Embarrassing dates

Embarrassing dates

A / Warmer / Listening

Listen to the teacher’s story and put the pictures in the correct order.

Use the phrases below the pictures to retell the story.

(pictures by Zdenek Rotrekl, reproduced with the permission of

B / Vocabulary

1. Match the words and their definitions:

  1. baggy
/
  1. to appear

  1. to fit
/
  1. to be the right size

  1. twin
/
  1. to speak to someone in a way that you hope will make the person fall in love with you

  1. cute
/
  1. that makes you go red and feel stupid

  1. to show up
/
  1. brother or sister who was born on the same day as you

  1. embarrassing
/
  1. attractive / nice

  1. wallet
/
  1. to bring your hands together loudly

  1. chat up
/
  1. a place where you keep your money and credit cards

  1. to clap
/
  1. very big and loose

2. Sudoku

Use the words from activity 2 to solve the sudoku. Every line, column and 3x3 square must contain each of the words 1-9 just once and every square must be filled in.

show up / embarrassing / chat up / twin / clap / fit
twin / wallet / embarrassing / baggy / show up
clap / show up / cute / twin / wallet
cute / twin / clap / chat up / wallet
wallet / chat up / baggy / clap / show up
baggy / wallet / fit / twin
embarrassing / show up / fit / baggy / chat up
baggy / show up / chat up / wallet
chat up / clap / twin / cute / baggy / embarrassing
C / Reading

Read the text and answer the questions below.

‘I used to wear really baggy jeans. Once, while walking into a restaurant holding hands with a girl, my trousers fell down! I mean, all the way down. Now, I wear jeans that fit.’ —Michael, 18
‘There were twin sisters called Jennifer and Jessica who were really cute, and I was trying to chat up Jessica so I asked her for her number,and she said, “Okay, but I'm Jennifer!”’ —Tony, 15
‘I was out on my third date with a girl at a Mexican restaurant, and my mum showed up. She told the waiter it was my birthday and they all came over and sang to us. The whole restaurant started singing and clapping! I think my mum thought it was cute, but the girl didn't.’ —Todd, 15
‘I've never really done anything embarrassing — I'm kind of perfect that way. Although I do forget my wallet a lot.’ —Steven, 16
‘I went out with a girl for a bit but I didn't know her name. I thought I'd wait until someone else said it, but it took a whole week!’ —Anthony, 21

(adapted from ‘Embarrassing date disasters’)

a) Whose parent ruined his relationship?

b) Who sometimes has problems paying on a date?

c) Who changed the style of his clothes?

d) Who didn’t know the name of his girlfriend?

Who had the most embarrassing date? Why?

D / Grammar

Write these sentences correctly. Don’t look at the text!

a) ‘I wear really bagy jean. Once, while walk into restaurant hold hands girl, my trouser fall down! I mean, all way down. Now, I wear jean fit.’

______

b) ‘I go out girl for bit but I not know name. I think I wait until someone else say, but it take whole week!’

______

Solve the crossword using the words from the text:

© 2008 1 of 6

Embarrassing dates

1. to be neither too big nor too small

2. sister or brother that was born on the same day

3. situation that makes others laugh at you

4. appeared

5. to talk to someone to make them find you attractive

7. make a sound with your hands

8. thing in which you keep your money

9. attractive / nice

© 2008 1 of 6

[Zadejte text.]

Teacher’s notes

Target language: / Dates and relationships
Duration: / 60 minutes
1 / Structure and timing (all times approximate)
  1. Warmer(15 minutes)
  2. Vocabulary (15 minutes)
  3. Reading(10 minutes)
  4. Grammar(20 minutes)

Total: 60 minutes

2 / Procedure

A. Warmer

Students should not look at their handouts until they have heard the story. The topic is very appealing for teenagers, but avoid eliciting their own experience at the beginning of the lesson as they will have the chance to talk about it at the end.

Tell them the following story. It is true story which happened to me, so you can introduce it as a story which happened to one of your friends and colleagues to catch students’ interest.

‘When I was about 17,I used to attend dancing lessons after school. One evening, after a lesson,my schoolmate and I were going home. It was late and it was dark. We came to a bus stop and we were waiting for a bus when I noticed a beautiful blond girl also waiting.

We started talking to her and we soon found out that she went to the same school and that she loved literature, like me. My friend wasn’t interested, but I liked her very much and we talked the whole way back.

I couldn’t sleep that night. I was thinking about her and remembering everything we said. I couldn’t wait to see her again.

So, the next morning I started looking for her, but I couldn’t find her for some time.

In the end I found her in a classroom. I was a bit shocked, because she didn’t look quite as perfect as the night before, but I thought that looks weren’t that important. So we agreed to go shopping that afternoon.

But the afternoon turned out badly. I soon found out that she was really bossy and she ordered me around the shop like a small boy. I felt embarrassed and I was happy to say goodbye. We never met again.’

Now ask the students to look at the pictures and put them into the correct order:

Answer key: c, e, b, a, d, f

Now ask the students to retell the story. You could have them work in pairs and take turns to recount a picture each, or tell it cumulatively, repeating what their partner said before moving on to the next picture. Monitor and correct. At the end, ask one or two students to tell the whole class the story or have students tell it round the class. You could then give whole class feedback.

B. Vocabulary

This exercise contains most of the words that might cause problems for your students in the reading comprehension.

Answer key

1.i, 2.b, 3.e, 4.f, 5.a, 6.d, 7.h, 8.c, 9.g

Sudoku

Sudoku has been very popular recently, but I bet that your students have never done one with words. It gives them practice writing and memorising the new vocabulary. Afterwards, you could have students cover the words in the matching task with a blank sheet of paper and write the words back in next to the definitions.

show up / wallet / embarrassing / chat up / baggy / twin / clapl / cute / fit
fit / twin / cute / wallet / embarrassing / clap / baggy / show up / chat up
baggy / clap / chat up / show up / cute / fit / embarrassing / twin / wallet
cute / embarrassing / twin / fit / clap / show up / chat up / wallet / baggy
wallet / chat up / fall down / baggy / twin / embarrassing / cute / clap / show up
clapl / baggy / show up / cute / chat up / wallet / fit / embarrassing / twin
embarrassing / show up / wallet / clap / fit / baggy / twin / chat up / cute
twin / cute / baggy / embarrassing / show up / chat up / wallet / fit / clap
chat up / fit / clapl / twin / wallet / cute / show up / baggy / embarrassing

C. Reading

The questions in this reading comprehension exercise should not be very challenging for your students.

Answer key

1. Todd’s; 2.Steven; 3.Michael; 4.Anthony and Tony

D. Grammar

Unlike other grammar exercises this one does not concentrate on one or two rules but on a language as a whole, so it will be difficult for your students, but they can learn a lot by analysing their mistakes. There may, of course, be correct answers that are not identical to the original sentences.

Crossword answer key

1 fell down; 2. twin; 3. embarrassing; 4. showed up; 5. chat up; 7. clap; 8. wallet; 9. cute

Solution: first date

Follow up:

If you have time, you could ask your students to draw one of the stories from task C then exchange it with their partner and re-tell their partner’s story.

You could get older students to speak about their own embarrassing dates.

[Zadejte text.]