Teaching Coordinates

At the bottom of this page you will find a link to a lesson I delivered to a group of EAL learners about coordinates in Maths.

Included are some EAL strategies including:

• Think, pair, share
• Knowledge Rating Scale
• Barrier activity
• Building background / prior knowledge checks
• Lots of use of spoken language in pairs, groups and whole class settings

Here is the lesson plan:

1. Starter – to stimulate interest learners have to think of the words to describe the missing words (related to a prior lesson).
2. Introduce the lesson aim.
3. To check prior knowledge I did a knowledge rating scale of the key vocabulary for coordinates.  This is a useful activity to do because you can check what your EAL learners know and don’t know.  This can then inform your lesson.
4. Think, pair, share of what they know about coordinates.
5. In pairs locate point zero / origin and then feedback to the class.
6. Checking prior knowledge by asking them what comes first between the X & Y axis.
7. Using mini whiteboards learners practice writing coordinates.  Emphasise the key words (from the knowledge rating scale of locate and position).
8. Learners draw the shapes for the given coordinates using the coordinates template.
9. Learners play a barrier game of battleship where they practice saying coordinates.
10. Refer back to the knowledge rating scale at the end of the lesson and look over the key vocabulary.

You can download the PowerPoint, knowledge rating scale and coordinates barrier activity here.

Coordinates

Coordinates Template

Knowledge Rating Scale Coordinates