English Speaking

englishbanana. com’s Talk a Lot Spoken English Course by Matt Purland A Great New Way to Learn Spoken English Elementary Book 1 Complete 12-week spoken English course All materials, instructions and answers are included Brand new and unique learning method Learn and recall questions, answers and negatives using 8 common verb forms • Learn 400+ essential vocabulary words • 100% photocopiable • • • • englishbanana. com’s Talk a Lot Spoken English Course Elementary Book 1 This book is dedicated to Anna and Julia, with love and thanks xx nd also: ………………………………………………………………. (Insert the name of the teacher who has most inspired you to learn. ) English Banana. com [email protected] com ISBN-13: 978-0955701511 English Banana. com Copying Licence: You may freely print, copy and distribute this book, subject to our Copying Licence (visit our website at www. englishbanana. com for full details) First published in the UK by English Banana. com 2008 © Copyright Matt Purland 2008 Talk a Lot Introduction Welcome to a new kind of English course!
Talk a Lot is a great new way to learn spoken English, and quite a departure from the standard ELT course book. Instead of spending hours reading and writing, students have the opportunity to engage in challenging and fun speaking and listening activities with their friends. On this course students learn how to think in English as well as Talk a Lot! The Talk a Lot course objectives are very simple: • • • • Every student talking in English Every student listening to and understanding English Every student thinking in English, and Every student taking part in class
Talk a Lot is structured so that every student can practise and improve English grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, intonation, word and sentence stress, and interpersonal skills, by working in pairs, groups and one to one with the teacher. The main benefits of Talk a Lot are: • • • Students have to think in English during lessons in a controlled and focused way Students learn how to memorise correct English structures naturally, without abstract and unrelated grammar lessons Students learn how to construct eight different common verb forms, using positive, negative and question forms, as well as embedded grammar appropriate to their level.

The verb forms studied are: Present Simple, Present Continuous, Past Simple, Past Continuous, Present Perfect, Modal Verbs, Future Forms, and First Conditional Students learn 400+ essential vocabulary words by heart Students enjoy following a simple and effective method that produces results quickly • • The ten lesson topics studied in Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 are: Town, Food, Shopping, Health, Transport, Clothes, Work, Family, Home, and Free Time. Thanks to all of our students who have been trialling this course in recent months. Remember, teachers can download and print all the blank forms hat are necessary for running an English course, such as blank registers and enrolment forms, individual learning plans, and initial assessments, all for free, from our website at www. englishbanana. com. We’d love to hear from you about how you have used this book and how your course went, so please feel free to contact us via our website feedback form or by emailing [email protected] com. We’d also be really excited to hear about your ideas and proposals for new Talk a Lot topics and activities that we can use in future Talk a Lot books.
With best wishes for a successful course, th Matt Purland, Ostroda, Poland (6 April 2008) For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com i Talk a Lot Contents i ii Introduction Contents 1 1 How to Use this Course How to Use this Course: Course Outline Lesson Outline Assessment Methods, Tests and Examination Sentence Blocks Discussion Questions Role Plays Discussion Words and Question Sheets 8 13 14 15 17 18 19 Student Course Report Sentence Blocks – Q & A Sentence Blocks – Six Great Tips for Students 20 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Sentence Blocks Town – Sentence Blocks Food and Drink – Sentence Blocks Shopping – Sentence Blocks Health – Sentence Blocks Transport – Sentence Blocks Family – Sentence Blocks Clothes – Sentence Blocks Work – Sentence Blocks Home – Sentence Blocks Free Time – Sentence Blocks Sentence Block Extensions 34 4 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Discussion Questions Town – Discussion Questions Food and Drink – Discussion Questions Shopping – Discussion Questions Health – Discussion Questions Transport – Discussion Questions Family – Discussion Questions Clothes – Discussion Questions Work – Discussion Questions Home – Discussion Questions Free Time – Discussion Questions 44 44 45 Role Plays Town – Role Plays Food and Drink – Role Plays For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. nglishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com ii Talk a Lot Contents 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 57 Shopping – Role Plays Health – Role Plays Transport – Role Plays Family – Role Plays Clothes – Role Plays Work – Role Plays Home – Role Plays Free Time – Role Plays Role Play Extensions Role Plays – Mood Chart 58 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 Discussion Words and Question Sheets
Town – Discussion Words Town – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Food and Drink – Discussion Words Food and Drink – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Shopping – Discussion Words Shopping – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Health – Discussion Words Health – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Transport – Discussion Words Transport – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Family – Discussion Words Family – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Clothes – Discussion Words Clothes – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Work – Discussion Words Work – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Home – Discussion Words Home – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) Free Time – Discussion Words Free Time – Discussion Words (Question Sheet) 78 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 Vocabulary Tests
Town – Vocabulary Test Food and Drink – Vocabulary Test Shopping – Vocabulary Test Health – Vocabulary Test Transport – Vocabulary Test Family – Vocabulary Test Clothes – Vocabulary Test Work – Vocabulary Test Home – Vocabulary Test Free Time – Vocabulary Test 88 88 Lesson Tests Lesson Test – Town For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com iii Talk a Lot Contents 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 Lesson Test – Food and Drink Lesson Test – Shopping Lesson Test – Health Lesson Test – Transport Lesson Test – Family Lesson Test – Clothes Lesson Test – Work Lesson Test – Home Lesson Test – Free Time 98 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 Verb Forms Practice Present Simple Present Continuous Past Simple Past Continuous Present Perfect Modal Verbs Future Forms First Conditional 106 End of Course Oral Examination 06 110 111 End of Course Oral Examination Talk a Lot Course Certificate – Template 1 Talk a Lot Course Certificate – Template 2 112 Answers 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 119 121 122 123 124 125 126 Sentence Blocks Town Food and Drink Shopping Health Transport Family Clothes Work Home Free Time Sentence Block Extensions Discussion Words and Question Sheets Town Food and Drink Shopping Health Transport Family Clothes For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com iv Talk a Lot Contents 127 128 129 131 Work Home Free Time Lesson Tests Town Food and Drink Shopping Health Transport Family Clothes Work Home Free Time 132 133 34 Sentence Stress 134 137 140 What is Sentence Stress? Sentence Blocks – Sentence Stress Sentence Stress Activity Cards 141 Sentence Block Verbs from Elementary Book 1 142 Discussion Words from Elementary Book 1 147 The 48 Sounds of English with the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com iv How to Use this Course Talk a Lot How to Use this Course Course Outline: • Before the course begins perform an initial assessment with each student to check that they are at a suitable level for the course, and then enrol them onto the course.
