S1E02 - House Rules

Objective & content

It is Tiago's first morning with the Voss family. Diane finds that someone has painted over her billboard on Ocean Drive overnight, and Stella, Mason and Brody react in different ways while Tiago is quietly suspected because he only arrived last night. The grammar focus is the present simple for routines and habits, with do/does questions, negatives and never ("Mason trains at six"). Learners build vocabulary for public art and suspicion (billboard, graffiti, vandalism, suspicious, amazing, weird). The main skill is listening comprehension, then the in-app quiz.

Pedagogical guide

The lesson plan lasts 45 minutes around a listening of about 3 minutes. The present simple is a revision point at this level, so it is practised through a small whodunit rather than introduced. The author of the painting and the small gold house with a blue crack in the corner are left unexplained on purpose: do not solve them. The scene also gives a discussion trigger on first impressions and bias toward an outsider. Support [S] and extension [A] options are given at every stage.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Warm-up: how would you feel on your first morning in a new house if people already suspected you of something, and collect feeling words on the board.
2. (5 min) Vocabulary preview: billboard, graffiti, vandalism, suspicious, amazing, weird.
3. (15 min) Listening: a first listen without pausing (what happened to the billboard, and who is suspected?), then a second listen with three pauses (Diane's "vandalism", Tiago's answer to Brody, Stella declining Elena's call), each with one question.
4. (5 min) Comprehension check: five oral or written questions from the quiz.
5. (5 min) Vocabulary practice: a matching game or the student sheet.
6. (5 min) Grammar: sort lines from the script under daily routines, house habits, and questions and negatives, then drill third-person -s and never + verb-s.
7. (5 min) Speaking in pairs: one learner describes a household's morning routine, the other asks do/does questions.
8. Homework (optional): write what Brody might post online about the new kid and the billboard.

Materials & prerequisites

• The episode audio or the app, and a board or projector.
• Student sheet and teacher sheet (`printables/`).
• Worksheet with answer key, and flashcards (from the lesson plan).
• Prerequisite: the present simple with be and do/does, and third-person -s.

Curriculum alignment

Cycle 4, 4e class: "Voyages et migrations" (travel and migration) and "Rencontre avec l'autre" (encountering others).