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Content
Class profile
I had this lesson with a group of ten 14 years-old as part of the general topic ‘My life’. We are
working in line with the national curriculum requirements and are expected to follow the programmes
prepared by the Bureau of Education. The students need to meet the criteria set for their level and pass a
standardized external exam (some of them as each students gets two subjects randomly chosen on which
she /he is tested)
The book we are using is in a way a preparation for PET Cambridge Exam and it resembles that
format because it includes activities that are typical for the PET exam. However the external test
questions are only multiple choice questions and this is a discrepancy which poses a huge problem for
both, the students and the teachers. Most of my students have good understanding of English language,
but their other skills lag behind, as the programme is very intense with huge emphasis on grammar and
less space for communicative activities. My students are generally interested in the language; they are
well aware that they really need it as a skill and the motivation to learn the language is satisfactory.
Nevertheless, one needs a strong motivation and will to excel in a language, as well as get good quality
input which needs to be provided by many different activities chosen to cater for different learners i.e.
learning styles. I always make sure that I include a great variety of activities in my lessons that are well
thought through and carefully prepared so that my students benefit from them.
The aim of this lesson was to introduce students to question tags (form and meaning) and the
manner in which they are used, as well the function they perform in a conversation.
I organized my lesson plan so as to include activities that are varied in terms of difficulty, focus
and expectations. We started off with a warm -up activity, that was challenging and interesting for the
students. They regarded my questions: ‘It is a ___, isn’t it?’ in relation to the optical illusion pictures as
slight provocations and a discussion was raised which involved use of functional expressions as well as
reinforcement of the tag questions. I felt that they needed an explicit explanation on question tags
formation since it is very logical and straightforward. In Macedonian there are no such structures, but
there is only one word that serves as an add –on to the sentence and can be used similarly for getting
information or giving confirmation. I believe that the explicit explanations with visuals, graphs and
examples were much appreciated. The matching pair activity lead them further into the target structure
use and function.
The more open activities provided space for the students to not only parrot the structures but get
more involved by being creative when they needed to think of and formulate questions for their partner or
generate sentences using two random words.
The last activity, which served as a wrap up to the lesson again emphasizes its aims and
objectives. The activity is fun and engaging, includes movement and as well as further language
production in a form of sentence correction. So, the lesson includes all skills, applies to all learning styles
and creates space for free expression and communication.
Lesson effectiveness
The lesson I detailed above has some very strong points, such as clear aims and objectives,
activities with gradual increase of difficulty, clear focus on target structures and involvement of all four
skills and inclusion of different learning styles.
In the course book we are using question tags are introduced as a grammatical unit only and are
presented via random examples with vocabulary that corresponds, only to a very limited extend, to the
general topic. However, they are not contextualized and their function is not properly explained. My aim
was to clarify their use and function especially because there are no typical counterparts in Macedonian. I
decided to start off the topic by reintroducing questions, especially question tags where students were
asked to actually confirm or discard an information by using the short forms of the questions. The leading
activity activated the students’ schemata on questions for the purpose of asking for information or giving
confirmation.
The main part of the lesson is divided into presentation and practice and there is a logical and
gentle transition from rule deduction to its implementation and final language production.
The explicit explanations are beneficial for my students who are capable of rule deduction based on
relevant examples, and also rule understanding and its implementation. Some students need to see how a
rule works in practice which was done with the examples; visuals proved to be really helpful for
illustrating the rules too.
I thought that students needed to be certain about the formation of question tags and why it is that
positive statements need negative tags and vice versa and the verbs’ use in terms of tense, aspect and
mood. So, the matching activity helped them recognize the correct forms. This activity was organized as a
group work so that students could discuss and help each other before moving onto more individualized
work. The next step, in which the students tried to work by themselves, yet not totally alone, was the pair
work activity in which they wrote questions for their partner. They enjoyed doing this because they were
free to think of their own examples and ask questions they really wanted to ask.