This course is aimed at students who are at a good elementary level or preintermediate level. For this course we recommend that there are no more than ten students per class. The course is divided into twelve three-hour lessons. The first ten lessons each have a different topic; while lesson 11 is intended for the revision of material studied over the ten weeks, and lesson 12 is reserved for the students’ examinations and an end of course review. We recommend that you hold one lesson per week, making this a twelve week course comprising 30 guided learning hours, plus 6 hours of guided revision and examination. It’s up to you what order you do the lessons in; you don’t have to follow our order of topics!
If your students need more than three hours of study per week, why not offer them two 3-hour lessons per week: one Talk a Lot lesson, as described below, and one lesson using traditional teaching methods, which include conventional reading, writing and grammar-based activities that could complement the intensive speaking and listening work of the Talk a Lot lessons. You could follow a standard EFL or ESL course book such as New English File or New Headway, using material that complements the Talk a Lot lesson, so that in Week 2, for example, both 3-hour lessons are on the subject of Food and Drink. This would then give you a course with 60 guided learning hours.
The lesson topics are: Lesson 1 Lesson 2 Lesson 3 Lesson 4 Lesson 5 Lesson 6 Lesson 7 Lesson 8 Lesson 9 Lesson 10 Lesson 11 Lesson 12 Town Food Shopping Health Transport Clothes Work Family Home Free Time Revision Exam & End of Course Review • • • Lesson Outline • In our lesson outline, each lesson lasts for three hours (180 teaching minutes). This can vary according to your needs, for example, in some English language classrooms one teaching hour is equal to 45 minutes, and so 3 teaching hours would be 2? hours. Or it may be that you have only 2 hours per week with your group of students. You can still use Talk a Lot activities to serve up a satisfying and stimulating lesson – just in a shorter timeframe.
For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 1 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course • Each lesson focuses on a specific vocabulary topic, for example “Town”. For each lesson the teacher can draw from seven different activities: Sentence Blocks Discussion Questions Role Plays Discussion Words Vocabulary Test Lesson Test Show & Tell It is not necessary to use every activity in every lesson. We believe that there is more material in this book for each lesson than is needed to fill 3 hours, so the teacher can mix and match, using different activities in different lessons.
Similarly, it is not necessary to do the activities in the same order (as given below) in every lesson, but mix things up each time so that students don’t become used to a set lesson order. • Bearing that in mind, here is an example of how you could structure a 3-hour long Talk a Lot lesson: 15 mins Welcome and vocabulary test (see page 5) based on the previous lesson’s topic. The teacher reads out the twenty words to the students in their native language and they write them in English. The teacher gives back lesson tests, discusses the answers with the students, and can also ask random questions from the previous lesson’s sentence blocks to check how much the students have remembered. The teacher introduces the topic of this lesson, for example, “Home”. Each student has to show and tell an item to do with this topic, e. g. or “Home” a student could bring a utility bill, or a cushion from their favourite chair, and then tell the class about it. The teacher also brings something to “show and tell”, and then introduces the eight new sentence block starting sentences and wh- questions on the board or on the handout (see page 8). It is essential that the teacher checks that the students understand the sentences, so that they are meaningful to students when they practise them later on. The teacher asks different students to model one or two of the sentence blocks, which will act as a reminder to students of how to make the sentence blocks. 15 mins 20 mins Students make the sentence blocks in pairs, for example, sitting back to back without eye contact.
They don’t write anything down and must not copy the sentence block starting sentences from the board. For this activity all the talk flows from the students making the sentence blocks from the starting sentences and wh- questions on the board or on the handout. Next, the teacher introduces the eight discussion questions for this lesson to the whole class (see page 13). Again, it is important that the teacher checks that their students understand the vocabulary that is used. Students should be encouraged to use their dictionaries to check new words. 10 mins For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 2 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course 0 mins Working in pairs or small groups, students practise the discussion questions. This is free speaking practise – the antithesis of having to make pre-set sentences using the sentence blocks. The students can change partners several times in order to get a good variety of practice, then the whole class comes together and feeds back to the group, with the teacher asking additional follow-up questions. During this time the teacher removes the sentence block sentences from the board, or asks the students to return their sentence block handouts. We’re halfway through! Have a cup of tea and some fresh air – or just hang out! 25 mins After a relaxing break it’s time for some brain work – the lesson test (see page 5)!
The aim of this test is for the teacher to find out what vocabulary the students can remember from the previous lesson and to get an idea of how well they are coping with making the sentence blocks. The teacher could decide to use this slot for activities with the discussion words (see page 15) or for making role plays (see page 14) – or for both, if your students are up to the challenge! The students practise the sentence block sentences again, but this time without any written record – nothing on the board and no handout. The teacher monitors each pair and helps them where necessary, making sure that they are making the sentence blocks successfully.
