A Special Occasion

A multi-skill worksheet that incorporates speaking, listening, reading and writing, based on a short (1:22) BBC news video about a 100th birthday trip to London. Aimed at E3 / L1, but suitable for higher level E2 and for L2 as a recap (for L2 - elicit examples of the grammar and instructions beforehand).

Key learning outcomes: learners will:

  • ask questions, make notes about the answers and report the answers;
  • read text about a celebration and answer questions; 
  • find information in a text; 
  • use context to identify the meaning of unfamiliar words;
  • identify past tense verbs in a text;
  • follow instructions;
  • make a list of classroom instructions;
  • write a paragraph, using past tense verbs, to describe a celebration;
  • use at least one negative past tense verb. 

There are six activities: Q&A / discussion; listening / reading (the video is captioned) for gist and detail; vocabulary - synonyms and slang; grammar - past tense verbs; classroom instructions. Also, two homework tasks: writing - past tense recounts.  Activities include pair work, small group, whole class discussion and individual work, as well as a homework task. A worked answer is included for teachers, with planning guidance. The topic is a birthday celebration, using past tense verbs - a useful recap at L1 or above or introduction at upper E2 /  E3 to simple past / present perfect / present perfect continuous / past continuous in past tense recounts. The classroom instructions activity could be a good way to elicit instruction verbs / vocabulary for a classroom display.

Editor's notes

Although written for ESOL learners this resource and its delightful topic of a 100th birthday is also ideal for Entry Functional English (all three components,but particularly Speaking, Listening and Communicating) and has been mapped accordingly. The resource is a complete lesson plan and includes detailed and very helpful teaching notes, along with answer sheets. 

Resource File(s)
Physical format
10 page PDF

Comments

Corrections made in the "Scope of text types" for E1, E2 & E3 writing
 (page 9) and reading (page 10).