FUNCTIONS: talking about abilities; asking for, giving and refusing permission; talking about possibility
Lesson 1 She can speak a lot of languages. pp70–71
Aims
The focus of this lesson is to practise can and can’t, be good at / interested in something as well as words for languages and talking about your abilities.
You first!
Put students in pairs to answer the question. Note whether students understand and can use can correctly – give help with it if necessary. Ask for feedback and write the languages they say on the board. Count how many students speak each language.
Vocabulary Languages
Culture note: Many countries have one (or more) official language which is used in schools and in the media, but people also have their own dialects which they speak in at home.
1 Start by identifying the languages in the speech bubbles. Ask what the sentences in the bubbles say. Practise the pronunciation of these words, paying attention to stress patterns, eg Italian, Japanese, Portuguese. Ask students which names for languages are very similar in their own language and which are very different.
Answers
1 Turkish 2 Japanese 3 Italian 4 Catalan 5 Russian 6 Arabic 7 Mandarin Chinese 8 Spanish 9 Portuguese 10 Greek
The sentences all say ‘I can speak ten languages.’
Extra idea: Ask students what languages are spoken in different parts of the world, eg Brazil, Mexico or Egypt. Ask: What do you think is the most widely spoken language?
2 Discuss the questions as a class. Brainstorm reasons for learning English, eg I travel a lot / It’s good for work. Write them on the board.
3 2.42 Look at the photo and the title of the article. Ask: What does ‘hyper’ mean? (over or excessive) Find out if students know any other words starting with hyper, eg hyperactive, hypersensitive, hyperinflation. Check students understand fluently. Allow time for students to read the article and predict the answers.
Note that the answers to the questions are the missing words in the article. Tell students not to try and understand every word. Then play the audio to check their answers. Ask students to tell you the missing words.
Answers
1 18 2 eight 3 ten 4 11 5 six
Transcript
Englishman Ray Gillon is an unusual man. He’s very good at learning languages. He learns them for fun and can speak 18 languages.
Well, that’s not quite true. He can speak eight languages fluently. But he can have a conversation in the other ten languages. They include Turkish, Russian, Mandarin and Thai.
Language experts describe Gillon as a
‘hyperpolyglot’. Hyperpolyglots speak a lot of languages – 11 or more. Some people can speak six languages, but there aren’t many hyperpolyglots. For a lot of us, learning a language isn’t easy. And some people just can’t learn another language – but then maybe they’re very good at maths or science!
Extra ideas: Ask students to close their books. Say the answer to one of the questions and ask students to tell you the question.
Ask: Do you know anyone who speaks a lot of languages? What do you think helped them learn so many?
UNIT
FOCUS
128 Unit 8
De-stress!
Sometimes when we’re stressed we think very negative thoughts and we talk to ourselves in a very critical way: I can’t do this, I’m stupid, I’m no good at X, etc.
One way of countering those thoughts is to use positive affirmations and to say encouraging things to yourself in your head (or out loud) over and over again. It may sound silly but it’s incredibly effective. Ask students if they like the example on SB page 70. Get them to try saying it a few times.
Ask: Can you think of a better thing to say? Elicit as many suggestions as possible.
Grammar 1 can / can’t
4 Ask students to use the table to make sentences and questions with can and can’t.
Ask: Do we use ‘do’ in the question form?
How do we make the question form? What happens to the main verb? Does it change in the third person singular? Ask them to complete the table.
Check that students understand the meaning of can / can’t. Ask for some examples of things they can and can’t do. They can ask you, too.
Give some prompts and ask students to make questions for each other, eg
Teacher: play tennis
Student 1: Can you play tennis, Miguel?
Student 2: No, I can’t but I can play football!
Finally ask students to choose the correct words to complete the sentences.
Answers
We use can when we know how to do something.
We use can’t when we don’t know how to do something.
affirmative
I / You / He / She / It / We / They can speak ten languages.
negative
Some people say they can’t learn another language.
questions and short answers Can you speak English?
Yes, I can. / No, I can’t.
Refer to the grammar reference on SB page 138, now or at the end of the lesson and go through it with them.
5 Ask how many examples of can and can’t students can find in the article. Get feedback from individual students.
Answers
… and can speak 18 languages.
He can speak eight languages fluently.
But he can have a conversation … Some people can speak six languages … And some people just can’t learn another language …
Extra idea: Ask how many things students can remember about Ray Gillon. Then tell them to look back at the article to check.
6 P 2.43 Remind students of the schwa sound in unstressed words. Ask them to read and predict the schwa sound in can or can’t. Then play the audio and practise the pronunciation of these sentences.
