Blended Learning Lesson PDF – PRE-ADVANCED

Unit 10: Wrinkles – Lesson 1

Note: For this lesson you will need to copy and print out the card in stage 2 to give to your students.

Topic: Growing old / Language: Adjectives and nouns associated with ageing
Stage / Procedure / Time
1. Revision / ● Write Signs of ageing on the board. Elicit one or two adjectives that are associated with the elderly. For example: frail, wise, patient, etc. Tell students to work in pairs to list more adjectives.
● Students report back to the class. List the words on the board and ask students to explain or define each word that they come up with. If they are not already on the list, elicit the following adjectives and add them to the list: grey-haired, short-sighted, wrinkled, absent-minded, short of breath, bad-tempered, overweight, hard of hearing.
● Give students five minutes to top up the above list with adjectives with a positive connotation. / 20 mins
2. Speaking / ● Write Stereotypes on the board. Elicit some examples of stereotypes of the elderly.
● Copy and print out the card below. Put students in groups of three. Tell them to read and comment on each item on the card, including comments on whether these items reflect the situation in their culture and country. Circulate and help. Note down useful language and mistakes that come up.
Stereotypes
1. An article entitled “The Fun Life for Young and Old” in the Boston Globe offered “a guide to August activities for senior citizens and children” – a puppet show, a magic act, etc.
2. A U.S. survey shows that although people over 60 comprise nearly 20 per cent of the population, they make up only 5 per cent of all characters on TV shows.
3. When advertisers target the over-60s, it’s either to sell them health insurance or a range of quasi-medical lifestyle aids.
4. A survey showed that when elderly people appear in magazine or newspaper cartoons, it is usually as extreme conservatives.
● Have a member of each group report back to the class, summarising what was discussed. / 30 mins
3. Feedback / ● Focus on useful language that has come up and any common mistakes students have made. / 10 mins
4. Dictation / ● Dictate the following questions to the class.
1. Are elderly people respected in your society?
2. What happens when people get too old to look after themselves?
3. Have you ever cared for an elderly relative? What was it like?
4. Do you think the local or national government should do more to look after the elderly? Like what?
● Have students compare questions and then read them back to you. / 10 mins
5. Speaking / ● In groups of three, students ask each other the questions.
● Have a member of each group report back to the class, summarising what was discussed. / 20 mins

Unit 10: Wrinkles – Lesson 2

Topic: Problems and solutions / Language: Vocabulary: tool, gadget, device, etc., persuasive language
Stage / Procedure / Time
1. Warmer / ● Write the following words on the board. tool, gadget, device, utensil, appliance, implement.
Tell students to work in pairs to define the words, to say which are similar, which are different and how they are different.
● Students compare answers with the class. Ask them to think of some examples of each item. / 10 mins
2. Speaking / ● Write the following questions on the board.
1. Do you have any elderly relatives? Are they in good health?
2. How do you imagine your old age?
3. What gadgets do you find really useful?
4. What gadget do you wish someone would invent?
● Tell students to work in groups of three, asking and answering the questions. Circulate and help. Note down useful new language that comes up.
● Ask students to report back to the class. Make a list for the gadgets they think of for question 3 and another list of gadgets to invent for question 4. / 20 mins
3. Speaking / ● Refer back to the gadgets or fittings or features that are useful for the elderly.
● Put students in groups of three. Tell them that they are going to invent a gadget for one of the other problems discussed in the previous stage. Make sure that different groups "invent" different gadgets. Students choose a problem and discuss the details of their gadget and how it will work. / 20 mins
4. Writing / ● Write Language of persuasion on the board. Elicit what this is and some examples of it. (This is covered in 9. Takeaway English in the online course.) Tell students that they will work together to write a short persuasive text about their gadget, describing the problem and then the solution. Circulate and help while students are doing this. / 15 mins
5. Speaking / ● Each group presents its invention to the class, explaining the problem and then the solution.
● After all inventions have been presented, ask the class to vote on which is the most useful and the most practical. / 20 mins
6. Feedback / ● Focus on useful language that has come up during the discussion and any common mistakes students have made. / 5 mins

Net Languages S.L. – C/Trafalgar, 14, 1º, Barcelona 08010 – Tel. (+34) 93.268.7146

–