Show English syntax by example rather than by formal teaching e.g. adjective before the noun
Have the students interact with each other in English
Make basic phrases part of the student’s natural speaking
The students have been making short sentences, looking at flashcards, such as, “It’s a yellow book.” To make sure the students are able to switch colours and adjectives, and not just think that all books are yellow, here’s a little exercise.
Have one of the students be Teacher, and then ask, “What is it ?”
Teacher can also ask individual students; that way, we can monitor progress, and see where help is needed.
Rotate Teacher so all students are given a chance.
Now … What is it ?
It’s a blue book. It’s a big, blue book.
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Grammar: Yes, I am / No, I’m not ||he is / she isn’t ||Is she / is she / Are they ? ||Where is ? ||What do you want ? || He does / she doesn’t ||What’s he wearing ? / She’s wearing a …
Song: “I would go out tonight, but I haven’t got a stitch to wear.”
The Smiths with ‘This Charming Man.’
As usual, divide the class into teams, give points to make the games more exciting.
First up: feelings
Choose some top cat students, one by one. Outside of the class, show them a flashcard (happy, sad, thirsty etc). The student has to mime or act the emotion.
Next up:
Have a small group of students hold the flashcards. Model a question e.g. “Is Tina thirsty ?” Students reply, “Yes, she is,” or “No, she isn’t,” depending on whether she is holding that card. Appoint a new teacher (thay in Viet) to ask the next question.
Moving on up: Pronunciation, intonation and stress
Thay Paul loves coffee so does his friend Agent Cooper: Students can act out the scene. Not only does it require stress and emotion, but also pacing.
No time to lose: Run ‘n’ write
What are the five senses ? One student from each team writes a sense on the board. Then say a noun – one student from each team will tick which sense applies e.g. ‘Pizza.’ Students can tick ‘see,’ ‘taste,’ ‘smell’ & ‘touch.’ ‘Guitar‘ (‘see,’ ‘hear,’ ‘touch.’)
Answer with Yes, they are OR No, they aren’t. They’re ________
Are they police officers ?
Are they students ?
Are they football players ?
Are they The Smiths ?
Snack time: What do you want to eat ? Choose six students and give them a food flash card. They must say what they want (the card they hold) and then name something they don’t want e.g.
I want soup however I don’t want salad
Change students, then model a question, “Does Max want eggs ?” Students answers could include,
“No, he doesn’t want eggs, he wants spaghetti.”
Quick fire round: Have the students ask each other, “What do you want ?” and they have to answer,
“I want [french fries] however I don’t want [steak].”
Dress to impress:
Finally, have the students describe other student’s clothes, using at least two adjectives e.g. Thay Paul is wearing a plain white shirt.
Encourage students to use at least two adjectives before the noun. (Vietnamese is similar to French in that the adjective follows the noun, so students have to think counter intuitively).
Practice using determiners (it is, they, those)
Practice sentence building (I can swimhowever I can’t fly)
Practice intonation and stress – avoid robot speaking 🙂
Warm up
Use appropriate hand gestures to drill the four new adjectives:
fast / slow / noisy / quiet
Thay Paul is from London. London is very big. London has many cars. Look:
Also London had many big red buses. Also, I can see many taxis. Some are black, some are blue and some are grey.
London has many big red buses. The buses are slow and noisy
(use the gestures so the students shout out the adjectives. Repeat with these pictures):
The new blue car is ______________ and ____________
The small new white car is __________________ and _____________
The old grey, yellow and red car is __________ and ____________
I like to play guitar // I love to listen to music //
I + like + verb+ing + object: I love playing guitar
NEVER – I like to listening to music
Tell me about yourself:
At university, my major was accounting and I have worked for 8 years.
Boy = son Girl = daughter.
I have one son, who is 3 and one daughter who is 1.
My manager is a lady (or woman) and she is professional, very friendly and nice. She has short black hair and an oval-shaped face. Usually, she wears a short black dress. My manager, whose name is Dung, always helps and supports me.
Pho is the traditional food of VN. It is soup with noodles, meat (beef, chicken), vegetables and herbs. It can be spicy if we add chilis. It comes with fresh herbs, vegetables and lime.
New idiom: bear with me= please wait a very short time.
My friend is a 29 year-old man. He has an oval-shaped face and short black hair. He is not very tall, he is quite short. However, he is very friendly and funny.
Adjectives– size then colour.
He has a large black bag. She plays a big brown guitar
adverbs– very, (a lot) quite (a little)
London is very expensive. Bangkok is quite cheap
exterior / interior = outside / inside
I went on holiday to Singapore with my friend. We went to a shopping mall and visited some museums and enjoyed the food. Seafood at Singapore is very cheap compared to Viet Nam and it was very delicious. I bought some clothes and shoes for my baby. We stayed for four days and the flight took two hours. I will return and revisit the shopping mall.
