Students practise giving advice using should/shouldn’t.
What You Need
1 x DimmiDeck or selection of photographs showing people with different problems. You can now purchase a standard DimmiDeck here.
If you are using the DimmiDeck, choose The Artist, The Secretary, The Teacher ♀, The Waitress, The Electrician and The Postwoman as your examples.
Pre prepare the following sentences on separate strips of paper for the Practice phase.
- This person is worried about hygiene at work
- This person is bored of their job
- This person uses a lot of energy at work and is always too tired to socialise afterwards
- This person didn’t get enough training and often has accidents
- This person is tired of working with children
Print off the following situation cards for the Produce phase.
- I found a wallet full of money on the street. What should I do?
- I think my girlfriend/boyfriend is cheating on me. What should I do?
- I haven’t done my English homework and it’s due today. What should I do?
- I accidentally scratched my dad’s Mercedes. What should I do?
- I can’t stand my new colleague at work! What should I do?
- I really want to stop smoking but it’s too difficult. What should I do?
Suggested Lesson Plan
This lesson follows a simple PPP format, Present, Practise, Produce.
Present
- Show The Artist to the students. Elicit her job, and what she does (artist, paint).
- Write the phrase ‘She doesn’t know what to paint and does not feel inspired’ on the board. Clarify the meaning.
- Try to elicit ‘should/shouldn’t’ with a question. ‘How can she find inspiration? How can she find a subject to paint? What advice would you give her?’
- Ideal answers could be ‘she should go to an art gallery for inspiration’ or ‘she should try a new style of painting’. I think she shouldn’t work so hard and she should take a break to rest her mind’. Encourage answers along these lines, and guide the students to use the target language.
- Clarify the MPF of ‘should/shouldn’t’ once it has been elicited or presented.
Practise
- Give the students the five sentences and the five remaining cards.
- Ask students to match the sentences to the person in the cards (waitress, secretary, postwoman, electrician, teacher)
- Once the students have matched the pictures, clarify the answers and give feedback as necessary.
- Next, ask the students in pairs to each give a piece of advice to each person using ‘should/shouldn’t.
- Provide language feedback as necessary
Produce
- Now that the students have practised using ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t for giving advice, they need an opportunity to produce it more freely. Print off the sentences for the Production phase.
- Give each student a sentence at random.
- Make sure the students understand their sentences (they can check in pairs or with you)
- In pairs or as a mingle activity have the students present their problems to their partners. Their partner must then respond with some relevant advice.
- Teacher monitors and gives feedback at the end.
This is a nice example of DimmiDeck being used to introduce language, and how it can form the basis of an entire communicative lesson. Enjoy!
