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The Unbelievable Language Man Episode III

Worksheet 1

Exercise 1 Vocabulary work:

Find the expressions in the text and answer the question:
his answer had proved her right
Being late is not like him
Charlie says he’s
as good as new

What do these expressions mean? Write your answers here:

Can you perhaps share with the rest of the class a situation in which they were proved right,
acted in a way that was not like them or felt as good as new? When was it? What had
happened?”

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r:©Katie Jones.
Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE
The Unbelievable Language Man Episode III
Learning Objectives: To encourage speculation, Preparation Time: 5 minutes
creative thinking and common sense in order to
Completion Time: 50 minutes
complete tasks; to draw on students’ schemata,
to support students’ interaction and collaboration to
complete tasks.

Skill/Grammar: (Guided) creative writing, vocabulary Age/Level: Teenagers–Adults/B1+

skills, reading, grammar revision: focus on would for
past habits and going to future.

Resources: Storyboard, vocabulary worksheet

Preparation: Print one copy of the storyboard on a transparency and cut out the first and the last panel to show it on
the OHP or IWB in the class. Photocopy Episode III for each of your students

Stage 1: Pre-Reading (15 minutes)

Activity 1
- You can start by asking students to summarize the story so far.
Inform students that they are going to read episode three of The Unbelievable Language Man.

- Show them on OHP the first panel with Granny Smith and ask them to work in groups discussing:
1 Who is she?
2 How does she fit into the story?
3 Who is Dixon?
4 What will his role in the story be?
- Assign a secretary in each group; his or her job will be to note down all the ideas their peers come up with in
the group discussion.
- Classroom feedback: All secretaries report back to class.
Activity 2:
- Inform students that you are now going to show them how this episode ends: place the last panel of the story
on the OHP or IWB and invite students to speculate a bit more about:
Who is this person? (It’s Charlie)
What do you think happens in between?
Allow another 5 to 7 minutes on this and ask groups to report back to class.
Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst
r:©Katie
PearsJones.
on PHOTOCOPIABLE
The Unbelievable Language Man Episode III
Activity 3:
- Give them three possible titles for this episode:
Title #1: “A NEW BEGINNING”
Title #2: “CHARLIE BRAVE”
Title #3: “DIXON”
Ask students: “According to the information they have had so far, which of the three titles above is they think the right
one for Episode III of The Unbelievable Language Man?”
Listen to their ideas but again, you should not confirm or correct at this stage.

Stage 2: While Reading 20 minutes

Activity 1
- Hand out a copy of episode three. The students can immediately look at the title of the episode and confirm
their guesses.
- Ask students to skim through the text in order to get the general idea of what is happening in the story.
Activity 2
- Draw their attention to panel six (with Granny Smith’s questions). Ask them to work in pairs in order to add
some more questions in the narration box themselves.
Activity 3
- Ask them to now answer their own questions.
Afterwards, they should go back to the questions in Activity 1 in the pre-reading stage in order to confirm or
correct their previous answers.
Activity 4 Vocabulary Work
- Hand out Worksheet 1 and draw students’ attention on exercise one on Vocabulary.
Separate them in small groups or pairs and ask them to answer the questions; they should consolidate the story
to support their answers.
- Classroom feedback.
Activity 5 Grammar Revision
- Write on the board WOULD and GOING TO: what is their use in the story?
(Elicit answers: would to talk about past habits and typical behaviour in the past; going to future is used for
expressing intentions).
- Invite them to find some more examples for each grammatical phenomenon.

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r:©Katie
PearsJones.
on PHOTOCOPIABLE
The Unbelievable Language Man Episode III
Stage 3: Post-reading 15 minutes
Discussion: Draw students attention on the last panel where Charlie is asking himself what might be wrong with him
and invite students to make some guesses. Also, you can ask the following questions:
- Was Dixon a good grandson? Why/why not?
- Why did Dixon ran out of his Granny’s house leaving her like that?
- Why did he use the pronoun “WE” instead of “I” when he talked to her?
- Why do they think Charlie does not reveal his worries to Abby Lee?
- What do they think is wrong with Charlie?

After the discussion, inform them that more will be revealed in the next episode!

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r:©Katie Jones.
Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE