EDIT 2020: I wrote this blog post in 2017 before JK Rowling’s controversial views on trans people. I must say I’m disappointed and that I send my love to all of those who are offended by her statements. However, I must ask? Would you stop using this lesson plan or include a discussion on transphobia? I’d love to hear your opinions.
To celebrate more than 1000 visitors and almost 2000 views from 90 countries, as well as my blog’s anniversary (1 month already), I’d like to share this lesson about success.
You can also access my whole planning for American English File 2nd Edition here.
Please, share it with as many people as you want, and give me some feedback if you like the lesson (or not). It took me a lot of time to prepare it for you. Also, I’m planning on delivering a webinar in June. Stay tuned for more news about it! I’ll start advertising soon.
Access the slides here
LESSON PLAN 1 – B1 (reported speech/lead-in lesson to new reporting verbs)
Intended Learning Outcome: By the end of the class students should be able to report what other people told them about success.
SLIDE 1: Ss discuss in pairs the question: What leads to success? Allow no more than 3 minutes for discussion.
SLIDE 2: Instruct Ss to write 3 ingredients for success (individually). Have Ss share their recipe with a peer (get them to stand up, walk around, and find someone who has a similar recipe so that they can sit together).
SLIDE 3: Follow instructions on the slide.
SLIDE 4: Follow instructions on the slide.
SLIDE 5: Brain break
SLIDE 6: Allow Ss to discuss if age is an important factor for success. Use the headlines as drivers for the discussion.
SLIDE 7: Use Lesson_Success_Celebrity in the Dropbox folder. Cut each celebrity’s slip and give it to a different student. Have them sit together in groups of 4 and tell each other about the celebrities. They cannot read straight from the paper, they must report what they have read. Open up to the whole group and ask them to present about each celebrity shortly. At this point, it is a good idea to repeat what your Ss say using the reported speech without explaining the structure.
SLIDE 8: Begin with the question: “Do you agree that leaders are successful people?” If they do not agree, ask for reasons. Use the vocabulary in the slide to have them discuss the qualities of a leader. Allow some minutes of discussion, and ask a member of each group to report what the group discussed. This is a great moment to spot if they can use reported speech correctly or not. Try to remember the sentences they used.
SLIDE 9: Brain break
SLIDE 10: JK Rowling guessing game. Tell Ss they will have to guess the name of a successful person. The slide has effects to help you present one sentence at a time. If they still don’t know who she is, play the song file attached in the slide or give additional tips. Ask follow-up questions if you like: Has anyone ever read Harry Potter? etc…
SLIDE 11: Play the video and use the JK Rowling Activity you can find in the Dropbox folder.
SLIDE 12: Brain break
SLIDES 13 and 14: Have a short whole-group discussion about some facts concerning JK Rowling. Use SLIDE 14 as a lead-in activity to SLIDE 15
SLIDE 15: Notice the grammar.
SLIDES 16-19: Have students work in trios and try to transform the sentences into reported speech. Correct at the end of each slide and explain if necessary.
SLIDE 20: Brain break
SLIDE 21: Check understanding by revising the structure. Correct at the end.
SLIDES 22 and 23: More practice
SLIDES 24 and 25: Grammar rules. Elicit, notice and explain.
SLIDE 26: Get Ss together in groups. One S looks at the board and the others don’t. The S selects one quote and reads it in the reported speech form. The other three Ss try to write it down in the active speech form. Do the same with the other Ss.
SLIDE 27: Brain break
SLIDES 28 and 29: Follow the instructions. For homework, Ss will have to challenge themselves a little. I included some reporting verbs we didn’t use in this lesson (promised, explained, admitted, suggested, etc). Let them try and make mistakes or do a little digging on the internet. You can start the next lesson with those verbs
That’s it, folks! I hope you enjoy this lesson plan and give me some feedback soon.
Reflect on your teaching with this plan. Use the quotes to answer the question:
Am I a successful teacher? What makes me successful?
You’re welcome to share your thoughts here.
Hi André. Thanks for the great lesson! Just one question, where can I find the link to the JK Rowlings video? I’ve looked at all your material but I don’t see any link. Thanks again!
Thank you for the reminder, Dedene. I embedded the link on the photo of JK Rowling. If you download the pptx, you can click on the picture and it will open. However, I will upload the video as soon as I can. Meanwhile, you can use this link:
Thanks so much, André!!
My pleasure!
It’s awesome!
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