CEP Lesson Plan

Teachers: Christopher Mueller & Allison Orr

Level: Advanced Conversation
Date/Time: Tuesday, 2/23 11:30am-1:00pm
Goal: To present and practice vocabulary Ss can use when discussing new experiences and polite language (i.e.
indirect questions) Ss can use when traveling in English-speaking countries. Ss will practice speaking for
fluency by discussing questions related to the topic of travel.
Objectives (SWBAT):
Students Will Be Able To
1. Use a set of idiomatic phrasal verbs to discuss experiences (related to travel or otherwise).
2. Form various indirect questions for the purposes of making polite requests.
3. Discuss their own experiences with travel and exploration,
4. Broadly discuss issues of cultural politeness.
Theme: Travel & New Experiences
Extensions: Vocabulary and indirect questions may be used in a review activity Friday.
Aim/Skill/Microskill
Warm-up: Review Art &
Culture vocabulary from
previous lesson.

Activity/Procedure/Stage
Show portrait on PPT (alternative: print one
out). Pair Ss off and have them label
everything/describe the image together. This
could also be done OC.
As a group, elicit vocabulary from last lesson:
portrait, collar (collared shirt), bonnet, He/she is
facing the right/left, etc.

Activity 1: Phrasal Verbs

Take attendance. Discuss S projects?

1.1 Pre-Stage: Ask Ss what they already know
about phrasal verbs. Introduce some basic
examples (e.g., pick up, look out, look forward to)
and puts a few on board. If Ss mention verb +
prep (non-phrasal; talk to), can explain
difference.
1.2. During Stage: Transition to idiomatic
phrasal verb set w/ out particle: luck out,
chicken out, and gross out (alternate
possibilities: pig out? blank out?).
Introduce each, discussing meaning and giving
examples. Relate these to travel whenever
possible. (e.g. bungee jumping/skydiving,
bondaegi, finding 50 euros).
Ask concept checking questions where
appropriate: Are these formal or informal?

Interaction
S-S (pairs)

Time
5-10 mins

OC

T-Ss
Ss-T

T-Ss

15-20
mins

When would you use these?

Review tenses of 3 verbs (how are they formed in
the past? e.g. lucked out).
Transition to #2: Indirect
Qs
Ss have been introduced to
some vocabulary related to
travel/new experiences and
have briefly discussed these
with partners. This can
serve as a warm-up of sorts,
activating knowledge on
and generating interest in
the broader topic.

Activity 2: Indirect Qs

Put Ss in pairs and have them discuss three

questions on PPT:
1. Talk about a time you lucked out (or had some
bad luck).
2. Talk about a time you chickened out (or took a
risk).
3. Talk about something that grosses you out
(or)

S-S

1.3 Post-Stage: Nominate a few Ss to talk about

an interesting story they heard from their partner.

OC

Error correction (if necessary). There may be

problems with separable/inseparable, for
example -- I lucked me out.

T-Ss

Tangible Outcome & Assessment: Ss will have

been exposed to, and practice usage of, a lexical
set of syntactically related phrasal verbs.
Transition: Speaking of new experiences weve
all moved to New York pretty recently, right?

OC

Find out who has been in NY the longest. They

will be our expert on the city.
What is the biggest stereotype about NYers?
Elicit: rudeness.
Right, what do you all think? Is it true?
Lead in to conversation about politeness.
2.1 Pre-Stage: T shows Ss AmE/BrE comic about
politeness/indirect Qs. T lead Ss in OC discussion
about differences b/t AmE/BrE and indirect Qs.

OC

Which of these do you think is more polite?

Why?
Why is this British? What stereotypes do you
know of British people?
Other differences between American and British
people?
So, lets say I need to ask someone a
question
2.2. During Stage: Put direct Q on board: [What
time is it?]. Ask Ss who they would ask this

T-Ss
T-S
S-T

20-25
mins

question to. Mom? Random stranger on the

street?
One of the biggest problems I notice with my
Ss
Transition to #3: Travel
Discussion
Similar to Activity 1, this
activity can serve to further
activate Ss knowledge on
the topic of traveling
abroad, and differences
between the US and their
home countries. This may
be useful in promoting
discussion for Activity 3.

SO, are there any ways I can make this more

polite? Think about the comic. Lead Ss to can
as in [Can you tell me what time it is?]. Then
elicit could as in [Could you tell me what time it
is?]. Moves towards a more polite structure. [I
was wondering if you could tell me what time it
is?].
Do same with Do you know
Elicit direct Qs from class when traveling.
Image you are traveling and you have just got
off the plane. Ok, nowwhat are some questions
you might need to ask? Get 4 or 5 from class.
Wheres the bus station? Model with Ss.
Nominate: Hyewon, how could you make this
more polite? Valeria, MORE polite?
Repeat with all the questions.
OC
2.3 Post-Stage: Ok, what if you want to be
super-duper polite? Lets get crazy with this.
What can we say? (e.g., Im sorry, I was
wondering if you might possibly happen to know
if I could take the 1 train to get to Columbia
University?) Work together as a class to build
the longest, most polite sentence.

Activity 3: Travel
Discussion

Tangible Outcome & Assessment: Ss will have

familiarized themselves with different form of
indirect questions, and practiced producing them
together. More broadly, Ss will be exposed a type
of (US) politeness strategy.
3.1 Pre-Stage: Ask Ss if Americans are more or
less polite than people in their countries.
3.2. During Stage: Put Ss into small groups of
three. Ss answer discussion Qs. (Elicit 2 more
from SS?)
T monitors (Allison can jump in here).
If running out of time, reduce the number of
discussion Qs.

OC
Ss-Ss

20-25
mins

Transition to Wrap-up:
error correction
Ss will later receive
feedback on accuracy issues
made in this section.
Wrap-up: Error Correction

3.3 Post-Stage: Brief OC feedback. Ss report

information about their partner.
Tangible Outcome & Assessment: Ss will have
practiced speaking for fluency on the topic of
travel/exploration.
Errors: cold-correction.

OC

T-Ss

5-10 mins

Exit ticket: Whats one thing you will remember

from todays class?
Materials:
Board, powerpoint for images/discussion Qs.
Anticipated Problems & Suggested Solutions:
Timing. That 1.5 hours really flies by, and I tend to overplan. I also like to let them speak if they seem to be
particularly engaged with a topic, rather than cutting them off for the purposes of timing. As such, I imagine
something will need to be cut. While I wasnt sure about the placement of the discussion activity in the grander
scheme of the lesson, I thought it was a safe final activity because it was more variable; I can easily cut it short
if necessary.
Also, with any speaking class, it is not always clear how strongly the topic will resonate. While we did base the
weekly themes on their own interests, and travel seems to be a robust area for discussion, there is always the
possibility the Ss wont be interested. Hopefully I can use humor and magical teacher-energy to remedy this,
should it occur.
Lastly, Ss may already be extremely familiar with indirect questions, and not have any issues producing them. I
find this usually isnt the case, however, as the lack of S-V inversion can prove tricky even for advanced
speakers. If the language item has clearly been well-covered for all the students, I can move on to the
discussion and extend there, or offer further error correction.
Contingency Plans (what you will do if you finish early, etc.):
I have provided enough discussion questions that this should (hopefully!) not be an issue.