Unit: Special People in Our Eyes
Task 1: The Super Person in My Family
- LT 4.1 - LT 4.6 (pp. 150-161)
- Games and activities in Chapter 3.1 (pp. 229-236) - Video clips of the tryout lessons (for teachers’ reference) Procedures
the super mums and the verbs / verb phrases that are related to their qualities.
6. Introduce the poem ‘Super Mum’ (LT 4.2 Part A). Highlight the features of a poem (e.g.
rhyming words, lines and stanzas). Guide pupils to identify the main idea in each stanza to find out the qualities of the super mum (e.g. gentle, sociable, generous). Have pupils identify the verbs / verb phrases that illustrate these qualities and organise them in the form of spider webs.
7. Draw pupils’ attention to word combinations (e.g. lose temper, do tricks, make funny faces, make friends, give away clothes).
8. Highlight the synonyms of adjectives for describing people. Encourage pupils to use different synonyms in a piece of text to give lexical richness.
9. Engage pupils in a ‘Pelmanism Game’ to help them revise the vocabulary learnt. (For details about the game, please refer to pp. 229&230.)
Adjectives e.g.
gentle caring funny
good-tempered thoughtful humorous
= speak very softly
gentle not shout at people
go to parties
meet people sociable
make friends share things
with people generous
give away clothes
the friendliest the most caring the most thoughtful
their mums do for others to further illustrate the meanings of the adjectives.
11. Modelling on the poem ‘Super Mum’, pupils write a poem to describe their mums (LT 4.2 Part B) using the adjectives and verbs / verb phrases they have learnt.
12. Invite some pupils to read out their poems in front of the class and give feedback on the content and pronunciation, stress and intonation as well as their application of adjectives and verbs / verb phrases to describe the qualities of their mums.
Part B: Special people in my family
1. Ask pupils to listen to Ken’s description of the special qualities of his family members (e.g. brave, good-tempered, humorous, smart) in the textbook*2and discuss the examples that show these special qualities. Draw pupils’ attention to the verbs / verb phrases that are related to the special qualities and have them complete the activity sheet (LT 4.3).
2. Help pupils connect their learning and deepen their understanding of the target vocabulary by highlighting the examples used in the listening text and the previous reading text to illustrate the meanings of the same adjective.
e.g.
3. To consolidate the learning of the adjectives and to make English learning more fun, invite pupils to work in groups to design crossword puzzles for other groups. Demonstrate how to write clues to describe the personalities or qualities of people and how to construct the answer keys of the crossword puzzle. Have pupils design crossword puzzles on their special family members and play each other’s puzzles. (For details about the activity, please refer to pp. 231-234.)
4. Go through the clues written by pupils to check their understanding of the adjectives and the associated verb phrases, and provide appropriate feedback.
*2 Primary Longman Express Listening 4A (2005) Chapter 5 (p. 13)
rescue a girl from the sea
is never frightened of cockroaches brave
1. Read the newspaper article ‘A special person – a real Superman’ in the textbook*3 with the pupils.
2. Highlight the features of a newspaper article (e.g. the headline, the layout, photos). Guide pupils to find out the qualities of Christopher Reeve, the actor who starred in the movie Superman (e.g. brave, patient, generous).
3. Ask pupils to read through the text and identify the verbs / verb phrases that illustrate the good qualities of Christopher Reeve. Have pupils organise the ideas and add them to the spider webs constructed in the previous lessons to gain a deeper understanding of the word meanings.
e.g.
4. Guide pupils to appreciate Superman’s response to the accident and elicit other adjectives to describe Superman (e.g. kind, loving, caring, thoughtful).
5. Play a ‘Bingo Game’ with pupils to help them consolidate the learning of the adjectives and the related verbs / verb phrases. (For details about the game, please refer to pp. 235&236.)
*3 Primary Longman Express 4A (2005) Chapter 5 (p. 40)
rescue a girl from the sea
never give up
is never frightened of cockroaches brave
Part A: Nominations for super students
1. Tell pupils that the school is organising the ‘Super Person Awards’ to encourage them to show appreciation to their classmates. Ask pupils to work in groups of six to nominate candidates for the different awards (e.g. ‘The Most Humorous Student Award’).
2. Give each group a name list and each group member a nomination ballot (LT 4.4) for each award.
3. Ask pupils to choose their ideal candidate from the name list and complete the ballot with descriptions of the candidate in point form. Remind pupils to apply the verbs / verb phrases associated with the different awards in support of their nominations.
4. Encourage pupils to make reference to the vocabulary cards for language input.
5. For each award, stick all six nomination ballots onto a large piece of paper. Guide pupils to make comparisons and select the candidate for the award. The one who gets the most number of points will be the winner.
Part B: Writing a description of a super student
1. Guide pupils to read all the points about the winner. Show different ways to organise the points into a piece of writing (e.g. elaborating ideas, combining ideas and deleting repeated points).
2. Demonstrate lexical substitution and expansion step by step by using a sample draft with many repetitions of ‘funny’ and ‘tell’. Have pupils think about how they can enhance the lexical richness of the sample. Guide pupils to avoid the repeated words and replace them with synonyms learnt before or vocabulary from the spider webs constructed in the previous lessons.
3. Guide pupils to expand the sample draft lexically by asking ‘wh-’ questions (e.g. when, where, what happens next, how often).
The Super Student in Our Eyes
XXX should get the most humorous person
award. He tells us funny things. He tells funny
stories. He tells us funny jokes. He makes funny
faces and does funny tricks. He plays funny games
and draws funny pictures. We all think he is the most humorous person in class.
humorous shares
very interesting talks about
crazy silly
marvellous fun
different funny
The Super Student in Our Eyes
XXX should get the most humorous person award. He talks about very interesting things. He shares humorous stories. He tells us crazy jokes.
He makes silly faces and does marvellous tricks.
He plays fun games and draws different funny pictures. We all think he is the most humorous person in class.
How often?
What happens next?
When?
How often?
Where? When?
What happens next?
What happens next?
The Super Student in Our Eyes
XXX should get the most humorous person award. He talks about very interesting things. He shares humorous stories during English lessons.
He always tells us crazy jokes and all of us laugh loudly. He sometimes makes silly faces and does marvellous tricks. Everyone wants to learn his special tricks. He plays fun games in the playground and draws different funny pictures in Visual Arts lessons. We like his games and pictures very much and we want to make friends with him. We all think he is the most humorous person in class.
How often?
What happens next?
When?
How often?
Where?
When?
What happens next?
What happens next?
5. After pupils have finished their drafts, encourage them to improve their own writing by substituting synonyms for words that are repeated.
6. Encourage pupils to read one another’s drafts and ask ‘wh-’ questions (e.g. when, where, what happens next, how often) to help their classmates practise lexical expansion.
7. Give feedback on pupils’ application of the verbs / verb phrases used in support of the nominations and their attempts in lexical substitution and expansion.
8. Present the certificates (LT 4.6) to the winners of different awards and ask the groups to read out the descriptions of the winners.