Activity 1: Warm-up · 8 minutes
Warm-up: Which Option Is Better?
a) Aims
Ss activate prior knowledge of comparing things and notice the difference between comparing two items and comparing more than two.
b) Content
T writes two questions on the board: 'Which is more useful for learning English: a dictionary app or a textbook?' and 'Which is the most useful of the three: a dictionary app, a textbook or a class club?' Ss answer in pairs and say which criterion they used.
c) Expected outcomes
Ss produce at least two sentences with comparison forms, for example: 'A dictionary app is cheaper than a textbook.' and 'A class club is the most useful of the three for speaking practice.' Ss identify the criterion (cost, usefulness, speaking practice) in each sentence. Lesson title and objectives are written on the board.
d) Organisation
Teacher's activities
Students' activities
Teacher
Step 1: Task delivering
T shows the two questions on the board and asks: 'What do we need to compare two things? What do we need when we compare three or more?' T gives 30 seconds for Ss to think.
Students
Ss listen to the questions and think silently about the answers.
Teacher
Step 2: Task performance
T asks Ss to discuss in pairs and write two sentences in their notebooks. T walks around and helps weaker pairs with the form.
Students
Ss discuss in pairs. Expected answers: 'A textbook is more complete than a dictionary app.' / 'A class club is the most useful of the three.' Ss underline the criterion word.
Teacher
Step 3: Report and discussion
T calls on 2 or 3 pairs to read their sentences. T asks: 'Why did you say cheaper? What is the criterion?' and 'Why do we use the here, not more?'
Students
Pairs read their sentences. Expected answer: 'We compare cost, so we say cheaper.' 'We use the most with three items, so we say the most useful of the three.'
Teacher
Step 4: Conclusion and assessment
T praises the good sentences and writes the two patterns on the board: 'adj-er / more + adj + than' for two items and 'the + adj-est / most + adj + of/in' for a group. T introduces the lesson aim: 'Today we will pronounce long words correctly and use comparisons accurately.'
Students
Ss copy the two patterns and the lesson aim into their notebooks.