Delta course Verona
LESSON PLAN: PHRASAL VERBS IN CONTEXT
a)Course Overview
Level:B2 (lower)
Group: Monolingual
Location: School of English
Lesson time: Tuesday 13th April 1.30-3pm
b)Class Profile
This is an upper-intermediate group of 5 Italian women and one man, aged between 25 and 45. It is a 90 hour course divided into 6 modules and takes place two afternoons a week for 1.5 hours. The course began in October and lasts until June. Because the course is offered on a modular basis, we have a rolling intake. Four of the students have been with me since October and three joined in February and March. There is a mixture of abilities within the group but the students get on very well together and are willing to help each other out. They also have different learning backgrounds and preferences, having learnt English either from school or University either recently or a long time ago. Their motivation and enthusiasm are high, and most of them try as much as possible to avoid using L1 during the lesson.
Some students are keen to focus on grammar in class because they believe understanding the rules will help them produce correct English. Others prefer to focus on skills work and grammar as it comes up (for example through correction of mistakes). They have all said they find it difficult to remember new vocabulary and this is partly because a 90hour B2 course inevitably relies on self-study to consolidate new lexis learned in class. While some of the students are able to dedicate time outside the lessons to self-study, others do not have time. However, I would like to do as much as possible to help them find ways to record and remember lexis and develop learner autonomy. We are following English File Upper Intermediate and they seem to enjoy the material and sense of routine that comes from following a book.
|Name |Teresa |Marilu |Elisa |Alessandra |Mauro |Mariangela |
|Job |Works in tourism |Real estate agent |Student |Microbiologist |Banker |Trainee Lawyer |
|Reason for learning: |Works in the tourist industry|Interest in culture, enjoys |For future work. |For pleasure and travel. |Needs English for business Wants to|Needs English for future work |
| |and so uses English when she |travelling. | | |improve spoken fluency, listening |purposes. |
| |travels on business. |Children attend an international | | |comprehension and build confidence.| |
| | |school so wants to be able to help | | | | |
| | |them with homework. | | | | |
|Uses English: |When she travels on business, |Occasionally at work: emails, |In class. When she listens to |When she travels on holiday. She |Sometimes at work and on holiday. |On holiday and with international |
| |on the phone/ emails to |welcoming foreign clients |English music. |enjoys listening to English music| |students who come to Bologna. |
| |foreign clients. | | |and watching films in English. | | |
|Strengths: |Extremely motivated. |A fluent speaker. |Enjoys pronunciation activities and| Listening and reading |Although he lacks confidence in |A very confident speaker who is not|
| |Good understanding of grammar |Enthusiastic and has made a lot of |activities with songs. Throws |comprehension |speaking he shows potential to be a|afraid to try out new language. |
| |and is able to help the weaker|progress in speaking and listening |herself into conversation and oral |Enthusiastic and insists on |good speaker. |Throws herself into communicative |
| |students. |since the start of the course. |tasks. |speaking English at all times. | |activities. |
| |Is quite fluent but needs to |, | |Puts new vocabulary into practice| | |
| |work on accuracy. | | | | | |
|Weaknesses: |Written accuracy, cohesion, |Over reliance on the written form. |She is very inaccurate for her |Her spoken accuracy is not as |Needs to improve listening |Needs to work on accuracy so maybe |
| |organisation, style. |Feels she has to write everything down|level and gets grammatical |strong as her ability to |comprehension. Tends to panic if he|taking more time to think about |
| | |and gets frustrated if she can’t see |structures very confused when she |comprehend. |doesn’t understand a word. |what she’s going to say before |
| | |the word. |speaks. | | |saying it. |
| | |Gist listening and reading skills. | |She has difficulty using new | | |
| | |Pronunciation: linking - tends to |Needs pron work: connected speech |grammar in spontaneous speech and| | |
| | |aspirate vowel sounds. | |needs to improve her fluency. | | |
|Comments |A lively student whose |Marilu is the kind of learner who |A lively student. Unfortunately she|She is a real asset to the class.|This will be his 3rd lesson in this|Mariangela joined the group in |
| |enthusiasm for the language |feels needs to understand ‘the rules’ |doesn’t have time to study outside |Studies autonomously and this |group and his English is still |February but has missed a lot of |
| |has a positive effect on the |before she puts language into |the lessons. Poor attendance. this |aids her progress. |quite rusty. |lessons recently. |
| |class. |practice. Places high importance on |has hindered progress. | | | |
| | |grammar. | | | | |
c-g)Lesson Overview
c) Date: 13th April
d) Time: 1.30-3pm
e) Level: low/mid B2
f) Number of Students:
g)Timetable Fit: The lesson will be part of a 90 hour course in which some students have studied since the beginning and others have joined later in the course. We have been working from English File Upper Intermediate[1] and have so far studied up to Unit 6B. The lesson will be based around the topic of towns and cities from the current unit in the coursebook.