The third activity, even though regarded as group work, requires much individual effort since the
group representatives each, need to form questions themselves within the given time limit. Each student
got a chance to have a go and create whichever sentence he/she wanted no matter how illogical. Actually,
the students were encouraged to think of the funniest, silliest examples. This activity went very well and
the students created some very interesting questions that were very sophisticated and expressed their
creativity. (eg.You must have travelled to the toilet, by the secret underworld paths, haven’t you?)
The final activity gives a chance for the students to once again reinforce their understanding by
doing a TPR activity, and it was interesting to see how they struggled to come up with the right questions
for the odd -one -out tags.
I believe that the lesson aims and objectives were met and the students understood what question
tags are and what their function is. Notwithstanding the success of the lesson, I need to point out to some
weaknesses and drawbacks. Firstly, I planned many activities- maybe too many, and I noticed I was
rushing my students from one activity to another in my wish to see them through the stages I believed
were essential and it was evident that there was no need for that. On hind sight, even though the activities
were themselves pretty good, I could have omitted one of them and left more space for the others.
Secondly, the group work, especially in the third activity, wasn’t as successful as I had originally
planned, because I overlooked certain issues. These were the following: some representatives were really
quick in coming up with examples of sentences within the given time limit. However, some were hesitant
and rather slow, which made other students impatient to the point where they overtook their turn and
rushed with their own examples. This was not what I had hoped for, because I instructed them to help
their fellow students not take their turn. However, it didn’t work in practice, and from now on I will plan
more carefully. This activity could have worked better if I gave words and verbs to each group and they
wrote the examples together prior to appointing one students to read aloud at least one sentence. Time
limit could have been set but for the group work only. In that way I would have avoided this problem of
unfair turn taking and some students not getting the chance to be equally involved.
It is helpful to take notes and get students’ feedback after lessons (as much as possible if not for
every single lesson) because in that way the teachers get informed about what went well and what didn’t
from a students’ perspective. For this lesson I asked the students to do that, and the feedback I got
corresponded closely to what I saw as a major drawback- namely the third activity. However, the students
were happy with the pace the lesson took, the activities they worked on and most of all, the fact that they
understood what the aim of the lesson was and they stated it clearly.
Lesson plan
Lesson plan
General Topic:
(according to the national
curriculum)
Thursday, 2 May 2015
‘My life’
Grammar point:
Question tags
Vocabulary
Target structures
Goals and Objectives:
Related to daily life activities (action verbs)
Question tags
To Introduce question tags
To explain the rules about their formation and use
To explain the main reason for use of question tags
To provide an opportunity for students to practise using the
question tags in a meaningful way
Expected outcomes:
-The students to understand the rules of question tags formation
-The students to be able to form and use question tags in certain
contexts
9 (ninth)
Grade(s)
Teaching methods:
Demonstrative
Audio –lingual
TPR
Visual
(Eclectic)
Teaching forms:
Group work
Individual
Teacher- led
Pair work
Teaching resources:
Images taken from internet
Printed out worksheets
CD, laptop
Notebooks
Board or paper
Introduction:
The teacher presents carefully chosen images of optical illusions (given below) as well as photos of the
students themselves doing different activities in and out of school, with the questions written next to them.
In this way the questions are introduced only subtly and it is a lead -in into the topic i.e. the target
structures.
time
stage
aim
7-10
min
warmer to introduce
question
tags
procedure
interaction/materials
Images of optical illusions are shown on OHP and
students are engaged in an activity where they
guess what is on the ambiguous images by
answering the questions that are given as prompts
T-S, S-S
T-S, Lap Top OHP
Main part:
The main part is divided into presentation and practice. At the beginning of this stage the teacher
highlights the sentences which are given next to the questions, drawing students’ attention to the
sentences’ adds -on. She elicits answers on their use and encourages students to try to explain what these
questions mean and why they are used. Then the teacher presents the rules, explains what question tags
are and how they are formed. The teacher carefully leads the students through all the rules which are
visually presented in a chart and illustrated with examples.
In the next stage, students practise the target structures moving from easier exercises and activities
towards more difficult and demanding ones. Firstly, the teacher put the students into groups and gives
them worksheets -actually paper strips with the first part of the question and the question tags on separate
piece of paper. The students should match them and after they finish we compare all the groups’ work,
check the examples and together we correct the mistakes.
