Lesson 8: Noah's Ark
This lesson will allow students to read a very simple story about Noah.
Begin by showing a Bible and teaching them to say Bible.
There is a Noah’s ark set in the Friend you can use, although it’s in color and expensive to print.
The simpler solution is to show the church pictures of Noah and draw a very simple ark on poster board. This lesson also lends itself well to a flannel board story. Use the animals you made for the animal lesson. If you have a Noah’s ark toy, you may also want to use that.
Display the pictures of Noah and the ark. Point to Noah and say, “This is Noah.”
Ask, “Who is this? This is Noah.” Be sure to show the words, so they will be able to read them.
Point to the ark. If you prefer, you can say boat. If you are teaching church members, you’ll probably want to introduce the word ark. Show a picture of a boat from the transportation lesson and remind them what it’s called. Then show the ark and teach that name. Hopefully, they’ll understand this particular boat is an ark.
You are going to create a simple story. Do this by putting the story on word strips and adding one strip at a time as you teach it. When you’re finished, give them a handout with the story and a simple picture of Noah and the ark to practice at home.
Sentence 1: This is Noah. (Put picture of Noah beside it.)
Sentence 2: Noah built an ark. (Demonstrate build by pretending to hammer. You may want to bring a real hammer. Teach the word, since it’s there anyway.) Use a picture of the ark or a hammer.
Sentence 3: Noah gathered the animals. (Teach the word gathered by moving your arms in a gathering way or by having the animal pictures on the table and gathering them up.)
Sentence 4: He gathered two dogs. (Point to Noah as you say he, a word they already know. Gesture gather as you point to that word to remind them of its meaning. Two fingers as you say two, just as a reminder. Then begin picking up the animals in pairs and saying, “He gathered two _____.” Place the animals near the ark as you do this.)
Sentence 5: It rained. (The word rained is new to them. The word is past tense, which will be hard to explain if you don’t speak their language. Don’t worry too much about it yet. The word can be re-introduced when you do the time lessons, which will allow you to teach past tense.)
Sentence 6: It rained for forty days and forty nights. (They know these words, but it’s a long sentence to decipher. You may want to add small pictures to the word cards to remind them of rain, 40, day, night.)
Suggested pictures for exercise:
- Noah
- Hammer or ark
- Small picture of several animals.
- Each animal mentioned in the animal sentences.
- Rain from a cloud
- The number 40.
Go over the story a few times. Then have them do the following exercise:
Give them the sentences on a paper, fairly well spread out. Give them small pictures representing each sentence. Ask them to put the pictures beside the correct sentence. Demonstrate for them by reading the first sentence, studying the pictures until you see Noah, and saying Ahh! Happily. Place it beside the first sentence. Have them do the same on their paper. Now read the second sentence and use a questioning gesture as you ask “Which picture?” Run your finger over the group of pictures to clue them in to your question. If they understand, have them continue on their own. If they still seem confused, continue working with them. Then have them remove the pictures and do it again on their own. If you want them to be able to study this at home, put the number of the correct sentence on the back of each picture, so they can self-grade.
You could also try giving them the sentences cut apart and see if they can put them back in order.
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Go to LDS ESL Lesson 9: Calendars