First year English: first lessons without book.

DAY 1

MATERIALS: blackboard and chalk

CONTENTS:

My name´s______.
How do you do?
What´s your| name?
his| His| name´s ______.
her| Her|

My/his/her name is......

What’s your surname?

Alphabet (using pronunciation to group words)

How do you spell (that) ?

How do you pronounce (that) ?

Classroom language:

Sorry?
Can / Could you repeat, please?
I don´t understand.

PROCEDURE:

It is very important NOT to use the mother tongue until the end of the lesson.
Imagination and body language will supply the elements to fill comprehension gaps.
DO NOT WRITE WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS ON THE BLACKBOARD UNTIL THE END IN
ORDER TO FORCE STUDENTS TO LISTEN.

1) Enter the class and introduce yourself: My name is ____________

2) Ask one student: What’s your name?. If the first one does not understand keep
on trying until you find one who does. If no one does, pretend you are two
 people by changing your position or draw two faces on the blackboard. In any
case, with the first good answer to the question, reply with “How do you do?”
and allow the student time to reply as well.
NOTE: if the first student to reply gives you an answer to the question “How are
you?” correct him/her as gently as possible and emphasise that the answer to
“How do you do?” is the same question “How do you do?”

Every now and then, pretend not to understand (it might be true!) and
introduce classroom language: Sorry, I don’t understand / Can you repeat,
please? / Sorry?

3) Do the same with every single student in the class (introduce yourself, ask them
their names, say “How do you do?” and wait for the correct reply). If some
student feels lost, tell them to wait and see and go back to them later. After
this, make them walk around the class and introduce themselves to everybody.

4) Point at one student and ask another “What’s his/her name?”. If they do not
know, make them ask the question again to find out. Emphasise the use of the
same possessive adjective as in the question (his or her) when they give you
the answer. Do it a few times for them to infer the difference between “his” and
“her”. If it is necessary, you can draw these symbols on the blackboard to
distinguish the two adjectives: ♁♂
Practise the question so that both you and your students begin to learn
everybody’s name.

5) When they have grasped this first expressions, use the same procedure to
introduce “surname”. Start by saying your surname and then ask students.
When you get to a difficult/strange surname, introduce “How do you spell your
surname?” and use your own surname as an example. Students might try to
spell and discover they do not know the alphabet. This is the moment to
introduce it!

6) Draw the following chart on the blackboard and write the pronunciation at the
top of each column (note: this same chart is on the student’s book).

/eI/ /i:/ /e/ /aI/ /ә℧/ /u:/ /a:/

Point at the first sound and pronounce it. Then write the first letter of
the alphabet under the sound. Do the same with 2 or 3 more letters and ask
 students to work in pairs and fill in the chart with all the letters (you could give
them some help by telling them how many in each column).

Note: it does not matter if they get most of them wrong at this stage, but it is
important that they try.

7) Check their answers and fill the columns. This is the chart in the end:

/eI/ /i:/ /e/ /aI/ /ә℧/ /u:/ /a:/

A B F I O Q R
H C L Y U
J D M W
K E N
G S
P X
T Z
V

Revise the pronunciation of the letters by emphasising the sound and reading all the
letters in the column. Do it with the whole class.

This chart will be very useful for them to check the pronunciation of a letter if they do
not remember it.

8) Now it is time to put the letters in the alphabet order. Using the chart, point at
the letters one by one and in their alphabetical order and ask students to
pronounce them.

9) Alphabet song: write the letters of the alphabet in the following groups

A B C D E F G

H I J K L M N

O P Q R S T U

V W X Y Z

Now ask them to tell you the alphabet as it is written, pausing after every line.

YOUR MOMENT HAS COME NOW!! : start singing the song using the groups of
letters. If you can’t sing, it does not matter and if you are lucky some students might
know the tune.

How long this activity lasts will depend on you, your musical taste, your
patience and the same on the part of the students, but if you can make them laugh,
better.

10) Go back to the question that started it all (“How do you spell your surname?”)
and make them practise with their partner’s surname. Feedback.

11) If there is still time left, make them write a list with all the names and
surnames of the students in the class (walking around again if necessary).

