Thanks to my colleague Raquel Gomez for introducing me to Macmillan’s amazing database of resources:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/learn/english-language-resources.html
She focused specifically on the pragmatics section in a seminar she recently gave in my school. She ran an experiment last year using the materials to boost scores for FCE and CAE speaking exams so I’m going to try them out for myself today, starting with this one on agreeing and disagreeing:
Image Credit: www.visualnews.com
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This is a lesson plan for intermediate and up based around pictures of interesting people and language of speculation and deduction. Credit to my workmate Mont for the idea, thanks Mont.
Download the handout here:
speculate pictures interesting people
Warmer – Who’s that guy?
Write the following expressions on the board:
He might/may/could be… (possible)
There’s a chance that he’s… (possible)
He can’t be… (impossible)
There’s no way he’s… (impossible)
He must be… (almost certain)
I’m pretty sure he’s… (quite certain)
Then show them the picture of the guy at the top of the post. Students come up with 5 deductions/speculations based on the picture. Tell them they can speculate about his age, nationality, job, personality or anything else they like.
The show them the pictures from the handout. Give them a few minutes to make speculations about the people.
Then show them the following list:
Tell student that they must decide which person has which job. The secret is: There’s no correct answer! But don’t tell them that yet. Give them 5-10 minute to make speculations and provide reasons for which person has which job, then have them present their reasoning to the class and debate them. Only then can you reveal that there’s no correct answer!
Follow up activity
Composition: Can you judge a book by it’s cover? Have students write and essay/article on the topic of first impressions and judging people based on their appearance.
Image credit: travelnotings.com
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This is my version of the classic “Find someone who…” speaking and ice-breaking activity designed for teenagers for the first class after the summer holidays. I’ve also added a version for adults.
Download the handout here:
Find someone who – teenagers
Warmer – Guess my holiday
Students get 20 questions to guess where the teacher went on holiday.
Allow students to ask you more questions to find out some information about the holiday.
Main Activity
Project the handout onto the board. Students must circulate, speaking to all their classmates until they have found someone who did all of the listed activities during the summer holidays. When they find someone who has done one of the activities they must also ask them for some details and record them in the details column.
Before starting model past simple yes/no questions on the board:
Went to another continent:
Did you go to another continent?
Also model questions for details:
Where did you go?
What did you do there?
What did you eat?
The winner is the first person to find someone people who have done each of the things on the list or prove that nobody has done them by speaking to everyone.
Handout
Try to speak to everyone in the class. You must find someone who did the following things in their summer holidays.
Find someone who…
| Activity | Person | Details |
| Went to a different continent | ||
| Tried some new food | ||
| Went to a summer camp | ||
| Had a party | ||
| Ate McDonald’s | ||
| Tried a new activity | ||
| Visited another part of Spain | ||
| Saw an amazing monument | ||
| Hurt themselves | ||
| Didn’t leave Catalonia | ||
| Earned some money | ||
| Bought some new clothes | ||
| Went on holiday without their family | ||
| Visited a famous city |
Image credit: http://www.tribunahacker.com.ar/2014/05/android-a-las-camaras-o-el-regreso-de-la-polaroid/
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Thanks to Nicky Hockly at The Consultants-e for the inspiration for this lesson plan. It’s an icebreaking lesson in which students can use their mobiles (shock horror) for intermediate levels and up.
Introduction
In a new class students are always keen to learn a bit about their new teacher and if you’re willing to share and personalise your classes the students will reciprocate with you and each other. So start by projecting some photos of things from your life on to the board with some sentence stems for deduction.
Intermediate levels:
He/she/it could/might/may be his girlfriend (possibility)
He/she/it must be his brother (almost certain)
He/she/it can’t be his sister (impossible)
Higher levels:
I’d say that…
I’d hazard a guess that…
I bet you €X that’s his brother.
I (don’t) reckon that…
I’m absolutely certain that…
There’s no doubt in my mind that…
There’s a good/strong/slim chance that…
I could be wrong but I think…
Drill sentence stress and intonation. Then put students in pairs and show them some of the pictures. Monitor them as they make guesses about who the people in the pictures are and have students share their deductions with the class. Award points for correct guesses.
Here are some example pictures from my life:
Other useful language:
You look just like (your mum)
You don’t look anything like (your sister)
You are the spitting image of (your Dad) (you look exactly the same)
You take after (your Dad) – you look/act the same.
Step 2: Pair work
Put students in groups of 2/3 and tell them to take out their phones and go to their photo albums. They must then take it in turns to show their group a picture of the following things:
The others in the group must use the language of deduction to guess what the picture is and then they can ask questions to discover more information about their partner.
You might want to model some questions on the board:
When was the photo taken?
How long ago did you take this photo?
Where were you when you took the photo?
What does your Dad do?
How long have you been …ing?
