The power of mobile apps - No3 FaceGoo Lite (a lesson plan)

I got the idea for this lesson from a TV game show I used to watch a couple of years ago. It was successful with my students because it made a thorny grammatical issue seem funnier and easier.

Learners: Teenagers - Adults
Level: Intermediate
Time: 90 minutes

1) Show the learners the following picture

Speculate about who he might is by using modal verbs of speculation e.g. it might be, it can't be, it must be, etc.

2) I reckon you and your students cannot guess who he is, that's why you need to listen to this man talking about himself. http://www.fromtexttospeech.com/texttospeech_output_files/0302246001427045995/5416869.mp3
[I used a text to speech online software to create the tape, click on the link to download it]

By now you know who he is, don't you? Yes, it's Brad Pitt.

3) Hand in the handout above and ask the learners to answer the following questions

4) Tell the learners to underline the verbs in the speech bubbles meanwhile draw on the board a two-column chart.
Ask them in which tenses they are. The answer is: PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE & PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS.

4) Ask students to report the sentences in the right column and then together try to understand why you use whether present perfect simple or past simple.
In my case, I used a smart board and this was the result:

5) It's time to check if your learners have understood the difference.
According to the number of the students you can decide if they will work individually, in pairs or in groups of 3 or 4. In my case they worked in groups of 3.
Each group has a biography of a famous living person but there are 10 missing verbs. They need to fill in the gaps with the right verbs conjugated in the right tenses. Finally, they need to guess who the celeb is.

6) Monitor the learners while they are working and give them tips (e.g. "Do you know when the action happened?") or help them with the vocabulary.

7) Now it's learners' turn! (In class or as homework)

a) Download 1picture of a famous living person.

b) Write a short biography (80-100 words) about him/her using present perfect simple and past simple  (You can use www.biography.com to get some information.)

c) Edit the picture with the mobile app FaceGoo Lite (Free Android/iOS)

d) Record your voice while while you give hints about the mysterious famous person. Remember to use the 3rd person singular. 

e) Students listen to each other's biographies and try to guess who the mysterious celebs are.

I hope you and your students will enjoy this lesson. If you try it out please let me know in the comments ;-)

Larissa and Inspector Z - A challenge

In the previous posts you could read about the mysterious kidnapping of James, you know who kidnapped him and why, but how is the story going to end?

TAKE UP THE CHALLENGE

Write the end of the story

http://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2015/02/larissa-and-inspector-z-phrasal-verbs.html

http://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2015/02/larissa-and-inspector-z-phrasal-verbs_26.html

http://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2015/03/larissa-and-inspector-z-phrasal-verbs.html

Rules

1) Use at least 6 phrasal verbs. If the verb is the same even better. ;-)

2) The piece of writing must be about 100-150 words long.

3) It must contain dialogues.

4) Send it to info@larissaslanguages.com by 18th April 2015.

5) Teachers and students can take part to the challenge working as a class.

The stories will be posted on my FB page and the one with the highest number of likes will be made into comic strips. 

Good luck!

UPDATE!

And the winner is... Lucy Morin and her class of intermediate students from "English & Caux" in Normandy, France.

Well done, guys!

Larissa and Inspector Z - Phrasal verbs with fun (part 3) COME

Ready for a new episode?
You will find the previous ones here

1) LOOK http://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2015/02/larissa-and-inspector-z-phrasal-verbs.html
2) GET http://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2015/02/larissa-and-inspector-z-phrasal-verbs_26.html

BEFORE YOU START - RECYCLE VOCABULARY
Ask your students to sum up the story so far in pairs.
Give them a list of the phrasal verbs which appeared in the previous episodes. They check the phrasal verbs off when they use them so they can realize how many they remember.

READING TASK - READ FOR THE GIST
1) What did James find?
2) What did he do?
3) What were Larissa and Inspector Z going to do?

LEARN NEW VOCABULARY  -  MATCHING ACTIVITY

SPEAKING TASK - PROBLEM SOLVING
Ask your students to come up with ideas about rescuing someone in pairs or in small groups.

Next week a new episode