12) In the last stage, write all the expressions that have been introduced during
the class on the blackboard.
Day 2

MATERIALS: blackboard and chalk

Fancy dress party cards (2 sheets, 36 characters)
Numbers flashcards

CONTENTS:

Revise:

My name´s______.
How do you do?
What´s your| name?
his| His| name´s ______.
her| Her|

My/his/her name is......

What’s your surname?

Alphabet (using pronunciation to group words)

How do you spell (that) ?

How do you pronounce (that) ?

Classroom objects: What’s this? Who is he?

Classroom language:

Sorry?
Can / Could | you repeat, please?
I don´t understand.

How are you? Fine, thanks / Very well, thank you / Not (very) well, thank you /
And you?

Who is who? Who is he / she? (S)He is …?

Are you….? Yes, I am / No, I’m not.

Nos. 1-12.
What’s the time? It´s ______ o´clock.

What´s your telephone number?

My telephone number´s ______.

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Classroom objects: What is it? It´s a table/chair/board/book/pen/pencil/rubber.

Introduce:

More numbers: up to 100.

What’s the time? It’s half / quarter / etc. past / to ___

PROCEDURE:

It is very important NOT to use the mother tongue until the end of the lesson.
Imagination and body language will supply the elements to fill comprehension gaps.
DO NOT WRITE WORDS OR EXPRESSIONS ON THE BLACKBOARD UNTIL THE END IN
ORDER TO FORCE STUDENTS TO LISTEN.

1) Greet the students and ask them “How are you (today)? Make them practise
the different expressions introduced on Thursday. Introduce yourself to new
students and revise the difference between “How do yo do?” and “How are
you?”

2) Ask new students to spell their names and revise some spelling. Then ask them
about the objects in the classroom and tell them to spell the difficult ones for
the new students. PLAY HANGMAN.

3) Use “Fancy dress party” activity to revise introductions and then revise “Who
is…?” during the feedback of the exercise. Explain the situation and hand out
cards. The students must walk around the class introducing themselves
(Introduce: Hello, I’m…. Nice to meet you).

4) Draw a clock and ask “What’s this?”. Draw an “o’clock” time ask the sts “What’s
the time?” Revise “It’s _____ o’clock”.
Draw a different time and ask the same question to force the need for more
numbers.
Introduce numbers 1-30.

5) Go back to the clock and teach the time past , then quarter and half, finally to.
Ask the students to come to the blackboard and draw different times to ask the
others. Then ask them to work in pairs and draw six empty clocks. They must
invent times and ask their partners.

6) Revise “What’s your telephone number?”. Ask sts to invent a number figure
number. Then they must make a list with name, surname and telephone
number. Something like this:

1
Name surname telephone number

They must walk around the class and ask everybody to complete the list.
Feedback. Ask about some of the students and write their numbers on the blackboard.

7) In the last stage, write all the expressions that have been introduced during the
class on the blackboard.

8) Show the book to the students and ask “What is a file?” (“The X-Files”).

Show the different parts: lessons and grammar and vocabulary checks at the
end of each one,
- communication exercises (pages 108 to 113),
- listening scripts (pages 114 to 121),
- grammar bank (pages 122 to 139 ,
- Vocabulary bank, pages 140 to 155
- sound bank, pages 156 to 159.

Explain how it works and tell them about the web page to do some exercises
and practise pronunciation.

Comment on the Workbook too. See practical information on the TB on pages

10-11.

If time and cassette recorders allow, start Unit 1A (exercises 1 (A to D) and 2 (A

and B).

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Fancy Dress Party Cards

You’re Dracula You’re Mickey You’re

Mouse Frankenstein

You’re Tarzan You’re Sherlock You’re Pocahontas

Holmes

You’re Batman You’re Chiquito de You’re Don

la Calzada Quixote

You’re Napoleon You’re Torrente You’re Sancho

Panza

You’re Cleopatra You’re Cinderella You’re Bugs Bunny

You’re Julius You’re Mazinger You’re Peter Pan

Caesar

You’re Lara Croft You’re Don Pelayo You’re Forrest

Gump

You’re Mary You’re King Arthur You’re Madonna

Poppins

You’re Bart You’re Hamlet You’re Pinocchio

Simpson

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You’re Harry Potter You’re Barbie You’re Snow White