Making Suggestions and TV Language

Making Suggestions and TV Language

Scaffolding a listening activity using the Woodpecker app

Photo by freestocks.org on Unsplash

In this lesson, I have focused on three areas my students often have difficulty with: talking about their TV viewing habits, making suggestions and listening. 

When I teach expressions for making suggestions, I take the opportunity to highlight the difference between the more formal way of making a request, 'Would it be possible to meet with you on Friday?' and the more common, native way of suggesting, 'Let's meet on Friday'.  I explain that suggestions are frequently used by native speakers when chatting and also in more formal business situations. In general, English speakers are becoming less formal. Therefore, it's important for students to familiarise themselves with such expressions both for comprehension and communication.

In the age of digital streaming and video on demand, chatting about TV shows and online streaming services is commonplace. Students often lack the vocabulary needed to participate in such conversations, so the expressions and exercises in this lesson are intended to help them express themselves more confidently. 

The in-class lesson materials and the homework, form a three-tiered scaffolding activity aimed to develop listening skills.  The lesson is used as a pre-listening activity. The homework includes a listening activity which is broken down into parts and should be completed with the help of the Woodpecker app. And finally, vocabulary and writing activities are given as post-listening activities.

The Lesson Plan

The lesson objective

The objective of this lesson is to introduce a variety of expressions to make suggestions and to respond to suggestions.  To learn the basic language needed to talk about TV shows and TV viewing. And in addition, to combine an in-class activity and a self-study activity to scaffold an exercise to improve listening skills. I aim to demonstrate how to use the Woodpecker app to review language, expand vocabulary, improve listening skills, and give students the ability to experience the lesson language in new contexts.

English Jade - engVid

The lesson

The lesson consists of a warm-up activity, a vocabulary review and 5 tasks:

• Warm up: To get students thinking and talking about TV shows.

• Task 1: TV language - Match the expressions with the definitions.

• Task 2: Dialogue - To demonstrate a conversation about TV suggestions, to identify the suggestion expressions and to answer brief comprehension questions.

• Vocabulary review: Expressions with examples of suggestions and accepting/rejecting suggestions.

• Task 3: Making suggestions - Encourage students to plan and create a dialogue using the language from the first part of the lesson.

• Task 4: Matching statements and responses - To show examples of everyday language. If time, students could create alternative responses.

• Task 5: Speaking - Two situations to be roleplayed with a partner in order to produce the language and practise it in 'real' situations.

The homework

The homework consists of 5 parts and uses an engVid video viewed in the Woodpecker app.  The homework could be completed using Youtube, but parts 2, 3, 6, and 8 would not be relevant.

• Part 1: Improve listening - Encourage students to first attempt watching videos without subtitles or a transcript to develop their listening skills. Get them to practise two different listening skills: understanding the main idea and listening for detail (you could suggest specific information for them to listen to like suggestion expressions).

• Part 2: Improve understanding - Using the app's functions, students should then watch the video while reading along. Encourage students to choose the dictionary in the app, that they prefer before starting.  Lower level students could use a dictionary that translates into their native language, and higher level students should use the English English dictionary with definitions in English. Students can touch any words that are unfamiliar to them to pause the video and to read the translation/definition and to add these words to their 'Word History' in the app.

• Part 3: Improve comprehension and pronunciation - Using the go-back buttons, students can watch the video again (until 3:46), stopping and rewinding chunks of the language to repeat verbally and copy Jade's pronunciation as they watch.

• Part 4: Writing and revision - Before watching the second part of the video, which contains new expressions, students should write a list of suggestions to review the language in the lesson in a new context, as in the video.

• Part 5: Improve listening and new expressions - Students should watch the second part of the video without subtitles as in Part 1.  A number of new expressions are introduced in this part of the video. Lower level students might need an additional explanation, which could be given in class or they could read about the formation of 'Would you mind' expressions here.

• Part 6: Improve understanding - Students should use the app's functions to watch the second part of the video again, as in Part 2.

• Part 7: Write a dialogue - Students are required to write a short dialogue to practise the new expressions in the second part of the video.

• Part 8: Review new vocabulary - Encourage students to check their 'Word history' in the app, they should export new expressions and create a file on their computer to save vocabulary to review and use in the future.  

