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To Believe or Not to Believe--Attitude toward Superstitions

國立宜蘭高中 林書毅/楊惠雯

臺北市立內湖高中 張雅婷

Abstract

The lesson plan is designed for 10th graders to learn about superstitions in

different cultures and form a proper attitude towards them. The lesson plan can be

divided into four parts—warm-up activity, vocabulary, reading and structure analysis,

and sentence patterns. First, students have a glimpse of famous western superstitions

from a funny yet informative cartoon. Next, the four-leaf clover match game is carried

out to enhance students’ understanding of the vocabulary that will be used in further

discussion. The game also serves as a cognitive check and a way to form groups. Then,

the graphic-organization activity helps students get familiar with the text and structure.

Students are guided to compare superstitions in Western and Eastern cultures. Finally,

students learn to do researches on superstitions and use sentence patterns in context.

Each group forms information gaps by providing causal sentence-embedded hints for

other groups to guess the corresponding superstition-related customs. Through

collaborative learning, meaningful communication, multi-intelligence exercises,

reading strategies, and critical thinking, students will learn to actively express

themselves in English, reflect upon superstitions in daily life as well as respect

cultural differences.

Objectives

1. Students will be motivated to understand the origins and practice of

superstitions in Eastern and Western cultures.

2. Students will be able to respect cultural differences with an open attitude.

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3. Students will capture the main idea and structure of the text.

4. Students will utilize reading strategies to facilitate and enhance reading

process as well as comprehension.

5. Students will be familiar with the vocabulary for production.

6. Students will learn the sentence patterns and use them to achieve real

communication.

Grade Level

This lesson plan aims at freshmen in senior high school with low-intermediate to

intermediate proficiency of English. Students’ BCT (Basic Competence Test) PR

value is around 70 to 90.

Time Required

Four hours in total. Please see Teaching Procedure for detailed time arrangement.

Materials

1. Video clip: Popeye episode 224, I Don’t Scare, 1956.

2. Handouts:

(1) Four-leaf clover match game for vocabulary (Appendix 1 & 2)

(2) Text: paragraph 3 and 4 (Appendix 3)

(3) Alternative graphic organizer for text structure (Appendix 4)

(4) More on American superstitions worksheet for patterns in use (Appendix 5)

3. Textbook (SanMin book 2, Unit 6 A Rabbit’s Foot and a Piece of Wood)

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4. Laptop and projector

Teaching Procedure

Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material

1 Warm-up 1. Bring out the theme and

keyword—superstition. Have

students share the superstitions

that they know.

2. Briefly introduce the characters in

the video—I Don’t Scare—and

then ask students to find out the

superstitions in the video.

3. After watching the video, have

students tell the class the

superstitions they found in the

video.

4. Ask students the questions below

and have them share their

opinions:

(1) Do you believe in the

superstitions and why?

(2) How would you react to the

superstitions?

15’ Video—

I Don’t Scare

Vocabulary 1. Go through the vocabulary of the

unit with students.

2. Distribute each student one part of

20’ 1. Textbook

(p.108~114)

2. Four-leaf

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the four-leaf clover. (Appendix 1)

3. Have students find out their group

member (i.e. match the vocabulary,

its Chinese translation, its English

definition, and its related example

sentence together.)

4. After students find their group

members, ask each group to get the

worksheets (Appendix 2) from the

teacher and glue the four-leaf

clovers on it.

5. Have students work with their

group members to underline the

collocation of the assigned

vocabulary.

6. Introduce the vocabulary and have

each group talk about the

collocation of the word.

clovers

(Appendix 1)

3. Worksheet

(Appendix 2)

Wrap-up 1. Lead students to review the

vocabulary they covered.

2. Collect the worksheet.

5’ Worksheet

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Students watched the video together.

Students worked on the clover-matching task.

Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material

2 Warm-up 1. Lead students to read the vocabulary

aloud.

3’ Textbook

(p.108~114)

Reading 1 1. Give students comprehension

questions as below and have them

15’ Textbook (p.104)

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read the first paragraph aloud to find

the answers.

(1) Who was the writer talking to?

(2) Why was the writer so excited?

2. Direct students’ attention to the

picture of a wedding in the book and

ask them why the bridesmaids dress

as beautifully as the bride.

3. Ask students to skim paragraph 2

and find out the reason.

4. Explain sentences that students have

difficulty in understanding.

Reading &

Structure

Analysis

1. Have students work in the group

they formed earlier. Read the

handout (Appendix 3) and find the

examples in them.

