Teaching a language allows educators to get creative with the content and materials used to teach a new topic. Payakumbuh’s ETA Daniel Knoll used the Descriptive Texts topic to interweave some American history into the lesson. For the practice activity of the lesson, students were given a brochure and a short descriptive text about Valley Forge, a historical park used in the American Revolutionary War as a winter encampment. Daniel got these brochures from the national park before he came to Indonesia as he only lives about 20 minutes away from the site!
Students were instructed to create a map based on the descriptive text before receiving the brochure. They were then able to compare their drawings to the maps provided in the brochure, as well as explore photos of the area and other short pieces of information. Using both the brochure and the descriptive texts students had to search through the information to answer questions based on the reading.
Through this lesson, students were able to learn how to find information in descriptive texts and also learn some American history through a historical area near their ETA’s home in America.
Daniel Knoll is currently teaching at SMAN 2 Payakumbuh, West Sumatra.
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