In the second activity I get the students to work in pairs and they need to fill in certain information
they themselves choose for the question tags. For example:
You_______________, aren’t you?
You_______________, have you?
Each student writes up to 6 questions so that there is enough time for the pair to make the exchange.
The third activity requires that the students are focused, think and react quickly. In groups of three
each group representative needs to think of a sentence that combines a verb and a random word they pull
out from two separate boxes within the time limit of 30 seconds. If they succeed and produce a correct
sentence they get a point if not the next group has a go with the same verb- word combination. The
groups take turns and the teacher writes the examples on the board. These sentences are not corrected
because the teacher sends the examples for the students to correct for homework. She uses Edmodo
(https://www.edmodo.com) for this purpose.
Examples of verbs - travel, pay, scream. collapses, sleeps, divides
Examples of words - underworld, white, jelly beans, toilet, stupid
time stage Aim
7mi
n
Procedure
interaction/material
s
main PRESENTATION
part
-To provide opportunity for Teacher
the students to get familiar
-Presents the
with question tags, their
images and
form and meaning
photographs and
-To explain the different
the questions that
functions of question tags: accompany them
Students
T-S, S-S
-Guess what is on T-S, photographs,
the pictures;
image
discuss whether
the guess was
correct or not and
asking for information,
confirmation or just
keeping the conversation
going. Also, explanation
about why sometimes
question tags are preferable
to direct questions.
-Explains the rules what else they can
by using visual
see
charts and
-Confirm or deny
examples
the statements
related to their
own photos thus
practising the
target structures
PRACTICE
25
min
-To practise question tags
formation
- To create sentences by
matching the two halves
appropriately
- To create authentic and
meaningful examples
- To understand why and
where question tags are
used properly and what is
the their function
- To monitor and help
-To provide an
opportunity for the
students to
practise matching
tag- questions to
the appropriate
statements
-Students match
the two halves
and form proper
statements
T-S, S-S
T-S, worksheets
-Write sentences
using information
of their choice
that match the
question tag
provided in the
examples
-To encourage
students to create
their own
examples with tag
questions that are - Create sentences
themselves that
relevant and
involve freer
meaningful
thinking and true
-To provide an
understanding of
opportunity for the the target
students to grasp
structures
the meaning of tag
questions while
engaged into an
activity that is fun
and slightly
competitive
For the final activity ‘Find your tag’ the students should find their other half, their tag. Five
students get the statement, the first half of the sentence and the other five the question tags. All of them
stand up, walk around the classroom and stand next to their ‘tag’. However, there's a slight twist to this
activity because there are two tags that are incompatible with the sentences. They will certainly try to
match and if the teacher notices that they are doubtful, she clarifies and instructs them to change their
sentences so that they fit the tags. The tags join them in the effort of proper sentence creation.
time
stage
Aim
Procedure
7-10min conclusion/ - To wrap up the lesson
final part
by revising, once
again, question tag
form
interaction/material
s
Students find their partner and
T-S, S-S
where needed correct the
mistakes and find the appropriate
example
Matreials used for the lesson
Optical illusion images and photographs
There is a girl on
picture, isn’t
there?
This man was fun to
talk to, wasn’t he?
There are two
zebras, aren’t
there?
It is a scary
cat, isn’t
We took great photos in the
park, didnt’t we?
People are
having lunch,
aren’t they?
Charts with rules and explanations
Worksheet 1
She was lying,
wasn’t she?
He wasn’t there
was he?
It has always been like that
hasn’t it?
She loves you
doesn’t she?
You want tell my dad
will you?
You ate my sandwich
didn’t you?
You didn’t go out last night
did you?
You have got three sisters
haven’t you?
They are not American
are they?
You like Italian food
Worksheet 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
You ___________________ don’t you?
You ___________________ aren't you?
You____________________have you?
You____________________did you?
You____________________will you?
6. You____________________haven’t you?
don’t you?