2. Have students draw the superstitions

in the reading and summarize the

reading to explain their drawings

(Appendix 4).

25’ 1. Handout

(Appendix 3)

2. Worksheet

(Appendix 4)

Wrap-up 1. Randomly select four groups to

write the sentences corresponding to

the four examples.

2. Give students feedback on the

sentences.

7’

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3. Collect the worksheet.

Reading the paragraphs together, students drew and summarized the examples on the

worksheet.

Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material

3 Warm-up 1. Bring students’ attention back to the

paragraphs they read. Have students

talk about the four superstitions in

the reading.

2. Write down the keywords regarding

2’ Textbook

(p.104~106)

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the superstitions on the blackboard.

Reading &

Structure

Analysis

1. Explain the difficult parts of the

reading.

2. Discuss the structure of the reading

to students.

3. Lead students to discuss the cultural

differences behind each customs and

the proper attitude towards

superstitions.

20 Textbook

(p.104~106)

Grammar 1. Introduce the grammar points in the

unit.

2. Use the pictures in the video—I

Don’t Scare as a context to practice

the grammar.

13’ Power Point

(See the

pictures

below)

Wrap-up 1. Assign students homework to find out

The origins of the superstitions on the

worksheets (Appendix 5) and use the

target sentence patterns to explain

why people do them.

5’ Worksheet

(Appendix 5)

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Teachers elicited the four examples from

students to review and also drew the

structure of the article.

Teachers showed students the pictures in the video—I don’t scare, and had students

use the sentences patterns—“…because…”, and ” the reason why”—to finish the

sentences which explain the cause and effect relationship.

Period Activity Teaching procedure Time Material

4 Warm-up 1. Write down the 11 different

superstitions on the blackboard and

make sure students know all the

5’

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words.

2. Erase the words on the board.

Grammar,

Writing &

Guessing

1. Divide the 11 superstitions into two

sections and do the following

activity in 2 rounds.

2. Have students write down the

sentence they made on the board to

explain why people do certain

superstition.

3. Invite students to check the

sentences on the board to see if there

are any grammatical mistakes.

4. Show students the pictures of the

superstitions and have the rest of the

students match the sentence with the

picture.

5. Students can get extra point for their

groups if they get the correct answer.

30’ 1. Worksheet

2. Power

Point

Speaking 1. Have students work in pairs. Talk

about their own personal experience

to get good luck or to avoid bad luck

and why they do it.

10’

Wrap-up 1. Ask students questions to lead them

think about respect for cultural

differences and the appropriate

5’

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attitude toward superstitions.

(1) When facing the superstitions

you don’t believe, what would

you do? Why?

(2) How would you react when

others challenge your belief?

Why?

Students wrote their sentences of the homework on the board and teachers had the rest

of the students guess.

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Suggestions

In order to let both the teacher and students benefit the most from this lesson plan

of effective teaching, specific suggestions are listed as the following.

1. Make full preparation before the four-leaf clover match game in the first

period. The clover match game is an effective way for students to practice

pronunciation and check their understanding towards definitions and

collocations of new words. However, students might lose their clover leaves

during the activity because they have to walk around. Teachers are advised to

put twin adhesive on the back of the clover before the activity starts so

students can paste the leaves onto their worksheets as soon as they finished

the task. If time is allowed, teachers can let students make the clovers.

2. The four-leaf clover game may always be adjusted according to the

number of students in one class. In this lesson plan, the class consists of

forty-four students, so the teacher picks eleven important new words out of

the twenty-two ones listed in the textbook. Then, eleven clovers are cut into

four parts respectively. If there are fewer than 44 students in one class, the

teacher can still carry out the game and form groups by simply cutting the

clover in half or selecting fewer words from the textbook.

3. Provide each group with a copy of the text without pictures at the

beginning of the second period. Students should fully understand the content

of the article through discussion and then exert abilities such as observation

and organization to write down a summary. Since the textbook contains

photos and explanation for each paragraph, teachers are strongly advised to

firstly, ask students to put away their textbooks and secondly, distribute copies

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of the text with only

words on them so as

to prevent students

from simply copying

or being confined by

notes and illustrations.

What’s more, students

would truly gather together to read and exchange ideas with only one copy of

the reading material on hand. Or students might resort to each one’s own book

and finish the activity without any meaningful communication.

