Keep your English
up to date 3
Teacher s pack
Lesson plan and student worksheets with answers
Awesome
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2007
BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Awesome
CONTENTS
1. Level, topic, language, aims, materials
2. Lesson stages
3. Answers
4. Audio script
5. Student worksheets 1, 2, 3
Level: Intermediate and above
Topic: Things which are excellent
Aims: Listening skills  A short talk
Language   Awesome and other emphatic positive adjectives
Materials: Worksheet 1  Introductory speaking and vocabulary exercises,
Listening section 1
Worksheet 2  Listening section 2
Worksheet 3  Extra work: Vocabulary, language and discussion
Audio script  Available in teacher s notes
Recording of the talk  Available online at bbclearningenglish.com
This plan was downloaded from:
bbclearningenglish.com/radio/specials/1130_uptodate2/page2.shtml
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Awesome
LESSON STAGES
A
Explain to the students that they are going to listen to a talk by Professor David Crystal, an
expert on the English language, and that the talk is about the way English is changing. This
particular talk is about the word  awesome .
B
Hand out Student Worksheet 1. Students do Speaking, Exercise 1 in small groups or
pairs. Before the students do this activity, make sure you carefully show them what to do.
They will probably need 5-10 minutes to prepare their ideas before they compare with a
partner.
C
Students do Vocabulary, Exercise 2 - without dictionaries at first.
Practise the pronunciation of the vocabulary, as they will hear it in the talk.
D
Students read Listening: Section 1, Exercise 3 and then listen to Section 1 of the talk.
They answer question  a .
Students listen again and do Listening: Section 1, Exercise 4.
E
Hand out Student Worksheet 2
Students read Listening: Section 2, Exercise 5 and then listen to Section 2 of the talk.
They answer question  a .
F
Students try to answer Listening: Section 2, Exercise 6. They listen again to Section 2 to
check/complete their answers.
G
If you wish to do some extra work with the class, hand out Student Worksheet 3
For the vocabulary exercise, give the students copies of the audio script and play the
complete talk as they read.
The language work focuses on other adjectives with a similar usage to awesome. You
might draw the students attention to the use of adverbs such as  absolutely with these
kinds of adjectives.
The final discussion activity is connected to the language work, encouraging the students
to use the adjectives from the lesson.
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Awesome
AUDIO SCRIPTS
Listening Section 1
Awesome. Or perhaps I should say it with an American accent, because it became very
fashionable amongst the valley girls in California in the 1980s, helped by its catch-use in
that film  Bill and Ted s Excellent Adventure, along with a whole host of other cool words
like,  dude and  bogus . Awesome! Yeah!
Well, originally, of course, the word was quite literal  inspiring awe, profound wonder.
People would talk about  an awesome sight or  the awesome power of the sun , but the
American usage weakened the meaning and it became simply something beyond what is
usual, something exceptional, something very impressive, it s great, it s cool, and that s
the way in which the word has come to be used more than anything else these days.
Listening Section 2
Anything can be  awesome now   that was an awesome car I just saw ,  that was an
awesome cast on the show , or people just say, you know,  it s awesome! and it s not
quite clear what that means, except that the person is simply affirming delight in
something that s just happened.
It s a young person s usage. I have heard some older people use it  it s not a word I use
myself, I have to say, and young people do, of course, make it even more intense  they
put adverbs before it,  that s totally awesome! ,  that s truly awesome! . I even heard
somebody say recently  that s wicked awesome!
Well, I think it s still around but, for many, it s dated now. I asked a couple of teenagers
whether they d use it and they said they  wouldn t be seen dead using it these days; it s
history , they said.
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Awesome
ANSWER KEY
VOCABULARY
Exercise 2
a. valley girls young, wealthy, middle-class women from California
b. cool fashionable, especially for young people
c. profound wonder a strong feeling of amazement
d. weaken to make something less strong
e. intense very strong or powerful
f. dated old-fashioned
LISTENING: SECTION 1
Exercise 3
a. It has a positive meaning of  very good or  excellent
Exercise 4
a. False  it came from America, from California and American movies.
b. True   inspiring awe, profound wonder.
c. False   the American usage weakened the meaning
LISTENING: SECTION 2
Exercise 5
a. It is used more often by younger people
Exercise 6
a. True   Anything can be  awesome now.
b. False   it s not a word I use myself.
c. False   for many, it s dated now ,  it s history .
