Lopez, Natalia Alicia LCB – Methods II

19th September 2008

1° Final Draft
 Number of students: 20
 Age of learners: 16
 Length of lesson: 40 minutes
 Level: Advanced
 Teacher: Natalia A. López
 Book: Get on track to FCE Publishing house: Longman
(Judy Copage, Lucrecia Luque-Mortimer, Mary Stephens)
 Materials used: Students book book ( pages 32, 33, 35 ,38)
 Assumed knowledge:
 Topic: learners are expected to know how to describe places
 Grammar: present simple, continuous, time expressions, present perfect, past
simple, (all forms)
 Vocabulary: learners are expected to know adjectives, nouns, collocations
do/play/go, prepositions
 Function: learners are expected to know how to brainstorm ideas, plan their
writing, develop a paragraph, describe people
 Skills: planning and writing a description

Task: Write a description of your favourite place for a

virtual magazine
Lesson
Pre-task phase: Introduction to topic and task
The teacher will tell students that they are going to create a virtual magazine about
’Favourite destinations’ (it can be any, even if they happened not to have travelled to
any place , they can talk about their hometown or a dream destination) and so for
that they will choose one place they like the most and describe it.

Enabling tasks
Before starting with the reading activity (a reading based on the description of 4
different places) she will ask her students to brainstorm about their favourite places,
once she writes them she will ask them to provide adjectives that may describe them
so as to justify their choice of place. (she will write all the information given by the
students on the BB)
Once that is done she will ask them to go to page 32 -33 (Student’s book) and
to look carefully at the 4 pictures presented there.
She will ask them:
 What kind of place can you see in the photos?
 Have you heard of any of them?
 Which one looks most interesting?

They will read the text ‘ Great destinations for a great day out’ after that they will
work on reading comprehension activities

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Lopez, Natalia Alicia LCB – Methods II
1) You want to find out the following information about each place in the texts.
What kind of words do you need to look for?
 Where is it located? Names of places, words like south, west
 How much does it cost to go in?
 Can you get anything to eat or drink there?
 When is it open?
2) Copy and complete the table below (leave a blank if there is no information in
the text.)

A B C D
Location
Cost
Food/drink
Opening times

3) Multiple-matching task
Now answer the questions below. Write A, B, C or D in the boxes. Two questions
have more than one answer, so you will need to look for similar information in
more than one text.
Before you scan the texts, decide what kind of words you will look for. Use the
underlined phrases in each question to help you decide. The first one has been
done for you as an example.

In which place

1) Can visitors get recorded information?

paragraph C
2) Can you find out how people traveled around in
the past?
3) Can you see how people used to prepare food?
4) Can you try to beat a computer at sport
5) Will someone show you round?
6) Can you learn more about outer space?
7) Can you get practical experience by doing things
yourself?

 Speaking activity (Over to you)

1- Decide with partner which one of the four places in the texts you would like to
visit.
2- Tell the class what you have decided. Give reasons.

(Task cycle): Task

Individually, students will choose their favourite destination and describe it. Their
descriptions will be part of a virtual magazine called ‘ Favourite destinations’ . The
teacher will give students some questions to have in mind when writing their
descriptions. They can use the expression seen in the reading
1- What is the name of the place? Where is it exactly?
2- What sort of place is it : a town? A city? A beach resort ? other?
3- What interesting/exciting things can you do there?
4- Why else do you like it?
5- Is it a good place for young people to go ? Why?
6- What else can you say about it?
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Lopez, Natalia Alicia LCB – Methods II

Students will write their descriptions on the computers and while they do so, the
teacher will monitor them and offer encouragement.

(Task cycle): Planning

Having completed the task, students will work on a presentation of their descriptions.
They will have a look at it and decide what else they would like to include in it;
pictures, photos, drawings, new information, etc. For example, problems in the
organization of their writings, the use of adjectives or grammatical structures. The
teacher is always there next to them to help if necessary.

