CEP Lesson Plan

Teacher: Laurel Dispenza Level: Upper Intermediate 2

Objectives: Theme:
1. Students will investigate examples of passive reported speech in the news, using it to report about a video that discusses beliefs and facts about Reporting in
jellyfish the news
2. Students will share ideas about the best money-saving tips, reporting on common beliefs/thoughts, their group members contributions, and
conclusions reached by the group (also a practice for the test)
3. Students will review some of the vocabulary we’ve learned so far

Aim / Skill / Micro-skill Activity / Procedure / Stage T/S Min.

Preview Write agenda on the board

5-10
Ss report about the most interesting conversation they had yesterday

Activity 1: Intro to passive reported 1.1 Pre-Activity: Let’s go back to what we ended with yesterday. Take a couple more minutes to talk about some
speech stereotypes people have of your country/culture. Ss-Ss 10
Write on board and review: People think/say/believe that and their passive counterparts.
Listening p. 96
What other verbs could we use in passive reported speech?
Depending on what they provide, add a few from this list
believed, claimed, considered, estimated, expected, known, reported, said, suggested, thought, understood. T-Ss-T

Now let’s listen to a few amusing/amazing (remember yesterday?) news stories that use this passive reported speech
structure.

Language Focus: passive reported
speech
passive reporting verbs:
believed, claimed, considered,
estimated, expected, known,
reported, said, suggested, thought,
understood.
1.2 Activity: Listen to #3 listening (28) one story at a time. Listen once and have Ss talk with their partner about the story.
What was it about? Why is it a ‘feel good’ story? Ss-Ss 10
Listen again, directing their focus to the questions (other google doc)
Turn to the audio script and listen again. Circle the reporting verbs as you see/hear them. Compare with your partner and
discuss any patterns you see. 15
Look at the grey box on page 96. The tense of the passive reported speech matches when the report occured (in the past or
in the present) and the phrase that follows matches the time the event happened in relation to the report.
Very briefly go over the tenses of the passive and the other verb in the sentence, using the board to diagram time period T-Ss
and verb tense. (Only do present/present, past/past and present/past for now. We’ll talk about the other combinations
tomorrow).
If the report is now and the event is now, use ‘It is’ and the present tense
 If the report is from the past and the event was also in the past, use ‘It was’ and past

IF IT COMES UP, mention the other options that will be discussed later, but since we don’t have time to go into it, these
are the most important two-past/past and present/present. The tense matches the time of the report and event.

Assessment / Outcome: 1.3 Post-Activity: Why is passive reported speech used in these news stories? Talk to your partner.
Students can use basic structures of Do we know who made those claims/reports? Does it matter?-reporting on things where the reporter/source isn’t
passive reported speech necessarily relevant or even known T-Ss-T 10
Can you think of any other times when people might use this kind of passive reported speech?
When we don’t want to take responsibility for something. Sometimes we use it when talking about stereotypes or things
we want to distance (or pretend to distance) ourselves from.
We also use it when the speaker is not important or we want to avoid saying who said it.

Transition: Now let’s try using those reported verbs to share what was said in a video T nil

Activity 2: Stung by a Jellyfish 2.1 Pre-Activity: What do you know about jellyfish? What have you heard about them?
Have you ever seen one? Ss talk to partner first and then report back together. T-Ss-T 5-10
Have you heard anything about how to treat a jellyfish sting?

Language Focus: passive reported 2.2 Activity: https://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation-now/2018/06/13/dont-pee-it-heres-how-you-treat-

speech jellyfish-sting/699613002/
It is reported The first time we watch it, just watch for the main idea. We’ll watch it again looking for specific things. Watch video once.
It is believed Talk with your partner about what you remember/caught from the video. What stood out? Ss-Ss 20
It is thought
It is known Give them half sheets, have them read over it for a minute or two to see what they’re listening for, then watch it again-
It is suggested they can take notes on the sheet.
It is understood
Reports say that Jellies sting 150 million people a year. How many people do jellies sting each year? It is reported that T-Ss-T
Who kills more people, box jellies or sharks? It is believed that….
What’s the best way to avoid getting stung? It is thought that….
What do purple flags mean? It is known that purple flags mean dangerous marine life
How do people believe you should treat a sting? It is believed that….according to___, many people think that
What don’t you want to do? It is suggested that….
How should you treat stings?
What should you do if it’s a serious sting? It is understood that...

