S2E18 - He Said, She Said

Objective & content

Cole Ryland is back in Golden Bay, and Mason believes his father's promise of a surprise. Stella and Harper compare what Cole has told people, Diane confronts him at Voss Realty about the years he left, and in the last scene Cole tells Marcus to set a date. The grammar focus is reporting verbs with that-clauses (told, claimed, denied, admitted, promised, insisted), shown through what the characters report about Cole. Vocabulary covers promises, money and trust (promise, debt, unreliable, choice, embarrassed). One line to notice: "Three answers to one question. Count them."

Pedagogical guide

The lesson lasts 50 minutes. Learners follow what Cole told different people and what Diane says about the past, then report what someone said with a reporting verb and a that-clause, choosing the verb that shows how the person spoke. The lesson plan points out that most lines in the script are direct speech, so replay the section after the first pause if the class loses the thread. Keep the discussion on the characters and their words, not on students' own families.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Board: "Have you ever heard two different stories about the same event?"; pairs share, and the class counts Cole's answers later.
2. (5 min) Preview six words: promise, debt, unreliable, gallery, embarrassed, choice.
3. (5 min) First listen, without interruption: who is talking, and what is the main problem?
4. (10 min) Second listen with three pauses (after "Three answers to one question.", after "You promised them, Cole.", at the end) and a question at each.
5. (5 min) Comprehension check: five questions, oral or written.
6. (5 min) Vocabulary practice: matching game, then two words in a sentence about the episode.
7. (7 min) Grammar focus: three script lines on the board, a table of reporting verbs, then four direct sentences turned into reported ones.
8. (8 min) Speaking: a journalist asks "What did Cole tell people?" and a friend answers with three reporting verbs; then swap roles about Diane.

Materials & prerequisites

• Episode audio or the Academy app, and a whiteboard or projector.
• `student-sheet.pdf` and `teacher-sheet.pdf` from the episode's printables.
• The lesson plan (`teachers-resources/lesson-plan.md`).
• Prerequisites: direct speech, the simple past and past perfect, and the say and tell contrast.

Curriculum alignment

Cycle 4, class 3eme: axis "encountering others" (c4-encountering-others). The episode is tagged B1-.