Weather
Elementary level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
-
To provide fluency speaking practice in a conversation in the context of weather
Subsidiary Aims
-
To provide practice of language used for suggestions in the context of weather activities
Procedure (45-55 minutes)
The teacher starts the session by asking the students about the weather (what's the weather like today? rainy, cloudy, sunny, foggy, stormy, icy, clear, hazy or snowy), whether they have enjoyed it or not, followed by a short talk of their activities today.
The teacher elicits few activities for good weather ( go for a walk, do gardening,etc.) and some for bad weather ( reading a book, sleeping,etc.).Students continue the two lists working individually and then compare their lists with a partner.Followed by more eliciting from the whole class to build more lists on the white board.The step after is to tell the students that they are going to hear two conversations: one for good weather and one for bad.Tell them to read the conversations quickly, then predict possible words for each gap.After that, the teacher plays the recording and get the students complete the conversations.The teacher gets the students check the answers in pairs. In case of disagreement, the teacher plays the recording again and get the students check the answers.
The teacher writes two sentences on the whiteboard to focus on the questions then their answers, for example, what shall we do? Let's go for a walk. The step is to highlight meaning via CCQs, for example: Are we asking? Yes What are we asking for? Activities, ideas, opinions or plans. For what are asking?Good weather. Are we obliging or suggesting? suggesting. The teacher focuses on the following expressions to make suggestions, for instance: What+ Shall +I/We +Verb? Shall+I/We+Verb+Noun Let's+Verb= Let us +Verb After that, the teacher gets the students listen then repeat/drilling chorally and individually by encouraging good stress and intonation. The teacher can transcribe for the students the weak forms including schwa (eg.for,etc.)
The teacher gets the students in pairs to practice the conversations orally.Meanwhile, the teacher monitors and checks if students have problems with the pronunciation, the teacher then plays the recording again, keeps the students drilling chorally and individually.Then let the students practise in closed pairs.Followed by another activity where the students can practise more conversations by using the following sentences to enrich their conversations.For instance: Oh no, that's boring!We did that last night. Oh no!It's too hot to walk. OK, let's go to the beach. OK then, shall we go out for a coffee? Great!I'll get my coat and an umbrella! Good idea! Why don't we take a picnic?
Depending on the task the teacher provides feedback that could be, for example, on the whiteboard for the WC during the highlighting phase.During the practice stage, The teacher will allow the students to work in closed pairs for the sake to compare their answers then get them check the answers whether with the same partner or a different one ( peer checking).WC feedback may take place at this stage to correct the pronunciation on the WB or to generate ideas and let the students share their ideas with the whole class.