Урок на тему "Sometimes things are not always as they seem"

Topic:   Sometimes things are not always as they seem

CEF level: B1

 

 

 

Practical objectives: to revise words pupils have already learnt, to study new words,  to practise using the words on the topic  in oral speech and written form, to predict the content of the text, to improve reading skills in scanning, to form listening skills (listening to native speakers of English), to train how to use the Past Simple and Past Continuous Tenses, to make presentations, to broaden Pupils’ knowledge about O”Henry’s creative work.

 

 

Developing objectives: to stimulate creative thinking, to develop imagination, memory and independence, to get pupils’ interested in learning English literature and language.

 

 

Upbringing objectives: to bring up behaviour culture, respect to elderly people, positive attitude to other people’s work.

 

 

Lesson”s type: combined

 

 

Length: 45 min

 

 

Lesson’s equipment: Student’s books, Workbooks (“Blockbuster”, Lower-Intermediate), a CD-player, a CD, 5 sets of handouts for the game, a poster with a set of questions, a picture of a policeman on the board,  pupil”s projects, a photo of O”Henry, a book “Selected stories” by O”Henry , 7 sheets of paper with the titles of the novels and the lesson”s theme, a role-play equipment, 10 sets of a multiple-choice test, 5 pictures of Superheroes.

 

Procedure

 

 

1. Introduction
   1. Greeting

T: Good morning. I am glad to see you. Take your seats and open your books, please.

 

2. Lexical warm-up

Game “Secret word”

 

 

Introduce the activity by writing up a word on the board that pupils know  from the previous lessons, but leaving out some of the letters,

e.g. _R_ _I_ AL (criminal)

T: It means a person who does sth against the law.

Divide class into pairs (A and B) and give each person the appropriate handout.

T: Pupil B is going to explain ten words and Pupil A is going to complete them by writing in the missing letters on the handout.

Allow 5 minutes and then the turn passes to Pupil A who has to explain his/her 10 words to Pupil B.

T: Check your answers with each other.

T: What is your explanation for the word “terrified’? (etc)

Write up the best ones on the board as examples.

T: Which pair has got all (or most) right? (That pair wins).

 

Key vocabulary: terrified, vandal, mugger, kidnapper, robber, dumb, pickpocket, sack, thunder, trembling, soaking, nervously, chased, knocked, cheeky, tease, foggy, tough, lantern, permission.

 

3. Grammar warm-up

 

T: Your next task is to look at this poster, find out the sentences in the pink squares and correct the grammar mistakes.

For example: “What the party was like?”

T: Can you see a mistake?

-Yes, there is a mistake in a word order.

-How can you correct this sentence?

-The word “was” should go after “what’.

 

Answer key:

Europe isn”t as hot as Africa.

Where does Sarah live?

John couldn”t speak French when he was 10.

When were you born?

Ann doesn”t work at weekends.

What are you doing tonight?

When did England win the World Cup?

Asia is bigger than Australia.

He never makes his bed.I

I”ve got a dog whose name is Bruno.

 

 

2. Main part

1. Check on homework

T: What was your hometask for today? (We had to make projects about some strange laws concerning our classlife).

T: First, look at this sheet of paper.

 

 

- Who is depicted on this picture? (A policeman at work is depicted on it).

- Oh, yes! This is a picture of a policeman at work, a policeman on duty.

T: What names for policemen were used in the past? ( They were called Charlies, Bobbies and Peelers).

 

 

T: OK, now I’ll ask you to represent your laws to your classmates and stick your projects on this paper. After all we”ll vote for the best project.

 

 

• Andriy, represent your work, please.

Pupils represent their projects.

T: Who is voting for this project?

- Who is voting for the next one?

- For number 3?

T: The third project has got the most points that’s why it is a winner.

 

2. Aim

T:  Thank you. Today we”ll speak about things that are not always as they seem. You are going to predict the content of the text, to study several new words and to train how to use the Past Simple and Past Continuous Tenses. You”ll practise to use the words on the topic in speech as well.

 

3. Brainstorming

T: Please, have a look at this photo.

-Do you happen to know who he is? (This is O”Henry).

 

 

-Yes, this is O”Henry, a famous American writer.

-Have you read any of his books? (Yes, we”ve read “The last leaf”).

-What is this novel about? (It’s about friendship and hope).