Towards the end of this time the whole class comes back together to give each other feedback. The teacher asks questions from the eight sentence blocks to different students, who should give a correct, or nearly correct, sentence – all from memory. In the early weeks this will be more difficult for the students, but after a few lessons with this method students should be able to answer confidently, having memorised some or all of that lesson’s sentence blocks. Open question time – students can ask any English-related question. The teacher looks at the students’ workbooks (this can be any suitable course book that students work through at home and which complements the lesson) and checks students’ progress.
The teacher sets the topic for the next lesson and gives out the handouts for the next lesson’s vocabulary test. The teacher could either give or spend a few minutes eliciting the twenty new words in the students’ first language. The teacher should encourage students to keep all of their handouts in their own file, for revision and further study at home. 25 mins 30 mins 10 mins Assessment Methods, Tests and Examination The overall course mark for each student is reached by continuous assessment and an end of course oral examination. Individual students are monitored throughout the course and their progress recorded in a number of different ways.
The aim of using continuous assessment is to encourage students to work hard in every lesson – because every lesson counts and effort is rewarded along with accuracy – and to work hard at home, e. g. learning the vocabulary words each week. Each student gets a combined mark out of 80 for each lesson which is based on the following: For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 3 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course • • • • • vocabulary test: lesson test: student’s lesson mark – accuracy: student’s lesson mark – effort: total lesson mark: maximum of 20 marks maximum of 40 marks maximum of 10 marks maximum of 10 marks maximum of 80 marks
The lesson marks are added together on the individual Student Course Reports as the course progresses. Students don’t have access to their lesson marks as they are added together, but they do see their marks for the vocabulary and lesson tests, as well as getting feedback on these tests and on their general performance each week. Teachers should award marks out of 10 to each student for every lesson based on the level of their achievement during the lesson (accuracy) and their commitment during the lesson (effort). It goes without saying that teachers should strive to be wholly objective and not give in to favouritism when awarding these marks.
Over the ten lessons all of the lesson marks are added together to give an individual total for each student, to which is added the score from their final exam. This gives each student a grade for the whole course, ranging from A to U (ungraded fail): • • • maximum lesson mark of 80 x 10 = 800 marks + maximum final exam mark of 100 = maximum course mark of 900 marks Grade system: Grade A = 800-900 marks Grade B = 650-800 marks Grade C = 550-650 marks Grade D = 400-550 marks Grade E = 250-400 marks Grade U = less than 250 marks First Class Very Good Good Fair Pass Pass Fail Grades A-E are passes. Grade U is ungraded and means that the student has failed the course.
The student’s grade is recorded on their course certificate, for example: “Grade: A” “Achievement: First Class” You could use one of the course certificate templates at the back of this book (see pages 110-111), or create your own. Lesson Assessment During pair and group work the teacher monitors the students, checking and correcting grammar and vocabulary where necessary, e. g. during discussion questions and sentence For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 4 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course block practice. In all such “free practice” work the teacher should keep referring students back to the grammar that is being learned by making the sentence blocks, for example if a student says: “What you want? ”, remind them that: “You must have a verb after a wh- question. In this way the free practice work will help to consolidate what is being learned from the more structured practice of forming the sentence blocks. Written homework based on the topics and activities from each lesson could be given, checked and marked by the teacher. However, written work must be kept to a minimum during the lesson and students should not to write out full sentence blocks. This is Talk a Lot, after all! The students may instinctively begin to write down the starting sentences from the board, or make notes about the sentence blocks, but discourage this because it is a waste of lesson time in which they have a valuable opportunity to talk in English.
The Talk a Lot method encourages students to use their memories as a learning tool and to activate the grammar that they already know before they join the course. When a student writes down the sentence blocks, they give full permission to their memory to forget this information, since they know it is safely recorded somewhere. Without the safety net of pen and paper students have to challenge themselves to work harder to make the sentence blocks (which are, after all, simply question forms and answers, based around individual verb forms). The time for writing out sentence blocks is at home, where students can write to their hearts’ content! They also get a chance to see full sentence blocks in written form when they do the lesson test – once per lesson.
As we have seen, the Talk a Lot certificate is based on marks gained during continuous assessment along with a final oral exam at the end of the course. Lesson assessment also includes more formal testing with regular vocabulary tests and lesson tests, the marks from which are added to each student’s running total of marks. The teacher keeps track of each student’s progress by adding the results of their tests and other marks to their individual Student Course Report (see page 17). Vocabulary Tests All Talk a Lot tests should be run in exam conditions, with folders and dictionaries closed, no talking, and no copying. The vocabulary test could be held near the beginning of the lesson, as a way of quietening students down and getting them into study mode.
We recommend that the teacher runs the vocabulary and lesson tests in the same positions during the lessons each time so as to give a sense of structure and routine to the tests which can be reassuring for students. Teachers should try to mark the vocabulary test during the lesson break and give students their results in the same lesson. The teacher keeps a record of the students’ scores on their Student Course Reports and measures progress made, as well as spending time during and between lessons addressing issues with individual students. Lesson Tests The primary aim of the regular lesson test is to consolidate the work done in the previous lesson. If you run this test immediately after the break it will help to settle students down and get their minds focused again on learning English. Set a time limit of no more than 25 minutes and stick to it.
As with the vocabulary tests, the aim of the lesson test is to check students’ progress and both identify weaker students who may need extra support, e. g. help with making the sentence blocks, and identify stronger students who may need a greater challenge during lessons. For example, to maximise the effect of pair work the teacher could pair a stronger student with a weaker student. Lesson tests are marked by the teacher after the lesson and the results given to students at For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 5 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course the beginning of the next lesson, when there is time for a brief discussion of incorrect answers and other points raised by the test.
