The Devil's Dictionary
Pre-intermediate, A2-B1. level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
-
To introduce the use of relative clause in the context of the text and practice using it.
Subsidiary Aims
-
To provide accuracy speaking practice in a C
-
To provide accuracy speaking practice in a Conversation, dialogue
Procedure (44-68 minutes)
To start with the game: "Hangman" (the word "Dictionary/Definition"). Show the presentation: elicit the definition of a "dentist/egotist/love" from students. First they discuss it in pairs. Ask if the given definitions are funny, strange or cynical.
Give the text, set the task for reading: answer 3 questions: 1). Who was Ambrose Bierce? 2). What is the normal definition of "dentist"? 3). Where can you find the modern versions of the Devil's Dictionary? Check answers in pairs. WG feedback.
to highlight the definition "a kind of doctor who looks after people's teeth", "is a person who puts metal in your mouth and takes coins out of your pocket". Exercise 1D. In pairs students try to give the normal definitions to the words on the slide: "a bank/a boring person/the brain/a star/a friend/a secret". Give them the handout: the do the matching activity (cynical definitions). Check in pairs-> WG feedback.
1. Look again at definitions in exercise 1E. When do we use "who/which/where"? Elicit. Draw the table on the board (grammar with examples).
Handout 1D: 1). Complete the definition with "who/which/where". 2). Match the definitions with the pictures. 3). Write sentences with "who/which/where". Handout 2: 1. Look at the pictures and ask and answer as in the example: -who was Dickens? - He was the man who/that wrote Oliver Twist. 2. Look at the pictures and make sentences: A dishwasher is a machine which/that you use to wash dishes. Check in pairs. T-S feedback?
1). Useful expressions: in pairs students try to complete the sentences with the useful expressions. Check in pairs. Listen to check their answers. 2). Complete the definitions for these words: "a tourist/a sports center/a key/worried/laugh". 3). WG FB.
2c: tell a partner about three of the things below. Say why. *a person who is very important to you; *a famous person you like a lot; *something you couldn't live without; *a thing which you often lose; *a place where you would like to go for a special evening; * a place where you were very happy when you were a child; Tell 2 interesting things about your partner.
Handout 4: in pairs they fills in the gaps. Check with the whole group. Close the definition part -> students give the definition to the pictures -> test their memory.
1). Divide students in group of three: give the envelope with the set of cards. 2). Demonstrate the activity: pick up the card and explain the word until the student guesses the meaning. 3). Student play the game taking the card in turns. The first student in the group who says the word correctly gets the card. The winner is the student with the most cards.