S1E14 - Have You Heard?

Objective & content

In this Golden Bay episode, Brody passes on a story about a fire in Tiago's past in São Paulo, and it reaches the whole school within hours. Elena warns Tiago herself and says she does not believe it, while Neil enjoys a harmless rumour about Mika and the street art. The grammar focus is the present perfect simple for news and rumours: "Have you heard about Tiago?" and "I've heard three versions." The vocabulary covers rumours, gossip and feelings. Learners work on listening comprehension and conversation readiness.

Pedagogical guide

The 45-minute plan starts with a whisper chain to show how a message changes, then two listenings, grammar and pair work. Keep the discussion on how a rumour hurts and what we can do about it, and use only invented news in the speaking task, never real people from your school. The episode leaves open what happened in São Paulo: do not ask students to guess. Stress the contractions (I've heard, it's gone, haven't), which students often drop.

Suggested procedure

1. Pre-listening (10 min): a whisper chain, then a short talk on stories that were not true; preview five words (rumor, version, everywhere, truth, decide).
2. First listen (3 min): students name the main topic.
3. Second listen (10 min): pause after scenes 1, 2 and 3 to ask who starts the story, how many versions exist and how Elena feels, and how Neil's rumour differs from Tiago's.
4. Comprehension check (5 min): five oral or written questions, with the in-app quiz for support.
5. Vocabulary practice (4 min): matching game, or the vocabulary tasks on the student sheet.
6. Grammar focus (6 min): have/has + past participle on three lines from the script, with the participles heard, gone, said and been.
7. Speaking (5 min): in pairs, one student announces invented news with "Have you heard...?" and the partner reacts, then they swap.
8. Optional writing (2 min): two sentences, one with "I've heard..." and one with "I haven't...".

Materials & prerequisites

• Episode audio or the Academy app (about 3 minutes).
• `printables/student-sheet.pdf` and `printables/teacher-sheet.pdf`.
• `teachers-resources/lesson-plan.md`: the full 45-minute lesson plan.
• Prerequisite: past participles of common irregular verbs (go, say, be, hear).

Curriculum alignment

Cycle 4, class 4e (A2+). The episode is tagged with two Cycle 4 axes: "Languages and communication" and "School and society".