The lesson materials:

Click to view the lesson materials in Google Docs.
Click to view the video in the Woodpecker app.
Click to view the video on YouTube.

Conclusion

Creating a new lesson plan to work with my students on the topic of making suggestions, is something I've been wanting to do for some time, so I'm very pleased to have finally completed it.  I think the in-class lesson also works well as a pre-listening activity. The TV viewing language is an added bonus and a motivator to promote fluency and improve speaking. I must thank Cynthia, a wonderful Chinese student of mine for the inspiration. She likes to start our lessons each week, with a quick chat about the new shows that she's discovered on Netflix. The excellent Woodpecker app supplies the listening activity for this lesson, an engVid video by English Jade, which both reviews the lesson language and introduces additional expressions. At the same time, exposing students to a London accent.  Woodpecker's video functions greatly enhance the use of such videos with its built-in interactive tools, perfect for building scaffolding activities. It makes planning the listening and post-listening activities so simple for a teacher and so comprehensive for a student. The post-listening activities, in the form of writing a dialogue and reviewing new vocabulary, complete the lesson and ensure that all the four language skills are used and developed in the lesson. 

I hope you and your students find the lesson and homework activities interesting and useful.

Additional links:

Suggestions: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/functions/suggestions
Would you mind expressions: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/grammar/british-grammar/common-nouns/mind
Jade's YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sse2FKrC_DE
Article about scaffolding: https://everydayesl.com/blog/listening-exercises-for-struggling-listeners
Article about breaking down listening activities into 3 parts: https://everydayesl.com/blog/2017/10/10/the-three-parts-of-a-listening-exercise

Please feel free to comment, I appreciate any feedback.  If you are a Google+ member please comment below. If you're on Facebook please message me there and of course, you can always contact me through my website: http://talk2meenglish.wixsite.com/lessons

Back to basics 2 - The Verb To Be

This is the second post in my 'Back to basics' series.  As I told you last time I'm working with a wonderful group of adults who prefer paper to technology;  I have been creating printouts to use in class and as with all my infographics, my objective is to transmit each grammar point in a simple, one page format. One of the main challenges of teaching this group, is finding a way to help them retain vocabulary.  By using only specific language in order to constantly recycle, I feel that I'm starting to make progress, it's a case of 'one step back, two steps forward':

This is the infographic that I created to introduce the verb - To be in the Present Simple tense:

The verb BE

http://www.scribd.com/doc/230910514/The-verb-BE

The Present Simple 1 - Back To Basics

I am very proud to announce that this post has been awarded the 'Teaching English Blog Award for Innovative Teaching Ideas' by the British Council.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Teaching English  for their support and thank everyone who voted :-)

This post is the first of a series of three, on the topic of the Present Simple tense. It contains a printable infographic covering the basics of the Present Simple and three printable worksheets.  

Getting back to basics:

If you've been following my blog, you'll know that I've been on a journey of discovery, concerning using technology to create materials and using technology to teach and study.  


A few weeks ago I began teaching a group of 12 adults face-to-face.   I was excited to get back into the classroom, I mainly teach online today, and try out some of my new creations on a group. I checked the equipment: I had a computer and projector, a fast internet connection and a full class.  I was ready and raring to go.....
We have had three lessons so far and I must say I'm thoroughly enjoying teaching the group.  It's a pleasure to teach face-to-face and a challenge to teach adults at this level; it's really great to get 'back to basics'.  This experience has reminded me that although using technology to teach is amazing, it's not always appropriate.  As teachers we shouldn't allow it to distract us as I did, from what is really important, 'the students'.  The truth of the matter is, the tools we use are far less important than the way we teach.

The minute the lights went out, the atmosphere changed in the classroom and I felt the tension rise.  One student couldn't see well, another said the writing was too small, another said she was getting too hot from the projector.  I had made an extremely basic mistake. The group's native language is Amharit, they have all had to learn Hebrew, so English is a third or for some of them a fourth language; at beginner level, the experience of a first lesson with a new teacher was daunting enough, without adding unfamiliar technology and teaching methods. Most of them don't have smart phones and for this group, this method, at this stage, was just not suitable.  So I switched off my overhead projector, sharpened my white board pen, dusted off my flash cards and reverted back to traditional methods.  

