This document provides classroom extension ideas for a speaking unit on talking about things from an English textbook. It includes suggestions for activities using photographs from the unit, such as having students ask questions about the photos or roleplay conversations between characters. Students practice describing qualities and quantities, as well as exaggerating and qualifying language from the unit. Suggested activities incorporate pairing students, group work, and performance of dialogs to reinforce the unit's vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation objectives.
This document provides classroom extension ideas for a speaking unit on talking about things from an English textbook. It includes suggestions for activities using photographs from the unit, such as having students ask questions about the photos or roleplay conversations between characters. Students practice describing qualities and quantities, as well as exaggerating and qualifying language from the unit. Suggested activities incorporate pairing students, group work, and performance of dialogs to reinforce the unit's vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation objectives.
This document provides classroom extension ideas for a speaking unit on talking about things from an English textbook. It includes suggestions for activities using photographs from the unit, such as having students ask questions about the photos or roleplay conversations between characters. Students practice describing qualities and quantities, as well as exaggerating and qualifying language from the unit. Suggested activities incorporate pairing students, group work, and performance of dialogs to reinforce the unit's vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation objectives.
This document provides classroom extension ideas for a speaking unit on talking about things from an English textbook. It includes suggestions for activities using photographs from the unit, such as having students ask questions about the photos or roleplay conversations between characters. Students practice describing qualities and quantities, as well as exaggerating and qualifying language from the unit. Suggested activities incorporate pairing students, group work, and performance of dialogs to reinforce the unit's vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation objectives.
SUMMARY 4. Students can then exchange their photographs and ask
their partner the questions. You can use this summary to guide the learning objectives and target setting for your class. 5. Feed back with the whole class.
Can-do statements Using Conversations
By the end of this unit, students will be able to say: 1. After Exercise 1 in Conversations you can ask students • I can talk about things with non-precise descriptions. which photograph from Getting started (including the • I can use correct pronunciation to link words together. extra photos from the Getting started photographs sheet) matched each conversation. (Answers: a – the main unit • I can use correct stress to show exaggeration in photo; b – the women looking at a dress; c – the couple descriptions. with tickets, globe and computer). • I can use uncertain intonation for non-precise descriptions. 2. The variety of short scripted conversations in these units gives students ample opportunity for tightly controlled Vocabulary practice. After completing the Conversations section Non-precise quantities: loads of …, tonnes of…, many… always ask the students to rehearse and perform one of Non-precise qualities: greeny …, the dialogues for the class. It is a good idea to get them Qualifiers: kind of …, sort of …, pretty (good) to come to the front to perform rather than letting them talk from their chairs. There are six roles across the three Grammar conversations here; you can repeat one scene more than Countable and uncountable nouns once if you have more students, but there are plenty of Pronunciation and intonation other opportunities in other units. Linking sounds Unstressed syllables Using the second Language note Stressing exaggerated adjectives/adverbs If you want to remind students about countable and Rising intonation for uncertainty uncountable nouns there are a variety of speaking activities that will allow you to revise this topic. Try this spot-the- Function difference activity with foodstuffs. Describing quality and quantity: It’s a greeny colour. There’s lots of stuff to do here. 1. Find two similar pictures of food and drink. You can find one picture which you can photocopy and then alter Exaggerating: You’ve got hundreds of boxes here. with correction fluid, or two pictures with a similar array Qualifying: It’s pretty nice. It’s a sort of storage box. of foods. Make five or six differences. 2. Put students in pairs and give a picture to each student which they must keep hidden from the other. CLASSROOM EXTENSION IDEAS 3. The pair can then try to identify the differences between their respective pictures by asking questions such as You can use some or all of these ideas to check and enhance Is there any orange juice? or Are there any grapes? your students’ understanding as they work their way They must not look at each other’s pictures until they through Unit 3 of Speaking A2 in class. have found the differences. Using Getting started 4. Feed back with the whole class. Allow students to ask the Getting started questions to each Using Saying it accurately other. You can extend this activity by introducing more pictures. Saying it accurately allows tightly controlled practice of the new vocabulary. After you have finished this section 1. Photocopy the Getting started photographs sheet below. you might want to allow students to build their own 2. Put students in pairs and give one picture to either conversations. student. 1. Photocopy the pictures from the roleplay photographs 3. Allow students to think of three Getting started-type sheet below, or source your own which fit the profile of questions for each of the pictures. (e.g. What are the your students. women in the photo doing? Where are the couple? etc.) English Readers English for Life Speaking (A2 Pre-intermediate)
2. Put students in pairs or groups which match the Using Get speaking characters in the photographs, and give each group the Get speaking is a roleplay that self-study students can do appropriate photograph. with the CD, but the classroom environment allows you to 3. Get students to give the characters names and to use it in a different way and extend its scope. imagine what they may be talking about. 1. Before the class ask students to take a photograph of 4. The pairs/groups can then start to write a conversation their room at home, or their office, or some other place between the characters. familiar to them. They can bring it in on their phone 5. Set a goal, e.g. they must include at least one word/ or camera, or print it out. (If this is not appropriate or phrase from each of the categories in Conversations possible, provide them with a generic photo of the same.) Exercise 2 (i.e. non-precise objects, quantities, etc.) 2. Instead of using the CD for the Get speaking exercise, 6. Let students perform their conversations within their photocopy the two halves of the dialogue in the Get groups at this stage, and monitor for accuracy of speaking matching activity sheet below. usage. 3. Cut the dialogue up and get pairs of students to match the question and reply. Using Saying it clearly and Saying it appropriately 4. The pairs can then practise the dialogue together. 1. At the end of these parts, get students into the pairs or 5. Then get the pairs of students to show each other their groups from the roleplay exercise in which they wrote photos of home, and ask each other similar questions of their own conversation, and ask them to annotate their what they see. dialogues with the linking from Saying it clearly and the (rising) intonation from Saying it appropriately. Using My review 2. If they don’t have at least three examples of each, they 1. Get students to review the dialogues they have written should elaborate their conversation further to include as groups or pairs, and find three examples in their them. dialogues of each of the can-do statements. If they 3. Let students perform their conversations within their cannot find three, get them to elaborate their dialogue groups at this stage, and monitor for clarity and further until they have. intonation. 2. Students practise in pairs or groups one last time before performing the scene for the whole class. English Readers English for Life Speaking (A2 Pre-intermediate)
PHOTOCOPIABLES Getting started photographs English Readers English for Life Speaking (A2 Pre-intermediate)
Roleplay photographs English Readers English for Life Speaking (A2 Pre-intermediate)
Get speaking matching activity
What have you got in these boxes? Some old photos, a few books, and bits and bobs.
How old is the necklace? It’s pretty old. It belonged to my grandmother.
How many pairs of shoes have you got? I’ve got hundreds of pairs of shoes.
What’s your favourite item of clothing? My coat. It’s a bluey colour and it’s really warm.
Have you got lots of English textbooks? Yes, I’ve got tonnes of them.
