Describing your home
The students will describe their own homes and will respond to similar descriptions from others.
Introduction
Play Scene S. Hand out copies of the Scene S transcript so that they can check their understanding. Replay the clip as many times as needed for them to follow the dialogue with understanding.
Building knowledge and use of sentence patterns
Now move to a more explicit focus on building their knowledge and use of sentence patterns.
Play Clip 8.2a: What things do you have in your bedroom? so that they can view the presenters modelling the sentence patterns.
Hand out copies of the sentence patterns from the Unit 8 Overview for their reference. Have the students notice how the presenters indicate the objects they are referring to by pointing in their direction. This is called real-world orientation indexing. Play clip 8.2a several times so that the students can practise the sentence patterns along with the presenters.
Application
For the next task, have each student sketch a plan of their own home, showing the rooms. In pairs, one student asks a question and then the other one responds using these sentence patterns:
| What does your lounge look like? [Gloss: YOUR LOUNGE LOOK LIKE WHAT; Non-manual signal: whq]
| My lounge is big (small). MY LOUNGE BIG (SMALL)
|
Extend the task by asking the students to add more information. Each student prepares a description of their home based on their sketch plan and using at least five sentence patterns.
Presentation
When they are ready to present the information, place the students in groups and have them take turns to give their descriptions. The other students view each presentation and then respond by stating, in English, what was described.
This requires the students to use and develop their receptive skills, which include thinking processes for making meaning and constructing knowledge.
