The school office

Objective & content

A two-page pack for one everyday situation: arriving at a new school and getting help at the school office. Pupils learn the words (secretary, timetable, letter, class list, classroom, school bell) and the phrases to say who they are and spell their name (My name's Zoe Brown. Z-O-E.), ask questions (Which class am I in? Where's the art room? What time is lunch?) and understand the answers (Here's your timetable. It's on the ground floor.). Then they hear the same language in a real conversation, the Listen Up! episode "The school office", and use it themselves in a role-play. By the end, they can say and spell their name, ask about their class and their rooms, and understand the answers on a first day.

Pedagogical guide

Page 1 is the language of the situation. Pupils talk about a picture of a girl and her mum at the school office, where the secretary gives her a sheet of paper, write six words under new drawings (the first is done), read a box of useful phrases (what you say or ask, and what you hear), and match five questions to their answers. Page 2 puts the language to work. Pupils complete a short dialogue with words from a box (Zoe, on her first day at a new school), then listen to the episode: on Mateo's first day, the secretary finds his name on two class lists, and it's a mistake. A QR code on the sheet plays the recording on a phone or a tablet, with no app and no login. Pupils tick true or false, listen again for four short answers, then do a role-play with A and B cards: a new pupil asks the school secretary about their class and their classroom. Card B holds the information card A needs, so pupils have to ask. Every task opens with an example. Page 1 and the dialogue use other names, places and prices, so they never give away a listening answer. Page 3 is the answer key with the teacher notes.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Pupils look at the picture on page 1 and say where the people are and what they are doing.
2. (5 min) Pupils write the words under the pictures; check together.
3. (5 min) Pupils read the useful phrases aloud in pairs, one asking and one answering.
4. (5 min) Pupils match the questions to the answers.
5. (5 min) Page 2: pupils complete the dialogue with the words in the box.
6. (10 min) Play the episode once for true or false, then again for the short answers.
7. (10 min) Role-play in pairs with card A and card B, then pupils swap cards.
8. (5 min) Check the answers with page 3.

Adaptations

[S] Pupils read the useful phrases aloud in pairs before the role-play, and keep page 1 in front of them while they play it. [A] Pupils invent their own problem in the same place and act it out without the cards.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of pages 1 and 2 per pupil; cut out the role cards on page 2. Page 3 is the answer key: keep it. To play the episode, pupils scan the QR code with a phone or a tablet, or you play it to the class from the app (Listen Up!, "The school office"). Pupils need the alphabet, telling the time, and floors.