Your future’s in the stars

Teacher’s notes
Age group: young adult / adult
Level: intermediate
Timing: 1½ – 2 hours

Preparation
Bring in copies of horoscopes taken from newspapers / magazines / the internet.

Pre-teaching for lower-level groups (5 minutes)

Ensure your students know the months of the year.
Check by asking:



What’s the first, third, etc. month of the year?

How do you spell it?

Lead-in: star signs (20-30 minutes)

1. Tell students to look at the symbols on the worksheet. Ask them what they are.
(The general
answer ‘star signs’ is enough at this stage, but if they can name them and/or put
them in
order, that’s even better.)
2. In pairs or small groups, have students match the names and dates to the
symbols.
3. Feed back as a whole class.
4. Get students to identify their star signs, if they don’t already know them.
5. Ask whether they know of any famous people who share their star sign.
6. Finally, ask whether they know the main personality traits associated with their
star sign. If
they don’t, you could have them read the information on
http://www.northernessentials.co.uk/starsigns. Ask them whether they agree with the
description or not, and why.

Discussion: horoscopes (20 minutes)

1. Ask students if they know what a horoscope is and what sort of information is
included in
horoscopes. If they don’t know, show them the examples on the worksheet. Typical
information concerns love life, family, friends, visitors and encounters, work and
colleagues,
feelings, behaviour and how it is interpreted, holiday and travel plans.
2. You may want to elicit or pre-teach the following vocabulary:
horoscopes, star signs, fortunes, future, destiny, astrologer.
3. You could lead a short discussion, asking whether students read their horoscopes
or not,
and finding out their reasons. This can be extended by asking whether students
believe what
they read, and whether they allow the advice to affect their actions. With strong
students,
you could further extend the discussion to ask why horoscopes are found in many
newspapers and magazines and what their value is for readers.
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Your future’s in the stars
Preparation for writing (15-20 minutes)
1. Using the horoscopes you have brought in, ask students to find their own star
sign, and read
it.
2. Have them underline all the verb forms contained in their prediction and
identify what they
are, then compare in pairs or small groups. Monitor as the students are working.
3. Now ask students to identify any useful words around the verb forms which make
expressions. Typical verb forms and expressions could include:
 imperatives: Don’t …; Make sure you …; Prepare to …; Think carefully …
 modals: You must try to …; You should …; You may want to …
 present perfect: You have been (feeling) … recently
 present continuous: You are being (selfish)
 future / first conditional: You will meet …; If you carry on, you are going to
get into trouble;
If you want to …, then …
4. Consolidate this work by putting interesting examples on the board.
5. Get students to make a note of all the expressions in their note books.

Writing (20 minutes)

1. Put students in pairs. Ask them to find out what their partner’s star sign is
and read the
information for that sign.
2. Students discuss the information, and establish how accurate they consider it to
be.
3. Students write a horoscope for their partner using all the information gathered
so far by the
class: the names of the star signs, the personality traits, the typical information
in
horoscopes, and the typical verb forms and expressions. They can model their work
on the
horoscopes you have brought in.
4. When students have completed their work they should read it aloud to the rest of
the class.
5. Encourage feedback from students who share the star sign which has been read
out.

Extension work
Written extension (20 minutes)
Students write a horoscope for a famous
person who shares their star sign. This
can be written in class or for homework.
Encourage them to include a picture of
the celebrity, particularly if the work is to
be displayed.
Vocabulary revision: word search
(10 minutes)
Give out copies of the word search for
students to complete in order to
reinforce the vocabulary taught in this
lesson.
Answers:
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Your future’s in the stars

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Your future’s in the stars

Your stars – Your destiny

SCORPIO:
You need to focus on ways to make your cash work harder for you this month. With
Pluto in harmony with Mars and Venus, you're a force to be reckoned with! Don't
make any rash decisions – think everything through carefully, and any financial
worries will be sure to disappear. Prepare for a big surprise on the 15th.

AQUARIUS:
Someone is about to set your world alight, Aquarius, lucky you! Your ruler, Venus,
enters your chart on the 6th enabling you to harness the necessary energy and
passion needed to make big improvements to your life. Make the most of the
opportunities which will come your way this month. Expect to see more of the world,
and let the world see more of you!

Horoscopes word search

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