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Metacognition |
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At a Glance
Students will: ü practice
listening skills ü practice using functional expressions in discussion |
Purpose: to use functional expressions, to improve conversational skills when supporting a point of view; Materials: Functional Expressions Sheets (1 , 2, 3, and 4) Preparation: Photocopy Functional Expressions sheets if students do not already have them; photocopy handouts. Time: 60 minutes |
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Teacher’s
Notes |
Procedure: This lesson plan is based on the idea that having students support opinions that are not necessarily their own during debates can help improve fluency. Students pragmatically focus on correct production skills in conversation rather than striving to "win" the argument. 1. Review language used when expressing opinions, disagreeing, making
comments on other person's point of view, especially Functional
Expressions 1 & 2. 2. Write the name of some major multinational
corporations on the board (i.e. Coca Cola, Nike, Nestle, etc.) 3. Ask students
what their opinions of the corporations are. Do they hurt local economies? Do
they help local economies? Do they bring about homogenisation of local
cultures? Do they help promote peace internationally? 4. Based on
students' responses, divide them into two groups: one arguing FOR multinationals,
the other AGAINST multinationals. Important: Make sure that groups are put into
the group with the opposite opinion of what they seemed to believe in the
warm-up conversation. 5. Give students
worksheets including ideas pro and con. Have students develop arguments using
the ideas on the worksheet as a springboard for further ideas and discussion. 6. Once students
have prepared their opening arguments, begin with the debate. Each team has 5
minutes to present their principal ideas. 7. Have students
prepare notes and make rebuttal to the expressed opinions. 8. While the debate
is in progress, take notes on common errors made by the students. 9. At the end of
debate, take time for a short focus on common mistakes. This is important, as
students should not be too involved emotionally and therefore will be quite
capable of recognizing language problems - as opposed to problems in beliefs! |
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