The results from both tests enable the teacher to see not only who is paying attention during lessons, e. g. when making the sentence blocks, but also who is working at home: learning the vocabulary words, both meanings and spellings, and writing out sentence blocks. At their discretion, a teacher may allow students who have missed a lesson to catch up on course marks by taking both tests at another time, e. g. after the present lesson. Or the teacher may decide that the student has missed the lesson and so cannot catch up on the marks, a scenario that will affect their final course score. However, if the latter applies the teacher should give the student in question the material to study at home in their own time.
Verb Forms Practice These pages can be introduced by the teacher as extra worksheets at any time during the course if students are having problems with sentence blocks based on a particular verb form, or if they need more focused verb forms practice. A follow up activity would be for students to imagine their own sentence blocks based on particular verb forms, e. g. the teacher asks students to work in pairs and make four new sentence blocks using present perfect form – orally, without writing anything down. In general, it’s better for students to use a variety of different verb forms in a normal lesson, rather than studying a different verb form each lesson, because if a student misses one lesson they won’t have missed out on studying a complete verb form.
End of Course Oral Examination General Notes on the Examination: The Talk a Lot end of course exam is a one to one oral examination with the teacher reading the questions and the student answering. The exam should last for a maximum of 20 minutes. The exam is recorded onto tape and marked by the teacher. The results are added to the student’s individual Student Course Report and their overall course score and final grade can be calculated, which are then added to the student’s certificate. At no time should the student see the examination paper, whether before, during or after the examination. Nor should the student write down anything during the exam. The teacher writes the starting sentence and question word (printed in bold) on the board for each sentence block question.
The examination questions are taken randomly from the course work studied and include material from every topic covered during the course. During the examination the teacher should not prompt the student for answers or help them in any way, apart from to explain the instructions so that the student understands what they have to do. Students may not use a dictionary during this examination. At the end of the course the teacher could give a prize to the student (or students) with: • • the best course score overall the best vocabulary test grades overall For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 6 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course • • the best lesson test grades overall the best attendance record the most improved student (comparing the beginning and the end of the course) Marking Guide: There are four kinds of question that form the examination: 1. Make sentence blocks (questions 1, 5, 9, and 13) The maximum score is 8 marks. Students score one mark for each fully correct line, with correct intonation and sentence stress, and one mark for naming the correct verb form. Students get only half a mark if the intonation and/or sentence stress of a line is incorrect. In the last two lines of each sentence block the answers will vary as students have to change part of the original information to produce a negative answer. Accept any answer that is grammatically correct and makes sense within the given context.
Don’t penalise students for making contractions, or not making them. For example, if the answer on the examination paper says “No, he doesn’t”, but the student says “No, he does not”, don’t mark them down. It is still an accurate answer. 2. Answer discussion questions (questions 3, 6, 11 and 14) Students can score up to a maximum of 4 points for each question based on the following criteria: The student should answer the question and speak for approximately 1 minute: 4 marks: the student produces sentences which are completely or almost completely correct in terms of grammar, pronunciation, intonation, and sentence stress. There are between 0-2 errors.
Excellent use of vocabulary and interesting subject matter the student produces sentences which are good in terms of grammar, pronunciation, intonation, and sentence stress, but there are between 3-4 errors. Good use of vocabulary the student produces sentences which can be understood in terms of grammar, pronunciation, intonation, and sentence stress, but there are many errors the student attempts to answer the question, but not using full sentences nor correct grammar, pronunciation, intonation, and sentence stress. Part of their answer can be clearly understood, but there are many errors the student has not attempted the question or the answer is incoherent 3 marks: 2 marks: 1 mark: 0 marks:
The teacher should make a note in the box provided of several examples of the student’s performance, including errors as well as correct structures. 3. State ten vocabulary words on a given topic (questions 2, 7, 12 and 15) When students have to list ten vocabulary words, the teacher could keep a tally in the box provided, e. g. IIII IIII … Give a half mark in the event of wrong word stress or incorrect For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 7 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course intonation and/or pronunciation. When stating ten different vocabulary words the student cannot include the example word which is given in the question. 4.
Answer discussion word questions (questions 4, 8, 10 and 16) The answers and marks for these questions are provided on the examination paper. Give a half mark in the event of wrong word stress or incorrect intonation and/or pronunciation. Sentence Blocks Designed specifically for the Talk a Lot course, the sentence block method is a brand new way to teach English grammar with speaking practice. The main benefit of this method is that the students have to do all of the work. They must listen, think hard, and remember. They must produce eight sentences, both positive and negative, using a given verb form, and two different question forms, using wh- questions and questions with auxiliary verbs.
They must produce the eight sentences based on a given starting sentence and a given wh- question word, using a pre-agreed set of rules. When they are working on the sentence blocks students are speaking and memorising correct English. They are learning to use key verb forms in English, forming questions and responses organically as they focus all their attention on making the sentence blocks successfully. They are also learning new vocabulary and have to produce their own ideas to make the last two negative sentences work. So what is a sentence block and how do you make one? A sentence block is a group of eight consecutive sentences, made up of seven lines, that forms a two-way conversation.
There are strict rules governing how a sentence block must be made, which students should learn. At the beginning of the course: The students receive two handouts explaining the basic terminology used when talking about sentence blocks and some helpful rules for making them (see pages 18 and 19). The teacher should spend time discussing these pages with the students, in particular explaining: • • • When we use each of the eight verb forms that are explored during the course What we mean by subject-verb “inversion” How auxiliary verbs are used, and the rule for using “do” as an auxiliary verb In the first lesson or two the teacher will need to train the students to make the seven lines that form a sentence block.