Link with Previous Lesson: They have very recently worked on ways to give effective presentations and have each given a presentation in class. Last lesson we looked at vocabulary related to towns and cities.
Link with Next lesson: Students will stay with the theme of towns and cities, going on to listening/ speaking activities and looking at the structure ‘have s.t. done’. They will also be asked to utilise this new vocabulary by writing a description of a town/ city they know well.
h)Overall Aims:
By the end of the class students:
1. Will have understood and used some new phrasal verbs and lexical chunks in the context of a tourist guide about their city e.g. ‘make the most of sth.’ / ‘set off’.
2. Will be better able to guess the meaning of unknown words from context.
3. Will have had freer written practice of phrasal verbs and lexical chunks in the genre of travel guides.
4. Will be better able to notice re-occurring language, including phrasal verbs, lexical chunks and functional expressions when they come across them through reading or listening. They will hopefully be better able to use them in speaking and writing.
Subsidiary Aims:
1. To give students top down and bottom up reading practice
2. To raise awareness of how to use and the benefits of using monolingual dictionaries.
3. Personal Aims: To create a student centred lesson and to encourage learner autonomy.
i)Assumptions and Strengths of the group
Systems: The linguistic structures in this text should not pose too much of a problem for them. At this level, they should are already familiar with phrasal verbs (although they may not have studied the rules in depth) and have met quite a few of the lexical chunks within the text.
Skills: Although the text contains some unknown lexis, at this level students should not have a problem with comprehension because they are familiar with the genre (travel guides) and the language has been graded slightly. Students have improved a great deal at tolerating ambiguity when reading and at guessing key words from context.
Interests: As this is young, lively group in which the students are all learning for pleasure. The students enjoy lessons which involve a lot of conversation but they also place great importance on learning grammar. They prefer to do this in different ways, however. Certain students – Marilu and Elisa are keen to learn grammar rules and get frustrated if we move on to a new structure before they feel they have fully mastered it. Other students, such as Alessandra are more keen to look at grammar as it arises in conversation. I have been experimenting with more student-centred ways to teach grammar and the students have all enjoyed recent ‘noticing’ activities such as re-translations and grammar dictations/ dictagloss. They have responded well to previous lessons using songs, poems and collaborative writing tasks and enjoy working together on tasks. However, one of the newer students said they preferred writing alone, so I will give the class the choice of working alone or in groups. They like discussing current affairs, watching DVDs and reading novels in English. They have also commented that they find it hard to remember vocabulary and like to have plenty of opportunity to revise and consolidate new language.
j)Language Analysis
Target Language
Below I have included a table which highlights the meaning, type, register of the phrasal verbs and some variations in meaning. With transitive, inseparable verbs, the particle is a preposition. In verbs with multiple particles, the first particle is an adverb and the second is a preposition. I will not be highlighting to students whether the particle is a preposition or adverb as I do not believe this aids their learning and would lead to unnecessary confusion.
Phonology
If the particle is a preposition, the stress is on the verb and not the particle (you would not say I’m looking FOR my keys) .If the particle is an adverb, the stress should be on the particle, (the house burned DOWN) [2]but in reality this is less easy to detect. This is because verbs (except auxiliary and modal verbs) are content words they are therefore stressed. Again, I will not be highlighting this to students as I believe it would confuse them, however is need arise, I will point this out.
Catenation occurs at the word boundary between the final consonant of the verb and particles beginning with vowels. Some particles contain weak forms e.g ‘for’ ‘of’,’ to’ and ‘around’.
