Speaking Lesson
Intermediate level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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To introduce and provide practice of speaking for fluency in the context of describing someone you admire
Subsidiary Aims
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To provide gist and detailed listening practice using audios about admirable people in the context of describing the person
Procedure (35-45 minutes)
The T will project some images extracted from the book and ask the Ss: “What do you think the topic of today’s lesson is, based on these images?
T will play two audio tracks, and Ss will answer some multiple-choice questions in Google Forms. Individual work. (4 min) ICQs: How much time do you have to complete this? (4 minutes) Do you work alone or with a partner? (Alone) Ss will compare their answers in pairs. (2 min) T will conduct feedback. (1 min)
Stage 1: Intensive listening Screenshare FigJam. Demonstrate that they should move the ticks as they listen again to the audio to indicate which of the expressions they heard. Pair work. (4 min) ICQs: Do you need to write the expressions yourself? → No, just move the ticks. Are you working alone or with a partner? (Partner) Answers: • The person I admire (most) in the world is… • The person I admire is actually… • I really admire… • The reason I admire him/her is that… • He/She showed how strong and determined he/she was. • He/She never gave up. • I think he/she really influenced the way people think about… • He/She inspires me to… • I’ve learned from him/her that… T conducts Feedback (2 min) Stage 2: Categorise for meaning Screenshare FigJam. Explain / show that Ss should categorize the expressions according to whether they are (a) Introducing a person or (b) Expressing reasons for admiration or (c) Expressing influence or impact. Pair work (3 min) ICQs: Can one expression fit more than one category? → No, choose the best category for each. Do you put all expressions in one category or in different ones? → In different categories according to meaning. Introducing the person • The person I admire (most) in the world is… • The person I admire is actually… • I really admire… • He/She has always been my biggest inspiration. Expressing reasons for admiration • The reason I admire him/her is that… • He/She showed how strong and determined he/she was. • He/She never gave up. • He/She taught me to never give up on my dreams. Expressing influence or impact • I think he/she really influenced the way people think about… • He/She inspires me to… • I’ve learned from him/her that… • Everyone in my family looks up to him/her. T conducts Feedback (2 min) Stage 2: Form Give each team a FigJam and have them choose correct words to fit the gap: (2 min) ICQs: Do you need to invent your own words? → No, choose from the words given. 1. The person I admire most in the world is my mother. 2. The reason I admire her is that she never gives up. 3. She inspires me to work harder and never give up on my dreams. T conducts Feedback (1 min) Stage 3: Chunking / Pausing Display text on FigJam, Demonstrate with the first sentence and the audio that Ss should listen and where they hear a pause they should put a slash. Get Ss to work in pairs in breakout rooms and practice reading out the texts to each other. Show suggested answer slide and clarify any queries. (5 min) ICQs: Do you put a slash where you see a comma in writing? → No, put a slash where you hear a pause in the audio. Should you work alone or with a partner? → Work in pairs in breakout rooms. Okay, the person I admire / is my father / actually /... and um/ ... he was a civil engineer for thirty-three years and he was very successful in his job. And after thirty-three years of / working quite happily, he was suddenly made redundant. And at the age of fifty-two it was actually very, very difficult for him to get another job. So he started thinking about what he could do, and he remembered that he'd actually been very good at um/ ... teaching me maths when I was younger, and I'd had a lot of problems with maths and he'd got me through my exams. So what he did was he went back to university, and he trained as a maths teacher. And now / I have to say that whenever I go back to my town to visit my dad, I bump into a lot of people in our road who he teaches and they say he's one of the best teachers / that they've ever had, so that's great! The reason I admire him so much is because, you know faced with that kind of situation it would be very easy to be depressed / and feel sorry for yourself, and my dad showed just how strong he was and how / flexible and creative he can be and that makes me very proud. T conducts Feedback (1 min)
Tell Ss to choose one person they admire. T says: “Think about why this person is interesting and why your classmates would like to hear about them.” Preparation (3 min): T projects the following questions on Google Slides and says, “Use these questions to help you plan your description.” Introducing the person Who is this person? How do you know them, or why are they famous? Expressing reasons for admiration What do you admire about them? Can you give one example of something they did? Expressing influence or impact How have they influenced you or others? Practice in pairs (Breakout Rooms, 6 min): Take turns describing your person. Listen carefully and ask your partner questions. Suggest improvements if your partner wants. Then T sends Ss to BORs so they can talk about the people they admire. ICQs: Do you need to write a full essay? → No, just plan what you will say. Can you choose anyone, or only someone famous? → Anyone you admire. Should you answer all the guide questions? → Yes, try to cover them all. Teacher role: Monitor pairs to ensure they are on task. Listen for good examples of fluency and use of descriptive language.
Ask one or two listeners to give content feedback on the reviews they heard. Give language FB, praising good use of expressions and correct errors.