In the ensuing lessons students should be able to form the sentence blocks themselves, based on the given sentences on the board or handout. It is very important that in each lesson the teacher ensures that students understand the vocabulary used in the sentence blocks before they are let loose on the task of making them. This is an example of how an individual student could be coached to form a sentence block for the first time. When coaching groups, ask a different student for each of the lines. The teacher has written the first starting sentence on the board; for example, this one from the “Shopping” lesson: I used my debit card to buy a pair of shoes for work. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now!
Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 8 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course The teacher: OK, we’re going to make a sentence block. There are seven lines in a sentence block and eight different sentences. [Pointing to the board at the starting sentence. ] This is the first line. Can you read it for me, please? [The student reads it out loud. ] Do you understand this sentence? The student: Yes. The teacher: OK. [Writes “What” underneath the starting sentence. ] To make the second line can you ask a “what” question based on the starting sentence? The student: What did you use to buy a pair of shoes for work? The teacher: Good. Very good. Excellent.
Note: if a student has a problem producing any part of the sentence block, the teacher should prompt them with the first word, then the next, and in this way “coax” the sentence out of them by, if necessary, saying the whole sentence and getting the student to say it with them, then to repeat it without the teacher’s help. The teacher: And what is the short answer? The student: My debit card. The teacher: OK. Great. Note: it is very important that the teacher praises the student as they get sentences right and gently encourages them when they have taken a wrong turn. It is also important for the teacher to keep the momentum going so that the sentence block is made with a sense of rhythm and an almost urgent pace. This will keep the student focused and thinking about the task in hand. The teacher: So now we’ve got three lines. Can you repeat them for me? [The student does so correctly. ] Now, let’s get to five lines.
Ask a question with inversion. The student: Did you use your debit card to buy a pair of shoes for work? The teacher: Good. And the short answer? The student: Yes. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 9 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course The teacher: Yes, what? The student: Yes, I did. The teacher: Good. Very good. So now we’ve got five lines. We’re almost there. Can you repeat the five lines, please? [The student does so correctly. ] OK, so, to complete the sentence block, let’s ask the same kind of question with inversion but this time to get a negative answer.
Look at the question word. Focus on the “what”. Change the “what” to get a negative answer. The student: Did you use cash to buy a pair of shoes for work? The teacher: And give a short answer in the negative. The student: No, I didn’t. The teacher: Then a full negative answer. The last line is made up of two negative sentences. The student: I didn’t use cash to buy a pair of shoes for work. Note: students have to invent something here (“Did you use cash…? ”) that makes sense in the same context. They should try to think of a sensible option to get a negative answer. For example, the teacher must not accept: “Did you use a car to buy a pair of shoes for work? because it doesn’t make sense. Students often struggle to remember to make two negative sentences for the last line. Encourage them and stress the two negative sentences. The teacher: Excellent! Now tell me all seven lines… Throughout, the teacher should help the student to achieve the correct pronunciation, word and sentence stress (see page 134), rhythm and intonation. If a student makes a mistake during a line, ask them to repeat the whole line again. Of course, in the example above the student has given almost all of the correct answers straight away. This is purely to serve a purpose in this guide – to give a clear example of what the students should aim for.
The teacher should also encourage the students to think about word and sentence stress and to emphasise the correct words in each sentence, for example: Did you use your debit card to buy a pair of shoes for work? Yes, I did. Did you use cash to buy a pair of shoes for work? No, I didn’t. I didn’t use cash to buy a pair of shoes for work. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 10 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course Students may have a tendency to try to say all seven lines with a questioning intonation at the end of each line. For example, they might say: The student: Did you use cash to buy a pair of shoes for work? No I didn’t? Ask them to think about the meaning of what they are saying and to make definite statements without the questioning intonation.
Some students may try to gabble and deliver their lines very quickly without apparent thought of what they mean – wholly focused on their goal of remembering each line and forming the sentence blocks as quickly as possible. Ask them to slow down and to focus on what each sentence means. So, in the example above the seven lines and eight sentences of the sentence block are: 1. I used my debit card to buy a pair of shoes for work. (starting sentence) 2. What did you use to buy a pair of shoes for work? (wh- question) 3. My debit card. (short answer) 4. Did you use your debit card to buy a pair of shoes for work? (question with inversion) 5. Yes, I did. (short answer) 6. Did you use cash to buy a pair of shoes for work? (question with inversion to get a negative answer) 7. No, I didn’t.
I didn’t use cash to buy a pair of shoes for work. (two sentences – a short negative answer and a long negative answer) The teacher should ensure that the students follow the sentence block structure and that they recap each group of sentences after the 3rd and 5th lines. If a student has a tendency to “Um…” and “Er…” their way through each line, challenge them to say the lines without doing this. As they monitor the pairs engaged in making the sentence blocks – saying one line each – the teacher will sometimes need to be firm with the students, and ask them to keep focused when it looks as though their minds are beginning to wander, and of course the teacher also needs to keep focused!
For example, when leading sentence block practice at the front of the class, the teacher will need to be one step ahead of the students and know the next sentence in their mind – what they want the student to produce – before the student produces it. Embedded Grammar: In each lesson students will practise making positive sentences, negative sentences and question forms using the following verb forms: • • • • • • • present simple present continuous past simple past continuous present perfect modal verbs (e. g. can, should, must, have to, etc. ) future forms (with “will” and “going to”) For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 11 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course • first conditional While doing sentence block practice the students may be unaware that they are using eight different verb forms.
It is better not to focus on this and blow their minds with grammar, but instead make sure that the students are making the sentence blocks correctly. For example, it is essential that students understand the eight starting sentences on the board or handout at the beginning of the lesson, and also know how to make a sentence block, before they begin pair work with a partner. The starting sentences all contain embedded grammar, which means grammar that occurs as a natural part of the sentence block as it is being spoken and automatically memorised, rather than grammar that is explicitly presented to students as an isolated grammar topic, such as: “In today’s lesson we are going to study wh- questions…” etc.
