| LESSON OVERVIEW
In this lesson, students learn some vocabulary related to document management, talk about going paperless, watch a video, and work on word building learning suffixes ‘-ful’ and ‘-less’.
B2 / Upper Intermediate60 minStandard LessonUnlimited Plan
WARM-UP & VIDEO
The lesson starts with a warm-up activity. Students look at the pictures and say what they all have in common. The pictures feature wrapping paper, a paper contract, wallpaper, and paper bills. After that, students discuss questions about how they use paper in their lives. Then, students work with vocabulary. They complete the definitions with words from the word cloud (e.g. invoice, digitalize, convert, restore, etc.). After working with vocabulary, students move on to a video. First, they choose the correct definition of ‘document management’. Then, they watch the video and check their answer. Students also complete the summary of the video with the vocabulary they learned before. They watch the video again and tick the words they hear. After that, students move on to a grammar part and learn how to use the suffixes ‘-ful’ and ‘-less’.
SUFFIXES ‘-FUL’ AND ‘-LESS’
In this part of the lesson, students work on some word building and have a discussion. First, they look at the summary again and find the words ending with ‘-ful’ or ‘-less’. Students explain their meaning and also say what the differences between the suffixes are. Then, they look at more words (e.g. paper, care, use, point) and decide to which of them they can add the suffixes ‘-ful’ and ‘-less’. After that, students complete the statements with the words they formed. They also read the statements again and agree or disagree with them. To wrap up the lesson, students think about their workplace or industry and discuss the questions. They talk about going paperless, storing documents, and making their workplace more efficient.
HOMEWORK/REVISION
This lesson also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students brainstorm ideas and create arguments for and against going paperless. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.
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Wow, I’ve never head off “pointful”. Maybe it’s time I retired !!
I meant ” heard of ” Also need new eyes !!
Hi lizzyd! I know it may sound weird, but that’s a real word. 🙂 I think the beauty of teaching is that we learn something new every day. Don’t you think?
Hi , I totally agree ! Language is changing all the time and I love that !! cheers
Like Lizzyd, I’ve never used or heard the word “pointful” and had to check in the dictionary. Interestingly, the Online Cambridge Dictionnary doesn’t mention it https://dictionary.cambridge.org/spellcheck/english/?q=pointful but I found it in the Oxford dictionary and Merriam Webster
Neither had I. Had to check it exists.
Good lesson for the ‘office’ business students.
Hi
I think this is an interesting topic, I’m going to use it with my group today. My lesson is online with Russian and German students, my only concern is the background music in the video, makes it difficult to hear the words.
Pointful is new for me too but as you say, we learn something new everyday!
Thank you for the lesson
Hi Cindy!
So glad to know you’re using our lesson today! Let me know how it goes, and whether the background music was an issue.
“Pointful” is definitely a buzzword in this comment thread! Maybe it’s because it’s not used so often.
Thank you for your nice comment!
Hi Paula
I am happy to report that my students enjoyed the lesson and the background music was not an issue at all for them 👏👏 thank you for an enjoyable lesson!
The only reason I mentioned the background music is because they complained about it in another lesson.
Thanks again
Hi Cindy!
Great news! I really appreciate you coming back to tell us how it went.
I’m really pleased to hear your students enjoyed the lesson.
Have a great week!
<3
Hi! I used this lesson with my students and it worked really well. But I kept reflecting on the word ‘pointful’. When I looked at it, I noticed that it doesn’t appear in the Cambridge Dictionary, although it does in Merriam-Webster. I understand that some dictionaries include less common words, but I was wondering whether this one might be a bit unusual for everyday use.
Since my goal is to give learners vocabulary they can confidently use in real-life communication, I started thinking that perhaps we could include other -ful/-less examples that are more frequently used.
I’m absolutely not questioning the quality of the lesson. I just wanted to share this thought and hear your perspective.
By the way, I really love your materials. And my students do too!
Hi, Danu! Thanks for the feedback and your kind words about our materials 🙂
I absolutely agree that we should teach students real-life communication. This is something we firmly believe at ESL Brains.
When it comes to ‘pointful’, it’s mentioned once in the lesson: in the answer to ex. 9. The task is designed in this specific way which forced us to provide ‘pointful’ in the answer just because it’s a word that exists in English. But the objective of that task is for students to use the word ‘pointless’, as well as help them uderstand that the suffixes ‘ful’ and ‘less’ have opposite meanings. So I don’t think it would be OK to remove ‘pointful’ from the answer, even though I realize it is a rearly used word. At the same time, the word ‘pointless’ is incredibly useful, so I’d want students to be exposed to it and to practise it. Hope that makes sense!