English Club: #14
Topic: Hypothetically speaking.
Ice breaker: (15 min) Just Suppose. Divide the students into pairs and give the first question below. Have each group quickly discuss and be ready to answer the following questions (advantages, disadvantages, etc.).
How would life be different if...
(Ex: If there was only one country then nobody would have passports.)
· there was life on other planets? / · there was only one country?· the air was unbreathable? / · there were more than two genders?
· we didn’t use money for trade? / · music was illegal?
· there were no schools? / · adults went to children for advice?
· a day was only 10 hours long / · we all lived for 500 years
Small groups: Divide into as many groups as there are facilitators.
1. (20 min) Introductions. Give each person a piece of paper. Have them write their favorite:
· Food / · Animal· Hobby / · Type of weather
Collect all of the papers, mix them up, and call a person up front. Have him draw a piece of paper and talk about why these things are his/her favorite. Encourage the students to be convincing and creative as they try to justify why they like certain things. Ask questions if needed to spur the student on. After he or she is finished, ask the person whose paper this is to raise his or her hand.
2. (15 min) Discussion. Talk about the following questions as a small group:
What would you do if…
(Ex: If my parents gave my $100,000 I would (I’d) buy a sports car.)
a. your parents gave you $100,000?
b. the café next to your house played loud music day and night?
c. your friends wanted to steal a car?
d. you visited the US this summer?
e. you only had 2 months to live?
f. you were lost in the mountains?
g. your boss told you to move to Aturau (or a different country)?
h. you forgot your best friend’s birthday?
3. (10 min) Oral anecdote. Explain to your group that they are to try and remember as much as they can about the anecdote as your read it to them. Read the anecdote twice to your group and ask questions to test their comprehension (examples found in part A). Next, ask if there are any unfamiliar words in this story. Finally, ask one student to summarize what happened in this story and have another student explain why this story is funny.
4. (15 min) Story strips. Divide your students into groups of 2-3. Pass out the cut up and mixed up story strips and have each group try to put the strips in the correct order. Check each group when they are finished and tell them how many they have in correct order. Have each group try the other mixed up story. Before moving on ask your class to paraphrase both stories.
Large group: (10 min) Idioms. Go through the following idioms:
· Jet-lag / · A catnap· To sleep like a log/baby / · To pull an all-nighter
Polly went to school when she was six years old. She liked her first day very much.
Her teacher, Miss Yates, was very nice, and the other children in her class were nice, too.
But at the end of the second day, when the other children left the classroom, Polly stayed behind and waited.
Miss Yates had some work to do and did not see Polly at first, but then she looked up and saw her.
“Why didn’t you go with the others, Polly?” she asked kindly. “Did you want to ask me a question?”
“Yes, Miss Yates,” Polly said.
“What is it?” Miss Yates asked.
“What did I do in school today?” Polly said.
Miss Yates laughed. “What did you do in school today?” she said. “Why did you ask me that, Polly?”
“Because I’m going to go home now,” Polly answered, “and my mother’s going to ask me.”
A young boy was playing with a ball in the street.
He kicked it too hard and it broke the window of a house and fell inside.
A lady came to the window with the ball and shouted at the young boy, so he ran away,
but he still wanted his ball back.
A few minutes later he returned and knocked at the door of the house
and when the lady answered it, he said, “My father’s going to come and fix your window very soon.”
After a few more minutes a man came to the door with tools in his hand, so the lady let the boy take his ball away.
When the man finished fixing the window, he said to the lady,
“That will cost you exactly ten dollars.”
“But aren’t you the father of the young boy?” the woman asked, looking surprised.
“No,” he answered, equally surprised, “Aren’t you his mother?”