Linkers for writing: The bedroom swap

Objective & content

Everything to teach the linkers of an opinion paragraph, in one pack of four parts: slides to project, a three-level practice sheet, a team game and a 10-minute quiz with answers. The pack starts from a short story: Lily's bedroom is tiny, whereas her brother Max's room is huge, and Max is leaving for university in September. Lily writes her parents a paragraph: Max's room is bigger; however, he won't live here after September; furthermore, she needs a desk for her exams; therefore, they should swap. Despite Max's protests, they swap, and at Christmas Max sleeps in the tiny room with his feet over the end of the bed. Pupils meet the linkers in the story before they meet the rule. The pack teaches contrast between two sentences (however, nevertheless), contrast inside one sentence (whereas), despite and in spite of + a noun or -ing (and although + subject + verb), adding a point (furthermore, in addition) and giving a result (therefore, as a result), with the comma after the linker. By the end, pupils can write a short opinion paragraph that links its reasons clearly.

Pedagogical guide

The rule is given in Remember! boxes, not left to be deduced; the story and its pictures make the linkers easy to notice first. The practice sheet is one A4 sheet at three levels: every page has a Bronze, a Silver and a Gold task, so the whole class works on the same page and each pupil moves up when they finish. Page 1 is about contrast, page 2 about despite and in spite of, and page 3 about adding points and giving results; its Gold task has pupils finish Lily's next paragraph, about a later bedtime, in their own words. The team game uses funny drawings: five friends in a tiny tent, a grandad asleep next to the loudspeakers, a gran on a skateboard, a big dog scared of a cat. In the first round, teams join two sentences with despite, and every question says how to build the answer (Despite + a noun); in the third round, they compare two people or animals with whereas. Every round opens with a worked example. The quiz gives a mark out of 20. The pack stays at early B2 level: no hence, moreover, consequently or on the other hand. The key page of the practice sheet holds the answers, teacher notes and seven common mistakes (for example "Despite it was raining, we went out", "Despite of the cold" and "My room is small, however it is warm"). Spelling is British English.

Suggested procedure

The pack fits two lessons of about 45 minutes. Lesson 1 is Teach it and Practise it; lesson 2 is Play it and Check it. The four parts can also be used alone.

1. (25 min) Teach it (lesson.pdf, lesson 1): show the four pictures and ask "Why did Lily want to swap rooms?", then read the story together. Read the Remember! boxes aloud; pupils compare two things in the classroom with whereas, correct "Despite it was raining" and find Lily's four linkers in her paragraph. Then do the six-question quick check with the class. The last slide is for the teacher and is not projected.
2. (20 min) Practise it (practice.pdf, lesson 1): give each pupil the three pages and a start (Bronze, Silver or Gold); correct page by page, with one pupil from each medal reading an answer.
3. (25 min) Play it (game.pdf, lesson 2): make teams and read each round's example together. Show each question, give 20 seconds to write the answer (40 seconds in round 3), then show the answer slide and keep the score. Round 4 is worth double points.
4. (10 min) Check it (quiz.pdf, lesson 2): pupils work alone on page 1; mark out of 20 with page 2.

Adaptations

[S] Start every pupil at Bronze and keep the Remember! slides on screen during the practice and the game. Give them a card with the linkers in three groups (contrast, adding, result) and the two patterns (despite + noun, although + subject + verb), and do the quiz in two halves.

[A] Send fast pupils straight to Gold and then to an opinion paragraph of their own (five sentences, four linkers) on a question of their choice, such as a later bedtime or a phone at dinner.

Materials & prerequisites

A projector or screen for lesson.pdf and game.pdf (one PDF page per slide, turned with the arrow keys), and paper for the teams' answers. Print practice.pdf (3 pages for pupils; the key page is for the teacher) and quiz.pdf (page 1 for pupils, page 2 is the key), one copy per pupil. Pupils should already know although, because, so and but, and how to write a simple paragraph.