Main Course 1-3 / PREPOSITIONS / Day 1 of 6
GENERAL AIMS
- To increase the students’ repertoire of frequently used expressions using prepositions and adverbs
- To help students remember which preposition or adverb collocates with the words in each of the expressions
- To have the students become accustomed to saying the expressions with the appropriate pronunciation
STEP SUMMARY
|
A |
New expressions |
Learning meaning and pronunciation |
|
B |
Speaking |
Using the expressions while speaking |
|
C |
Reinforcement |
Quiz (optional) + homework |
RECOMMENDED LEVELS
Intermediate Up
ACTIVITY TIME
25 minutes
MATERIALS
Handouts for students:
HO4 2 rows of expressions
HO5 Speaking themes (Grp A)
HO6A -optional- Definitions
HO7A Homework sentences
- Audio MCAUD1 Group A expressions
SPECIAL NOTES
– Note 1
– Note 2
Quickpage
Class Plan
PART A: NEW EXPRESSIONS
| A | STEP 1 | LEARNING THE PARTICLES ROW 1 PREPOSITIONS | |
| a) | Tell the students to put their pens down. No writing (yet). | ||
| b) | Give the students HO4 (Handout #4) and tell them to focus on the three expressions in the first line. | ||
| c) | Elicit from the class any of the prepositions / adverbs they think would go with the 3 expressions. Don’t worry about the meaning of these expressions at the moment. | ||
| d) | Confirm or provide the correct particles so the class has the answers.
in any case on the whole from time to time |
||
| e) | Have the students repeat the expressions, paying some attention to the intonation patterns as well as the connected speech aspect in their pronunciation, connecting the sounds as the words join together. | ||
| f) | After eliciting and practising the pronunciation of all 3 items, students can pick up their pens and fill in the missing particles. | ||
| g) | Go over the items one more time, making sure the class has the correct answers. | ||
| A | STEP 2 | LEARNING THE MEANING ROW 1 PREPOSITIONS | |
| a) | Say the first item (in any case) and elicit what the students know. Try to get the students to offer possibilities (synonyms, definitions, descriptions of situations where it would be applicable) and work with what they’re saying, bringing them closer to a clearer understanding of the meaning. In so doing you are also helping them with their fluency by providing and encouraging examples of different techniques people can use when they wish to articulate something a little difficult to convey. | ||
| b) | Do the same with the next two items. | ||
| c) | Have the students repeat the three expressions, saying them ‘naturally’ with good intonation while also thinking of their meaning. | ||
| A | STEP 3 | PARTICLES & MEANING FOR ROW 2 PREPOSITIONS | |
| a) | Repeat the above procedures in steps 1 & 2 for the next 3 items in the second row.
without fail up to no good under the weather |
||
| b) | -OPTIONAL- Play the audio recording and have the students repeat each expression after hearing it. As above, encourage them to say the expressions ‘naturally’ with good intonation while thinking of their meaning. | ||
GROUP A – MCAUD1
Prepositions (& adverbs) used in common expressions
in any case on the whole from time to time
without fail up to no good under the weather
| A | STEP 4 | REINFORCING MEMORY, MEANING & PRONUNCIATION PREPOSITIONS | |
| a) | Put the students into pairs, assigning roles, one person the teacher, the other the student. | ||
| b) | The ‘teacher’ has the worksheet (HO4), selects one of the items from the first two rows and communicates its meaning in some way (providing a definition or synonym, for example). The ‘student’ then has to say that expression with good pronunciation (intonation). | ||
| c) | The teacher continues until all 6 items are done in this way. | ||
| d) | Students change roles. In this situation the new teacher merely hums out the expression, paying careful attention to mimic the rhythm and intonation patterns. The student tries to guess which of the six items it is. | ||
PART B: SPEAKING
| B | 1 STEP | SPEAKING PREPOSITIONS | |
| a) | Put the students into groups of 2 or 3. | ||
| b) | Tell them to try to include at least two of the expressions each while speaking. (It’s okay if they say one that was already used by another student.) | ||
| c) | Give them one (or both) of the themes from Group A in HO5 and five to ten minutes of speaking time. | ||
| d) | Monitor the groups and give them feedback on their pronunciation and appropriate use of the expressions (as well as other elements of the language) while they’re speaking and at the end of the activity. | ||
PART C: REINFORCEMENT
| C | STEP 1 | RECALL FROM DEFINITIONS (OPTIONAL QUIZ) PREPOSITIONS | |
| a) | Wait until after you work on other themes in the class, perhaps at the end just before everyone is about to leave. | ||
| b) | Verbally, on the blackboard, projected onto the screen or in the form of handouts (HO6), provide the students with the definitions / synonyms and elicit the expressions. (They can’t refer to their HO4.) | ||
| c) | Prompt them with clues for any items defying memory and make sure all 6 expressions are gone over. | ||
| d) | If you’re using HO6A and the students have already filled in the expressions to the left of the definitions, tell them to cover everything but the blank box to the right of ‘Group A rows 1 & 2’. Ask them to write the same six expressions from memory. When they’re done, they can check below. | ||
| e) | As a final close to the theme, say each of the items using a natural form of expression in your voice and have the students repeat, mimicking those intonation patterns. | ||
| C | STEP 2 | HOMEWORK PREPOSITIONS | |
| a) | Give the students HO 7A and tell them to complete the sentences for homework by putting the correct expression into the appropriate box below those sentences. | ||
