Linkers: Kai's Saturday job

Objective & content

Everything to teach linkers, 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: Kai, 16, has an old phone with a broken screen, so he gets a Saturday job in a café so that he can buy a new one. He gets up at seven in order to be on time, and although the café is always busy, he likes it. His mum tells him he won't have enough money by the summer unless he saves every week. Pupils meet the linkers in the story before they meet the rule. The pack teaches although and even though for a contrast, in order to + verb and so that + person + can / could for a purpose, and unless (= if ... not) with the present simple, with the comma when the linker comes first. By the end, pupils can join two ideas with the right linker.

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. The Gold task on page 3 asks pupils to write about something they want to buy or do, with at least four linkers. The team game, "Join them up!", has drawings made for the pack: teams join two sentences under a funny scene (a boy who goes to school with a broken leg, a picnic in the pouring rain, a boy who ate the whole cake even though he wasn't hungry), then choose the right linker. Every round opens with a worked example. The quiz gives a mark out of 20. The pack stays at B1+ level: despite, whereas and however are left for B2. The key page of the practice sheet holds the answers, teacher notes and seven common mistakes (for example "Although it was cold, but we swam", "She saved money so that buy a bike" and "Unless you don't hurry"). 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 Kai get a job? Why did he get up at seven?", then read the story together. Read the Remember! boxes aloud; pupils find each linker in the story and say the although sentences again with but. Ask Why? questions (Why do you come to school?); pupils answer with in order to. Say if ... not sentences; pupils say them again with unless. 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, 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 three patterns (although + sentence, in order to + verb, unless + present simple), and do the quiz in two halves.

[A] Send fast pupils straight to Gold and then to the Gold writing task on page 3; a partner asks one question about their text (Why? or What will happen unless ...?). In round 1 of the game, ask them to join the sentences both ways (Although ..., ... / ... although ...).

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 but, because and so, the first conditional (If you hurry, you'll catch the bus) and could.