I had this lesson with a group of ten 14 years-old as part of the general topic ‘My life’. We are
working in line with the national curriculum requirements and are expected to follow the programmes
prepared by the Bureau of Education. The students need to meet the criteria set for their level and pass a
standardized external exam (some of them as each students gets two subjects randomly chosen on which
she /he is tested)
The book we are using is in a way a preparation for PET Cambridge Exam and it resembles that
format because it includes activities that are typical for the PET exam. However the external test
questions are only multiple choice questions and this is a discrepancy which poses a huge problem for
both, the students and the teachers. Most of my students have good understanding of English language,
but their other skills lag behind, as the programme is very intense with huge emphasis on grammar and
less space for communicative activities. My students are generally interested in the language; they are
well aware that they really need it as a skill and the motivation to learn the language is satisfactory.
Nevertheless, one needs a strong motivation and will to excel in a language, as well as get good quality
input which needs to be provided by many different activities chosen to cater for different learners i.e.
learning styles. I always make sure that I include a great variety of activities in my lessons that are well
thought through and carefully prepared so that my students benefit from them.
The aim of this lesson was to introduce students to question tags (form and meaning) and the
manner in which they are used, as well the function they perform in a conversation.
I organized my lesson plan so as to include activities that are varied in terms of difficulty, focus
and expectations. We started off with a warm -up activity, that was challenging and interesting for the
students. They regarded my questions: ‘It is a ___, isn’t it?’ in relation to the optical illusion pictures as
slight provocations and a discussion was raised which involved use of functional expressions as well as
reinforcement of the tag questions. I felt that they needed an explicit explanation on question tags
formation since it is very logical and straightforward. In Macedonian there are no such structures, but
there is only one word that serves as an add –on to the sentence and can be used similarly for getting
information or giving confirmation. I believe that the explicit explanations with visuals, graphs and
examples were much appreciated. The matching pair activity lead them further into the target structure
use and function.
The more open activities provided space for the students to not only parrot the structures but get
more involved by being creative when they needed to think of and formulate questions for their partner or
generate sentences using two random words.
The last activity, which served as a wrap up to the lesson again emphasizes its aims and
objectives. The activity is fun and engaging, includes movement and as well as further language
production in a form of sentence correction. So, the lesson includes all skills, applies to all learning styles
and creates space for free expression and communication.
Lesson effectiveness
The lesson I detailed above has some very strong points, such as clear aims and objectives,
activities with gradual increase of difficulty, clear focus on target structures and involvement of all four
skills and inclusion of different learning styles.
In the course book we are using question tags are introduced as a grammatical unit only and are
presented via random examples with vocabulary that corresponds, only to a very limited extend, to the
general topic. However, they are not contextualized and their function is not properly explained. My aim
was to clarify their use and function especially because there are no typical counterparts in Macedonian. I
decided to start off the topic by reintroducing questions, especially question tags where students were
asked to actually confirm or discard an information by using the short forms of the questions. The leading
activity activated the students’ schemata on questions for the purpose of asking for information or giving
confirmation.
The main part of the lesson is divided into presentation and practice and there is a logical and
gentle transition from rule deduction to its implementation and final language production.
The explicit explanations are beneficial for my students who are capable of rule deduction based on
relevant examples, and also rule understanding and its implementation. Some students need to see how a
rule works in practice which was done with the examples; visuals proved to be really helpful for
illustrating the rules too.
I thought that students needed to be certain about the formation of question tags and why it is that
positive statements need negative tags and vice versa and the verbs’ use in terms of tense, aspect and
mood. So, the matching activity helped them recognize the correct forms. This activity was organized as a
group work so that students could discuss and help each other before moving onto more individualized
work. The next step, in which the students tried to work by themselves, yet not totally alone, was the pair
work activity in which they wrote questions for their partner. They enjoyed doing this because they were
free to think of their own examples and ask questions they really wanted to ask.