Language for reactions:
Wow! That looks amazing/lovely/gorgeous
No way! Me too!
Your Dad works in finance? No way, mine does too!
That must be (amazing/fantastic etc.) – present event/state
That must have been (amazing/fantastic/so much fun) – past experience
Give SS 10-15 minutes to talk, encourage the use of the vocabulary, award points to groups using the most.
Students then report back to the class about the favourite photo their classmates showed them. If you can, project the photos onto the board so the whole class can see them.
Follow up/Homework
Story behind the picture. SS write a composition (150-200 words) telling the story behind one specific picture. Encourage them to copy paste the picture at the top of the page. This is a good opportunity to practice narrative tenses: “I had been walking all day, that’s why I look a bit tired in the photo.” “The sun was shining, the wind was blowing in the trees” “It was the scariest thing I have ever done.” “I was walking down the street when I saw a…”
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This is a straightforward “What would you do?” speaking activity to practice hypothetical conditionals and just generate debate and conversation. Download the powerpoint below and project it or print it:
Language of agreeing and disagreeing will be useful.
| Agreeing | Disagreeing | Ending an argument: |
|
|
|
Credit to: http://www.buzzfeed.com/tracyclayton/moral-dilemmas-that-will-break-your-brain#.lhwmbK9XK
For a couple of the ideas.
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Image credit: www.cleverprocrastination.com
This is a straightforward conversation topic lesson plan which can be used with both teens and adults and many levels (high A2+). Students discuss the best thing to do in different situations.
You will need the “best way to…” powerpoint:
Language
Put the following structures on the board:
Opinion:
The best/worst thing to do is…
Agreeing and disagreeing:
| Agreeing | Disagreeing | Ending an argument: |
|
|
|
Project the powerpoint onto the board and go through the slides. Play devil’s advocate and ensure that students debate each topic thoroughly.
Debates
You could split the class into teams and debate one of the topics. Give each team an opinion, for example “the best way to break up with someone is by text”, and they have to defend that opinion even if they don’t agree with it.
Homework
Have students choose one of the topics raised and write an essay on it; exploring the different ways suggested and reaching a conclusion as to which is the best.
Photo credit:en.wikipedia.org
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Before you use these materials, why not check out our new podcast for learners and teachers alike? It’s called 2Ts in a Pod, have a listen here:
This is a conversation lesson plan to practise past (3rd) conditional structures whilst debating the value of specific professions to society. Credit to the university of Kent for the inspiration for the activity. I have changed the wording of the task slightly so that students must imagine a world without the achievements and inventions of some famous names from history.
You will need the handout, I have made 4 versions:
Intermediate teens:
Balloon Debate intermediate teenagers
Intermediate adults:
Balloon Debate Intermediate adults
Advanced teens:
Advanced adults:
I planned this as an activity to practise uses of advanced 3rd conditional structures such as:
But for + noun phrase, would/could/might have….
But for Thomas Edison, the lightbulb would have been invented much later.
Or inverted past conditionals:
Had it not been for Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have such a rich vocabulary.
You may want to preteach these structures using my other materials which you can find here and here.
Below you will find they advanced adults version of the activity.
Balloon Debate
You are in a hot air balloon which is losing height rapidly and will soon crash because it is overweight. You are travelling with a group of school children who will grow up to be very famous. You have to decide which 7 to throw over the side; if the balloon crashes you will all die. The passengers are:
|
|
Language
| Conditionals | Making Decisions |
| If_____ hadn’t invented_____, _____ wouldn’t have happened. | There’s no way we’re throwing ______ overboard because______ |
| But for ________ we wouldn’t have________. | Throwing _______ is out of the question because________ |
| If it hadn’t been for ______, we wouldn’t have _______ now | I think ________ is expendable. |
| Had it not been for _______, we wouldn’t have________. | What did _______ really do for us? |
Examples:
If Charles Darwin hadn’t discovered evolution, society wouldn’t have developed like it has.
If it hadn’t been for Gandhi, India would still be a British colony.
But for Shakespeare, we wouldn’t have such a rich language.
Had it not been for Abraham Lincoln, the slaves wouldn’t have been freed.
Homework Activity:
Students write an essay examining two of the people from the balloon and deciding which one has contributed most to society. They must compare and contrast the achievements of the two and reach a conclusion as to which should be crowned as the most inspiring person in history.
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Before you use these materials, why not check out our new podcast for learners and teachers alike? It’s called 2Ts in a Pod, have a listen here:
This is a lesson plan for intermediate students to practice different uses of the infinitive through games and conversation.
You will need the lesson plan, students worksheet and articulate cards.
Play the classic memory game: “I went to the shops to buy…”
Teacher starts: “I went to the shops to buy a loaf of bread” (encourage use of partitives – loaf of bread, bar of soap, carton of milk etc.)