The embedded grammar in the sentence blocks at Elementary level includes: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • positive and negative forms use of articles use of auxiliary verbs a variety of main verbs in each unit subject and object pronouns yes/no questions wh- questions active and passive sentences punctuation marks prepositions of place and time some/any singular/plural nouns: common, proper, abstract, countable, uncountable, etc. intensifiers – too, really, very, completely, etc. use of infinitives adjectives adverbs of frequency and manner possessive pronouns determiners – this, that, those, these, etc. there is/there are formal and informal situations use of gerunds comparatives and superlatives relative clauses – that, which, who, where, etc. The teacher could pick up on any or all of these grammar topics in more detail if they run the course as a 60-hour course (see page 1).
Miscellaneous Notes: • As well as with students in groups and pairs, this method can also be used successfully with students on a one to one basis, with the teacher prompting the student to produce the sentence blocks, first with the sentences on the board or handout, and later from memory. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 12 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course • Teachers (or students) can also imagine their own starting sentences based on the verb form or vocabulary that they wish to practice. Different Ways to Practice Forming Sentence Blocks: • • • • • In a circle – the teacher or a student leads and chooses each student in turn to form the complete sentence block. The students sit back to back in pairs and say one line each, then reverse who starts.
The students chant a complete sentence block altogether as a group. The students say one line or one word each, going around the group in a circle. The teacher says a random line from a sentence block and asks a student to produce the next line. Note: every sentence block can be said or chanted in a continuous way by adding an eighth line at the end that begins with “So…” and continues with the question on line 2. For example: Line 1: Peter walks two kilometres to his office every day. Line 2: Who walks… [etc. ] Line 7: No, he doesn’t. Jeff doesn’t walk two kilometres to his office every day. Line 8: So, who walks… [then, continuing with line 3, “Peter does. ” and so on] Discussion Questions
Students work in pairs with student A asking student B the first question, then student B asking student A the same question, before moving on to the next question. After between 510 minutes the students change partners and repeat the process with a different student. Where there are empty boxes on the handout – for example questions 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the Town Discussion Questions handout – the students should write down their partners’ answers. This is partly to encourage the students to focus on the task in hand, and partly so that the teacher, who should be monitoring all the pairs, can see written evidence that the questions are being asked and answered.
Before the students move off to work in pairs the teacher should look at the handout with the whole group and ensure that everybody understands the task and vocabulary used in the questions before they begin. For example the teacher could pre-teach some of the more difficult words and there could be a dictionary race to see which student finds each word the fastest. Extension activity: pairs that have finished the activity early could think up their own new discussion questions based on the same topic, or the teacher could prepare additional questions for the students. At the end of the activity the whole group comes back together for group feedback, where the teacher chooses a student to read a question and tell the class both their own answer and their partner’s answer.
The teacher should highlight errors that have occurred and elicit the answers from the group. Interesting structures could be explored in more detail on the board. Assessment: This activity is assessed by the teacher checking and correcting students as they monitor each pair, listening in and making comments where necessary, e. g. challenging incorrect question forms, and writing down notes for later exposition on the board during the group feedback period. The students’ achievement in this activity is recorded as part of their overall lesson score (for accuracy and effort) by the teacher at the end of the lesson. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now!
Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 13 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course Role Plays Students work in pairs or groups of three to develop and rehearse a short role play with three scenes, based on the information given to them on the handout, which is then performed to the rest of the class. They have to include the title of the outline somewhere in their role play, e. g. Family role play 1: “You did that on purpose! ” The role play can be fully acted out, with props and costumes, or be simply a dialogue, but students shouldn’t be writing during this activity. Writing can be done at home. In the Talk a Lot classroom the focus should be mainly on spoken English.
As with the discussion questions activity the teacher should ensure that students understand what they have to do and are confident with the vocabulary used on the role play handout before they begin. The teacher should insist that each group produces three different, distinct scenes, teaching them to think of the role play as three parts of a whole, with a through-line and a logical progression through the scenes, for example: • • • Scene 1: Setting up the situation Scene 2: Action Scene 3: Result To make this task more challenging, you could agree as a group that all role plays have to include certain things, as well as what is in the outline, for example: a) a person’s name b) a place name c) an object (e. g. n aubergine or a giraffe’s toothbrush) d) a certain phrase e) a prop f) a costume The teacher could provide a costume box and a prop box in the classroom with plenty of dressing up clothes or objects for students to use in their role plays. If your students particularly enjoy doing role plays, they could try the role play extensions (see pages 54-56) in addition to the role play outlines on the handouts, but role play must be only one element of a Talk a Lot lesson. Make sure that in each lesson there is a balance of activities, for example: tests, sentence block building, discussion questions, role plays, etc. It’s fine when students want to veer away from the outlines given on the handouts. The aim of the activity is for the students to put the flesh on the bare bones of the outlines.
For example, they should suggest character names, place names, names of businesses, and so on. The suggested outlines are only there to get ideas flowing. The teacher could suggest new situations for role plays or more imaginative groups of students could think up new role plays of their own, but based on the same lesson topic. The Mood Chart: Use the mood chart on page 57 to add an extra dimension to the role plays. Print the page onto card, cut up the cards and put them into a bag. Each student picks one card – one mood – and they have to act out their role play using this mood exclusively. When watching each role play the audience have to guess which moods the actors have picked.