Shopping mall, Singapore
Dialogue
Two friends are in a coffee shop
Cath This is a great cup of coffee ! Ok, what shall we do next ?
Di I have to run to the bank. I need to deposit some money.
Cath Good idea, I wanted to use an ATM. I also need to buy some dollars.
Di You can check the exchange rate at my bank. It’s not far, we can walk.
Quick questions: How was your weekend ?
My weekend was quite fun.
How about (tell me about) the evening ?
We watched TV and listened to some music. I like V-Pop
I like K-pop very much OR I really like K-pop.
Directions
Where is the bank? Where’s the bank ?
How do I get to the park?
Is there an ATM nearby ?
Go straight
Turn left or turn right
turn around
keep going until you …..
take the second turning on your left
cross the road / street by the ….
go as far as the …… then ….
It’s opposite the …
We are at the bus station and we need coffee !
Is there a coffee shop nearby ?
Yes, turn left then go straight and keep going and it’s on your left.
Excuse me, where is the hospital, please ?
Yes, go straight and then turn left on second avenue keep going straight , the hospital is opposite the park.
Answer these two questions:
I have finished work at school. I need to go to the police station but I don’t know the area.
Xin loi, sorry, I don’t speak Vietnamese. I must go to the police station but I don’t know this area.
Adverbs
so / very / extremely / incredibly
It is hot = it is so hot !
What did you do ? Past tense
On Saturday I drank beer and ate seafood for example, I had shrimp (prawn), octopus, fish, squid. We had lots of fun. Some people drank about six beers but I only drank a little.
Travelling to Thailand
In Thailand, the food is extremely hot (spicy) because they use a lot of chilis.
My Sony camera is very good (excellent) because the picture quality and colours are very clear.
The lens can zoom in 50 metres. The camera was reasonably-priced however, if you buy more lenses, the price increases.
I’m going to take pictures NOT I’m going to taking pictures
An exercise for lower-intermediates. Help to use basic verbs, and to build long sentences.
We can see five people:
Andrew, Fiona, Helen, Mark and Tina
We see what they eat (dinner), their job (occupation), what they do in their free time (hobby) and what that do on Saturday and Sunday (the weekend).
For example, Andrew likes to drink beer, Tina like to do karate
What do they do ?
Name // dinner // occupation // hobby // weekend
Andrew
steak and chips spaghetti
brewer
football & beer
sports & cinema DOESN’T like shopping
Fiona
tuna salad soups
accountant
reading driving
visits family & shopping DOESN’T like sports
Helen
sushi Korean BBQ
marketing
yoga & keep fit craft beer
exercises & cinema DOESN’T like loud clubs
Mark
fish and chips kebabs
civil servant
cars and bikes sports
fixing cars & drinking beer DOESN’T like loud clubs
Tina
pasta pizza
dentist
karaoke clubs
shopping and meeting friends DOESN’T like beer or sport.
Andrew likes to watch football but his girlfriend does not (doesn’t)Fiona is an accountantHelen likes to eat sushiMark likes to ride a bicycleTina likes to do karate
Make sentences
Use so does with positives, neither does with negatives.
EXAMPLE:
Mark eats chips and so does Andrew.
Helen doesn’t drink beer neither does Tina.
Tina likes shopping …
Mark doesn’t like loud clubs …
Make questions
EXAMPLE:
Who likes beer ? Who eats Italian food (pizza, pasta, spaghetti) ?
Make short sentences using modal verb ‘like’ and ‘need’.
to practise // to dance // to study // to shop // to cook // to travel // to shout // to order // to book
I like to dance on Saturday nights
I need to study English
Adding information
Use adjectives (describe the noun) or adverbs (describe the verb)
I saw a man begging
I saw a poor old man desperately begging for money.
We heard a girl playing piano
He likes to walk in the park
She thought the museum was interesting
I hated the film
My cat eats fish.
Adding a reason
I hate coffee because it keeps me awake
I only eat healthy food because
Although I find Burger King very tasty, I avoid eating there because
(I find = I think something is //avoid= keep away from)
Internet cafes are very convenient but you should be careful because
Solar-powered cyber cafe in Nairobi, Kenya
To disagree:Formal with multiple reasons
Example: You can just use an internet cafe to book your ticket.
I disagree for the following reasons. Firstly,
I disagree for the following reasons. Firstly, I don’t think it’s a good idea to enter my personal data on a public server and secondly, I don’t know who’s watching me.
Thay Paul's Notes 