Marcin Marcin

Practice and revise question tags.
Upper-Intermediate level

Materials

Abc Presentation
Abc Text for the TL exposure
Abc True or False. Google Forms.
Abc Controlled Practice for TP7.
Abc Statements for the quiz handouts.
Abc Guided Discovery Handout

Main Aims

  • To provide clarification and practice of question tags in the context of getting new information.

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide accuracy and fluency speaking practice in a questions tags in the context of general knowledge quiz

Procedure

Warmer/Lead-in (3-4 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

T welcomes the learners of this session, shares his screen with them and introduces them to the subject of the lesson. T moves on to the second slide of the presentation and posts two questions on the forum of the class. Questions: Have you ever met any of your old friends by chance? Did they recognise you? T asks the students to work in Breakout Rooms and gives them one minute to discuss those questions. S work in Breakout Rooms. T elicits the answers and praises the students for their ideas.

Exposure (7-9 minutes) • To provide context for the target language through a text or situation

T moves on to the next slide of the presentation, where the conversation between two people is. The conversation: Mike: Hello there, I think I know you. You are Michelle’s sister, aren’t you? Sarah: Yes, I am. We haven’t met before, have we? Mike: We didn’t actually meet. Michelle often talks about you, and you look a lot like her. Sarah: Yes, we look the same. Mike: I heard you study Portuguese at university, don’t you? Sarah: That’s it. And you? What do you do? Mike: I am not a student anymore. I work in a hospital, I’m a doctor now. Sarah: Wow! It must be exciting to save lives! Mike: Yes, I do love my job. Michelle told me you went to Brazil last year. How was your trip? Sarah: Yes, it was absolutely lovely! I met a lot of nice people there. It’s such a beautiful country, isn’t it? Mike: I have never been there. But I plan to go to the state of Bahia in June. I am planning to visit ‘Morrow de San Paulow’, I have been told it is a paradise. Sarah: Haha! Yes, I have heard of it. Mike: Why are you laughing? Sarah: It’s the way you pronounce it. It is ‘Morro de Sao Paulo.’ Mike: Haha, I get it now. I think I can learn a bit from you before I go. You have been to Brazil twice now, haven’t you? Sarah: Sorry for laughing and yes I have. I can’t wait to go back. Mike: I can’t wait for my own trip. I have a question if you wouldn’t mind. I can’t fly directly to Brazil from here, can I? Sarah: I had a direct flight, so it is possible. If I were you I would fly with KLM though. They are the cheapest airline I could find. Mike: Thanks for the advice. Sarah: No problem, I am glad to help. Here comes my bus! Well, it was nice meeting you. What is your name by the way? I’m Sarah. Mike: I’m Mike. It was nice meeting you too, send my greetings to your sister. Bye! Sarah: Bye! T asks the students to skim the text before doing the exercises. S read the conversation individually. They have one to two minutes. T moves on to the next slide and poses a question. He asks the students to think of their answers and peer-check their predictions. They have one minute. Question: What happened in this story? a) old friends met in Brazil; b) a sister and a brother met after years; c) Mike is planning to go to Brazil with Sarah; d) Mike and Sarah met at the bus stop. They talked about general things and travelling to Brazil. Answer: D T elicits the answer by nominating a random student and moves on to another reading task. He asks the students to look for specific information and find whether the statements, from the Google Form, are correct or not. Statements: Mark and Sarah have met before. T/F? Sarah studies Portuguese at the university. T/F? Mark studies medicine. T/F? Sarah enjoyed her trip to Brazil last year. T/F? Sarah was laughing at Mark because she doesn’t like him. T/F? Mark can fly to Brazil directly. T/F? They are texting via messages. T/F? Answers: 1F, 2T, 3F, 4T, 5F, 6T, 7F. S have four minutes to finish the task. T elicits answers from the learners by randomly nominating them and provides OCFB.

Clarification (10-12 minutes) • To clarify the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language

