Telling a funny story

Theme: Humour and happiness

Before we start, please make sure…

• your name on Zoom is clear (use Latin letters)

• your camera is on and mic is off (unmute when
needed)
• you are in a quiet area that helps you focus
• you have a notebook or a note app ready to
take notes

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Zoom features

Check your audio and video settings Use Annotate when a screen is shared

Use Latin letters for your name

Ask questions in the Chat or use

Reactions
Share Screen when the teacher asks

Use Save to make screenshots

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Welcome to English Online

How does it work? prepare practise

Remember, you need to

complete all four parts
to get the most out of live
progress
class
English Online.

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Pre-lesson activities

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Lesson objective

What do you expect to learn by the end of this class?

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 Lesson objectives
In this live part of the lesson, you will prepare and tell a funny story to your
classmates. You will also review some idiomatic expressions and expressions
for sequencing a story that you studied before the lesson.

Highlighted skills:
Speaking/Storytelling (live class) and Listening (before and after the lesson)
Language focus:
Vocabulary: idiomatic expressions for describing emotions
Functional language: sequencing a story

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Lead-in (alternative)

1. Are you good at telling funny

stories?

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Lead-in What things are important for a good story

1 Explain the background to the story - where it happened, when it happened

2 Give lots of details so the story is very complicated
3 Use sequencing words (at first, then, later on, in the end)
4 Explain your feelings to make your story sound more interesting
5 Take long pauses, so the listener can think about the story
6 Make sure you have an exciting or funny climax to the story
7 Link the different events in the story (because of that, therefore, that’s why)
8 Give your story a conclusion (in the end, since that day)

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Language focus: Idioms
Look at some idiomatic expressions related to feelings. Match each one with
its meaning below:
be as pleased as Punch be a pain in the neck be down in the dumps
(my) heart sank hit the roof laugh your head off get mixed up
hit the roof
get mixed up
be as pleased as Punch
laugh your head off
(my) heart sank
be down in the dumps
be down in the dumps

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Language focus: Idioms

When was the last time you laughed your head off?
Do you know anyone who is a pain in the neck?
When was the last time you felt as pleased as Punch?
Have you ever been down in the dumps?
What would make you hit the roof?

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Language focus: Sequencers
When you are telling a story, it is important to put events in order and explain why
things happened.
To raise the
listener’s interest

To give the
background

Sequencing the
story
Adding an exciting ...when suddenly
or funny twist to
the story

Concluding the
story
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Language focus - Work with a partner and put the
phrases in the table
....when suddenly Did I tell you about...
So And then, in the end
After a while To make matters worse
Afterwards: aftr that Eventually
Well...It all started when And if this wasn’t enough...
Anyway You’ll never guess what happened to me yesterday.
Well

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Language focus
When you are telling a story, it is important to put events in order and explain why
things happened.
To raise the listener’s interest Did I tell you about...
You’ll never guess what happened to me yesterday.
Background Well...It all started when I was living in Italy and I was
working as a...
Sequencing the story Well / So /
After a while / afterwards: after that
Anyway: return to the main topic
And then
Adding an exciting or funny twist to when suddenly /
the story To make matters worse /
As if that wasn’t enough

Concluding the story And then, in the end

Eventually: Finally
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 Task
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Task preparation
Prepare to tell a story about a situation when something went wrong. It can be a
true story or you can invent one. You can choose from the following topics:
A misunderstanding
A difficult journey
An embarrassing situation
When someone got angry
An incident on holiday
A time you lost something important
When you tried a very dangerous sport
When you missed / forgot a special event (e.g. a birthday, a meeting, an
exam...)
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Feedback

Background: past continuous

My friend and I were walking, it was getting darker.

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Task
2 Tell your funny story to your group.
3 Tell the class who had the funniest stories and give a brief summary of the story
to the class

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Review

1.Did I use the phrases? Which ones?

2.Did I make my story exciting? How?
3.Did I try to use my intonation to make the story more exciting?
4.What caused difficulty?

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Lesson materials

Make sure you have

• downloaded the *.pdf with this
presentation
• saved the Zoom Chat

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How can you make more progress?
Complete the Progress activities online.

Review the language rule we have practised today.

https://www.thoughtco.com/telling-stories-sequencing-
your-ideas-1210770

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What’s next?

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What do you think?

Do you like the platform? ​

What did you think of the activities? ​
What further information do you need? 

For more information, write to

support.englishonline@britishcouncil.org​

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Teacher’s Notes

This slide deck was made by Anna Szeghy.

Notes
Share your thoughts about the lesson with the next teacher

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