Assessment / Outcome: Students 2.3 Post-Activity: Have you read any reports on animals? Which animals are most dangerous in your country?
can talk about a video that reports
on something using passive
reported speech.
Activity 3: Speaking activity
Language Focus: discussing and
reported what was discussed
(practice for test)
Assessment / Outcome: Students
can talk about the contributions of
group members using reported
speech
Have you seen any articles or news stories on those animals? T-Ss-T 10
Let’s take out our sheet where we came up with adjectives describing our best friend. Take those sentences and turn
them into passive reported speech.
Transition: Speaking of adjectives, let’s talk about NYC. T nil
3.1 Pre-Activity: What kinds of things had you heard about NYC before moving here? What was your impression when you
first arrived? Now?
Give me some adjectives to describe NYC-two columns on the board for what you heard and reality. T-Ss-T 10
Inevitably, expensive will go on the list.
Now we’re going to discuss the best way to save money in NYC. We’re going to work in groups. First, tell them what you
heard in the conversation you had last night for homework.
Discuss different ideas and then come to an agreement about the top 3 money-saving tips for NYC. I really want you to
discuss, hear everyone’s ideas, and decide from there.
Assign roles:
Leader - give all chances to speak and share thoughts, guide members to consensus
Secretary - take notes - fill out sheet
Reporter - tells the group’s final decision to the class
3.2 Activity: The best way to save money in NYC.
Your friend is coming from another country to live in NYC for a few months. You’re going to have to give her tips on how to 10-15
save money so she can afford to stay here. Ss-Ss
Write down the top three you decide on after discussing everyone’s ideas.
3.3 Post-Activity: Now let’s hear from each group. Report back to us what was said. 15
Something you came to an agreement on,
something that was difficult to agree on, T-Ss-T
and a contribution made by each member of the group.
Try to use reported speech
Common beliefs/thoughts/knowledge about saving money in NYC (passive reported speech)
Things you’ve heard about saving money
Points of agreement?
What was discussed?
One important contribution from each member:

Extra activity: Sentence stress
Language Focus: sentence stress
and changing meaning
Assessment / Outcome: Students
can identify how meaning changes
due to stress. They can play with
stress
Wrap-up
Materials:
● Dry-erase markers and eraser
● category details
● stung by a jelly video and half sheet
● audio file
● errors
● stress doc
Anticipated Problems & Suggested Solutions:
This is going to be similar to what we’ll do for the writing part of the test. We’ll discuss a topic like this, then you’ll fill out a
notetaker together, then write up a report describing what was said/decided in the group. Make sure it’s organized and
flows well, still has an intro and conclusion, but reports what was said during the discussion.
Transition: Before we go, let’s take a look at sentence stress again. T nil
5
5.1 Pre-Activity: Whenever speech is involved, stress is important to convey what you really mean. Remember when we T
talked about the blue book? What did we learn from that exercise?
5.2 Activity: Discuss when you would use each sentence.
TOM and Ann went to a movie. Ss-Ss 10
Tom AND Ann went to a movie.
Tom and ANN went to a movie.
Tom and Ann WENT to a movie.
Tom and Ann went to a MOVIE.
glasses, sunglasses, green sunglasses-stress is on the new information
5.3 Post-Activity: How does stress work in your language? Can you change the meaning of a thought just by the tone or
stress? T-Ss-T 10
T assigns the following for homework:
1. study for test
2. Talk with someone-family, friend, each other-about how they learned English/are learning english/advise
learning English.
 ● Students could get board with the four news stories since they’re so similar. If this happens, only do 2 or 3 of the stories (it’s pointless to belabor something we’ll practice
elsewhere)
● Students get confused with suggest/recommend and like verbs. If it comes up (and only if), we could have a very brief discussion about the subjunctive, what the rule is,
and how many of us break it all the time. Tell them they’ll learn about that in the future, but for now, the easiest thing is to use -ing.

Contingency Plans:
● Finishing early – Sentence stress and error correction
● Running out of time – don’t teach the ‘word’ phrases and save review for beginning of tomorrow.