4. Assist students to do the correction during the grammar activity in the

fourth period. After each group has written their sentences on the blackboard,

the teacher is advised to circle the grammar mistakes and guide the student to

correct his writing by saying, “Please pay attention to the preposition” or

“Which one suits the clause here, ‘Because’ or ‘Because of’?” The student

can ask other group members or the whole class for help. The teacher should

be the last one to step in and modify the sentence.

5. Give additional hints when necessary during the grammar activity. If

teachers find that students have a hard time identifying certain superstitions

via written hints, additional illustrations and gestures done by group members

are good ways to solve the problem. Or, teachers may list out all the

superstitions on the blackboard and let students to do matching. The ultimate

goals of this activity are for students to practice sentence patterns in context

and know more about superstitions in different cultures. Therefore, students

should be allowed to use various ways to communicate in order to let the

Sample pictures from SanMin book 2, Unit 6.

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activity go smoothly and achieve effective learning instead of being stuck in

the guessing process.

Assessment

There are five activities from which teachers may evaluate teaching efficiency

and students’ learning results. The assessment is done when students accomplish oral,

written tasks and do presentations.

1. Popeye video clip—initial assessment

Serving as a warm-up activity, the video clip which is followed by Q&A session

can help the teacher check students’ former knowledge of and attitude toward

superstitions.

2. Four-leaf clover match game—formative assessment

Students’ understanding toward the new words is evaluated via this match game.

They have to keep the words’ English definition, Chinese translation, and collocation

usages in mind in order to successfully finish the activity. Correct pronunciation of the

words is also emphasized since students need to talk to each other before they find the

right leaves to match a clover.

3. Alternative graphic organizer for text structure—formative assessment

Reading strategies, comprehension, and group working skills are mainly assessed

in this activity. Students have to use various techniques, such as skimming, scanning,

analyzing, and organizing so as to summarize two paragraphs and show the

connection among the four superstitions. In addition, students are encouraged to draw

pictures which represent the superstition-based customs mentioned in the article. If

students can finish this activity on their own, it means that they are able to understand

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the gist of the text as well as grasp the meaning of new words and phrases.

4. Superstitions worksheet for patterns in use—formative assessment

Though the usage of causal sentence patterns is embedded in this activity,

students have to firstly exert their searching and summarizing skills so they can

explain the assigned custom in brief. Then, students write down hints about the

custom on the blackboard. An information gap is thus formed. After students correct

the grammar mistakes in each other’s sentences, they have to communicate and make

a right guess.

5. In-class observation—formative assessment

Being an observer as well, teachers find that students are strongly motivated by

this lesson plan. First of all, the warm-up activity has generated their interest in

superstition-related topics and then students are led to discover superstitions in their

own life. Even those who seldom give response in class are willing to participate in

activities and talk in English. When students encounter problems communicating,

they would resort to body language or pictures to express themselves and do

correction. This active attitude to use language and understand cultural differences is

highly valued in teaching.

Reflection

Traditional EFL teaching approaches, such as grammar-translation and lecturing,

do equip students with basic skills, but they sometimes bring frustration to both

teachers and students, especially in a classroom with many less motivated low

achievers with little motivation. To improve a learning atmosphere like this, we tried

to integrate different learning activities in our classrooms and keep students busy.

Instead of just sitting in class and dozing off, students were seen to get highly

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involved in the learning activities and get a better understanding of what they had

learned. Based on students performance and response, we find the project rewarding.

1. Collaborative learning

Teaching English in a community-based high school is no easy task, especially

when the participants in English classes are of different proficiency levels. What

makes English teaching even more difficult is that teachers have to instruct students

whose PR value ranges from 70 to 90 at a time. A possible solution to this problem is

to assist teaching with collaborative learning.

In sorting out the collocations of words in use, and in summarizing a topic to

each paragraph, relatively high achievers assisted low achievers in team work.

Additionally, team work helps lower the affective filter—reducing students’ pressure

of finishing a worksheet alone—and thus promote every student’s performance and

sense of achievement.

2. Hands-on learning

Variety is the spice of life, and it is also the case of teaching and learning. After

traditional approaches have equipped students with the ability to do self-study, it’s

time for students to do it on their own. That is the reason why we challenge students

by asking them to study in groups and help their teammates with what to pay attention

to after group discussion.

Besides, based on the theory of learning pyramid (Dale 1969), retention after

learning is higher when learners really experience it than when they just listen to

teachers’ lecturing. Group discussion and practice by doing can enhance learning

retention up to 70 percent (See Graphic 1). Through participating active hands-on

learning themselves, students did display a better understanding and a deeper imprint

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of what they have learned in mind. We found the project rewarding when we saw less

motivated students spoke up, actively participated in group discussion, and handed in

the assignments on time.

