FAMILY LIFE 2

A. AIMS  

1. Knowledge 

- Vocabulary: adjectives of personality

- Pronunciation: word stress, adjective endings

2. Skills 

- Reading: Younger brother or only child?  

B. MATERIALS, FACILITIES AND METHODS 

- Materials: English File intermediate 3rd edition (SB and WB) 

- Facilities: chalk, board, draft paper 

- Methods: pair and group work, game, role play, presentation 

C. PROCEDURE 

1. Class stabilization: 

- Check class attendance: ………………………… 

+ Absent students: ………………………………………………………………………

- Ask some questions:  

What day is it today? 

What is the weather like? 

How are you today? 

2. New lesson

WARM-UP 

SONG Our House

- Tell Sts to go back to the main lesson 1B.

1. READING

1.a. Ask the questions to the whole class and elicit opinions.
! Do not ask Sts if they are an only child as they will talk about this later.
1.b. Focus on the instructions and tell Sts they are going to read an article written by a
journalist about siblings. Put Sts in pairs and tell the As to read The younger brother
and the Bs The only child.

Extra support

• Before Sts read the texts, check them for words and phrases which your Sts might not
know and be ready to help with these while they are answering the questions or
afterwards. You may even want to pre-teach a few words / phrases to lighten the load
(but not the highlighted words).

1.c. Focus on the instructions and the task. Give Sts time to read their text again if
necessary.

- When they have finished reading, tell them to cover the text they just read and to
discuss 1 and 2 with their partner. Alternatively, you could write points 1 and 2 on the
board and tell Sts to close their books.

- Ask the class Whose childhood sounds happier? and get Sts to vote with a show of
hands.

1.d. Tell Sts now to re-read their text and also read the other one. As they read they
should guess what the highlighted words mean and then match them with the
definitions.

- Get Sts to compare with a partner and then check answers. Model and drill
pronunciation, paying particular attention to rivalry/ˈraɪvlri/.
- Now focus on the each other box and go through it with Sts.

- Finally, deal with any other new vocabulary and encourage Sts to write down any
useful new lexis from the texts.

1.e. Focus on the questions. Then give Sts a few minutes to discuss them in pairs.

- Get feedback from the class, particularly from only children. You could tell Sts about
your own situation and how you feel about it.

2. VOCABULARY

2.a. Focus on the instructions and the first question. Elicit that Jeff / the brother was
tidy, responsible, and sensible, and Tim / the journalist was untidy, rebellious, and
emotional. Then elicit from Sts what the adjectives mean.

- Now ask Sts if they would use any of these adjectives to describe themselves.

Extra idea

• You could tell Sts whether or not you would use any of the adjectives to describe
yourself.

2.b. Tell Sts to go to Vocabulary Bank Personality on p.153.

  Focus on 1 What are they like? and elicit/teach that the question What are
they like? = What kind of personality does he/she have?

- Give Sts, individually or in pairs, time to complete the definitions in a.

Extra support

• Let Sts use their dictionaries to help them with this section.
  Now do b. Play the audio for Sts to check answers. Give practice of any words
your Sts find difficult to pronounce, modelling and drilling as necessary.

Extra idea

• If your Sts’ L1 is a Latin-based language, many of these adjectives may be quite

similar. Get them to underline the ones that are similar and highlight or circle the ones
that are completely different.

 Focus on c. Get Sts to cover the definitions and look at the adjectives in the list.
In pairs, they try to remember their meaning.

- Now focus on 2 Opposites and give Sts time to do aindividually or in pairs.

  Now do b. Play the audio for Sts to check answers. Play the audio again,
pausing for Sts to repeat. Give practice of any words your Sts find difficult to
pronounce, modelling and drilling as necessary. You could use the audio to do
this.

- Get Sts to cover the Opposite column and test themselves.

- Finally, do c and put Sts in pairs. Tell them to go through all the adjectives again in 1
and 2, and to decide if each one is a positive, negative, or neutral characteristic. (They
may not always agree, e.g. some people see ambitious as negative and some as
positive.) Elicit answers from the class.

 Now focus on 3 Negative prefixes and explain that with some adjectives of
personality, the opposite is a completely different word, but for others you
simply add a negative prefix. Get Sts to do a individually or in pairs.

 Now do b. Play the audio for Sts to check answers. Play the audio again,
pausing for Sts to repeat. Give practice of any words your Sts find difficult to
pronounce, modelling and drilling as necessary. You could use the audio to do
this.

- Elicit that un- is by far the most common negative prefix. Explain also that im- is
used before adjectives beginning with p or m, e.g. impossible, immature, and ir- before
adjectives beginning with r, e.g. irregular.

- Now elicit which adjective has a positive meaning.

 Focus on c and get Sts to cover the columns and test themselves.

- Finally, focus on the False friends box and go through it with Sts.
- Tell Sts to go back to the main lesson 1B.

Extra support

• If you think Sts need more practice, you may want to give them the Vocabulary
photocopiable activity at this point or leave it for later as consolidation or revision.

2.c. Tell Sts to close their eyes and try to remember adjectives of personality they have
just learnt. Then tell them to open their eyes and write down the first three that come to
mind.

- Now tell Sts to go to Communication Personality on p.104.

- In pairs, Sts read the explanation and then tell each other what they think.

- Get some feedback from the class. You might want to tell the class that this activity
is based on a real personality test.

Extra support

• You could write any useful words and phrases from Communication on the board for
Sts to copy.

- Tell Sts to go back to the main lesson 1B.

3. PRONUNCIATION

3.a. Focus on the task and remind Sts that with multi-syllable words they must always
learn which syllable is stressed.

- Now focus on the adjectives, and elicit/explain that 1- 4 are grouped according to
their endings, and that 5 is adjectives with negative prefixes. Get Sts, individually or in
pairs, to practise saying the adjectives aloud, and then to underline the syllable they
think is stressed.

- Play the audio once for Sts to listen and check.

- Check answers by writing the words on the board and underlining the stressed
syllable.

3.b. Focus on the phonetics in 1– 4 and make sure Sts can pronounce them. Then play
the audio again, pausing after each line to elicit an answer.
- Finally, play the audio again pausing after each group of words for Sts to listen and
repeat.

3. Homework

HOMEWORK: Ex.2 p.8; Ex.4 p.8; Ex.5 p.9