| LESSON OVERVIEW
The main objectives of this lesson are to:
- discuss fixing things and solving problems;
- practise vocabulary for doing repairs;
- watch a video segment about fixing an object.
Students talk about fixing and reusing items, work on words and phrases related to repairs (e.g. seal it up, come off, tighten) and discuss how to solve common household problems. Students come up with ways to improve a place they know, watch part of a video (from 17:58 to 19:29) about fixing curtains and read about approaches to repairing things. They also imagine inheriting a house and decide how to manage problems without throwing things away.
C1 / Advanced60 minStandard LessonPremium Plan
WARM-UP AND VOCABULARY
This lesson starts with a warm-up. Students think of something they have at home for different actions (I fix it myself, I get it fixed and I replace or get rid of it). They explain what they do when it breaks down or gets broken. Students give details. After that, they use pairs of words and phrases (e.g. come off/reattach) in the correct form to complete sentences about fixing things at home. Moving on, students read problems (e.g. the roof is leaking, the door handle is coming loose, your favourite Teddy bear’s ear has come undone) and do tasks where they discuss how to handle problems and explain their decisions. Afterwards, they think of a place and come up with potential ways of improving it. Students use vocabulary for doing repairs (e.g. act up, come undone, leak).
VIDEO AND DISCUSSION
In this part of the lesson, students watch a video segment about how to fix curtains. Before watching, they say what problems there might be with curtains and how they would solve them. Afterwards, students watch part of the video (from 17:58 to 19:29) and say what specific problem it is about. Next, they complete gaps in sentences about fixing curtain clips. Students then watch the video again and check their ideas. After that, they discuss questions about learning to fix things at home. Moving on, students read about approaches to fixing things. They discuss questions about personal attitudes toward fixing and reusing things. Then, students imagine inheriting a neglected house. They look at pictures, choose some items and discuss how they would deal with them without throwing anything away. They answer questions about solving problems and use vocabulary for doing repairs (e.g. come loose, fall apart, mend).
HOMEWORK/REVISION
This lesson plan also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students correct mistakes in the first line of dialogues. They then write the second line using the target vocabulary from the lesson. 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.
WORKSHEETS
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This has some really useful language. Some of the speaking exercises are a little bit repetitive but all my groups have enjoyed learning the vocabulary and the differences between them.
Thank you for your feedback! Indeed, our goal was to make this lesson very practical and address some specific area of vocabulary, hence less variety with the speaking activities. We wanted to make sure students would have enough opportunities to use the target language so as to memorise it better. We’re happy your students enjoyed the lesson! 🙂