The third activity, even though regarded as group work, requires much individual effort since the
group representatives each, need to form questions themselves within the given time limit. Each student
got a chance to have a go and create whichever sentence he/she wanted no matter how illogical. Actually,
the students were encouraged to think of the funniest, silliest examples. This activity went very well and
the students created some very interesting questions that were very sophisticated and expressed their
creativity. (eg.You must have travelled to the toilet, by the secret underworld paths, haven’t you?)
The final activity gives a chance for the students to once again reinforce their understanding by
doing a TPR activity, and it was interesting to see how they struggled to come up with the right questions
for the odd -one -out tags.
I believe that the lesson aims and objectives were met and the students understood what question
tags are and what their function is. Notwithstanding the success of the lesson, I need to point out to some
weaknesses and drawbacks. Firstly, I planned many activities- maybe too many, and I noticed I was
rushing my students from one activity to another in my wish to see them through the stages I believed
were essential and it was evident that there was no need for that. On hind sight, even though the activities
were themselves pretty good, I could have omitted one of them and left more space for the others.
Secondly, the group work, especially in the third activity, wasn’t as successful as I had originally
planned, because I overlooked certain issues. These were the following: some representatives were really
quick in coming up with examples of sentences within the given time limit. However, some were hesitant
and rather slow, which made other students impatient to the point where they overtook their turn and
rushed with their own examples. This was not what I had hoped for, because I instructed them to help
their fellow students not take their turn. However, it didn’t work in practice, and from now on I will plan
more carefully. This activity could have worked better if I gave words and verbs to each group and they
wrote the examples together prior to appointing one students to read aloud at least one sentence. Time
limit could have been set but for the group work only. In that way I would have avoided this problem of
unfair turn taking and some students not getting the chance to be equally involved.
It is helpful to take notes and get students’ feedback after lessons (as much as possible if not for
every single lesson) because in that way the teachers get informed about what went well and what didn’t
from a students’ perspective. For this lesson I asked the students to do that, and the feedback I got
corresponded closely to what I saw as a major drawback- namely the third activity. However, the students
were happy with the pace the lesson took, the activities they worked on and most of all, the fact that they
understood what the aim of the lesson was and they stated it clearly.
Lesson plan
Lesson plan
General Topic:
(according to the national
curriculum)
Thursday, 2 May 2015
‘My life’
Grammar point:
Question tags
Vocabulary
Target structures
Goals and Objectives:
Related to daily life activities (action verbs)
Question tags
To Introduce question tags
To explain the rules about their formation and use
To explain the main reason for use of question tags
To provide an opportunity for students to practise using the
question tags in a meaningful way
Expected outcomes:
-The students to understand the rules of question tags formation
-The students to be able to form and use question tags in certain
contexts
9 (ninth)
Grade(s)
Teaching methods:
Demonstrative
Audio –lingual
TPR
Visual
(Eclectic)
Teaching forms:
Group work
Individual
Teacher- led
Pair work
Teaching resources:
Images taken from internet
Printed out worksheets
CD, laptop
Notebooks
Board or paper
Introduction:
The teacher presents carefully chosen images of optical illusions (given below) as well as photos of the
students themselves doing different activities in and out of school, with the questions written next to them.
In this way the questions are introduced only subtly and it is a lead -in into the topic i.e. the target
structures.
time
stage
aim
7-10
min
warmer to introduce
question
tags
procedure
interaction/materials
Images of optical illusions are shown on OHP and
students are engaged in an activity where they
guess what is on the ambiguous images by
answering the questions that are given as prompts
T-S, S-S
T-S, Lap Top OHP
Main part:
The main part is divided into presentation and practice. At the beginning of this stage the teacher
highlights the sentences which are given next to the questions, drawing students’ attention to the
sentences’ adds -on. She elicits answers on their use and encourages students to try to explain what these
questions mean and why they are used. Then the teacher presents the rules, explains what question tags
are and how they are formed. The teacher carefully leads the students through all the rules which are
visually presented in a chart and illustrated with examples.
In the next stage, students practise the target structures moving from easier exercises and activities
towards more difficult and demanding ones. Firstly, the teacher put the students into groups and gives
them worksheets -actually paper strips with the first part of the question and the question tags on separate
piece of paper. The students should match them and after they finish we compare all the groups’ work,
check the examples and together we correct the mistakes.