T: You are right! Here it is “Selected stories” by O”Henry. He wrote “The last leaf”, “The hiding of Black Bill”, “The roads we take”, “The cop and the anthem”, ‘The ransom of Red Chief” and a lot of other exciting stories.

 

 

 

 

4. Role-play

T: Now I”ll ask Maryana, Andriy and Vasyl to show us their role-play (Appendix 1)

-Listen carefully and be ready to answer some questions.

Acting out the role-play in front of the class.

 

 

5. Multiple-choice tests

T: This moment I”ll give you tests with multiple-choice questions (Appendix 2), the aim of which is to check your understanding of presented extract.

-Let’s check your answers.

-What is № 1?

 

Answer key: 1a, 2a, 3b, 4b, 5a.

 

6. Summing-up

T: As I said, O”Henry is a great American short-story writer. His heroes are different: thieves and lovers, bankers and robbers. The tales of this writer always have surprise endings as at the novel ‘The ransom of Red Chief”, in which the kidnappers had to pay money not Jonny”s father did.

T: So we can say that Sometimes things are not always as they seem. But this is a natural order in O”Henry”s world where the good always wins.

 

7. Reading

1. Pre-reading activity

T: Read the title of the unit once more, please (“Sometimes things are not always as they seem”).

-What does it mean? ( It means that we cannot always understand what is really happening, things appear to be different from what they really are.

-Look at the pictures and try to guess what is happening (The girl came home and found all the lights on in her house. She was frightened. She probably thought there was a burglar in her house).

T: What are your predictions?

-What really happened? (Maybe she forgot to turn the lights off. Perhaps a member of her family came to see the girl.  Then the girl could go inside and see her brother, for instance, watching TV or having a snack).

2. While-reading activity with a focus on grammar
3. Exercise 2a, page 28

T: OK, let”s read the text and complete the gaps.

-You should find out both which part of speech is missing and think the context of the gap.

Check on answers.

 

Answer key: 1 was, 2 were, 3 of, 4 her, 5 as, 6 a, 7 have

4. Post-reading activity

Sequencing events

Exercise 2b, page 28

T: Now you have to replace sentences into the correct order.

-What is sentence 1?

 

Answer key: 4, 7, 6, 1, 3, 5, 2.

Pair-work. Retelling the text.

T: Your next task is to retell the text to your partner using the sentences from this exercise.

 

8. Grammar revision

T: Open your Workbooks on page 83.

Exercises 2, 3.

 

Answer keys:

Ex.2: 1 was Simon doing

2 walked

3 was watching

4 Did you change

5 wanted

Ex.3: 1 was walking, met

2 were waiting, was changing

3 left, took

4 had

5 was reading, called

6 was peeling, was preparing

7 stayed

 

9. Listening

(for specific information)

1. Pre-listening activity

T: Find out page 126, please. You will listen to the song. Read the title of the song (“You can be a superhero”) (Appendix 3)

-What is the meaning of the word “Superhero”? (A hero with super powers).

-Recall as many superheroes as you can (Spiderman, Superman,…)

 

 

-Read the phrases below the instruction and make sentences.

-What superheroes can do?

T:-Can you say about yourselves that you are superheroes? (No… we can”t)

-Can you help people?(Yes, we can help people).

-Can you cheer up your friends when they feel depressed? (Of course).

-What are you good at? (I am good at…)

T: So you are superheroes – people with special abilities! (Yes, because all of us have special qualities).

2. While-listening activity

 T: Listen and fill in the gaps

 Checking Ps” answers in pairs

T: What is the missing word in the first sentence?

Answer key: through, walls, matter, all, a, know, world, powers, special, secret, hero.

3. Post-listening activity

Ps create their own ideas about Superheroes, then talk about them.

 

10. Writing

“A story from pictures”

Exercise 8, page 29

1. Pre-writing activity

T: Do we need a title?

    -What can it be?

    -What information do we need to write?

2. Writing the story

T: Write your text choosing one of the elicited endings or one of your own.

3. Post-writing activity

Presentation of the story.

 

3. Conclusion

T: You were great. Your marks are…

T: What did you do at the lesson?

     What was interesting for you?

      Was the story you read interesting for you?

      Why?

           Why aren”t things always as they seem?

         What do you remember from the song you”ve heard?

 

4. Homework

Ex. 1 – 3, p.13 (Workbook).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 1

 

The RANSOM OF RED CHIEF

(After O”Henry)

 

Characters:

Sam -

Bill  -   men

Johnny, a boy of 10, the only son of a rich man

Sam walks across the stage before the curtain. He has a bag in his hand. He talks to the public.

