Answer:

Lesson Plan

Class/Subject: English Literature

Grade Level: 8th grade

Standard: "College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Reading" ; The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects, ("the Standards") [1]

• "Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
• Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.
• Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision"

Learning Objective:

• to develop the reading and comprehension skills/abilities in students in line with the standards highlighted above.

Description of learning activity:

• Text: "What Your Closet Reveals about You" by Amy Tan [2]

Pre-assessment questions that assess the student's prior knowledge:

• Describe your closet, mention a few of your favorite clothes and why you like them?
• List any 2 works of the author Amy Tan and prepare a paragraph about her background.

Formative assessment questions that assess the student's progress:

• With what does Amy Tan equate a person's ego and super-ego? and Why?
• How does the author describe her closet, clothing and personality?

Formative assessment to assess student's understanding at the end of the lesson:

• What is the central theme of the story? What transformation came about in the author's closet towards the end of the story and how did it transform her?
• List some of the difficult words in this story and their meaning as used in the text.

{e.g. ostensibly; attire-phalanxes; hemp; smug; gouache; skewed; repository; foibles; fetishes; impetus; dredge}

Modifications for English Language Learners:

• a) The teacher can enact the reading to give the students a clear understanding of what the text is saying in order to create a session of meaningful interactions.
• b) The teacher can display the text on a screen (e.g. computer screen or on the wall with a projector) along with a translation in the foreign language i.e. the native language of the student.
• c) The teacher can create video recording of the article which has subtitles in the native language of the student. The teacher can also record the video in the native language of the student and provide English subtitles at the bottom. So that the student can associate the context of the video with the English subtitles.
• d) The assignment questions will also be translated in the native language of the student.

Theoretical approach(es) that underlie the chosen modifications:

• These modifications are in line with the socio-cultural approach to English Language Learning.
• The socio-cultural approach argues that learning occurs through meaningful interaction between teachers and students and students learn better when they are involved in social interactions. [3]
• The focus of this approach is on context rather than grammar, and enables students to learn English naturally as they learnt their home language.
• The socio-cultural approach, meaningful learning happens through active participation of students in situations that resemble every-day situations. This requires planning the curriculum to include topics that are of everyday interest to students and have meaning in their daily lives. The lesson/story by Amy Tan chosen for this activity is as per this principle since dressing and closets are things/issues that students tackle everyday.
• The teacher should ask the questions if possible or display the questions on the screen in the native language of the student along with the English language. This will enable to student to better understand the questions and provide meaningful answers.
• The socio-cultural theory posits that thinking and learning are not separate process but happen social processes that occur through social interactions and they (i.e. thinking and learning) reinforce each other.
• Hence the students should be allowed to first put down their answers in the native language and then with the assistance of a translator or even google translate, convert those answers in to English.
• As time passes the teacher should encourage the students to use more and more English words when drafting the answer by asking the students to first say or write the answer they think in their mind with as much English words as possible.

Reference:

[1] The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 

(http://www.corestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/ELA_Standards1.pdf)

[2] "What Your Closet Reveals about You" by Amy Tan

https://scccd.instructure.com/courses/12048/pages/read-amy-tan-what-your-closet-reveals-about-you

[3] "From Theory to Practice for Teachers of English Learners" by Magaly Lavadenz; The CATESOL Journal; Vol 22-1, 2010/2011;

(https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1112046.pdf)