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
Lesson Plan: Teacher's notes
Awesome
EXTRA WORK
VOCABULARY
Exercise 7
a. inspiring
b. cast
c. delight
LANGUAGE
Exercise 8a
a. excellent
b. superb
c. fantastic
d. stunning
e. incredible
f. tremendous
g. marvellous
h. amazing
i. fabulous
j. wonderful
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WORKSHEET 1
SPEAKING
1. a. Look at the list of different things below. Think of 3 examples for each thing.
1  One that you really like/think is excellent
2  One that you think is okay/not bad
3  One that you don t like/think is terrible
1 - great 2  not bad 3 - awful
a TV programme
a singer/band
an actor/actress
a type of food
a sport
a shop
a car
b. Compare your ideas with your partner s. Explain your opinions, saying exactly why
you like/don t like something. Do you have the same opinions as your partner?
VOCABULARY
2. Match these words and phrases to their definitions.
a. valley girls a strong feeling of amazement
b. cool old-fashioned
c. profound wonder young, wealthy, middle-class women from California
d. weaken very strong or powerful
e. intense fashionable, especially for young people
f. dated to make something less strong
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
LISTENING SECTION 1
3. Now, listen to Professor Crystal talking about the use of the word  awesome
in English and answer this question.
a. Does the new use of this word have a positive or a negative meaning?
4. Listen to Section 1 again and decide if the following statements are true or
false, according to Professor Crystal.
a. The new use of the word first became popular in Australia.
b. The basic meaning of awesome is that something is very impressive.
c. The new use of the word is stronger in meaning than the old use.
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WORKSHEET 2
LISTENING SECTION 2
5. Listen to Section 2 of the talk and answer these questions.
a. Is  awesome used more often by younger or older people?
6. Listen again to Section 2. Are the following sentences true or false?
a. People can describe anything they like as awesome.
b. Professor Crystal sometimes uses  awesome in the new way.
c.  Awesome is still a cool word to use.
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WORKSHEET 3 - EXTRA WORK
VOCABULARY
7. Find the phrases in the text that have the following meanings.
a. giving or creating a feeling, which is usually positive
b. the group of actors in a play or film
c. happiness or pleasure
LANGUAGE
8 There are many adjectives that are similar in meaning to awesome; adjectives
that have an emphatic meaning of  good or  impressive . Can you solve the
anagrams in these sentences? The first letter of each anagram is given.
Example
I think Beckham is a truly trage football player. Great
a. Your essay is texnellec. Well done. E_______
b. The young actor s performance is utterly rubesp. S_______
c. The special effects in the new Spider Man film are absolutely catfinsta. F_______
d. The design of the new skyscraper is simply gunstnin. S_______
e. Ronaldo scored a truly decinbreli goal in the final. I _______
f. The opening ceremony at the Olympic Games was quite merundeost. T_______
g. It s a really sumlevorla exhibition of Van Gogh paintings. M______
h. The view over the Grand Canyon is absolutely gaziman. A_______
i. I think the new Versace dresses are absolutely lubusofa. F_______
j. The Phantom of the Opera is a truly fewdunrol musical. W______
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BBC Learning English  Keep your English up to date
DISCUSSION
9. Discuss these questions with your partner.
Try to use some of the adjectives from the lesson in your answers.
a. What is the most popular tourist attraction in your country?
b. What is the best holiday you have ever had?
c. What is one of the best films you have ever seen?
d. What is one of the best books you have ever read?
e. What is one of the greatest inventions ever?
f. Is there anyone that you really admire or who has inspired you to do something?
g. What is the best building you have ever seen?
h. Have you seen any great works of art?
i. What is the most exciting thing you have ever done?
j. What is the best music performance you have seen?
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