Functional language: advantages and disadvantages
Intermediate level
Description
Materials
Main Aims
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Learning/practising vocabulary related to listing/writing advantages and disadvantages
Subsidiary Aims
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Productive skills (speaking). Students will talk and give an opinion about advantages and disadvantages on particular subject and question.
Procedure (30-47 minutes)
Basic things will be mentioned from previous lesson and students will be given an exercise with words and phrases related to advantages and disadvantages to complete the sentences. They will be working in pairs. Then each group will read them out loud to check the answers for the feedback.
Teacher will draw a vertical line on the board and write advantages and disadvantages as a heading on the each column. Depending on the students' answers on the exercises they will be called to the board and write those words and phrases on appropriate column.
Students will be given list of questions such as 'What are the disadvantages of being young?' 'What are the disadvantages of living in a big city?' 'What are the drawbacks of working in a big company?' 'What are the good things about being married'? 'What are the advantages of being old'? 'What are the benefits of being rich?' They discuss them in pairs each student talks and listens then they swap their seat so that they could talk to the other students.
In pairs students work on exercise where they complete the conversation from previous task. Then teacher reads dialog out loud to check the answer and get feedback.
Class will be divided into two groups, list of paper(s) with pictures and sentences is given to each group and pros and cons on subjects such as 'flying by plane', 'working from home( instead of going into an office)', 'using credit card rather than cash', 'mobile phones that include video cameras', 'studying using the internet', 'advertising on TV', 'running your own small business rather than working for another employer', giving financial support to poor countries', 'living in the countryside', will be discussed by students. Each of them will have something to say and they will be thoroughly monitored so that every one could have a go.