Farm Engineer Careers

Overview

In this lesson, students explore careers connected to farming and engineering and build questions to ask a guest speaker. They practise listening for key information and use it to plan and create a short informative sentence about a career.

Learning intentions

• Students will identify the key features of a simple “career” message (what the person does).
• Students will listen for and record key information from a guest speaker.
• Students will use sentence-level knowledge to write a simple informative sentence about a farm-engineering career.
• Students will communicate politely by asking a prepared question.

Success criteria

• I can tell you one career connected to farming and engineering.
• I can explain what the person does using one clear sentence.
• I can ask a question that starts politely (for example, “Can you…?”).

Curriculum links

• EN1-OLC-01 — Students communicate effectively using interpersonal conventions and language to extend and elaborate ideas in social and learning interactions (including listening for understanding).
• EN1-CWT-01 — Students plan, create and revise written texts, including paragraphs, using vocabulary, text features and sentence structure.
• (English comprehension and communication focus) Students respond to spoken information by identifying key information and using it in a response.

Lesson structure (60 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Welcome and focus. Teacher says today’s goal: “We will learn about farm engineer careers and ask a guest speaker questions.” Students turn-and-talk: “What jobs do you think help farms?”

2. 5–15 min · Prior knowledge warm-up (career sorting). Teacher shows picture cards: farmer, mechanic, engineer, tractor driver, veterinarian (choose 6–8). Students, in groups of 3–4, sort cards into two piles: “Farming” and “Engineering/Tools.” Teacher checks understanding with quick prompts: “How do you know?”

3. 15–25 min · Direct teach: building “career questions”. Teacher models 2–3 question stems on the board:

• “What do you do every day?”
• “What tools do you use?”
• “What do you like about your job?”
• “Can you show us something you use?” Students practise saying one question aloud with a partner, then the teacher invites 2 volunteers to share.

4. 25–35 min · Guest speaker listening purpose. Teacher introduces a simple listening task: students will listen for two things and mark them on a class recording sheet (visual options with check boxes and/or simple icons):

• “Job name” (which career?)
• “One thing they do” (what task?) Students sit facing the speaker, ready with their prepared question (or a teacher-issued question card). Teacher reminds: listen carefully, wait your turn, speak politely.

5. 35–45 min · Guest speaker Q&A (teacher-facilitated). Teacher facilitates turns: invites students who raised hands, using sentence stems if needed (“Can you…?”). Students listen and update their recording sheet with the job name and one key task.

6. 45–55 min · Planning and writing (one informative sentence). Teacher models a writing frame on the board:

• “A farm engineer works on ______.” or
• “They use ______ to help farms.” Students select one career they learned about and complete the sentence using word bank supports (tool words, action words like “fix”, “build”, “drive”, “help”). Teacher circulates, conferencing briefly with prompts: “What is the job? What does the person do?”

7. 55–60 min · Share and quick revise. Teacher invites 4–5 students to read their sentence to the class (or show a picture and say the sentence). Students do a quick self-check with teacher guidance: “Did I start with the job? Did I include what they do?” Teacher collects the recording sheets for next-step assessment.

Resources

• Picture cards of farm and engineering-related careers (laminated if possible)
• Guest speaker (local farm/tool/engineering professional) and consent process per school policy
• Class listening sheet with two sections (job name, one thing they do) using icons or check boxes
• Question stem cards (or teacher-written board prompts)
• Sentence frame worksheet and simple word bank (tools, actions, farm-related words)
• Highlighters/markers, pencils
• Timer or visual countdown

Assessment

• Formative checks during sorting: teacher observes whether students can distinguish farming vs engineering/tool support.
• During guest speaker: teacher listens for whether students can identify job name and one key task from their recording sheet.
• Collection of written sentence: teacher checks sentence structure (capital letter, full stop) and the inclusion of “what the person does”.

Differentiation

• Support: provide sentence starters and a visual word bank; allow students to circle pictures to complete the sentence before writing the key word.
• Support for language needs: offer “repeat and choose” support—students practise the question stem with the teacher before asking.
• Extension: challenge students to add a second sentence using a second stem (“They use…”, “I think…”).
• SEN/EAL: seat students near the teacher; reduce writing load to key word plus one sentence; accept oral response as a first draft before rewriting.