|Phrasal-Verb (+common usage) |Meaning |Type |Register |Variations with or without change of meaning: |
|Set off |Leave (start a journey) |Intransitive |neutral |Set an alarm/ a bomb off |
| | | | |Changes in meaning if object is added. |
|Set off for/ to somewhere | |Multiple particle, | | |
| | |inseparable, | | |
| | |Transitive | | |
|Get around |Travel within a place, e.g a city. |Intransitive |neutral |Get about |
| | |inseparable | |Different particle without altering the |
| | | | |meaning |
|Knock s.b/s.t down |Cause s.b or s.t to fall. |Transitive |neutral |Knock s.t/ s.b over |
| | |Separable | |Different particle without altering the |
| | | | |meaning |
|Take s.t in |Absorb |Transitive |neutral |Secondary meaning: |
| | |Separable | |Understand or remember new facts or |
| | | | |information |
|Miss out on s.t |Not to have the chance to do s.t you |Transitive |neutral |Miss s.t out = omit / not include |
|(a chance/ offer/ opportunity) |enjoy or would be good for you. |Multiple particles | |Changes in meaning if object is added. |
| | |Inseparable | | |
|Finish s.t off |Complete the last part of something you |Transitive |neutral |Although the particle intensifies the meaning |
| |are doing. |Separable | |of finish by making it more final. Finish |
| | | | |(without the particle is also possible). |
|Work up s.t |Make yourself hungry by doing s.t |Transitive |neutral |Work s.b up – irritate or annoy s.b |
|(an appetite/ thirst/ a | |Separable | |Changes in meaning if personal object is added|
|sweat/courage) | | | | |
|Walk s.t off |digest |Transitive |neutral |Walk off = walk away |
|(food, stress, minor problem .e.g | |Separable | |Changes in meaning if object is omitted. |
|headache) | | | | |
|Soak up |Absorb |Transitive |neutral |Other uses: Children soak up languages very |
|(the sun, the atmosphere) | |Separable | |quickly. |
| | | | |Soak up (absorb) a liquid. |
|Check s.t out |look at or visit something that |Transitive |informal |Changes in meaning if object is omitted. |
|(a website, a museum) |interests you. |Separable | |e.g Check out of a hotel – leave after paying |
| | | | |the bill |
|Hang out |To spend time somewhere without any real|Intransitive |informal |Hang s.t out= clothes outside to dry. |
|Hang out with s.b |purpose. |Multiple particles, | |Changes in meaning if object is added. |
| | |transitive | | |
The following structures will be highlighted from the text.
Sentence Stems (typical of the travel guide genre)
Check out the_+noun__ at/in/on _+noun__.
Make sure you + infinitive
Achieve s.t with/ by doing s.t else - work up an appetite with a hike/ by hiking up to San Luca.
It’s important + (not) to+ infinitive
The best way to + infinitive is +noun OR by ____ing
Be careful+not to + infinitive / s.t doesn’t happen
Head to/ down/ along/ into / up + a street or place - go towards (in the direction of) a place
Wander/stroll down/ up /along a street or around a place
If you+present tense,+ suggestion - If you’re hungry/ like tortellini, head to Tamborini for lunch.
Noun or verv___ing is highly/strongly recommended
Why not+ infinitive?
Other Lexis
Make the most of s.t - take advantage of a situation, make the best of a situation
stroll/ wander (v/n) – a slow walk usually without a specific direction
Bargain-hunting(n) - search for discounted items
High-street shopping(n) – shopping on the main shopping street of town/ city
Trendy (adj)= fashionable
Boogie on down at (Verb phrase)…(dance to fast-paced, popular music)
A party animal( n) (somebody who loves parties and going clubbing)
S.t is “your thing.” = you are interested in it/ it is your passion
. e.g ‘‘I’m not very interested in classical ballet, jazz dance is more my thing’’.