Next student must repeat the sentence and add another item, continue until you have a huge shopping list of items.
Have students repeat back the sentences “I went to the shops to buy…”
Ask them what the infinitive expresses? Purpose/reason, introduce the title: infinitives of purpose. Students complete the matching exercise.
Match the sentences halves 1-6 a-f to make sentences using the infinitive of purpose.
| 1. I go to the gym 3 times a week | a. To give to her mother. |
| 2. I went to the supermarket | b. To see the new Woody Allen film. |
| 3. We went to the cinema | c. To do the weekly shop. |
| 4. I drove all night just | d. To clean underneath it. |
| 5. He lifted up the sofa | e. To keep fit. |
| 6. She bought chocolates | f. To see you. |
Key: 1-e, 2-c, 3-b, 4-f, 5-d, 6-a.
In these sentences we can also use “in order to” to be more formal.
We often use “so as” with a negative infinitive to express purpose.
She’s leaving now so as not to arrive late.
| 1. She entered the house quietly | a. So as not to hurt his feelings. |
| 2. He turned the volume down | b. So as not to wake the children. |
| 3. She stopped eating chocolate | c. So as not to burn the onions. |
| 4. They told him the terrible picture was lovely | d. So as not to miss the start of the film. |
| 5. He turned the heat down | e. So as not to annoy the neighbours. |
| 6. They hurried | f. So as not to put on weight. |
Key: 1-b, 2-e, 3-f, 4-a, 5-c, 6-d.
Cut up the object cards on the hand out. Split class into teams. Each team has 1 minute to describe the objects on the cards using an infinitive of purpose:
It’s an object we use to eat soup. Spoon!
For each card they get 1 point.
The following verbs are all followed by the infinitive. Use them to answer the questions below.
| Decide | Want | Need | Would like/love | Learn | Pretend | Promise | Forget + an obligation |
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Photo credit: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/dutch-retirement-home-offers-rent-free-housing-students-one-condition/
This is a conversation activity for adults (B2+) based around an article about a Dutch retirement home where university students can live rent free in exchange for spending time with the senior residents. It also includes Cambridge exam style open cloze and word formation exercises.
Lesson Plan:Dutch nursing home lesson plan
Article:Dutch nursing home offers rent
Open Cloze: Dutch nursing home open cloze
Word Formation: Dutch nursing home word formation
Key:
You can either split the class into groups to discuss the questions or conduct the discussion as a class. Warmer questions:
Give out article and have students read it, clear up any vocabulary issues. Then give out the open cloze and word formation exercises.
Discussion questions:
Follow up activity: Students write a CAE style essay, report or proposal on the topic of ageism and the retirement home program outlining pros and cons or highlighting advantages and disadvantages for the students and the elderly people.
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This is a lesson plan for higher levels (B2+) to teach verb patterns with reporting verbs using video and scripted roleplays. It will be especially useful for CAE students as these structures tend to come up in key word transformations quite often.
You will need:
Explanation of the 4 groups of reporting verbs:
Credit to http://www.eltbase.com/notes.php?id=59 for their great explanation.
The scripted scenarios (print out at least 3 copies):
The key to the scenarios:
Introduction:
Write the verbs “accuse” and “deny” on the board. Then play the first minute of the following video:
Elicit the following sentences from students:
The Dad asked the boys who had got the paint out.
The older brother accused the younger brother of gettting/having got the paint out.
The younger brother denied getting/having got the paint out.
The older brother accused the younger brother of building stairs out of blocks.
Analyse the sentences and come up with the formula for the verbs accuse and deny:
accuse somebody of doing/having done something
deny doing/having done something
Ask students if they have ever been in a similar situation with a sibling or friend.
Have you ever been wrongfully accused of doing something?
Stage 2: 4 groups of reporting verbs
For this part you can either give out the handout on the 4 groups of reporting verb patterns. Or model the sentences on the board and have students dedicate a page in their vocab books for each group of verbs.
You’re going to need a lot of space on the board for this part. Divide the board into 4 quarters.
Write the following sentence, one at the top of each quarter:
Tell students to change the sentences to reported speech using the verb in brackets:
Tell students that these are the 4 groups of reporting verbs.
Group 1: Say pattern: Same as “say”
He said that he would come to the party.
Subject + reporting verb + (that) + clause
Common verbs of this type:
| admit advise* agree announce claim complainconfess* confirm declare |
explain insist* mention promise* propose* say suggest warn*demand |
* also used with other patterns – see below
Group 2: Tell pattern: Same as “tell”
He told me that he would come to the party.
Subject + reporting verb + direct object + (that) + clause.
Common verbs of this type:
| advise assure convince inform notify |
promise reassure remind tell warn |
Group 3: Reporting actions: Promises requests etc.
He promised to help with the cleaning.
