S2E21 - What Shall We Do Today?

Objective & content

George and Rosie plan a free Saturday in Bristol outside the Walker house. Rosie has a timed route, George wants to see everything, and Buster eats her leaflet. The episode teaches want to and the politer I'd like to to say what you want to do (I'd like to go up the tower.), with the negative and the question form (Where do you want to go first?). The vocabulary field is places in a city (museum, harbour, zoo, bridge, castle, tower). Learners listen, then check their understanding with the in-app quiz.

Pedagogical guide

The argument gives a reason to use both forms, and would like to appears only as I'd like to, so present it as a softer want, not as a conditional. German and Italian learners often use want alone, which sounds blunt in English. The negatives (I don't want a route, He doesn't want to drop it) are the forms pupils most often get wrong.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Warm-up: put a simple city map with six places on the board; pupils tick the ones they would visit first.
2. (7 min) First listen, books closed: what do George and Rosie disagree about?
3. (10 min) Second listen with the comprehension questions; pause after the castle line and ask what George expected.
4. (10 min) Grammar: put I want to go and I'd like to go side by side and collect every example from the script under each.
5. (8 min) Vocabulary, then pairs plan a Saturday in their own town with three places each, negotiated.
6. (5 min) Wrap-up: pupils write one sentence saying where they would like to go.

Materials & prerequisites

The episode in the PLAY app (audio, slideshow, text and quiz), a student sheet and a teacher sheet with the answer key. Learners need the present simple and names of common places in a town.

Curriculum alignment

Cycle 4 (5e), programme axes "The United Kingdom" and "Daily life: places, rhythms, seasons": a day out in Bristol.