In the second activity I get the students to work in pairs and they need to fill in certain information
they themselves choose for the question tags. For example:
You_______________, aren’t you?
You_______________, have you?
Each student writes up to 6 questions so that there is enough time for the pair to make the exchange.
The third activity requires that the students are focused, think and react quickly. In groups of three
each group representative needs to think of a sentence that combines a verb and a random word they pull
out from two separate boxes within the time limit of 30 seconds. If they succeed and produce a correct
sentence they get a point if not the next group has a go with the same verb- word combination. The
groups take turns and the teacher writes the examples on the board. These sentences are not corrected
because the teacher sends the examples for the students to correct for homework. She uses Edmodo
(https://www.edmodo.com) for this purpose.
Examples of verbs - travel, pay, scream. collapses, sleeps, divides
Examples of words - underworld, white, jelly beans, toilet, stupid
time stage Aim
7mi
n
Procedure
interaction/material
s
main PRESENTATION
part
-To provide opportunity for Teacher
the students to get familiar
-Presents the
with question tags, their
images and
form and meaning
photographs and
-To explain the different
the questions that
functions of question tags: accompany them
Students
T-S, S-S
-Guess what is on T-S, photographs,
the pictures;
image
discuss whether
the guess was
correct or not and
asking for information,
confirmation or just
keeping the conversation
going. Also, explanation
about why sometimes
question tags are preferable
to direct questions.
-Explains the rules what else they can
by using visual
see
charts and
-Confirm or deny
examples
the statements
related to their
own photos thus
practising the
target structures
PRACTICE
25
min
-To practise question tags
formation
- To create sentences by
matching the two halves
appropriately
- To create authentic and
meaningful examples
- To understand why and
where question tags are
used properly and what is
the their function
- To monitor and help
-To provide an
opportunity for the
students to
practise matching
tag- questions to
the appropriate
statements
-Students match
the two halves
and form proper
statements
T-S, S-S
T-S, worksheets
-Write sentences
using information
of their choice
that match the
question tag
provided in the
examples
-To encourage
students to create
their own
examples with tag
questions that are - Create sentences
themselves that
relevant and
involve freer
meaningful
thinking and true
-To provide an
understanding of
opportunity for the the target
students to grasp
structures
the meaning of tag
questions while
engaged into an
activity that is fun
and slightly
competitive
For the final activity ‘Find your tag’ the students should find their other half, their tag. Five
students get the statement, the first half of the sentence and the other five the question tags. All of them
stand up, walk around the classroom and stand next to their ‘tag’. However, there's a slight twist to this
activity because there are two tags that are incompatible with the sentences. They will certainly try to
match and if the teacher notices that they are doubtful, she clarifies and instructs them to change their
sentences so that they fit the tags. The tags join them in the effort of proper sentence creation.
time
stage
Aim
Procedure
7-10min conclusion/ - To wrap up the lesson
final part
by revising, once
again, question tag
form
interaction/material
s
Students find their partner and
T-S, S-S
where needed correct the
mistakes and find the appropriate
example
Matreials used for the lesson
Optical illusion images and photographs
There is a girl on
picture, isn’t
there?
This man was fun to
talk to, wasn’t he?
There are two
zebras, aren’t
there?
It is a scary
cat, isn’t
We took great photos in the
park, didnt’t we?
People are
having lunch,
aren’t they?
Charts with rules and explanations
Worksheet 1
She was lying,
wasn’t she?
He wasn’t there
was he?
It has always been like that
hasn’t it?
She loves you
doesn’t she?
You want tell my dad
will you?
You ate my sandwich
didn’t you?
You didn’t go out last night
did you?
You have got three sisters
haven’t you?
They are not American
are they?
You like Italian food
Worksheet 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
You ___________________ don’t you?
You ___________________ aren't you?
You____________________have you?
You____________________did you?
You____________________will you?
6. You____________________haven’t you?
don’t you?
