English
Teachers’ Seminar
Lesson plan
“A Friend for Life ”
Done by
Uliana Kalakailo
A teacher of Borshchiv
Comprehensive School (level I-III) # 1
Borshchiv, 2016.
Subject : A Friend For Life.
Objective :
 to generalize and expand students’ knowledge on the topic;
 to help students develop ability to search, collect and process
information;
 to practice oral presentation skills, develop informational and
communicative competences;
 to strengthen students’ accuracy and fluency;
 to improve reading and check pupils’ listening skills;
 to encourage group work, develop the ability to work cooperatively
and flexibly;
 to improve students writing skills by expressing their vision of the
problem;
 to foster their thinking, imagination and attention, stimulate
emotional activity;
 to get students to understand the importance of the problem raised
at the lesson;
 to cultivate the culture of communication, a friendly and tolerant
attitude to animals, motivate to take care of them;
 to teach students to be patriots of their Motherland.
Equipment: posters, a laptop, a whiteboard, CDs, video materials,
“to the top” student’s books, workbooks, worksheets.
Procedure
І. Introduction.
1. Greeting.
T: Good morning, children. I am glad to see you. And I hope you are
thrilled and happy to see not only me but our guests too. Greet them,
please.
Our today’s lesson is expected to be very important. Though it may
not be world changing it may change your life – most likely your own.
Among the things in my life I thank God for most is the love he gave
me for animals. Animals are reliable, many full of love, true in their
affection, predictable in their actions, grateful and loyal. Difficult
standards for people to live, agree.
“A friend for life ” is the subject of our today’s lesson, devoted to
our four-pawed friends, those who know how to help, support and love…
II. Warming-up.
One of your home tasks was to prepare some interesting facts about
cats and dogs.
P-s. ( sample answers )
 Cats are one of if not the most popular pet in the world.
 There are over 500 million domestic cats in the world.
 Cats and humans have been associated for nearly 10000
years.
 Dogs were the first animals domesticated by people.
 Dogs live about 15 years.
 The oldest dog was 29 years old.
 There are four hundred breeds of dogs in the world.
 Dog’s nose prints are as unique as human fingerprints
and can be used to identify them.
II. Main Part.
Listening and Reading. T: Open your books on page 38. Exercise 1,
task A. Let’s read the task to this exercise ( listen, read and match the
summary sentences a-d with the paragraphs 1-4 ).
 listening to the text “Pet therapy’’;
 reading of the text;
 post reading activity: a) Exercise 1, task B ( read again and
give T for True and F for False );b) vocabulary revision:
Exercise 2, p.38 ( complete the sentences with the words in
the box ).
2. Brainstorming.
Everyone would like to penetrate an animal’s mind to know what he
thinks or feels. Let’s imagine you are a pet. What would you advice
people? (Students give their ideas ).
Sample answers:
 be yourself;
 love unconditionally;
 have a mind of your own;
 be loyal and faithful;
 delight in the simple;
 explore everything;
 chase after your dreams;
 be supportive;
 protect those you love;
 keep digging until you find what you want;
 don’t hold grudges;
 bark softly, love often;
 don’t hate;
 show passion with enthusiasm;
 don’t care much about money;
 be patient;
 guard your home;
 always run to greet your loved ones;
 be brave no matter your size, etc.
3 Speaking. Oral presentation skills practising.
T: We’ve all heard the phrase: “Dog is man’s best friend.” But just how
far will your furry friends go to show how much they care. There are
some tear-jerking stories of loyalty and friendship as dogs around the
world demonstrate their love for their human companions. Our
students had prepared them but we chose the best ones.
 Hachiko. A Dog’s Music Video from movie, followed by students’
stories.
S. The real Hachiko was born in Odate, Japan in 1923. When his
master, Dr. Eisaburo Ueno, a professor at Tokyo University died in May,
1925, Hachi returned to the Shibuya train station the next day for the
next 9 years to wait. He died in 1934. Today, a bronze statue of Hachiko
sits in his waiting spot outside the Shibuya railroad station.
S. Richard Gere starred in this American version of this true story.
Do watch it and be prepared to be touched to the point of being
speechless. This story is the symbol of eternal loyalty and friendship. It
taught me the meaning of loyalty. That you should never forget anyone
you loved. And that’s why Hachi will forever be my hero.
