Introductions and greetings

"Hi, there!"

• Teaching aims:
• Input:
• Self-assessment sheet
• Introductions and greetings
• Personal information
• Simple present tense
• Classroom language
• Review:
• "Do you ...?"questions
• "Wh" questions
• Free Talking:
• "Friends"
• Comments:
• As with all the chapters, this one starts with a model phrase: "Hi, there!" This sets the scene for the chapter; in this case - "Introductions and greetings". Each chapter has four types of focus: "Input"; "Review"; "Recycle"; and "Free Talking". The first introduces an area of language, with a goal of promoting communication skills in that area; the second is more structural, and looks at grammatical aspects of the language in the new context of developing oral skills; the third re-presents language that has already appeared in the book, giving a chance for reinforcement and cyclic learning (Chapter 1 has no "Recycled" materials!): and the fourth focus is the main aim of the book - "Free Talking".
• The penultimate page of every chapter has a photograph and accompanying questions, leading to student-generated discussion. It is not necessary to place this activity at the end of every unit of learning, but it is the final outcome of that learning, i.e. - students using the language in a dynamic, non-prescribed, independent manner.

1) "Hi, there!" Title page Keywords

Page 5
As in all the title pages, some relevant "Keywords" are offered for ease of student reference while performing the activities. These also serve as a language bank which can be easily accessed during the course of study.

2) "My address book" Everyone (20 minutes)

Page 6

This activity "breaks the ice", getting students to ask classmates for their names, addresses and phone numbers. Students should be encouraged to fill the page (which will necessitate moving around the classroom).
Giving phone numbers in English is an important skill which many students will find difficult. Teachers can use this as a chance to monitor student abilities in this field and to stress the use of English for every part of the activities.

3) "Do you walk to school?" Everyone (20 minutes)

Page 7

This introduces a questionnaire format which will be used throughout the book.
There might be some confusion with the instructions at first, but students will get used to reading and using them. Instructions in the book have been kept as simple as possible, and are intended for the students to use and understand. In this sense they are mini-comprehension tests, and can give valuable information to the teacher about student abilities.

• Do you .............................?
• Do you like ........................?
• Have you ...........................?
• Can you ............................?

4) "Penfriends" Pairs (15 minutes)

Pages 8 & 9
Pair-work. Information-gap. This is also an introduction to one of the types of activities that will be used throughout the book. This activity follows on from "My address book", with the use of "his/her", and the addition of questions about age, occupation, and hobbies.
Students might need some help with this sort of activity, but they will soon get used to it. They need to get accustomed to the idea that they will be doing the speaking in the classroom, rather than the teacher.

5) "Introductions" Pairs-groups (20 minutes)

Page 10
This activity introduces the "Interview" format, which will also be used throughout the book. The vocabulary is increased here to include "favourites" and the interviewee's "Dream".
Having accessed the information in pairs, students are asked to introduce each other in groups. This sort of classroom management is a feature of communicative activities, and is stressed in this first chapter in order to get the students used to using English with different people and in different locations.
Students will be familiar with introducing themselves, so this activity continues to "break the ice" by asking them to introduce other people (whom they have probably not met before.)

6) "Classroom language (1)" Groups (10 minutes)

Page 11
Checking comprehension is an important function of language, and one which will be especially useful for the students as they continue to interact. If they can use these phrases in class whenever they need to check whether they have understood correctly (or have been understood), they will be one step closer to achieving the goal of speaking in English at all times.

7) "Classroom language (2)" Groups (20 minutes)

Page 12
Students practise the Classroom Language of (Activity 7). This Peer Dictation is a useful tool for peer- (and self-) evaluation and correction, and will appear a number of times on the book. It is not necessary for the students to know all the words, since the aim is to practise the skills of asking for repetition and clarification.

7) Teachers' Resource "Classroom language"

Teacher's Resource for Page 12

• 012t.gif - Classroom Language

Teachers' Resources are provided for certain activities. and are mentioned in this text when they are needed. The Resources themselves can be found at the end of the Teachers' Notes for each chapter.
In this case, the text of the Fables is the Resource, and one copy can be given to each group. This text comes from an English Language-learning website (web address at the bottom of the page), and it is suggested to the students that they might like to follow up the activity by visiting the web page and doing various exercises linked to these texts (homework?).

8) "People" Everyone (15 minutes)

Page 13
This is another information-gap activity. Students have role-cards (Teacher's Resource), and ask each other about the information on those cards.
This introduces the concept of taking on a role, which is a common one in language activities, but which might seem strange to the students, since they are often not accustomed to taking on the role of someone they don't immediately identify with. The language here has been practised a number of times in this chapter, so this is an opportunity to encourage students to take on such roles, and to feel comfortable with being a member of the opposite sex, or with "being" a different age.

• "What do you do?"
• "Where do you live?"
• "How old are you?"
• "What is your hobby?"
• "Do you have any children?"

8) Teacher's Resource "People"

Teacher's Resource for Page 13

• 013t1.gif - People (1)
• 013t2.gif - People (2)

The Teachers' Resource for "People" consists of 16 role cards. All these roles are covered on the student worksheet. If the class size is greater than 16, some students can share roles.
Students are asked to memorize the role and then to return the cards to the teacher. Students will want to use the cards and to look at those of other students, so this is a good chance to encourage them to memorize (and eventually elaborate on) their roles, since such memorization encourages retention, and gives further purpose to the preparation time prior to performing the activity.

9) 20 Questions - "Who is she?" Groups (15 minutes)

Page 14
This game ("20 Questions") appears a number of times in the book. This practise gives students recurrent items which they will recognize, and which they can therefore perform without the usual task of having to negotiate the instructions.
"20 Questions is a useful format for practising questions related (or unrelated) to the topic of the chapter.

10) Free Talking: "Friends" Pairs/Groups (20 minutes)

Page 15
The penultimate page of every chapter is a Free-talking activity, beginning with "Wh" questions about a picture, and then extending the focus of attention to the students themselves, giving them a chance to talk about themselves in English.
It is important that students try this type of activity, however shy or lacking in self-confidence they might be, since this is an opportunity to interact in an authentic manner, using their own language, without any fear of being making an error, or of being corrected.
Casual conversation in English is in fact an important goal, and is to be encouraged at all times - especially at the beginning of lessons, when students will normally be talking to each other about the events that have occurred since their last meeting!

11) Culture page Pairs/Groups (10 minutes)

Page 16
At the end of each chapter is a "Culture page" dealing with Korean cultural scenes. These are very important for Korean students, who need to explore and talk about their own culture as well as that of other countries.
Teachers and students can use these activities in any way they wish. Maybe students want to talk about the scenes, find out more about them, perform role plays (explaining the scenes to a foreigner) or even develop a "Korean culture" project.