Sam: We have stolen a boy. He is the only son of a rich man. We have sent a letter to his father and asked for a two thousand dollar ransom. When we get the money, the boy goes back to his father.

Shouts are heard from behind the curtain. The curtain rises, and you can see an opening in the forest. There is a fire made in the middle of the stage. Near the fire Sam sees Bill standing with his hands raised. Johnny is standing in front of him with a big stone in his hand. You can see that Bill is afraid of the boy.

Johnny(shouting): Raise your hands higher! Answer my questions! (Sam drops his bag and runs to the boy. At this moment Johnny sees Sam. He shouts): Hurray! Here you are! Come to the fire. Red Chief is happy to see you!

Bill: You are in time, Sam. We are playing Indians.

Sam: Let”s have supper. I have brought some nice things.

Bill: I am so tired. I am happy you are back.

                                   He is going to sit down at the fire.

Johnny (to Bill): Hay, you, stand up! How dare you sit when Red Chief is standing.

Sam: Well, Red Chief, let him sit down!

Johnny: (throwing a piece of bread to Bill): Take this. You may sit down there.

                                    Pointing to a place away from the fire.

Bill: (taking the bread and sitting down): Thank you, Red Chief!

Sam goes over to Bill, sits next to him and they begin to talk quietly. Johnny takes a hot potato from the fire, comes up to the two men from behind and throws the potato into Bill”s shirt.

Bill: (cries out): Oh! Ah!

                                     He jumps to his feet.

Sam (jumping up, too): What”s that?

                                       Johnny laughs.

Bill: (pointing to his back): He has put something hot there! Take it out! Take it out quickly! Oh! Oh!

Sam (taking the potato out from Bill”s shirt and turning to Johnny): Why did you do it, Johnny?!

Johnny: I am not Johnny. I am red Chief. How dare you speak to me in such a tone?!

Bill: Sam, let”s send the boy back home. I don”t want any ransom. I can”t play with him any longer.

Sam: Bill, don”t show the boy that you are afraid of him. (To  Johnny): Listen to me, boy. Leave him alone, or I shall take you home. Now, are you going to be good or not?

Johnny: Oh, don”t send me back home! I don”t want to go home! I”ll be good. We are only playing.

Bill: (with tears in his voice): Sam, let”s send him back! His father will not pay money for such a boy.

Johnny: Bill, don”t be angry with me. I”ll be good. Let”s play another game.

Bill: What must I do in this game?

Johnny: You will be my horse. Stand on your knees and hands.

Bill: (to Sam): I shall take him to the road and leave him there.

He gets down on his knees and hands. Johnny sits on his back and they ride away. Sam sits by the fire and begins to write in his notebook. Soon Dills appears, tired and hot.

Bill: Phoo! Sam, you know, that boy thought me to be a horse. He beat me with his feet. So I threw him down and showed him the road home. I am sorry we have lost the ransom.

                                      He looks happy.

Sam (sees Johnny coming behind Bill): Bill, look back.

Bill turns back. He sees Johnny. He is so much surprised that he sits down with his mouth open and cannot say a word for some time. Johnny runs up to him and raises his hand to scalp him.

Bill: Help! Help!

Sam stops the boy. Bill jumps to his feet. They hold Johnny by the hands and feet. The boy shouts.

Bill: Sam, I am afraid of him. Let us carry him to his father!

Sam: All right! Let”s carry him home. We shall not get any money for him.

                                        They carry the shouting boy away.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 2

 

 

 

 

 

1. Johnny is the only son of…

1. a rich man
2. a poor man

 

2. “Ransom” means…

1. money
2. food

 

3. Johnny has put… into Bill”s shirt

1. a stone
2. a potato

 

4. The boy wants Bill to be a… in a game

1. an Indian
2. a horse

 

5. Bill asks Sam to…

1. send the boy back home
2. ask Johnny”s father for more money

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Appendix 3

 

 

 

 

Song

 

You can be a Superhero

 

 

Can you fly through windows?

Can you see through walls?

If not, it doesn”t matter

There”s a hero in us all

 

You can be a Superhero

Superboy or  Supergirl

You can help the people you know

You can even save the world

 

We all have super powers

Special things we can do

When you find your secret power

You can be a hero too