A Lesson Plan on An Interactive Language Learning Activity Using the Story "The Unicorn in the Garden (by James Thurber)" As the Focal Point for Analysis

Lessons: 1. Storytelling
                2. Noun replacement – Synonyms and Antonyms

Level of students: 4th year college

Material Used: The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber

Duration of the Lessons : 3 meetings

Flow of the Lesson:

1. As a preview, the teacher will show a slide presentation of a unicorn, then of a booby, of a booby-hatch, of a lily, of a strait-jacket, then of a jay bird, each in five different angles/slides, with The Unicorn Song (Appendix 1) by Irish Rovers, in the background. The last slide of such presentation will be the vocabulary.

Vocabulary:
1. Unicorn - mythical one-horned horse: a mythical animal usually depicted as a white horse with a single straight spiraled horn growing from its forehead
2. Booby - a person regarded as stupid
3. Booby-hatch - An institution for the mentally ill.
4. Lily - a plant and flower of the genus Lilium, endogenous bulbous plants, having a regular perianth of six colored pieces, six stamens, and a superior three-celled ovary.
5. Strait-jacket - A long-sleeved jacket-like garment used to bind the arms tightly against the body as a means of restraining a violent patient or prisoner.
6. Jay bird - 1.Any of various often crested birds of the genera Garrulus, Cyanocitta, Aphelocoma, and related genera within the family Corvidae, often having a loud, harsh call. Also called jaybird. 2.An overly talkative person; a chatterbox.
2. Handouts of the short story The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber (Appendix 2)will be distributed to the students, for them to read, two lines per student, until the end of the story. The teacher will introduce such reading activity by reading the first two lines herself.

3. An activity sheet will then be given to the students to accomplish.


Listening Component: Listening to the individual reading of the story, also to the background song during the slideshow presentation

Reading Component: Individual reading of the story

Writing and Grammar Component: The replacement of nouns underlined by the teacher. The corresponding grammar resulting to such changes should be followed.

Speaking Component: The students will be interacting/ brainstorming with group mates.

Vocabulary: The words unicorn, booby, booby-hatch, lily, strait-jacket, and jay bird will be defined.


Closure: As a homework and study guide, the students will practice singing the song "The Unicorn Song," and will identify ten nouns in the lyrics and replace them with nouns that are either synonyms or antonyms. --ARV