General English Mock Lesson Guidelines

Modern manners?

Duration: about 40 min

The lesson should be entirely in English. Please go through the activities from the book before you

continue reading the guidelines.

The listening exercises are not done. You should either work out a way to do the exercise without

playing the recording, or just don’t do it at all.

Every lesson has one or several aims – this is what your students will be able to do better after the

lesson. There is target language (new vocabulary or grammar) that helps students achieve the aims.

Aim – what do you want to achieve? Target language – how are you going to achieve it?

1. At the end of the lesson students will be able to talk about their phone habits.

Phone language – dial, text/message, hang up, ringtone, call back, leave a message, voicemail, engaged/busy Skype, a screensaver, silent/vibrate mode, quiet zones, instant messaging

2. At the end of the lesson students will be able to talk about obligation.

Modals of obligation – must, have to, should

Although the activities in the book are fun and useful, only doing the exercises is not enough to

achieve the aims. You can be creative and use other materials as well.

This is a suggested plan for the lesson:

1. Lead-in – 5 min

Every lesson should start with something fun and creative to set students in the mood and

introduce the topic. It can be a discussion, a game, brainstorming, etc. You can use pictures,

video, songs, etc.

At this point books are closed.

2. Aim 1 – Phone habits 15 min

First you need to introduce the new vocabulary students are going to use. Students should

not only be able to understand the meaning, but should also be able to use it in everyday

situations.

New vocabulary is introduced in the following stages:

1. Give examples

Students have a look at some examples of the new vocabulary in context. It is really

useful for them to try and work out the meanings of the words themselves from the

context.

2. Write the definition

Write down a definition of each new word in English on the board.

The definition should be short and easy to understand. It doesn’t need to be

dictionary-like, just a few simple words is enough.

3. Pronunciation

Each new word should be repeated several times by the students. This makes them

more confident to use it.

4. Practice - Speaking about phone habits

Students work in pairs or groups and discuss their phone habits. Encourage them to

use the target vocabulary.

3. Aim 2 – Obligation 20 min

To be able to talk about obligation, students will need to be able to use the modals must,

have to, should. Again, there is a difference between understanding grammar and really

being able to use it.

1. Introduce grammar in context

Grammar is introduced with the help of a text about mobile phone etiquette. First,

students should read the text once for general comprehension.

Then, you should focus on the use of the modals in the text.

2. Examples

Give more examples with the modals and write them down on the board. It would be

better to give more personal examples about you or the students. This will make the

meaning more understandable. (e.g. ‘You mustn’t smoke on the school premises.’)

3. Meaning

Ask students questions about the particular examples to help them work out the

meaning. (e.g. ‘Can you smoke on school premises?’, ‘What would happen if you do?’,

‘Does it mean you will break the rules if you do?’)

Then write down key words explaining the meaning on the board.

4. Form

You should write down examples how to make the positive, negative and question form.

5. Pronunciation

Focus on sentence stress and intonation and make students repeat the examples a

couple of times to feel more confident.

It would be better to go through steps 2-5 with each modal separately. For example,

start with examples, meaning, form and pronunciation of must, then continue with have

to, and so on.

6. Practice

After you have gone through the previous steps with each of the modals, now it’s

time for some practice. Students work in pairs or groups and talk about obligation.

Encourage them to use the modals by having some examples on the board.

4. Finish the lesson on a positive note.