Everyday English teacher’s notes
I loved it!  LEARNING OUTCOME learn how to give opinions in an online book review
WARMER
Ask students what sort of books they usually read.
Compare answers around the class. Ask them what
their favourite type of story is (e.g. detective,
fantasy, thriller, etc.).
Ask students to look at the learning outcome. Explain
that in this lesson they are going to learn how to give
opinions in a book review.
  Everyday life
1 Ask students to work in pairs, look at the photograph
and answer the questions.
Answers
The people are in a book club. They all read the same
book and then give their opinions about it.
They could be discussing the story, the characters, the
ending, or talking about whether or not they liked the
book.
  Everyday vocabulary
2 Draw students’ attention to the words in the box and
ask them to divide them into the three categories.
Check students understand each category and elicit
an example for each one. Encourage students to look
up any unknown words in a dictionary, or ask other
students.
Answers
Verbs: enjoy, like, love, recommend
Positive adjectives: brilliant, enjoyable, fascinating,
interesting
Negative adjectives: boring, complicated, dull, too long
3 Ask students to work in pairs and brainstorm any other
words they know and add them to the correct category.
Ask pairs to share their ideas with the class. Check
answers and write the words on the board.
 Reading
4 Ask students to read the book summaries and reviews
and tick the statements in a–c which are true. Tell them
not to worry about understanding every word. They
should read and find the answers. Ask students to check
their answer in pairs, before checking as a class.
Answer
Statements a and c are true.
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A2 Unit
5 Tell students to now read the summaries/reviews again.
Ask students to decide which statements in a–f are true
and which are false. They check answers in pairs, then
check as a class.
Answers
a F  ​b F  ​c T  ​d F  ​e T  ​f T
EVERYDAY ENGLISH TOOLKIT
Tell students to look at the expressions for giving and
responding to opinions. Ask them to look back at the
reviews and find each expression. Ask students to
practice saying the expressions.
Answer
The word that is used to show disagreement with an
opinion is ‘Really?’ It is less direct than ‘I disagree’ and
is therefore considered more polite.
  Over to you!
6 Tell students that now it is their turn to write a summary
and review of a fiction book they have read. Check
they understand that fiction means ‘invented’, or ‘not
real’. Take some book suggestions from the class and
decide on one or two books that everyone has read.
Ask them to read the instructions and follow the steps,
and to write on a piece of paper big enough for other
people to add their comments. Remind students to
use expressions from the Toolkit and the adjectives and
verbs in 2. When students have finished, ask them to
put their reviews in a hat. Each student then takes one
out, reads it and writes their own review, or response to
a previous review. Monitor and make a note of errors or
good language during writing. Write these on the board
(anonymously) for the class to correct or note in their
notebooks.
Extension: Find a suitable website for students to
submit a real book review online. Alternatively, set up a
webpage on your school website for students to write a
short summary and review on a book of their choice.
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