Graphic 1. Rates of learning retention based on different learning activities

3. Multiple intelligences developing

Language and culture are key objectives in English learning. In addition to

words, this can be done with the facilitation of visual aids.

When analyzing the structure of an article, students had been taught to

summarize the topic of each paragraph and to present the outline in a graphic

organizer. In this unit, they were asked to do it in an alternative way—drawing

pictures with an explanation below to illustrate the main idea of each paragraph.

Those who are good at manipulating words and those who are good at realizing their

mental images were helping each other in team work. This not only gives a chance to

those with different intelligence types (Gardner 1993) to contribute to learning, but

also facilitate the learning of verbal and visual learners.

Aside from written tests, other approaches, such as listening comprehension,

reading skills, oral presentation, performance tests, and research conduction, are also

included in this lesson plan so as to help student develop different abilities.

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4. Research ability cultivating

If high school education is a preparation for college education, then it is a good

time to cultivate their abilities in learning in a team and doing research on their own.

As a wrap-up activity to check their learning of sentence patterns of this unit,

each team was asked to conduct a research on another western superstition on their

own. They had to look for the origin of a long-practiced superstition by surfing the

Internet and sorting out the most supported saying among all the accurate and

somewhat incorrect information. In the following period of class, the students shared

their research results with the whole class and the teachers helped confirm and clarify

their discovery, or provide further information to these superstitions.

5. Critical thinking

After reaching goals of cognitive learning, students are expected to achieve more

in affective learning. Students were challenged with superstition-related questions in

order to sharpen their critical thinking. With teachers’ guidance, students discussed

their opinions toward superstitions and came up with conclusions as follows:

(1) As time goes by, gender-biased superstitions should be challenged and scrutinized.

(2) Whether or not we agree with superstitious beliefs, we should respect different

cultures, and respect other people’s free will to choose their religion and beliefs

(3) When it comes to superstitions involving sacrificing other creatures’ life, we

should come up with an alternative to avoid unnecessary killing.

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Reference

1. Books

Dale, Edgar (1969). Audiovisual Methods in Teaching. New York: Dryden Press.

Gardner, Howard (1993). Multiple intelligences: The theory in practice. New York:

Basic Books.

Harry Collis (1998).101 American Superstitions: Understanding Language and

Culture through Superstitions. Lincolnwood, Ill., USA.

2. Websites

http://sangi.sanguinarius.org/creative/OriginsOfPopularSuperstitions.pdf (western

superstitions)

http://www.corsinet.com/trivia/scary.html (western superstitions alphabetic-ordered)

http://www.worldweddingtraditions.com/ (wedding-related superstitions)

http://www.yourwedding101.com/wedding-basics/popular-wedding-traditions.aspx

(wedding-related superstitions)

http://voices.yahoo.com/everyday-chinese-superstitions-322849.html (Chinese

superstitions)

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Appendix 1: Four-leaf clover match game for vocabulary

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Appendix 2: Clover match game worksheet

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Students’ work on the clover match game

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Appendix 3: paragraph 3~4

A superstition is a belief that one event results in—or prevents—another, when

the two are in no way related. Take a rabbit’s foot, for example. Have you ever

thought about the reason why a rabbit’s foot is considered lucky in many Western

countries? One saying is that rabbits, unlike most other animals, touch the ground

with their back feet first when they are running. Westerners, thus, consider this fact

unusual and even magical. However, this superstition is not based on any scientific

proof. Similarly, Americans usually say “Knock on wood” or actually do this for good

luck, since they want to prevent tree spirits from affecting their luck. It’s clear that

these are just two situations where people superstitiously associate one event with

another.

Aside from superstitions for good luck, some more long-practiced customs have

grown out of fears that are related to superstitions. Superstition-based customs are

what most members of a society usually do to deal with the unknown. In Taiwan, for

instance, the word for the number “four” sounds like the word for “death.” Because of

its association with death, the number four has long been considered an unlucky

number by Taiwanese. The reason why people in the West often say “Bless you” when

a person sneezes is also superstition-based. This phrase is used because some

Westerners used to believe that devils might enter one’s body when a person sneezes.

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Appendix 4: Alternative graphic organizer for text structure

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Students’ work on the graphic organizer

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Appendix 5: More on American superstitions worksheet for patterns in use

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Students wrote their sentences of the homework on the board and teachers had the rest of the

students guess.

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Appendix 6: Pictures used in the grammar activity

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