The Way Ahead   News Index (Teacher's Book) News Index (Student's book)

Teacher's Notes
- Lesson 1 -

Student's book page 32. "My Project Notes"

Materials: IN THIS LESSON WE NEED THE TEXT FOR THE "STRIP STORY" (TEACHER'S RESOURCE).
REMIND STUDENTS TO FILL IN "MY ATTENDANCE SHEET" (STUDY BANK) FOR THIS LESSON.
Students: Individually
Rationale: Making notes; organising learning.
Method: Note-taking pages occur regularly in the book. These are to give students opportunity to make notes of new language, but also to brainstorm, organise ideas, write scripts, collect data - whatever they need for their project. The empty pages in the book are therefore important for learner training, and encourage as well as facilitating note-taking.
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Student's book page 34. "Why?" - Warm-up:

Materials: Student book (click here to see the student page)
Students: Groups or pairs
Rationale: Ice-breaker; review of past tense; review of questions and responses.
Method: Students ask each other questions, using whatever structure the teacher chooses. Partners must respond appropriately. The questioner then asks "Why?":

A) "What did you do yesterday?"
B) "I went swimming."
A) "Why did you go swimming?"
B) "Because I wanted to."
A) "Why did you want to?" ...
Notes: This can be a difficult activity, with problems of tenses and of communicating meaning, but it can also be very interesting. If students have trouble forming the questions, a simple "Why?" can be used instead.

Student's book page 35. "Brainstorming" - Project-work:

Materials: Student book (click here to see the student page)
Students: Groups or pairs
Rationale: Establishing a "News" schema. Students access their own knowledge of vocabulary, and start thinking about what is involved in a "News" Project.
Method: Students think of and write down any words that they associate with the topic, dictating these on to the board at the end of the activity. The schema is then available to everyone, and "faster" students are helping "slower" ones by making more words available.
Notes: The teacher can bring newspapers into the classroom to make the brainstorming more productive.

Student's book page 36. "Strip Story" - Project-work:

Materials: Student book (click here to see the student page)
Text (Teachers' Resource); Student book; scissors; tape; walls.
Students: Groups or individuals
Rationale: Preparation for information collection and reporting. Listening to and dictating factual information.
Method: A number of versions are suggested. Teachers will want to adapt as they think best, and should feel free to use their own texts.
Version 1: The complete text is put on the wall of the classroom (or on a wall outside the classroom). One student from each group goes to the text, remembers one sentence and dictates it to the others. The next student then comes out and remembers the next sentence, etc....
Version 2: The text is cut up and put around the classroom, each text box in a different location (on the walls, or other places). Students (singly or in groups), find all the text boxes and write them down. (One student in each group can remain seated and write down all the information). Students finally work out an order (this final negotiation should be in English).
Version 3: The text is cut up in strips and given to each group. Students sort out a sequence.
Version 4: One strip is given to each students in the class. Students memorize the content, and return the strip to the teacher. They then share the content with each other and attempt to construct the text.
Notes: Versions used should introduce the idea of searching for information, before reporting it to a central agency. Since it is a dictation exercise, the issue of comprehension is not uppermost. Students will be unsure of many words and this will give them a chance to use Comprehension Gambits: "What did you say?" "How do you spell it?" "Say that again, please."

Rationale:  Method:  

Student's book page 34. "Phone-call" - Homework:

Materials: Student book (click here to see the student page)
Text (Teachers' Resource); Student book; scissors; tape; walls.
Students: Pairs
Rationale: Encouraging conversation, reporting, etc. Students talk in English in a medium that has no non-verbal markers.
Method: Students call up the person who comes before them on the class phone list. They also make notes of what was said (Student Book).
Notes: The notes can be checked at any time by the teacher (e.g. Mid-term Evaluation Session), but the aim is to put the responsibility for carrying out this task onto the students.
This activity appears in the Student Book before the "Brainstorming" page.
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