In another variation, the audience pick the moods that they want to see used in a role play, or all the groups have to rehearse the same role play using different moods, and the audience have to For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 14 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course guess the moods. Assessment: As with the discussion questions activity this activity is mainly assessed by the teacher checking and correcting students as they monitor the groups, listening for errors that could be dissected later on in a group feedback session, and correcting grammar in line with the work being done on forming sentence blocks.
Again, the students’ achievement in this activity is recorded as part of their overall lesson score (for accuracy and effort) by the teacher when they sit down and write each student’s course report. Because this activity is drama-based, the audience could make their opinion heard too, giving marks out of ten for each role play based on: a) language accuracy b) effort c) imagination d) best costumes, use of props, lighting, sound, etc. Or they could give thumbs up (1 or 2) or thumbs down (1 or 2). The audience feedback is just for fun and not recorded on each student’s course report. Discussion Words and Question Sheets It’s amazing how much you can do with forty cut-out vocabulary words!
We have outlined many activities for using these words with students on the discussion words question sheets. First of all, print the discussion words page onto thin card and cut up the cards with scissors. If possible you could laminate them to make them extra sturdy. The main activity goes as follows: sit down with the whole class around a large table and lay out all the cards face down. Students take a number of cards each. The number they take depends on the number of students in the class and for how long the teacher wants the activity to last, e. g. for a ten minute activity ten students could each take two cards. Go around the group one student at a time. Each student picks up a card and has to describe the word in English without saying it.
The other students have to guess the word. The students could use dictionaries to find new words that they don’t know. It’s possible for students to make this activity deliberately harder for their peers by giving a more cryptic description! Using the Question Sheets: The teacher reads the questions out loud in a random order. Or one or more of the students could read the questions out. The teacher should use as many of the questions as is necessary to fill the time that they have allotted to this activity. For example, if you have 25 minutes for this activity it’s unlikely that you will need to use the main activity as described above as well as all twenty questions on the handout.
As with the Talk a Lot course in general, there is more material here than will probably be needed; but as all teachers know: it’s better to have too much material planned for a lesson that not enough! For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 15 Talk a Lot How to Use this Course Extension Activities: • • • • The students work on the main activity with the words in pairs or small groups. The students have to think of ten, twenty, thirty or forty additional words on the same topic, e. g. Home, and make their own discussion words cards. The teacher or the students invent new questions based on the original/new words. Have a game of vocabulary bingo.
Each student writes down fifteen words from the forty words in three lines: five on the top, five on the middle and five on the bottom. The teacher reads out words from the group at random. The students cross out the words they have written down when they hear the teacher say them. The students race to see who can cross off the first line, then two lines, then all the words. “Yes/No” questions: one student takes a card with a word on it, keeping it secret from the others, who have to ask “Yes/No” questions in order to find out what the word is. The first student can only answer “Yes” or “No”. For example, for food and drink words the other students could ask: “Is it a vegetable? ”, “Is it green? ”, “Does it grow in a field? ”, etc. ntil they are able to guess the identity of the word. This is a great activity to get students making questions with inversion. The students match the phonetic and English spellings of different words (see page 142), translate words into/from the IPA, or group words by the sounds they contain. A student mimes different words without talking, while the others have to guess them. Word association activities: a) the teacher (or a student) chooses a word and each student has to say six words that they associate with this word, or each student in the group has to say one word. For example, if the word is “car” the students could say “wheel”, “engine”, “driver”, “gears”, “Ford”, “garage”, and so on. he teacher (or a student) chooses a word and the first student says the first word that comes into their head, followed by the next student and the next in a kind of word association chain. See how long your group can go for without running out of steam. You may be surprised where you end up! For example: “supermarket” > “shopping” > “centre” > “middle” > “school” > “work” > “job”, and so on. • • • • b) • Make any of these activities into a competition – individual or team – with points given for correct answers, and prizes. The teacher could even deduct points for incorrect answers. Prizes could be awarded for the first student to answer a question correctly, or the student who wins the vocabulary bingo, or who can think of the most new words on the same topic without a dictionary.
For a fun group competition there could be a league, with the same teams competing in each lesson for points that accumulate towards a running total. It depends on how competitive your students are! Assessment: As with the other free practice activities in Talk a Lot (show and tell, discussion questions and role plays) assessment is performed by the teacher checking and correcting during the task, giving individual and group feedback, and referring students back to the grammar learnt from forming the sentence blocks. The students’ achievement in this activity is also recorded as part of their overall lesson score (for accuracy and effort) by the teacher on each student’s course report.
For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 16 Talk a Lot Student Course Report Name: ___________________________________________________________ Lesson Town Food & Drink Shopping Health Transport Family Clothes Work Home Free Time Final Exam /100 Course Total Mark Course Final Grade Attendance /30 GLH Vocabulary Test /20 Lesson Test /40 Lesson Mark – Accuracy /10 Lesson Mark – Effort /10 Start Date: ________________ Total Marks /80 Class: ________________ Teacher’s Comments Attendance as a % Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 17 Talk a Lot Sentence Blocks – Q & A Q: What is a sentence block?
A: A sentence block is a group of eight consecutive sentences, made up of seven lines, that forms a two-way conversation. It consists of positive and negative sentences, and two question forms – a wh- question and two questions with inversion (“yes-no” questions). Q: What is a starting sentence? A: The first sentence in a sentence block. Q: What is a wh- question word? A: A question word that begins with “wh-”. For example, “what”, “where”, “when”, “who”, “why”, “whose”, and “which”. “How” is also a wh- question word because it contains the letters “h” and “w”. Wh- questions are asked to obtain information, rather than a “yes” or “no” answer.
