Phrasal verbs: Called off!

Objective & content

Everything to teach what the small word of a phrasal verb means, 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: a Year 10 summer concert has sold out, but a storm starts, the lights go out and the head teacher calls the concert off; the next morning the weather clears up and the pupils tidy up the field. Pupils meet the verbs in the story before they meet the rule. The pack shows that the small word often gives the meaning: up = completely (eat up, use up, tidy up, clear up), out = until it is gone (sell out, go out, put out, die out) and off = stopped, not happening (call off, put off, switch off, log off), with set off as a reminder that this is not always true. It then uses phrasal verbs in the passive (The concert was called off; the small word stays after the participle), in reported speech (He said that the concert was called off), and as nouns (a breakdown, a sell-out, a warm-up), stressed on the first part. By the end, pupils can guess the meaning of new phrasal verbs with up, out and off and use them in the past simple passive.

Pedagogical guide

The rule is given in Remember! boxes, not left to be deduced; the story and its pictures make the verbs 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. The game puts the same verbs under time pressure, in four rounds, and the quiz gives a mark out of 20. This is the fourth phrasal verbs pack, after Phrasal verbs (A2), Pick it up! (A2+: where it and them go) and Don't give up! (B1: verbs you can't guess). It stays at B1+ level: the passive is in the past simple only, and idiomatic verbs such as come across or turn out are left for a later pack. The key page of the practice sheet holds the answers, teacher notes and seven common mistakes (for example "The match was off called", "The fire was put off" and "He said that the concert is called off"). 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 story and ask "Why was the concert called off? When is it now?", then read it together. Read the Remember! boxes aloud; pupils sort the eight phrasal verbs of the story into up, out and off. Say an active sentence (They called off the match): pupils make it passive. Pupils say each verb and its noun aloud and hear the stress move (break down, a breakdown). 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. (20 min) Play it (game.pdf, lesson 2): make teams, show each question, give 20 seconds to write the answer, 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 up, out and off and their meanings, and do the quiz in two halves.

[A] Send fast pupils straight to Gold and then to the Gold writing task on page 3, where they write a short news report about an event that went wrong with at least five phrasal verbs and two passives, and read it to a partner, who reports it back (He said that ...). In the game, ask them to say each answer aloud in a full sentence.

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 what a phrasal verb is (the A2, A2+ and B1 packs), the past simple passive (was / were + past participle) and the basics of reported speech (He said that ...).