Karin's ESL PartyLand
Lesson Plan: Discussion Forums

Time: 90 Minutes
Level: Intermediate-advanced
Materials: One copy of the Classroom Handout for every two students.
Preparation: 5 minutes (Print, read, copy, teach)

Directions: Explain to the students that they're going to do an activity involving internet discussion forums.  Put them in pairs.  Pass out the Classroom Handout.  Tell them to choose five topics that they want to discuss.  After they have chosen their topics, they should discuss the questions and write one of their own.  You should circulate, helping them with vocabulary, writing down errors to go over later, clarifying the questions, and encouraging conversation. 

After they have discussed the questions, take them to the computer lab.  Working with the same partner,  they should respond to at least one question for each topic.   (The questions on the handout are also posted on the discussion forums here at PartyLand.) They should also post their three best questions.  Make sure that they know how to post both a new message and respond to an already posted message.  As they're posting messages, you should be circulating and guiding students to self-correct spelling and grammar mistakes.  

For Homework: Have each student return to the computer lab and post a response to one of their classmates' questions.  In the next lesson, have students report back to the class on what they read and posted.