The Unbelievable Language Man Episode V

Learning Objectives: To offer reading Preparation Time: 5 minutes

practice/encourage speculation and creative
Completion Time: 40–50 minutes
thinking/to revise grammar. To offer speaking
practice.

Skills/Grammar: Speaking and writing, Age/Level: Teenagers/Adults B1+

vocabulary expansion/Past passive

Resources: Unbelievable Language Man Episode 5 and student activities

Preparation: Print out the storyboard (one per three students and cut it out in three pieces as indicated (for
activity 3). Also, photocopy the complete episode for later – one for each student.

Warm-up (10–15 minutes)

• To raise expectations, ask students to work in groups of three and answer the questions in
Activity 1. What happened in Episode 4? How did Episode 4 end? What do they expect will
happen in Episode 5?
• To try and remember, and in order to answer the questions in Activity 1, inform students they
can have a look at Episode 4, if they have it with them.
• Invite them to write two more questions in the spaces provided and try to guess the answers
to these questions.
(Some questions might be: where does Episode 5 take place? Will Charlie meet the mysterious
man again? Will Curly Tom or Abby Lee appear in this episode?, etc.)

Presentation (15 minutes)

• Invite students to find new partners. Show them the information in Activity 2 and ask
students to guess what is going to happen in Episode 5. Move around, monitor and help
where necessary.

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r: Katie Jones.
© Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE
The Unbelievable Language Man Episode V

Activity 3: While reading (15 minutes)

• Divide students into groups of three. Hand out the story, cut up in 3 pieces – one piece per
student. Invite students to first read their piece of the story by themselves, then take turns
and try to retell their part of the story to their partners. Together they should be able to
retell the complete story.
• Walk around, monitor and help when necessary.

Activity 4: Vocabulary focus (10–15 minutes)

Invite students to match the phrases with their explanations – first alone and then compare with a
partner.
Answer key: 1c; 2d; 3b; 4e; 5f; 6a
To personalise the activity invite them to answer in groups the questions (or hold a discussion
with all of them in the classroom).

Activity 5: Grammar focus (15 minutes)

Elicit the way the Past Passive is formed:

was / were + past participle

Explain students that in general we use passive when:

- it isn’t important who did the action (the agent)
- we do not know who the agent is
- the action itself is more important than the person (the agent) who did it
- we can use by + agent to say who did this action
- we can use it to avoid responsibility by not mentioning the agent
Some other information about its use:
The Passive is usually used in technical, academic scientific texts and in the news.
It is generally more common in written English, rather than spoken.

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r: Katie Jones.
© Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE
r: Katie Jones.

PHOTOCOPIABLE
The Unbelievable Language Man Episode V
Activity 1: Work in groups of three and try to answer the questions below to remember the story so
far. Think of one or two questions more to ask your partners:
1 What has happened so far in the story?
2 How did episode 4 end?
3 Who was “lost for words” in episode 4?
4 _____________________________________________________________?
5 _____________________________________________________________?

Activity 2: Look at the information below. It is taken from Episode 5. Change partners. Read the
information and guess what is going to happen in Episode 5. Try to answer the questions.

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r: Katie Jones.
© Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE
The Unbelievable Language Man Episode V
What is happening in the story? Can you guess?
a Write down three guesses
b Exchange ideas with a partner
c Decide which of the two of you is closer to what is happening … “for real” in the story.

Activity 3: Work in threes. Your teacher will give you Episode 5 separated in three parts (each one
of you will get a different part). Do not show your parts to each other; just read it by yourselves and
then retell your part of the story to your partners so that you create the complete episode together.

Activity 4: Vocabulary: Match the following phrases (1–6) to their meanings (a–f)

1 … no matter how hard Charlie tried … a wordless

2 … he didn’t make it in time …
3 … and all of the sudden …
4 … the driver came back to his senses …
5 … the people around him seemed lost in
their thoughts …
6 … the passengers were lost for words …
b suddenly
c Used for saying that something is not
important or will have no effect
d Arriving at the correct time and not late
e To (make) become again reasonable
f To be in the process of thinking in order
to understand something, to make
decisions or solve problems

Look at the vocabulary above and the explanations. Was there a time you when you …
a … or someone you know were “lost for words”? Why?
b … or someone you know tried to make it on time? Did you (or they) make it?
c … or someone else seemed lost in your (or their) thoughts? Why/what had happened?

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r: Katie Jones.
© Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE
The Unbelievable Language Man Episode V
d … or someone else saw something happening “all of a sudden”? What was it?
e … or someone else tried to do something but no matter how hard you (or they) tried you (or
they) did not make it?
f … or someone else seemed unreasonable and you or someone “brought you or them back
to your or their senses”? What was wrong?

Activity 5: Grammar

Find these examples of the Past Passive within the story:

1 “ … he was dangerous for the people … and he was proved right”
2 “… and the people were saved …”
3 “… the passengers were lost for words …”

Answer these questions:

1 How is the Past Passive formed?
__________________________________________________________
2 Why do we use the past passive?
__________________________________________________________
3 If we want to mention the person who did the action, what can we use?
___________________________________________________________

Author: Dimitra Eleftheriou-Ernst

r: Katie Jones.
© Pearson PHOTOCOPIABLE