Engage your students – Promote speaking with interesting discussion topics
This lesson plan can be taught to students aged 11 – Adults – just choose sections of the material that will best suit your student’s particular learning level
WARM-UP
What did you do today?
What do you often do tonight?
What would you like to be able to do, if you had the chance?
What would enable you to have that chance?
What will you do this weekend?
Have you planned to do anything for the National Day holiday?
RIDDLES
- A farmer has 17 cows, and all but 9 die, how many are left?
Answer 9 - Which English word is always spelled incorrectly in the dictionary?
Answer: Incorrectly - When does Friday come before Thursday?
Answer: In the dictionary - Why is the letter A like noon?
Answer: It is in the middle of the dAy
IDIOMS AND COMMON SAYINGS
Discuss these and try to use them in a sentence and/or conversation
1.“Shoot from the hip” – talk without thinking
2.“Straight shooter” – talk without frills or lies
3.“Tell it how it is” – talk factually/frankly
4.“Loose cannon” – talk without thinking
5.“Plain and simple” – straightforward
6.“Common a garden” – a common thing
7.“No frills” to talk directly
TONGUE TWISTERS
Improve pronunciation
Explain the Tongue Twister in your own words, what is the story in the Tongue Twister?
R
Roger Rocket ran around the river and rented a raft to ride on
M
Minnie mouse makes many marshmallows for Mickey Mouse to munch on
N
Which noise annoys an oyster most?
A noisy noise annoys an oyster the most.
PART ONE
1. SHORT FORMS OF ENGLISH
Want to – wanna Let me – lemmi
Going to – gonna Give me – gimme
Ought to – oughtta What have – whatav
Because – ‘cause Could have – couldav
A lot of – lotta Should have – shouldav
See you – see ya Would have – wouldav
Got to – gotta Couldav, shouldav, wouldav
Make a sentence using four English shorts
2. TELL THE TRUTH
Tell the class five things about yourself, but:
3 must be the truth
2 must be a lie
try not to make the lies too obvious.
Ask the other class members to work out which facts are true and which are false – and explain why!
3. TIME TRAVEL
List some things that have been invented over the last 100 years?
In 50 years’ time, what do you think the following will be like?
TV’s
Houses
Camera’s
Transport
Cars
Money
Life
Internet
PART TWO
1. DISCUSSION TOPIC
GENERALISATIONS
What are Generalisations?
Statements or opinions, which, are only partly true because they are based on a few cases or incomplete knowledge.
I will give you certain generalizations, and I want you to discuss whether they have a valid base or are true in some respect.
Teachers can choose 4-5 generalizations from the list below and students can discuss (Note: There are enough generalizations below to provide content for at least 5 classes)
Married people are boring
Footballers are not clever
You can’t be friends with your boss
Old people have no fun
Men are bad at languages
Maths is for clever people
Rich people have a great life
Top sports stars have fewer worries than most workers
Young girls are brighter than young boys
City people have a better life than country people
Artists are different from most people
Poor people are happy in their own way
A woman’s place is in the home
Fare dodging on a bus is OK if you get away with it
Boys and girls should not have equal education
We are all basically selfish
Punishment never has a good effect
You will be happier if you stay unmarried
People will work better if they are paid more
Can you think of some more generalizations?
PART THREE
PUBLIC SPEAKING
1. FINISH THE SENTENCE
Christmas is…
Spring festival is…
My best friend is…
Going abroad for holidays is…
I once dreamt that…
The weekend is…
China is…
My boyfriend/girlfriend is/will be…
2. CONTINUE THE STORY
The teacher starts with a statement – go around the class – each student must add a sentence to create a story.
You can start with:
Today I was walking along the beach when I almost fell into a giant hole, when…
3. THE CHANGING NATURE OF FAMILY LIFE
Ask your students to cønsider the points below relating to the way family life has changed over the past 30 years and to then prepare a response so that the class can have a discussion.
– both parents work
– children owning their own homes and not living with their parents
– maybe a need for nursing homes
– more and more children going to kindergarten
– children starting education earlier
– people becoming more affluent
– the importance of education
– professional nature of jobs as opposed to the rural life of most parents
You have two minutes to prepare
Work with a classmate
Tip:
You as the teacher should always try to stay ahead of your student’s replies and conversations so that you can lead the direction of the classroom discussions – make them interesting and fun!
Should be every week
The impact a teacher has on students is untold!
