Have smth done
Intermediate level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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To provide practice of language used for describing errands where you need someone else's help or service in the context of preparing for holidays, taking care of your appearance
Subsidiary Aims
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To provide clarification of the use of "have smth done" as a subtype of passive voice
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To provide specific information listening practice using a video about celebrities who have had some plastic surgery done
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To provide fluency speaking practice in an exchange about your planned errands in the context of celebrating the upcoming holidays
Procedure (55-69 minutes)
Ask SS if they are excited about the upcoming holidays and what they usually do at that time. Listen to their description of how they like or want to celebrate.
Teacher tells SS that she has her birthday coming up on top of the other holidays and she has a lot to do in preparation since friends and family expect a lot of entertainment. She gives them her to do list with missing words. Example: I'm going to go to the hairdresser and have my ____ cut. I'm going to make an order at the supermarket and have some ___ delivered to my apartment. SS need to fill in the gaps and voice their guesses, they can be creative and make funny sentences.
Make note of how all of these tasks require me to ask for someone else's service, because I'm short on time or I don't know how to do it. For example, I can't bake a cake, but I need it. What can I do? I can go to a baker and the baker will bake the cake. The cake will be baked for me. Remember that this is passive voice and the rules for how we use it (they already know this well). See how we can change the sentences to show that someone else will do the task but I will get the result: I will have the cake baked. Note that "I" is the subject and "cake" is the object, even though I'm not the one performing an action with it. That's because I'm the one who asked or paid for it. That's when we need to use "have + object + V3".
Fill in the rules and examples in the chart. Explain that 'have' is the main verb, i.e. the one that will change according to subject and tense (has, had, are having etc.)
Complete sentences by opening parentheses and putting the verbs into the "have object V3" form. Check together.
Call back to the SS' wishes about spending the holidays. Ask about tasks they need to get done by New Year's, write down a few categories on the board: food, drinks, presents, cleaning, decorating, organizing a trip, entertainment, clothes, appearance. Ask them to think about tasks they can't do with their own hands and write down a few items they need to have done by someone else. Monitor what they write and provide help with "have X done" structure if needed. Then share in small groups. If they have any advice for each other, they can give it (for example, which website they should use if they need some presents delivered quickly). Afterwards they can even promote themselves a little. They already know each other's professions, so the teacher can start with a prompt like "To start the new year with a fun change to your looks, you can talk to N. and..." and elicit a response like "have a piercing done", because they know N. works as a piercer.
Ask SS how they feel about changing their appearance in permanent ways, ranging between tattoos, piercings and plastic surgery. Ask delicately and preface by asking them to talk only about how they feel about their own body and not opinion on someone else (the group is diverse). Some of them will be excited about it and some will say it's not for them. Ask them who has plastic surgeries a lot and why (celebrities). Look at some pictures of celebrities and try to guess who has had plastic surgery and what kind. Watch a video by a plastic surgeon and find out the answers. Then listen to some excerpts from the video and complete sentences with "have X V3" with the appropriate tense, subject and verb according to what they hear, and check together.
Tell SS they are perfect whether they change their body or not, but they definitely need to keep their brain fit. Give them written homework and explain it: grammar (open parentheses and change verbs into the correct form), answer questions to the topic of the lesson (image, unconventional ways to change your appearance).