They have a falling intonation, which means that the tone of your voice does not go up at the end of the question, as it does with “yes-no” questions. Q: What is a question with inversion? A: Also known as a “yes-no” question, because the answer is usually “yes” or “no”, a question with inversion is a question where the subject and verb have been swapped around (or “inverted”). They always start with an auxiliary verb (be, have, or do), a modal auxiliary verb (e. g. can, will, must, should, etc. ), or verb “to be”. For example, this sentence is a statement: “John is a DJ”. To make this statement into a question with inversion we need to swap around the verb (“is”) and the subject (“John”) to make: “Is John a DJ? Questions with inversion always have a rising intonation, which means that the tone of your voice has to go up at the end of the question. Q: What is an auxiliary verb? A: Auxiliary verbs are helping verbs. They don’t have any meaning of their own in the sentence, but they help the main verb to form a verb phrase. For example, in this sentence: “Ellen was talking about her sister who loves fish and chips”, “was” is an auxiliary verb (from verb “to be”) which works together with the main verb “talking” to make the past continuous verb form. There are three primary auxiliary verbs in English: “be”, “have” and “do”, as well as modal auxiliary verbs such as “can”, “will” and “must”. Q: What is each of the eight verb forms used for?
A: The uses of the verb forms studied during this course can be summarised as follows: Present Simple: Past Simple: Present Continuous: Past Continuous: Present Perfect: Modal Verbs: Future Forms: First Conditional: to talk about regular actions and things that are always true to talk about completed actions in the past to talk about what is happening at the moment to talk about continuous actions in the past: what was happening when… to talk about past actions which are quite recent or relevant to now to talk about permission, possibilities, ability, and probability to talk about future plans, predictions and intentions to talk about what will happen if a certain condition is met For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 18 Talk a Lot Sentence Blocks – Six Great Tips for Students 1. During each lesson we work with the same verb forms in the same order. Look for patterns. Each lesson try to apply what you have learnt in previous lessons. 2. After a “wh” question or phrase (such as “What time…? ” or “How long…”) there must follow an auxiliary verb or main verb “to be”. 3.
Questions with inversion always start with an auxiliary verb or main verb “to be”. 4. In questions with inversion the subject of the sentence must follow the auxiliary verb. 5. If there is either auxiliary verb be or have in the starting sentence, use it to make the questions and answers that follow. If there isn’t, you must use do as an auxiliary verb to make the questions and answers. 6. Use as much of the starting sentence in the resulting questions and answers as you can. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 19 Sentence Blocks For full instructions see page 8 Talk a Lot Town
Sentence Blocks: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. (Present Simple) Peter walks two kilometres to his office every day. Who (Present Continuous) We’re waiting patiently for the bus at the bus stop opposite the church. Where (Past Simple) Jennifer bought a couple of cakes at the bakery, then ran to the post office. What (Past Continuous) The department store was opening until 10 o’clock because they were having a massive sale. Why (Present Perfect) I’ve agreed to meet Dan in the old market place outside the library. Who (Modal Verbs) We could drive to the lake and go fishing. Where (Future Forms) The new optician’s next to the bank will open next Friday. When What First Conditional) If the tennis court is busy we can go to the gym instead. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 20 Talk a Lot Food and Drink Sentence Blocks: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. (Present Simple) The best kind of bread is white sliced bread. What (Present Continuous) Michelle is having salad and pasta because she doesn’t eat meat. Why (Past Simple) Daniel gave himself the largest portion of ice cream. Who (Past Continuous) Ellen was talking about her sister who loves fish and chips. Who (Present Perfect) Jenny has just put the cheese in the fridge. Where Modal Verbs) Potatoes can be boiled, mashed, fried, chipped, roasted or oven-baked. How (Future Forms) We’re going to buy some fruit at the supermarket this afternoon. When (First Conditional) If you eat too much chocolate you will put on weight. What For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 21 Talk a Lot Shopping Sentence Blocks: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. (Present Simple) Emma is the manager of a small Italian restaurant. Who (Present Continuous) Simon is visiting the new shopping centre near St. Mark’s Road. What (Past Simple) I used my debit card to buy a pair of shoes for work. What Past Continuous) Jan was leaving the car park because she had finished her shopping. Why (Present Perfect) I’ve looked everywhere in this shop for a tin of vegetable soup, but I can’t find one anywhere. Where (Modal Verbs) We should take the lift to the fifth floor. What (Future Forms) After we finish buying groceries, we’ll go to Nero’s for a quick coffee. When What (First Conditional) If the checkout assistant offers to pack my bags I’ll let her. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now! Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 22 Talk a Lot Health Sentence Blocks: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. (Present Simple) Being healthy is very important to me. What Present Continuous) Sammi is sitting in the waiting room with her mum and brother. Where Why (Past Simple) I phoned my doctor this morning to make an appointment. Who (Past Continuous) Ella was telling the receptionist about her husband’s painful arthritis. How many (Present Perfect) I’ve taken two tablets three times a day for a week, but I still don’t feel any better. When (Modal Verbs) Kenny has to take his prescription to the pharmacy tomorrow. (Future Forms) Simon is going to visit the optician’s for an eye examination. Why What (First Conditional) If you ask the doctor she will give you some good advice about your problem. For more fun worksheets, games and quizzes log onto www. englishbanana. com now!
Talk a Lot Elementary Book 1 © English Banana. com 23 Talk a Lot Transport Sentence Blocks: 1. 2. 3. 4. (Present Simple) I usually get the train at 7. 28. When (Present Continuous) Gemma is driving to the airport to pick up her grandmother. Where (Past Simple) I flew from Heathrow to Copenhagen last night. What (Past Continuous) Oliver was crossing the road when he was hit by a bus. Who 5. 6. 7. 8. (Present Perfect) We’ve cancelled our flight because our daughter is ill. Why (Modal Verbs) All passengers must show their passports and boarding passes at the gate. What (Future Forms)