k)Anticipated Problems
Linguistic Problems
| |Problem |Solution |
|Meaning/ Use / Appropriacy of style: |As register of metaphorical language is |Point out the style of phrasal verbs such as |
| |often genre or culturally specific, |hang out, check s.t out. Use CCQ: Is it |
| |students may use these verbs and the |formal or informal? (informal) Monitor when |
| |lexical chunks in a slightly unnatural way.|they are writing and make suggestions if |
| | |necessary. |
|Form: |Students confuse separable and unseparable |Give students this information about the verbs |
| |verbs. Students are unaware that if the |and give correction on these problems if they |
| |object is a pronoun it must go between the |arise. |
| |verb and the particle. | |
|Phonology: |I don’t predict many phonological problems |Drill if there are pron problems – choral and |
| |with the target language but students may |then individual drilling. |
| |pronounce the following words phonetically | |
| |/wænder/, /knok/and stroll /strɒl/. | |
| |Catenation occurs between the final | |
| |consonant of verbs and particles beginning | |
| |with vowels. As linking occurs in Italian, | |
| |this should not create a problem for them, | |
| |however there is a tendency to aspirate | |
| |words beginning with vowels. | |
|The Effect of L1: |Because phrasal verbs are not really used |Encourage students to use phrasal verbs where |
| |in Italian students may avoid using them in|possible. |
| |favour of single words,( in the writing | |
| |stage). | |
Other Problems
| |Problem |Solution |
|Skills Work: |Students read and write at different speeds. |Set time limits. |
|Learning Context: |- | |
|Learners as people: | | |
|Class Management: |As the topic is very personal to them the |Keep on target with timings and let students |
| |students may get involved in discussion and |know that they will be able to express their |
| |this may mean they focus less on the language. |opinions later in the lesson. |
| |Learners may revert to L1 on the ‘guessing | |
| |meaning from context’ task. |Remind students of the benefits of speaking in |
| | |L2 (paraphrasing practice, widening vocab etc) |
|Socio-Cultural: |- | |
l)Materials and Resources
This is my own material. Some definitions were taken from Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English Online :
m)Lesson Commentary
I have decided to teach a lesson on this area of lexis because phrasal verbs are becoming increasingly common in modern English language and it is therefore vital that students are aware of them. I have noticed that this group of students often avoid using phrasal verbs, preferring instead to use Latinate equivalents. Students often think that they are only used in informal or slang English and are resistant to using them. This is clearly not always the case and students need to be aware of this and develop a more positive attitude towards them.
The complexity of phrasal verbs, both in terms of their behaviour in a stream of speech and the subtleties of their semantic use mean that they are difficult to analyse. Rather than spend a lot of time analysing their form I feel it is crucial that learners need to develop ‘an ear’ and ‘a feel’ for phrasal verbs and the contexts and register they are used in. A teacher’s job is to also encourage students to notice and use them.
I have decided to introduce the target language through a text as, in my experience, context is fundamental to students retention. Often, course books deal with phrasal verbs depending on verb or particle. I am not convinced in the validity of this because the verbs and particles often have such semantic differences that it can be confusing and difficult to retain them. As Willis states, ‘We need to look carefully at the kind of language to which students are exposed. Random exposure is of little value. Exposure must be organised.’[3]
As Thornbury suggests, because of the idiomatic nature of these verbs, they can often be found in ‘clusters’ which are topic or genre specific[4]. It is useful for teachers to use texts which provide a substantial number of phrasal verbs to encourage ‘noticing’. Because of students’ interest in travel and our recent lexical focus on towns and cities I have decided to use the genre of a travel guide. I wrote my own text, to foster noticing on phrasal verbs common to this genre. Some of these verbs have a low surrender value so I will not insist on their use too greatly. However, I have included them because this reflects authentic texts and it is important for students to be able to guess their meaning from the context in future reading or listening.
I will also ask students to use dictionaries within the lesson because I believe it is important to encourage students to use mono-lingual dictionaries and guide students in how to use them.
As a result of my research on the lexical approach I strongly believe the importance of activities which encourage recognition followed by production. Lewis’s ‘Observe- Hypothesise- Experiment paradigm’[5], supported my view that students need to observe new language in context, contemplate its meaning and then experiment with the language. I have therefore chosen a task-based approach to the lesson, by giving students a text to analyse, followed by a short language focus before students go on to create a similar text.
As the text was made up of a large number of high frequency lexical chunks and sentence stems (specific to the travel guide genre) I will encourage ‘noticing’ by getting students to highlight these phrases themselves and then use them in their own text.
Because it is personalised, (written by a person they know and about their city) learners can relate to it and this should stimulate interest. To save time and possible confusion I have highlighted the phrasal verbs for students, however for homework I will ask students to research the lonely planet and travel guides to notice reoccurring language patterns and phrasal verbs. I have chosen not to focus on the rules of form (the four types of phrasal verbs) but instead provide opportunities for immediate practice by asking students to put the language into a context. I will, however, provide a handout for those students who like to know the rules.
Lesson Plan
Although the observed part of this lesson is 60 minutes, the lesson is 90 minutes. I will therefore allow students to continue with writing if more time is needed.