Subject + reporting verb + infinitive with to
Common verbs of this type:
| agree ask claim demand offer |
promise propose refuse threatentell (imperative) |
He encouraged me to take maths instead of history.
Subject + reporting verb + DO + infinitive with to
Common verbs of this type
| advise ask beg convince encourage forbid instruct invite |
order persuade remind tell urge warn (not to) |
Group 4: Reporting verbs with gerund.
He denied stealing the money.
Subject + reporting verb + gerund
Common verbs of this type:
admit
deny
mention
propose
report
suggest
Verbs with prepositions and gerund:
Accuse sb of doing st
Confess to doing something
Apologise to sb about/for doing st
Blame sb for st
Complain to sb about st
Insist on doing st
Object to st/doing st
Advise ab against doing st
Stage 3: Controlled Practice
Have students complete the 10 sentences on the back of the handout.
Report the sentence using the verb in brackets
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
_________________________________________
________________________________________
Key
Stage 4: Scripted role-play
Split the class into groups of 2-3 and give out the role-play scenarios, give them a couple of minutes to read and rehearse and then have students come to the front of the class and act out the scenarios. Then the other groups have to write sentences using as many reporting verb patterns as they can based on what happened in the scenarios. Guide students and model sentences, encourage them to place them in the correct group.
Reported speech – Scripts
A: Hi son, How’s it going?
B: Hi Dad. I’m going out.
A: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Have you done your homework?
B: Ahhh come on Dad, it’s Friday night.
A: I don’t care, have you done it or not?
B: No. But I promise I’ll do it tomorrow.
A: Ok, but if you don’t you’ll be grounded for a week.
B: Ok it’s a deal.
They shake hands.
Sarah: Hi Fiona, how’s it going? Are you coming to the party tonight?
Fiona: No I don’t think so; I’m not in the mood and I have to work tomorrow.
Sarah: No you don’t! Tomorrow is a holiday, the shop is closed.
Fiona: Oh yeah! I’d completely forgotten. I’m still not sure.
Sarah: Oh come on, you’ve got to come! Tommy’s going to be there.
Fiona: Really? Hhhhmmmm well, ok go on then, I’ll come.
Teacher: (to John) You stole €5 from the charity collection box!
John: Me??? It wasn’t me! How dare you accuse me! It was Sandra who stole the money. I saw her do it!
Sarah: Me? No way! He’s lying!
Teacher: I want to see what’s in your pockets right now!
They turn out their pockets. John’s pockets are full of money.
Teacher: Aha! What’s all this?
John: Ok, it was me. I admit it.
Sarah: I think it’s unfair that I was accused of this crime. I’m going to tell my parents.
Teacher: I’m terribly sorry Sarah, it was a misunderstanding.
Anna and Natalie are having a party. The music is very loud. There is a knock at the door.
Anna: (opening the door) Yes? Who is it? What do you want?
Little old lady: It’s 3am, I can’t sleep please turn the music down.
Natalie: Turn it down? No way! We just graduated!
Little old lady: Oh please please please turn it down, I’m so tired.
Anna: Nope sorry, we’re not going to turn it down.
Little old lady: (angry) Well, if you don’t turn it down I’m going to call the police.
Natalie: Go ahead! You can come in and use my phone if you want.
Little old lady: oooo the cheek of it! That’s it! I’m going to call the police!
Scenario 1
The Dad asked the son if he had done his homework.
The son admitted that he hadn’t done his homework.
The son admitted to not doing/having done his homework.
The son promised to do his homework the day after.
The Dad warned the son that if he didn’t do his homework he would be grounded for a week.
Scenario 2
Sarah asked Fiona if she was going to the party tonight.
Fiona replied that she didn’t think so. She said that she wasn’t in the mood and that she had to work the day after.
Sarah reminded Fiona that the day after was a holiday.
Sarah persuaded/convinced Fiona to come to the party by telling her Tommy would be there.
Scenario 3
The teacher accused John of stealing/having stolen the money.
John denied stealing the money and accused Sarah of stealing the money.
The teacher ordered them to turn out their pockets/demanded that they turned out their pockets.
John admitted to/confessed to stealing the money.
Sarah objected to being accused of stealing the money.
The teacher apologised for accusing Sarah of stealing the money.
Scenario 4
Anna asked who it was and what they wanted.
The old lady asked/urged them to turn the music down.
Natalie refused to turn the music down.
The old lady begged them to turn the music down.
Anna refused to turn the music down.
The little old lady threatened to call the police if they didn’t turn the music down.
Anna invited the old lady to use her phone.
The old lady announced that she was going to call the police.
Stage 4: Follow up activity, students write their own scripts.
Students come up with their own scenarios trying to use as many of the different verb patterns as possible. Other groups have to correctly guess the verb they were trying to express.