Practicing Speaking Skills: Traffic Court

Hsiang-Ni Lee, Taiwan

Hsiang-Ni Lee is a professor at National Taitung University, Taiwan. She is interested in children’s literature, family literacy, literature-based reading instruction and material development. In the future, she also wishes to explore the multiple possibilities of utilizing technology in language education. E-mail: hnl@nttu.edu.tw

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Introduction
Sample lesson plan
Conclusion

Introduction

America is a nation of car driving people. It seems like almost everyone, from teenagers to senior citizens, drives a car. When non-English speakers go to America and stay for any period of time, they will most likely end up driving. Thus, there is a chance that they will find themselves in the very unenviable position of getting involved in some type of difficulty which is related to cars or driving.

The following section demonstrates a sample lesson plan regarding the traffic court in the United States. A class of adult EFL/ESL students is provided prerequisite information about various traffic violations as well as key words and phrases related to the justice system. Through drafting and rehearsing speeches to be presented at the courtroom, these students are likely to improve their public speaking skills in addition to deepening their cultural knowledge.

Sample lesson plan

Topic: Traffic Court
Objective: To help students practice public speaking.
Student’s level: Intermediate Adult EFL/ESL learners
Time duration: for a class of approximately 25- 30 people, 2 hours should be enough time.

Procedure
Step 1: Traffic violations

Prior to the class beginning, the teacher should write on slips of paper different traffic violations which s/he will give out in class to the students. These violations will let the students know that they have committed different traffic infractions, such as speeding, talking on a cell phone while driving, parking in a no parking zone, etc. If possible, the teacher should try to have no more than two or three of the same infractions for different students in the same class. Driving violations to be included in the activity can be:

Step 2: Traffic court (15 minutes)

Before beginning this activity, the teacher should explain to the students that they will be attending “traffic court” in class, and that they are being charged with a minor violation related to cars and driving. They teacher should take a few moments to explain to the students how they are expected to act in an American courtroom, such as looking at the judge while speaking, and to speak loudly enough so that the judge (teacher) and the jury (other classmates) can clearly hear what is being said.

Step 3: Key words and phrases (15 minutes)

After a detailed explanation of the above-mentioned traffic violations, the students can be taught basic vocabulary words and phrases related to the justice system, such as litigant, defendant, jury, etc. Examples are as the following:

Step 4: drafting and practicing (30 minutes)

The teacher should encourage the students to be as creative as they possibly can when giving their reasons for not being guilty of the traffic violations and thus should not have to pay any fines. The teacher can explain that unlike in a real courtroom situation, making up reasons in class is a perfectly acceptable, and expected, thing to do. Students should also be encouraged to help any classmates who may be struggling with trying to come up with their ideas about what to say in the “courtroom.”

Since this activity may be challenging to some students, the teacher should give the class approximately 30 minutes to write the speeches which they plan to say in class.

Step 5: individual presentation (60 minutes)

Finally, the students stand in the front of the class, before the judge and explain why they are not guilty and should not have to pay any fine. Each student should be told that they will have a time limit of 1-1.5 minutes to speak. The audience will be given a sheet of paper in which they write down the offense of the person and then judge them to be guilty or innocent of the violation.

Conclusion

Language and culture are inseparable. Before students can have a thorough understanding of the target language, they need to be taught explicit cultural information. The lesson plan proposed in this short article explains the proper courtroom etiquette expected in a U.S. courtroom and a variety of common traffic violations. Built on the cultural knowledge, language students then are introduced to words and phrases related to the justice system, which can be helpful when preparing their speeches. It is believed that students can eventually advance both their cultural and linguistic knowledge through this speaking practice.

Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Teaching Advanced Students course at Pilgrims website.