T moves on to meaning part of the MFPA stage. S have to discover the meaning of the phrases presented in the box dividing different types of questions into Normal Questions and Question Tags. Items from the box: When is your bus coming? You are Michelle’s sister, aren’t you? What is your name by the way? You study Portuguese, don’t you? You have been to Brazil twice, haven’t you? What do you do? Why are you laughing? I can’t fly directly to Brazil from here, can I? It’s such a beautiful country, isn’t it? Answers: Common questions: When is your bus coming? What is your name by the way? You have been to Brazil twice, haven’t you? What do you do? Why are you laughing? Question Tags: You are Michelle’s sister, aren’t you? You study Portuguese, don’t you? You have been to Brazil twice, haven’t you? I can’t fly directly to Brazil from here, can I? It’s such a beautiful country, isn’t it? T moves on to the slide with a question: In what situations do we use question tags? S have one minute to figure out the use. Task: We use Question Tags: a) when we want to blame somebody for doing something; b) when we want to turn a sentence into a question; c) when we want to turn a question into a sentence; d) when we want to disagree with the speaker; e) when we invite people to agree with us; f) when we want to check if something is true; Answers: B, E, F. T moves on to the slide with form this time. He asks students to choose the correct items from the box and discover the form of the TL via GD task. Items from the box: Main positive sentence adjectives noun ‘,’ Negative question tag ‘,’ Positive question tag wh- type of questions Main negative sentence adverbs Answers: 1. Main positive sentence + , + negative QT; 2. Main negative sentence + , + positive QT. T shows his students four examples on the next slide, and asks the learners, what type of verbs, the main verbs are. Examples: You’re Michelle’s sister, aren’t you? You study Portuguese, don’t you? You have been to Brazil twice, haven’t you? I can’t fly directly to Brazil from here, can I? Answers: 1. are- 'to be' verb; 2. study- another main verb; 3. have been- have as an auxiliary verb; 4. can't fly- can as a modal verb; T concludes with students that: 1. When the main sentence has modal verbs, auxiliary verbs or the verb 'to be', we are going to use the same verb in a question tag. 2. When the main sentence has another main verb, we are going to use 'do' in a correct form in a question tag. T moves on to the slide, which shows other exceptions. T presents QT with 'I am' and 'Let's ...'. S have to choose two items from the box that will fill in the gaps. Items: shall we? isn’t it? couldn’t they? aren’t I? amn’t I? don’t we? Examples: I am Sophie's brother, aren't I? Let's go to the cinema, shall we? T moves on to the pronunciation stage of MFPA and says an example prepared beforehand twice. Example: I can’t fly directly to Brazil from here, can I? T says the example below with rising and then falling intonation. T asks students what pronunciation was correct. T explains that both of them were correct. Intonation in QT depends on two things. T asks his students to choose correct answers from the box to fill in the sentences. Items from the box: when we are in different moods; when we are not very sure; when we are fairly sure; when you want other person confirmation; Answers: 1. We are using rising intonation when we are not very sure and when you want other person confirmation. 2. We are using falling intonation when we are fairly sure. T asks his students if they think there would be any linking sounds while pronouncing QT. T reads his example twice again, once linking the sounds, once not doing so. Then, he asks his students if we connect them or not. Answer: It depends. T moves to the last three questions of the MFPA stage. Questions: Do we use Question Tags in writing or speaking activities? Is their pronunciation dependent on the situation? Do we connect the sounds when we speak informally? Answers: 1. Speaking. 2. Yes. 3. Yes.

Controlled Practice (6-8 minutes) • To concept check and prepare students for more meaningful practice

After MFPA, T starts his CP. T sends a link to Google Forms via chat. He asks the students to fill in the gaps in sentences prepared beforehand. It uses TL. S start their task. They have 4 minutes. Sentences: It's a very ugly day today, ____? a) isn't it b) aren't they c) can they That pizza wasn't delicious, _____? a) are they b) is it c) was it You booked the tickets for June, ____? a) aren't you b) didn't you c) haven't you Your cousins are coming tomorrow, ____? a) aren't they b) aren't we c) isn't he He didn't fly to Greece last year, ____? a) did we b) was he c) did he They have been on holidays for a month now, ____? a) aren't they b) haven't they c) don't they I am next in the queue, ______ ? a) amn't I b) isn't me c) aren't I? Let's go to a pub tonight, ______? a) are we b) shall me c) shall we. Answers: 1. a, 2. c, 3. b, 4. a, 5. c, 6. b, 7. c, 8. c. T provides OCFB and praises the students for their input.

Free Practice (10-12 minutes) • To provide students with free practice of the target language

T starts his FP connecting the use of the TL and Speaking Skills. T tells the students they will play the game called QUIZ TIME. T explains the instructions, which are as following: We have two teams- A and B. Each team gets a list of general knowledge statements and answers. The teams choose 4-6 statements and turn them into questions using Question Tags. Teacher divides the group into two teams and asks a question that decides who starts the game. Question: 'Cheetahs are the fastest animals in the world, aren’t they?' The team who knows the answer goes first. The first team asks a question to other team and waits for the answer. The answering team has 15 seconds to answer. There is 1 point for correct answers. The teams ask each other questions nominating different students during each question. The team, which collects more points, wins. Students have to go through the list of ten statements sent by their teacher and turn them into questions when they are already in BO Rooms, so the other team doesn't see their statements and the other way round. They have to choose four to seven items, depending on the time left. They have three to four minutes. Statements for group A. The capital of Chile is Montevideo. FALSE. Our planet has 4 continents. FALSE. Rabbits can run faster than turtles. TRUE The River Thames flows from Berlin to London. FALSE. Japan has not won any World Cup in football. TRUE. Vegetables are illegal in China. FALSE. New Zealand could become a part of Australia with a bridge. FALSE. Cuba has been governed by a communist country since 1965. TRUE. Vasco da Gama discovered America. FALSE. You can’t pay with Euros in Switzerland. TRUE. Statements from group B. The capital of Brazil is Sao Paulo. FALSE. Our solar system has 11 planets. FALSE. Giraffes can bend their necks. TRUE The Amazon River flows in Argentina and Peru. FALSE. Messi has been the best football player since 1999. TRUE. People in Europe are not allowed to drink alcohol on the streets. TRUE. It can be very cold in the desert (e.g. Sahara). TRUE. Elisabeth II has been a queen for 72 years this year. FALSE. Neil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon. TRUE. You can pay with Euros in the United Kingdom. FALSE. T counts their points and decides which team wins. If the time allows, there will be a first and second prize for the competition. The competition takes place for about four to five minutes. The first prize is an extra Question Tag which Londoners commonly use: innit. The second prize is an extra old-school Question Tag which Londoners used in the past. It is 'ain't'. T provides Delayed Error Correction in the last three to five minutes, focusing on the content and the language that his learners have used during the lesson.

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