Discussing language learning with cleft sentences
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Speaking practice for ideas split into two clauses with verbs, with useful sentence stems and useful discussion for learner training.
Lesson Plan Content:
Discussing language learning with cleft sentences
Use the sentence stems below to discuss how to learn a foreign language such as English, trying to agree on correct sentences with good advice if you can.
- It is fluency that is…
- It is grammar…
- It is… that is the main effect if you…
- It was… that turned out to be the most useful part of high school English lessons.
- What can really help with… is…
- What makes… hard to improve is…
- What we should do every day…
- Where you can find the most useful advice on learning…is…/ on improving… is…
- How you can most efficiently… …
- The main thing that stops people from reaching… level is…
- The… that would motivate me to… is…
- A pronunciation point that almost everyone should work on is…
- A person whose pronunciation is worth copying is…
- A technique that most people should try…
- Something that helps learn a language and is free is…
- Something that is useful for learning English and doesn’t take much time…
- Something it is worth paying extra for…
- Something which is not as useful as it seems…
- Something that is pointless is…
- Somewhere where the accent is particularly hard to understand…
- The only ways you can learn… are… and…
- The only people who would benefit from… are…
- All you need to do to learn… is…
- All you will gain by… is…
- … which is the most difficult skill to improve.
- … that is the best way to learn vocabulary.
- … which is the most difficult aspect of…
When your teacher stops you, share one thing you agreed on and see what others think. Then ask about any sentence stems above you aren’t sure how to use, working together as a class to complete them with useful statements about language learning each time.
Analyse the cleft sentences above for common patterns. Then change groups and have a freer conversation on language learning, including topics like:
- priorities/ goals/ targets
- comparisons between different methods
- things that work for different people and/ or different purposes
- learning language (grammar, vocabulary, etc)
- improving your skills (pronunciation, fluency, reading speed, etc)
- cost and efficiency/ time management
- language learning regrets/ things that haven’t worked/ negative advice (“I shouldn’t have…”, “I wish I hadn’t…”, “Looking back, it was a mistake to…”, etc)
When your teacher stops you, discuss any topics that you want advice on as a class.
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