Guerna TS #3

Date/Time: July 7th, 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST
Location: Dirac Library 
Topic/Skill: Writing/Speaking Integrated  Student: Wei Wang


This session centered on a student evaluation activity using the TV show Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Season 6, Episode 3: The Tattler). The lesson aimed to strengthen Wei’s ability to describe characters, emotions, and motivations while also practicing recounting plot events in English. Because Wei is a high-intermediate ESL student with strong conversational skills, the session was structured around discussion, character analysis, and guided speaking tasks to encourage both fluency and accuracy.

The lesson began with a short warm-up discussion question “Have you ever been misunderstood in school?” Wei shared a personal example of missing a homework assignment because she misunderstood the professor’s instructions, which led to a negative impression. The warm-up connected to the episode’s themes of misunderstanding and rumors. During this stage, I also introduced the key vocabulary words reputation, tattletale, rumor and practiced using them in simple, meaningful sentences.

Next, Wei watched a key scene from the episode, first for general comprehension and then again with pauses to analyze dialogue and emotions. Guiding questions such as “How is Jake feeling right now?” helped her practice identifying emotions and motivations in context. She responded thoughtfully, showing good comprehension and willingness to explore characters’ perspectives.

We then worked through a character chart together, comparing Jake Peralta and Gina Linetti across categories such as appearance, personality, actions, emotions, relationships, and personal impressions. Sentence frames supported her in forming complete thoughts (e.g., “Jake seems embarrassed because he remembers high school rumors,” “Gina is protective because she wants to defend her friend”). This structure encouraged Wei to move beyond surface descriptions and think critically about character dynamics.

The main portion of the session involved speaking practice through three activities: describing characters, retelling the situation, and reflecting personally. Wei successfully used prompts to recount the sequence of events in the scene “First, Jake finds out… Then Gina admits… Finally, they…”, demonstrating improved ability to organize ideas chronologically. When asked reflective questions like “What would you do in Gina’s place?”, she engaged personally with the theme, drawing connections between the story and her own experiences with misunderstandings and reputation. This stage allowed her to practice expressing nuanced ideas in English while developing confidence in speaking spontaneously.


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