3 Unit 9 The post office Period 1: READING I. Objectives By the end of the lesson students will be able to: – Develop such reading micro-skills as scanning for specific ideas, and identifying antonyms. – Use the information they have read to discuss post office services. II. Materials Textbook, handouts. III. Anticipated problems Students may need to be provided vocabulary related to post office services so that they can complete various learning tasks. Finding antonyms may also be a difficult task so teachers should be ready to help students (e.g. giving cues, teaching them how to guess meaning in context, etc.). IV. Procedure Time Steps Work arrangement 5’ WARM-UP: A MATCHING GAME (To teach vocabulary related to post office services) – T divides the class into small groups of 3-4 students. Then T distributes the following handouts for Ss to do the matching task in their own groups. Which group finishes it first and has all the correct answers will be the winner. – T might want to get Ss to tell if there are similar services in their neighbourhood post offices to get Ss to use the new words. Remember to get Ss to pronounce the new words correctly. When Group work and whole class 4 correcting Ss, T may want to model first and then ask Ss to repeat after him/ her. Matching these post office services with the correct translations below: 1. Express Mail Service a. Th− chuyÓn b»ng ®−êng hµng kh«ng 2. Surface Mail b. DÞch vô ®iÖn hoa 3. Air mail c. DÞch vô ®iÖn tho¹i 4. EMS mail d. DÞch vô ph¸t hµnh b¸o 5. Parcel service e. DÞch vô göi fax 6. Express Money Transfer f. Th− chuyÓn b»ng ®−êng bé, ®−êng s¾t, hoÆc ®−êng biÓn 7. Messenger Call Service g. DÞch vô th− chuyÓn ph¸t nhanh 8. Facsimile service h. DÞch vô chuyÓn ph¸t tiÒn nhanh 9. Press Distribution i. DÞch vô chuyÓn ph¸t b−u phÈm 10. Flower Telegram Service j. Th− chuyÓn ph¸t nhanh Answer 1. g 3. a 5. i 7. c 9. d 2. f 4. j 6. h 8. e 10. b 7’ BEFORE YOU READ – T gets Ss to work in pairs and answer Questions 1 & 2 using the pictures on page 100 as cues. Q1 can be skipped to save time. – T calls on some Ss to answer the questions. – T checks with the class and asks Ss to guess what they are going to read about. Suggested Answers: 2. I go to office when I need to send a letter, make a phone call, transfer money, pay the phone bill, subscribe to a newspaper, send a fax, receive a parcel, etc. Pair work Whole class 5 3. The post office may offer a number of various services such as mail and parcel service, express mail surface, fax service, messenger call service, money transfer service, flower telegram service, passport renewal service (dÞch vô gia h¹n hé chiÕu – a new service), etc. 8’ 10’ WHILE YOU READ Introduction: You are going to read about Thanh Ba Post Office and the different services they offer. Then you do the tasks that follow. TASK 1 – T gets Ss to firstly read Task 1 and locate the words in italic in the passage. Then Ss read around these words so that they can guess their meanings. For example, the word “speedy’ in line 3 in the paragraph about Express Money Transfer is the same meaning as “quick”. Ss can get the meaning of “speedy” thanks to such words as “express” and “quick”. However, T may note that some of the words in this Task are hard to guess because the context is not helpful enough. T should therefore give Ss more instruction and guide, for example, teaching them to combine different methods to deal with difficult words. For example, for the word “spacious” occurring in line 2 of the first paragraph, T may guide Ss so that they see that this word may have a positive meaning because it is used to advertise Thanh Ba post office. Advertisements often contain positive words. Looking at all the four options in the answer to Q1, Ss can see that A, B, and D all have a positive meaning, so the answer should be C. Also, “spacious” is related to “space”, so it may mean “having a lot of space”. “Cramped” means Individual work and whole class Individual work and 6 7’ “narrow”, so it should be the answer. – T gets Ss to do the task individually, then discuss the answers in pairs, and finally T checks the answers with the whole class Answer: 1. C 2. B 3. D 4. C TASK 2 – T gets Ss to read the passage silently and then answer the comprehension questions in Task 2. Before Ss answer the questions, T might want to elicit or remind them some tips to do the task: + First, Ss should skim the five questions to understand them. As Ss do this they: • underline the key words to decide what information they need to find and guess where in the text they can find the information, using the subheadings of the