 Capitan’s story.
S. The bond between dog and master goes beyond the grave, as
evidenced by Capitan’s unyielding loyalty to his master Miguel Guzman,
from Argentina. The remarkable part about this story is that Miguel died
in a hospital and his body was taken to a funeral home far away from
where he lived. Capitan had never been to cemetery before. He continues
to visit his old master every single day, at 6 p. m. like clockwork for 6
years. If this isn’t a display of true dedication, we don’t know what it is.
 Ciccio’s story.
S. I know another Italian dog Ciccio who continued to go to his
owner’s church even after he passed away.
 Guide dogs’ story.
S. Two guide dogs led their blind owners down 70 floors in the world
trade centre before the towers collapsed on September 11.
It’s time to relax. Pinguine Dance Video.
Lyrics:
Put your hands up in the air and shake your booties round;
Hand up on your toes and turn around, around;
Hands way up high, hands way down low,
Stamp with your feet and jump, jump, jump.
4. Writing Practice.
Group work (Think – Write – Round – Robin Technique ).
T: You are divided into 4 groups. I pose the problem for each group.
1. Dogs never bite me, just humans.
2. Time spent with cats is never wasted.
3. Animals don’t have souls, do they?
4. When your children are teenagers it’s important to have a dog so
that someone in the house is happy to see you.
T: You need a piece of paper and something to write with. Write for
three minutes. Independently write your own responses on the question
(1, 2 or 3 sentences). Then each person in team takes turn verbally giving
answers.
Sample answers. S-s:
1. An ordinary dog is a nicer person than the ordinary person.
Dogs are my favourite people. Dogs don’t know evil if people
treat them well. Etc.
2. I used to love dogs until I discovered cats. My cat is a visible
soul of my home. Just watching my cats can make me happy.
Etc.
3. Animals have personalities and minds, and feelings. When I
look into the eyes of an animal I see a living being. I feel a soul.
They help us and teach us more than we could ever imagine.
Etc.
4. A house is not a home without a pet. A pet is the only thing
that loves you more than it loves itself. Etc.
5.Speaking ( about dogs at war ). Students read:
T: The war brought a lot of suffering to our country. But not only to
us, people. 90 % of animals in the ATO zone were thrown away.
Unfortunately very often people thought how to save their furniture, TVs,
computers, cars…
But, luckily, many of those pets found their new masters – kind and
sympathetic Ukrainian soldiers, who gave them food, shelter and love…
Today at the lesson we have a very special guest – 3 separate tank
battalion “Zvirobiy”, 54 tank crew, sergeant, a tank commander Mykola
Rudyi.( Guest’s Story ).
T: Do you know any other stories about animals at war?
S: I know that a lot of abandoned animals were taken out by
volunteers. For example, Kateryna Havrysh took out more than 120 pets
and made a shelter for them.
S: Four-pawed help to resettlers and ATO fighters.
S: ATO veterans do sports coaching of dogs. Some dogs for ATO are
trained in former residence of Yanukovych.
T: There is a Canadian “The Hero’s Friend ”project aimed at helping
those who went through the horrors of war or still stay at the hospitals
healing visible and invisible scars of war to reintegrate them into normal
life. (Treating Ukrainian Veterans Video).
S: Not only dogs can be an example of loyalty and heroism. Almost
all blockposts and fortifications in the East of our country have cats. They
work as a psychotherapists, catch mice and rats. Cats can hear explosions
earlier than people. They watch strangers and notify about danger. Our
soldiers call them ‘’walking happiness’’.
III. Summing-up.
T: It’s hard to say what is about animals that we love the most –
their cute or beautiful looks, their natural innocence or the emotional
reactions that they elicit from us. But whatever the case may be those
animal facts were bound to bring a smile to your face, a thought to your
mind and amazement to your soul. And I’d like to draw your attention to
this kind of video – “My Fluffy Family”. My heart would be emptier and
my life would be less without them. I am thankful for my pets because
they complete my family.
Our lesson is coming to the end. Almost everybody was active and
displayed good knowledge on the topic discussed. Thank you for your
work. Your marks for today…
Home Assignment: Ex. C, D p. 97 (WB).
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