I have been working with the group on the topic of places in a town and shops.  I highly recommend using the lesson materials from the British Council's Teaching English website, my students really enjoyed them.  In our next lesson I'm going to use the language that we've worked on to introduce the Present Simple tense. I have created some printable materials in order to do this: 

Click on the link below to print or save:

Present Simple Infographic Word

http://www.scribd.com/doc/228736855/Present-Simple-Infographic-Word

The Present Perfect Tense - Simplified

In this blog post I have created an infographic to simplify the Present Perfect tense, my objective is to make this tense less intimidating for students. 

Students arrive with a built in aversion to the Present Perfect tense and generally speaking they find it illogical and confusing. I have experimented with a number of different ways of teaching the Present Perfect tense: I've tried combining it with the Present Perfect Continuous, contrasting it with the Past Simple and teaching just one use of the tense at a time. I have found that the most successful method is to start by focusing on four common uses of the Present Perfect tense.  I provide my students with lots of practical examples and situations, focusing on the use rather than the meaning of the tense.  Once they have become more confident, I then move on to comparing and contrasting with other tenses. 

In addition to the infographic, I have given some examples of ways to practise the four uses in class and a list of web exercises with answers that could be given to students for self study.

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/1482813-the-present-perfect-tense

Me, Myself and I - Pronouns

I frequently correct my students misuse of pronouns and understand their frustration and confusion when it comes to choosing the correct pronoun. This week I decided to create an infographic to try to simplify this topic.   I hope you and your students will find it helpful:

Top 10 Confusing Adjectives - Intermediate level

Top 10 Confusing Adjectives

Adjectives often sound similar and mean similar things, but are used differently in English.  This can be very confusing for students.  Here are my 'Top 10'with explanations and examples:

Number 1 : Much and Many

Many: Means a lot of, it is used with countable nouns (people/women/meetings/books), positive sentences, negative sentences and questions.

Examples:

I have to attend many meetings this week.

There are many free books on eBay.

How many times have you seen that movie?

Do you have many friends in Paris?

I don't have many meetings today.

Much: Means a lot of, it is used with collective nouns (army, group, team, class, company) and singular uncountable nouns (money/coffee), in negative sentences and questions.

Examples:

How much does that cost?

He doesn't have much luck in life.

He doesn't have much money?

Exceptions:

He has too much money.

She talks so much.

I love you very much.

They are in so much trouble.

Say and Tell - Intermediate Level

In many languages 'say' and 'tell' mean the same and are used in the same way.  In English, both verbs mean to communicate verbally, but they are used differently:     

Say: You say something.        

Tell: You tell someone something.

SAY: Is used to express something in words, to report, to make a statement or to repeat.

TELL: Is used to give a detailed account, to inform, to give instructions.

We can say:  "She said to me to go."  

We cannot say: "She said me to go". 

SAY structure

1. Say + direct object (something/the thing you said).

    e.g I said sorry. 

2. Say + direct object +to + indirect object(someone, the person to whom you said it).

    e.g I said sorry to Mike.

3. Say + noun

    e.g. Say a prayer.

The Future with Going To - Intermediate lesson

Picture by Over the big moon

The Future Tense with Going To 

Intermediate lesson 

In spoken English, we often use going to + the infinitive to talk about the future.  We use it to talk about our future plans, to make predictions and to give our opinion about what will happen in the future:

Jo: Look at the dark clouds in the sky; I think it's going to rain.

Rose: I think you're right. Are you going to take an umbrella, when you go out?

Jo: No, but I am going to wear my raincoat.

Rose: Where are you going?

Jo: I'm going to meet friends for lunch?

Rose: When and where are you going to meet them?

Jo: We're going to meet at 1.00 pm, at the new Italian restaurant in town. Are you going to come with me?

Rose: I'm not sure yet, it depends on the weather.

Wishes and Regrets: Intermediate lesson

photo by girly-girl-graphics

Do you wish that you could speak better English?

With a little practice, that dream can become a reality.

"Never let go of your dreams"