paragraph to help themselves. • look for questions words like “why” which indicates Ss should read for specific thing like a reason. + Then they should go back to the passage and locate the key words in the passage. + Then they should read around the key words carefully to find the answer. – T gets Ss to check their answers with a peer – T calls on some Ss to answer and ask them to explain their choices. – T checks with the class and gives the correct answers Answer: 1. Advanced technology and a spacious and pleasant front office (lines 1-2 paragraph 1) 2. Mail and parcel service, express money transfer, phone calls and faxes, press distribution (looking whole class Individual work and whole class 7 at the subheadings of the paragraphs) 3. Air mail, surface mail, and EMS mail (lines 1-2, paragraph 2) 4. For someone to receive a phone call (lines 2-3, paragraph 4) 5. Subscribe (line 2, paragraph 5) TASK 3 T checks if Ss can provide evidence to support the given statements in Task 2 without a second reading of the passage. If they cannot, T gets Ss to read through all the 4 questions in Task 2 and identify the key words in each question. This is to help them identify the information they need to look for in the passage. For example, in question 1, the key words might be “cannot”, ‘phone calls” and “10 p.m”. In question 2, these might be “save money”, “parcel” and “under 15 kg”, etc. – Now T instructs Ss to guess where in the passage they can find the information, using their knowledge of the passage (e.g. question about money transfer can be found in the paragraph about money transfer). Then Ss go back to the passage and locate the answers. – Then T gets Ss to check their answers with a friend. – T calls on some Ss to present and say where they look for their answers. T gives feedback and correct answers. Answer: 1. Open daily 7-9 p.m (paragraph 1) 2. Competitive rate for parcels of under 15 kg (paragraph 2) 3. EMS mail will be delivered in the shortest time possible (paragraph 2) 4. The money will be sent to your relatives in less 8 than 24 hours (paragraph 3) 8’ AFTER YOU READ – T introduces the task: Ss work in small groups of 3 or 4 and discuss the questions. – T reminds Ss of the structures to ask and give opinions (e.g. what do you think? In my opinion, …) – T goes around to check and offer help. – T calls on the groups to tell and explain their choice. – T gives corrective feedback Group work and whole class 3’ WRAPPING UP – T summarises the main points of the lesson. – For homework T asks Ss to write a short paragraph about one service they like most in their neighbourhood post office and explain why they like that service. EXTRA ACTIVITY: A COMPETITION T divides the class into small groups of 3-4 Ss and announces the competition: supposing each group is working for a different post office and now they should think of one service that may be attractive to customers. Then Ss prepare a small talk about this service and then tell the class about their service when they are ready. The class or T will decide which service is the most attractive. The group which offers the most attractive service wins the competition. Period 2: SPEAKING I. Objectives By the end of the lesson students will be able to 9 – Use appropriate language to make requests in formal business situations. II. Materials Textbook III. Anticipated problems Students may transfer the Vietnamese speaking rules when making requests in English, which could cause communication difficulty, should they be involved in cross-cultural communication. So T should raise their awareness of linguistic and socio-cultural differences between English and Vietnamese speakers in the way they make requests. IV. Procedure Time Steps Work arrangement 7’ WARM UP – This warm up activity encourages Ss to reflect on their own experiences with giving requests and on their knowledge of this communicative function in Vietnamese and English. – T divides the class into small groups of 3-4 Ss and gets them to discuss these questions: a. Have you ever heard someone make a request in English? What did they say? b. Have you ever made a request in Vietnamese? What did you say? c. Did you observe any differences in the way requests are made in English and Vietnamese? – After 7-8 minutes, T asks Ss to give their answers. T writes the answers on the blackboard but should refrain from making any comments or correction at this stage. Note that the questions may be quite challenging for Ss, so they may not have the full answers and T should accept this. Tell Group work and whole class 10 them not to worry if they don’t have the answers because in the following task they are going to learn how to make requests in English. 