin, penny trivia, instructions for the penny triangle game

Estimated time needed to prepare for this lesson plan: 30 minutes

Estimated time needed to complete this lesson plan: Adaptable

The Lesson Plan

Introduce the lesson:
Fill a coffee can or metal container with pennies before class. Shake the container and ask the students to guess what is inside. Reward the correct guess. Ask the student that correctly guessed the contents to pass the pennies out to the class (one penny to each student).

Discuss the U.S. penny and the debate about its value and utility. Point out trivial facts regarding the penny. Discuss Abraham Lincoln’s connection to the U.S. penny placing emphasis on his role in history (citizenship questions). Have students examine their pennies closely.

Teach the lesson:
Using the overhead projector point out data on the penny (words in English and Latin, date: Lincoln, the engraver's initials, the tiny Lincoln in the memorial). Discuss the significance of the dates found on the penny. Review the terms “old, older, and oldest.” Review the terms “before” and “after”. Then, review the 3 questions (below) to enable the next part of lesson. Have students repeat each sentence several times:

1. What year was your penny made?
2. Are you younger or older than your penny?
3. Were you born before your penny was made or after?

In pairs, students will ask each other these questions. After students have attempted this exercise write the 3 questions on the board (review vocabulary and pronunciation) and ask them to repeat the exercise.

Have the students to find the oldest penny in the class. This exercise requires the students to interact with other. The only rule is that interactions must be in English. The teacher should try and refrain from facilitating this exercise. When the oldest penny is identified have that student write the date on the board.

Next, introduce idioms in which the penny is featured:

1. A penny saved is a penny earned.
2. A penny for your thoughts.
3. Find a penny pick it up and all the day you'll have good luck.

Have the students guess the meaning of each idiom. After explaining what each idiom meaning in the U. S., ask students if there is an equivalent expression in their native language?

Discuss how English speakers would run together the words in the last idiom above. Break it down into parts and have the class repeat in sections:

1. findapenny
2. pickit up
3. andall the day
4. you'llhave
5. goodluck

Have each student recite the idioms.

Practice the lesson:
As a class, students can play the Penny Triangle game as a more challenging aspect of this lesson. The Penny Triangle game can be located at the following website:
http://www.youramazingbrain.org/teachers/penny.htm#

Assess the lesson:
Teacher observation of level of understanding and interest in the lesson. Feedback given to students individually.

Apply the lesson to the real world:
Students can apply this lesson to the importance of saving money, assessing the value of old pennies, and interest in coin collecting for a hobby.

Submitted by: Marilyn Querejazu

---

Table of Contents