S2E08 - Told You So

Objective & content

In the Golden Bay episode "Told You So", Stella warns her brother Mason that their father Cole is working him, Mason ignores her and tells Cole he is the secret Golden Bay artist, and Cole phones Marcus about it as soon as Mason has gone. In the café, Elena is the one person who stops to listen to Stella. The grammar focus is the past perfect (by the time you asked, I'd already decided) with a first look at reported speech: told, said and asked. Vocabulary includes con man, coincidence, charming, authentic and paranoid. Learners practise listening comprehension, then the in-app quiz.

Pedagogical guide

The episode is a 50-minute lesson at B1- for a 3eme class, and it is the finale of the module. The past perfect is the main point. Reported speech is only a bridge: students notice told, said and asked and may keep the tense of the original sentence, because the full rules come later in the year. Say the contraction 'd clearly: here it is always had. The story is about a family conflict and a betrayed secret, so keep the discussion on the characters' choices and do not ask students to share painful family stories.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Write a warning, a secret and trust on the board; in pairs, students discuss whether they have ever been warned about someone.
2. (5 min) Preview five words (con man, coincidence, charming, authentic, paranoid) with simple definitions.
3. (5 min) First listen without interruption: who are the people and what is the main problem?
4. (8 min) Second listen, pausing at the end of each of the three scenes to check what happens and to notice one past perfect line.
5. (5 min) Comprehension check with five oral or written questions.
6. (4 min) Vocabulary practice: match the words to their definitions, then write one sentence per pair.
7. (8 min) Grammar focus: compare two past perfect lines on a time line, then two lines with said and told.
8. (6 min) Pair role-play: Stella warns, Mason answers; then each student reports what the partner said ("She told me that ...").
9. (4 min) Writing: four sentences that sum up the episode, two with the past perfect and two with told, said or asked.

Materials & prerequisites

• The episode audio (about 3 min 30 s) or the Academy app, speakers, and a board or projector.
• `printables/student-sheet.pdf` and `printables/teacher-sheet.pdf`.
• The lesson plan for this episode.
• Sticky notes or scrap paper for the pre-listening task.
• Prerequisites: the past simple and past participles.

Curriculum alignment

This episode is tagged for cycle 4 (3eme), axis "encountering others" (`c4-encountering-others`). It is tagged B1-.