$trictly 4 my T.E.A.C.H.E.R.Z

level: intermediate

aims: present and/or review going to/will distinction for plans/promises, listening practice

Materials:

• america-blows-up-the-moon (MS Word doc, 26 KB)

or

• america_blows_up_the_moon (PDF, 12 KB)

(The lesson plan appears below.)

Well, I have very few classes left before I knock off for the holiday.  That leaves me thinking already about the New Year and that New Year English teaching favorite that is “reviewing future forms”.

Hence, the second installment in my “Mr. Show for English Teaching” series.

We’re looking at going to for personal plans and intentions vs. will for future facts and promises. (I don’t know about other languages, but speakers with Spanish as their L1 tend to confuse these two functions, often using will to talk about their plans for this weekend or to talk about the weather tomorrow, for example.)

Also, I kind of prefer to leave will for offers out of the equation and deal with it separately, as well as present continuous and present simple with future meanings and all that.  If not, I find that having so many variables and explanations can be counterproductive for the purpose of noticing and practicing these specific uses.

Here’s the video.

Mr. Show “America Blows Up the Moon” going to/will video lesson plan

STAGE ONE * LEAD-IN: Write “NASA” on the board and ask Ss if they know what it stands for.  (Answer: National Aeronautics and Space Administration.) Explain that they’re going to see a news video about NASA’s latest project.

Put Ss in small groups.  Give them these five sentences on board or OHP.  Explain that these are quotes from people who appear in the video.  Ask Ss to discuss what they think the project involves, based on the quotes.

“We’ll be doing it during a full moon, so we make sure we get it all.”

“I’ve been saying we should do this for years.”

“We’re ahead of schedule–way ahead of schedule…”

“That monkey sure took the fun out of everything.”

“We’re Earthlings, let’s blow up Earth things!”

(The first and last sentences are meant to steer them at least a little bit towards the correct answer.  The other three are there to provide some help with potential snags in their comprehension of the video, due to unfamiliar lexical items (“ahead of schedule”, “take the fun out of something”) or difficulty understanding because of the pronunciation.)

Ss decide on a theory and share it in feedback.  If Ss get blocked or are confused, help them out by asking what it and this refer to in sentences 1 and 2.

STAGE TWO * VIDEO

1. After students share their ideas, show the first part of the video (up to 1:36).  “What is NASA planning to do?”  (Answer: Blow up the moon.) “What is the public’s reaction?” (Answer: They’re happy and excited about the plan to blow up the moon.)

2. Before showing the second part of the video (1:37 to the end), give Ss two questions:  “Who is Galileo?” and “Who is Mr. Wiggles?”  (Answers: The chimpanzee who knows sign language who asks “Why?”, and Galileo’s replacement (who doesn’t know sign language).

3. Give Ss the handout (see top of page).  Focus on the instructions at the top and show them the video again.  They have to listen and complete the sentences with either going to or will.

(Answers: 1. will, 2. will, 3. ‘re going to (‘re gonna), 4. ‘m going to (‘m gonna) 5.  isn’t going to (isn’t gonna), 6. ‘ll 7. will)

Ss may or may not be familiar with gonna, and many Ss are reluctant to really use the contracted form ‘ll. It may be appropriate to quickly drill pronunciation of these items with one or two of the sentences from the handout.

STAGE THREE * GRAMMAR

1. Focus on Part B of the handout, in the box.  Have students classify the sentences from part A.  (Answers: 1. Sentences 3, 4, 5 all clearly refer to personal plans.  2 and 3 are debatable, some sentences could be interpreted as promises and some as future facts.  Sentence 6 (“He’ll get the job done…”) is definitely a promise, though.

2. Ss then write four sentences, two predictions and two future facts.  Optional: If you wish, you can turn this into a “True/False” game:  When Ss finish, tell them to change one sentence, to make it false.  They then read their four sentences and their groupmates have to guess which is the false sentence.

3. In Part C, we clarify another distinction between going to and will, the distinction in their use for making predictions.

Ss do exercises 1-6 at the bottom of the page.  (Answers: 1. b (personal plan), 2. b (prediction based on present evidence), 3. b (personal plan), 4. a (future fact), 5. b (prediction based on present evidence), 6. a (promise)

STAGE FOUR

Afterwards, well, there are of course many options as to what you might want to do.

1. Your students may be the naturally chatty sort, and may be more interested in sharing their ideas on what the New Year holds, or talking about New Year’s Resolutions, etc.  They could do an activity similar to the one on the worksheet, writing sentences about their resolutions and/or their predictions for the new year.  If you opt to do this, you may want to reserve the “True/False” game aspect mentioned in no. 2 above for the last part.  After Ss do the game, you discuss the predictions in class.

2. Or if you want to give your students some writing practice and/or give them a chance to practice giving a  presentation, try this.

Put them in groups and give them a role card like this one:

“You are all members of a special United Nations committee, which was formed in response to the US’s destruction of the moon.

You should create a report that describes:

a) the foreseeable consequences of the moon’s destruction

b) the actions to be taken in response to this event.”

In groups, Ss brainstorm the consequences and proposed responses (likely using the target language i.e.  going to and will), and create a document (one or two paragraphs).  The groups then choose a representative who will present their conclusions to the rest of the class.  After all the presentations, Ss can then debate whose proposals are the best.

3. Or if you want them to practice reading, have them take a look at this:

NASA to Slam Rocket into the Moon–On Purpose!

Give the students the article as a type of “jigsaw reading”–one group reads the first three paragraphs, another group the second three, etc.  After they finish, get feedback from the different groups in the order of the article, and get Ss’ opinions on the plausibility of space travel, etc., if they think it will happen, or not.

Note: in a longer, 1.5-2 hr class period, a combination of these three options could be done in class.  Or the reading could be given for homework.

Okay, that’s all.  Happy New Year, etc.!