Unit 11, page 89 In a clothes shop elem

Role-play cards to help students make more conversations

Aim: to help students to make more conversations in a clothes shop

Procedure

Ask the students to memorize any necessary vocabulary items (e.g. changing rooms, a tie, etc.) or phrases (e.g. Where are the changing rooms?, I'm looking for a (tie)?,etc.) from the dialogue In a clothes shop.

Put the students in pairs to role-play conversations in a clothes shop.

Present the students with role cards giving some key information (and problems) to be included in their dialogues (see below).

When the pairs have finished, ask them to swap role cards with another pair.

A1 You are a shop assistant. You only have white trainers. The price is $39.99.	B1 You are a customer. You want a pair of black trainers. You have $40 in cash.
A2 You are a shop assistant. You have a smart evening dress, price $79.99. You have a dress for $59.99, but it's darker green.	B2 You are a customer. You want a light green evening dress. The first one suggested is too expensive. You have a credit card.
A3 You are a shop assistant. You have a jumper in orange. You have a larger size. The price is $60.	B3 You are a customer. You want a red or orange jumper. It's too small. You want to pay about $40.
A4 You are a shop assistant. You have jackets in different colours. You have a light brown jacket. You have a smaller size. The price is $99.	B4 You are a customer. You want a jacket to go with your trousers. You want a dark brown jacket. It's too big. You want to pay $100. You have a credit card.

2.

Reading predictions

How can we get our students to read a text in class with curiosity and motivation, feel relaxed, and have speaking practice too? Read on!

This activity works well with texts that have data e.g. a famous person's life, discoveries or historical events or general science or geography. These texts on tobacco, sugar and cotton work well.

Before asking the students to open their books, put these headings on the board - Tobacco/ Sugar/ Cotton.

Brainstorm in the class what the students know about these three things. If they don't know anything, ask them what they would like to find out from the text.

Encourage statements or questions from each student and write them up correctly for them on the board.

Don't correct any factual information even if you know it's wrong! Accept everything!

The board takes up to 15 statements and questions usually! e.g.

Tobacco kills

It's a plant.

Who discovered it?

Cotton is cheap.

Sugar is bad for you.

When the board is full, ask everyone to open their books and read the texts.

After a few minutes, ask them to see if their questions have been answered or if their statements are true or false. Introduce the idea of `not mentioned' or `not there' for any statements or the answers to questions which are not given in the texts.

3.

Do you know … well?

Level: Beginner - Elementary

Practice of short answer

This is a very simple activity that can be prepared quite quickly, and set up in many ways.

You can prepare a set of cards relevant to your students/about you/to use with any class/about famous people.

It is a good idea to include some blatant lies!

If your class is strong they can make their own cards with true (and false) sentences about themselves/you/famous people.

Students can work in pairs, as a class, or as a small group.

Cards can reflect particular language points (tenses/modals) or practise particular verbs.

Do you know your classmates well?

Shuffle cards and place face down on the table. Students take it in turns to take a card and read the 'fact' aloud to classmates. Classmates say whether the fact is true or false through use of a short answer. If the classmate doesn't know, s/he should guess.

Below are some example sentences that would relate to the first person singular with short answers, to practise using different auxiliary verbs be/have/do/did.

e.g. 1:

Student 1 'I'm a woman.'

Student 2 'No, you're not.'

e.g. 2:

Student 2 'I drink coffee for breakfast.'

Student 1 (guesses) 'Yes, you do.'

Student 2 'No, I don't!'

TO BE

HAVE GOT

PRESENT SIMPLE

PAST SIMPLE

I'm a woman.

I've got six children.

I drink coffee for breakfast.

I went on holiday to Africa last summer.

I'm not married.

I haven't got a pet.

I can't speak French or Italian.

I got an iPod for my birthday.

I'm a grandparent.

I've got two sisters.

I don't work in an office.

I didn't go to the cinema last weekend.

I'm very good at football.

I've got a Porsche.

I listen to rock music.

I ate pasta last night.

I'm 21.

I've got a mobile phone.

I always get up before 6 in the morning.

I wasn't at home last Friday night.

I'm a millionaire.

I've got a famous friend.

I eat in restaurants at the weekend.

I went to school with Prince Harry

I'm at a party.

I haven't got a bicycle.

I can't play the piano.

I visited London in 2002.

I'm a doctor.

I haven't got a pen.

I can sing opera.

I didn't have dinner yesterday.

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