15’ TASK 1 – T leads Ss to the topic by getting them to look at the picture on page 103 and asks questions like “What can you see in the picture? Where do you think these people are? Who is the man? Who is the woman? What might the man want to do? Etc.” – Then T gets Ss to practice reading the dialogue in pairs. After getting some pairs to read aloud the dialogue and correcting their pronunciation, T gets Ss to answer the question: “What service is the customer taking in the dialogue?” and look for examples of requests and responses to requests in the dialogue. E.g. Request: Could you help me to send this document to my office by fax? Response: Certainly. What’s the fax number? (T may also tell Ss that before making requests people tend to say something, for example in the dialogue the customer says “Excuse me” to get attention. Other things they may say are greetings, for example “Hello”, “Good morning/ afternoon” or checking if the other person is ready to listen, e.g. “You’ve got some minutes?”) – T then gives Ss some other structures to express requests. T may want to tell Ss what structures to use when the request is more formal (e.g. you don’t know the other person or he/ she is more powerful than you) and more important (e.g. borrowing money). E.g. I was wondering if you/ I More formal More Pair work, individual work and whole class 11 could perhaps/ possibly ….? Would you be kind enough to …? Would you mind (V-ing) …? Would you please ….? May I ….? Could you/ I … please? I would/ I’d like to … please Can you/ I … please? Less formal important Less important – T might also want to tell Ss that an appropriate response to a request for service is normally “Yes certainly sir/ madam” – Then T might want to draw Ss’ attention to the differences between Vietnamese and English rules of speaking when making requests. E.g. in Vietnamese we often say something which may be literally translated into English as “Please do this (V) for me”. In English, however, this request may sound strong and impolite. – Finally, T might want to give Ss some situations to practice making requests using the above structures. E.g. a. In the post office: What would you say if you’d like to send an EMS mail? b. In a shop: What would you say if you’d like to change some coins to make a phone call? c. In the class: What would you say if you’d like the teacher to correct your essay? d. At home: What would you say if you’d like to use your brother’s computer? Suggested answers a. I’d like to send an EMS mail please/ Could I have this EMS mail sent to Nha Trang please? b. I was wondering if I could have some coins for making an urgent phone call? 12 c. Would you have time to look at my essay and give me some feedback please? d. Could I use your computer for a minute please? I need to send an email right away. 10’ TASK 2 – T explains the task and new words. T elicits some useful structures, e.g. asking about the price/ fee, saying address, etc. – T puts Ss in pairs and gets them to write the dialogue together based on the information given in the task. – Then Ss act out the dialogue together firstly in close pairs and then in open pairs. – T elicits feedback from class and gives his/ her own feedback at the end. Sample dialogue A: Good morning, sir/ madam/ Miss. May I help you? B: Yes, I would like to have a telephone line installed at home please. A: Certainly, sir/ madam/ Miss. Where do you live? B: 120 Tran Hung Dao Street. When can you send people over? A: Firstly, you will need to register, sir/ madam/Miss. It will take a week to process before we can send someone over. So today is Wednesday, hopefully, the installation can be done by Wednesday next week. Would you like to register now? B: Oh yes, definitely. But you know what? I will be out of town until Thursday. So can you send someone on Friday then? I’ll be home all day Friday. A: Certainly, sir/ madam/ Miss. Have you already Pair work and whole class [...]... dams for water storage Calling people to save water BEFORE YOU READ – T gets Ss to look at the picture on p 114 and name the animals (e.g cheetah, pandas, and Siberian tigers) – T elicits if Ss know about these animals If not, T gets Ss to read the facts about them and then answer the questions on p 114 T explains new words (remain, endangered species, scattered, etc.), if necessary – T elicits answers . I was wondering if you/ I More formal More Pair work, individual work and whole class 11 could perhaps/ possibly ….? Would you be kind enough to …? Would you mind (V-ing) …? Would