(Task cycle): Report

Students share their report with the class. The teacher writes down notes of common
mistakes and problems that students might have had when writing, and gives
feedback
Language focus: Analysis
The teacher writes on the bb sentences including some mistakes ( grammatical,
language, writing etc) made by the students in their writings (she never mentions
who made them!) After that they correct the wrong ones and have a look at their
descriptions in case they have made the same mistake. Again, the teacher monitors
and helps with the new language or structures (this can be used as an instance of
editing)

Language focus: Practice

In case it is necessary, the teacher conducts practice. taken from course book or
other sources. This will be based on common errors made by the students.
(in case there’s a need to practice the following exercises are the ones
suggested by the book)

Now students will go over –ing forms and infinitives to talk about likes and dislikes
and some fixed expressions they may use in their descriptions.
A -ing forms
 AFTER CERTAIN VERBS:
1) I love/enjoy/can’t stand skating
 AFTER PHRASAL VERBS AND PREPOSITIONS:
2) I’m thinking of going to the beach this weekend.
 AFTER SOME FIXED EXPRESSIONS
3) That new film is worth watching
B verb+ to –infinitive
4) I want /would like to visit the USA
C verb + object + to – infinitive
5) My parents don’t want me to go out in the week.
D –ing form or to – infinitive?
6) I love dancing/to dance (no change of meaning)
7) a) We stopped watching the game and went home!
(we did not continue this)
b) We stopped to watch the game
(we stopped in order to do something else)
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Lopez, Natalia Alicia LCB – Methods II

Vocabulary building: Word formation

The teacher will give the students a list of adjectives they could use in their
descriptions:
INTERESTING
BORED
AMAZING
SURPRISING
EXCITED

They will discuss the difference in meaning when adding –ed or –ing to each of them.
She will write on th bb two sentences then she will explain the difference between

Going to the beach in Brazil is boring

When I went to Brazil I was bored

When they get the difference she will give them 5 sentences with one word in
CAPITALS at the end of each to form an adjective that fits in the gap. (Discuss the
questions with your partner)

1- Are there any really ………..things to do in your town? INTEREST

2- Do you enjoy activities like skateboarding or do you think they’re ……? BORE
3- Would you be …….. if your parents ask you to help out in your free time?
ANNOY
4- Would you like to go bungee jumping or do you think it would be too …..?
FRIGHTEN
5- Do you like playing computer games or are you …………. Of them ? TIRE

Linking expressions : sequence

Students work with page 37 (students’ book)
They have a composition, which a student wrote about his home town. The
paragraphs are mixed up, so they have to number them in the correct order.

Linking
expressions :
(Introduction)
In addition,.. First point:
Finally, .. To Start with ……… /………../…
First of all, .. …..
Another thing (to Next points:
mention) is.. Also,/………/………/………
Last but not least, Final point
Finally, / ………
.. Conclusion:
Also, .. In conclusion, /……..
In conclusion, ..
In the first place,
..
To sum up, ..
As well as this, ..
To start with, ..
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Lopez, Natalia Alicia LCB – Methods II

Think……
1)Which expressions helped you to decide the right order? Underline them.
2)Look at the linking expressions below. You can use them to link points or whole
paragraphs to each other. Put them under the right heading. Now let’s work on
writing!
The teacher will show students how to link their ideas when writing

Having worked on all that, students have another instance of

editing before uploading the final version to the virtual
magazine called ‘Our favourite destinations.’
 Aims of the lesson:
 Topic aims: Places: Learners read four articles about four different places.
Learners talking about their favourite places in the world
 Vocabulary aims: Learners read new vocabulary connected to Time out,
describing places, word-formation :-ed/-ing adjectives
 Functions aims: Learners learn how to describe places.
 Skill aims: Learners read to follow an example of the text they have to write,
they plan and organize a description.
 Writing: They learn how to link their ideas when writing, (linking expressions)