|Stage |Aim |Procedure |Time |Interaction |
|Lead in |Introduce genre of travel guides. |Write title on board: How to make the most of the Red City. |5 |S-T |
| |Activate schemata |Elicit which city it is: Bologna. | | |
| | |Explain to students that this is a travel guide. Elicit examples e.g Lonely Planet | | |
| | |Check comprehension of « make the most of s.t »: | | |
| | |CCQ : Bologna is famous for good food. If a tourist comes to Bologna and eats at McDonalds,| | |
| | |are they making the most of the Bolognese cuisine.? (no) | | |
| | |If a tourist spends most of their time in parco nord or piazza unita are they making the | | |
| | |most of the tourist attractions in Bologna? (no) | | |
| | |What places could they visit to make the most of Bologna? | | |
| | |Elicit: two towers etc. | | |
| | |If necessary,explain it’s similar to - take advantage of a situation | | |
| |Give students a reason for reading. |Explain that this is an “insiders” guide to Bologna that I have written. Students read the |5 |S individual |
|Reading for gist. |Provide a context for the target language. |text and decide | | |
| | |whether they agree with what I have written | | |
| | |Note :Remind students that we will deal with unknown vocabulary later. | | |
|Feedback on reading. |To ensure students have understood the gist and get a |Feedback sts reactions to the text. Ask is there anything they would change or add? |5 |S-T whole class or pairs. |
| |personal response. | | | |
|Language focus – |Promote ‘noticing’ of phrasal verbs and encourage sts |Draw students attention to underlined verbs. Ask students what kind of verbs are |5 |S-S pairs |
|phrasal verbs (meaning)|to guess meaning from context. |underlined: Phrasal verbs | | |
| | |Students discuss possible meanings and synonyms of the underlined phrasal verbs. | | |
| |Encourage paraphrasing skills and team work. |Emphasise that speaking in English, (as opposed to translating into Italian) will help them| | |
| |Give sts feedback on their predictions. |with paraphrasing skills. | | |
| | |Give students handout with dictionary definitions to compare with their own. | | |
|Language focus |Raise awareness of separable and unseparable phrasal |Write on the board: |5 |S-S pairs |
|(Form) |verbs and clarify position of pronouns. |A cyclist knocked a man down. | | |
| | |A cyclist knocked down a man. | | |
| | |A cyclist knocked him down. | | |
| | |A cyclist knocked down him. | | |
| | |One of these sentences is wrong. Which one? | | |
| | |Some phrasal verbs can be separated. Which other verbs in the text are separated. Walk your| | |
| | |lunch off. Concept check: | | |
| | |Can we say ‘’walk off it?” NO | | |
| |Encourage learner autonomy and give guidance in using |Students look in the dictionary to see whether: |5 | |
| |monolingual dictionaries to find phrasal verbs. |1.check out s.t can be separated | | |
| | |Ask sts: How do we know this? | | |
| | |( because the s.t is between the verb and particle. Examples of this are given in the | | |
| | |dictionary) | | |
| | |Set off can be separated – | | |
| |Encourage learner autonomy outside the classroom. |(NO because it’s in transitive and Set off for is a multiple verb. | | |
| | |YES but with a change in meaning | | |
| | |Explain to students that some verbs have more than one meaning. They will first need to | | |
| | |look for the meaning of the verbs which matches the meaning in the text. | | |
| | |Give students the online dictionary website: dictionary | | |
|Language focus: |Promote ‘noticing’ of lexical chunks. |Ask students to underline any key phrases which |5 |Pairs |
|Lexical Chunks | |1.give advice. | | |
| | |2. are typically found in travel guides | | |
| | |Give sts Useful Language handout to compare with. | | |
|Freer practice of T.L |To enable students to experiment with new language in |Students write their own travel guides about a place they know well, using this lexis for |20-25 |Pairs or individually (if |
| |the context of a travel guide. |travel guides and at least 5 phrasal verbs. Monitor sts, correct errors and suggest | |preferred). |
| |END OF OBSERVED PART OF LESSON |language where needed. | | |
| | |END OF OBSERVED PART OF LESSON | | |
|IF TIME |Provide further opportunities for sts to hear T.L in |Students share their guides with the rest of the class. |10 |Whole Class |
| |context. | | | |
| |Encourage class rapport. | | | |
|HW |Encourage ‘noticing’ and reading practice outside the |For homework students look at travel guides on the internet e.g Lonely Planet and notice |3 |Individual |
| |lessons. Provide further opportunities for students to|key language which is used frequently. Students should also look out for vocabulary from | | |
| |meet language from today’s session again. |today’s lesson. | | |
| | |Encourage students to use Longman and Macmillan online learner dictionaries in the future. | | |
| | |Remind students that they will need to look up the verb without the particle first. | | |
-----------------------
[1] Oxendale,C. &Latham- Koenig, C. 2008, OUP
[2] : m.d
[3] Willis, D. 1990: iv, v, vi
[4] Thornbury, S. 2008: 125
[5] Lewis, M. 1993: vii
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