Note: Can in all the example sentences here contains the schwa sound (the only time it doesn’t is in affirmative short answers: Yes, I can.). The difference is that can contains the schwa sound and can’t contains the /ɑː/ sound – not a schwa.
Transcript and answers A Can you speak English?
B I can speak some English. I can’t speak it fluently.
C Yes, I can speak English quite well.
7 Ask students to identify the activity in each picture. Model the example question and answer with one or two students, then ask two students to read the example. Monitor pairs as they work, correcting pronunciation if necessary. Call on students to present their dialogues to the class.
Get students to ask each other similar
questions, eg Can you play chess? No, I can’t.
What about your boyfriend? Yes, he can play chess quite well.
Answers
A Can they dance?
Yes, they can.
B Can she sing?
No, she can’t.
Unit 8 129 C Can they play the guitar?
Yes, they can.
D Can they play chess?
Yes, they can.
E Can he swim?
No, he can’t.
F Can he drive?
No, he can’t.
Listening
8 THINK These questions prepare students to understand the listening better. In exercise 9, students will listen and decide if these sentences are true or false according to the audio. It also prepares students for the next grammar section.
Go through the sentences and check comprehension. To remind students, ask:
What’s a hyperpolyglot? Then put them in pairs to do the task. Elicit answers from some students, but don’t check all the answers yet.
9 2.44 Explain that students are going to hear some information about hyperpolyglots. Play the audio for students to check the sentences in exercise 8 to find out if they are true or false. Students can discuss the answers in pairs.
If necessary, play the audio again, then discuss the answers as a class. Ask students to correct the false statements and help them with pronunciation.
Answers 1 true
2 false: They aren’t always interested in languages when they’re young.
3 false: When you are good at three or four languages, you can learn other languages quickly.
4 true
5 false: Some hyperpolyglots aren’t interested in conversation.
Transcript
Why are some people so good at learning languages? Language experts believe
hyperpolyglots can understand word patterns, so they remember words and sounds very easily. But they aren’t always interested in languages when they’re young. Ray Gillon, for example, wasn’t interested in languages at school. His first job was in France, so he
started learning French and then Italian. Three years later, he was fluent in both languages.
Then he learnt four more languages. Gillon says that when you are good at three or four languages, you can learn other languages quickly. And when you know the grammar of one language, it’s easy to learn another one.
Hyperpolyglots learn languages for many reasons. They often use languages in their work. Sometimes they are interested in meeting people from different cultures. But that isn’t always true. Some hyperpolyglots aren’t interested in conversation. One example is Alexander Anders, an American. He loves reading in different languages, but he isn’t interested in meeting lots of people. By the way, Alexander speaks 24 languages!
Extra idea: Ask additional questions about the audio, eg Was Ray Gillon interested in languages at school? What do we learn about Alexander Anders?
Grammar 2 be good at / be interested in
10 Point out that the phrases in the grammar table can be followed by a noun (tennis, art) or by an -ing form (playing, cooking). Point out the negative form. Ask students to tell you which sentences in exercise 8 use a noun or an -ing form. Practise the sentences with the class.
Ask students to write four true sentences, using two with a noun and two with an -ing form. Invite volunteers to write their answers on the board.
Answers
Students’ own answers.
Refer to the grammar reference on SB page 139, now or at the end of the lesson and go through it with them.
Speaking
11 EVERYBODY UP! For a change of pace, ask everyone to stand up and find at least one person who is good at or interested in each thing on the list. Check students understand networking, art, gardening, science. Elicit a question and an answer for the first activity on the list and write it on the board if necessary.
Model the exchange with one or two students.
130 Unit 8
Then, if you want, play some music while students mingle and ask each other questions.
Stop the music as a signal to sit down. Ask students to tell you about the people they talked to, eg Francesca is good at singing but she isn’t interested in gardening.
12 Start by restricting the discussion to just learning English. Brainstorm a list of topics and write them on the board, eg vocabulary, pronunciation, reading, writing, spelling, listening. Then expand the discussion to things in general. Monitor groups as they work. You may want to encourage them to say three good things they can do for each thing they can’t do.
Tip: This is a good opportunity to find out what students feel they need most practice with and to find out what concerns them most.
Explore
This is an opportunity for students to do research outside the classroom and tell the class about their findings in the next lesson. Brainstorm a few ideas about what makes a language difficult, eg grammar, pronunciation. (You may decide that the difficulty depends on what your first language is.)
Lesson 2 What do you want to do? pp72–73
Aims
The focus of this lesson is to practise want to / would like to and need to, learn vocabulary to describe personality and to talk about successful people and students’ aims and ambitions.
Warm-up
Ask students what words for jobs they already know. Brainstorm a few words and write them on the board. Ask students what jobs they do.