Can and Can't
Elementary level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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To practise "can" positive, negative and question forms in the context of describing ability.
Subsidiary Aims
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To revise collocations that describes abilities, to practise listening for specific information.
Procedure (33-45 minutes)
Focus student's attention on the powerpoint pictures and try to elicit "the things that I can do and can't do." What instrument am I holding here? Guitar Everytime I play the guitar, people would say "Briliant." Would you say that I can play the guitar? Yes, you can play the guitar What am I doing in this picture? Cooking Everytime I cook for my niece, she would say "This is delicious! Thank you!" Would you say that I can cook? Yes, you can cook I also enjoying singing but, everytime I sing, people do this (shows a picture of someone covering their ears). Do you think that I can sing? No, you can't sing I enjoy dancing as well. But everytime I dance, I look like this (shows a picture of someone dancing awkwardly). Do you think that I can dance? No, you can't dance.
Focus student's attention on the powerpoint pictures and relay the following instructions / information: 2. Let's read the first sentence (teacher will ask the students to read the first sentence 1. This is the Brady family. Let's meet the members (teacher will ask the students to read the names). Now, there are things that each family member can do and can't do. Let's find out togethertogether). Very good. So, which family member is that? (Eva) What letter should I put? (c) 3. Now, do the rest (teacher will pair the class and give the handouts)
Teacher will present a table showing all forms of can and can't (via powerpoint) Teacher will relay the following instructions / information: 1. Let's fill this table together. Let's start with the row "We." Can we speak English? (Yes). Can we speak Japanese? (No) * This row will now have the sentences "We can speak English" and "We can't speak Japanese." ** The same will be done to the rows "We" and "They" 2. *** For the rows He and She, the teacher will ask a female and male students what they can and can't do 3. The teacher will then ask the students to do the rows "I" and "You." They will work in pairs. After the activity, the teacher will ask the students about the following: 1. If "can" and "can't" changed in any of the forms (i.e., can and can't have the same form in all persons) 2. Verb form (they are all in present simple) 3. If we changed "he" and "she" to "he's" and "she's" 4. If we used "do" and "does" to form the positive / "don't" and "doesn't" to form the negative 5. If "can" is followed by "to" (i.e., can is followed by infinitive) Teacher change the powerpoint slide with the following sentences: 1. I can speak French. 2. Can you speak French? 3. Yes, I can. 4. No, I can't. Teacher will play the audio once Teacher will ask the students to read together (choral drill) Teacher will ask students to read individuallly (individual drill) Teacher will then ask "Where's the stress or the strong part of these sentences?" Teacher will help students identify through demos (i.e., gesturing where the stresses are while reading the texts) Teacher will then explain the following: 1. "Can" is normally not stressed (positive form) 2. "Can't" is normally stressed (negative form) 3. In question form, "can" is also not stressed (i.e., Can you dance?) 4. In short answers, "can" and "can't" are both stressed.
Teacher will relay the following instructions / information: 1. Let's listen to this audio and fill in the blanks 2. The teacher will give out handouts 3. The teacher will play the audio and then pause to answer item number 1 with the students 4. The teacher will then say "answer the rest." Compare your answers with your partner. 5. The teacher will diiscuss the answers with the whole class. If time is running out, the teacher will just provide a print out with all the answers and tell them "See how many correct answers you got."
The teacher will show the table that needs to be fill out after the audio on "Lucia" is played. The teacher will relay the following instructions / information: 1. Let's find out what Lucia can and can't do 2. The teacher will handout the activity sheet 3. Let's listen to the audio and then put a tick on the things that Lucia can do and and x on the things that Lucia can't do 4. Students will also tick on the next column if they can do the same things that Lucia can do, and x if they can't 4. The teacher plays the audio and then pauses to answer item number 1 with the students 5. The teacher will then ask the students to do the rest
The teacher will ask the students to stand up and ask the same questions that were asked in Activty 3 to their classmates. The teacher will ask the students to write down the names of classmates that they asked questions to.