Ivano Celentano

CELTA Course

6th July 2015

LANGUAGE RELATED TASK ASSIGNMENT

B.
Why dont we go out tonight?
This structure may be introduced in between a basics and a pre-intermediate
level. The Why dont? structure is a very important question in an action
oriented approach to language learning. From the very first period students
need to learn how to ask simple everyday requests while learning a language.
In order to convey the meaning of this structure I need to set a clear context. I
would use a picture of two teenagers, a boy and a girl chatting , I would then
ask the learners to give them two names (e.g. Peter and Jane) and imagine that
he invites her out that day. He is not sure if Jane wants to go out with him and
he asks her: Why dont we go out tonight?. I will also drill the sentence to
the students.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Does he want to go out tonight? (Yes)

Does he want to go out with her? (Yes)
Can she say yes? (Yes)
Can she say no? (Yes)

Concerning pronunciation it is very important to let the students pronounce the

sentence respecting the intonation proper of a question. Using drills students
should become aware of the intonation required in this sentence, in particular
on out this will lead them to a correct intonation of the whole question.
Reliable
This is a more advanced term, for this reason I believe it can be useful to
present it to learners of an intermediate or upper intermediate level. This
mainly because of its specificity in nature (a car, a machine, a bike can be
reliable), in the lower levels learners may familiarize with easier terms like safe,
good etc.
In order to convey the meaning of this word I would use a short video where a
man talks about his mountain bike. In the video students can see how he
climbs mountains with his bike without any problem at all (great tyres, the
chain never come off). He also talks about its performances pointing out how
he never ever have problems with it. In this context I will present the word
reliable. Following are possible CCQs:
1. Does his bike always work well? (yes)
2. Does it ever break down? (no)
3. Did he ever have a problem in the past? (no)
1

Ivano Celentano

CELTA Course

6th July 2015

This word has four syllables while the stress is on the second of them. A
frequent mistake might be the tendency of some learners to move the accent
on the first or third syllable and by doing that creating problems in the
understanding of that particular word. Especially Italian L1 speakers as well as
other romance languages the /r/ is also often pronounced too strongly.
To lend / to borrow
This couple of words are in my opinion of crucial importance for a learners,
even inside the classroom. Consequently I think it could be useful to teach
them already at an elementary level. To lend and to borrow are key terms when
establishing a relationship among classmates for this reason, to providing them
with these words at a later stage may cause difficulties even on a interpersonal
level.
Again, in order to convey this particular target language I would act at it out. I
will ask a learner for a pen and then I will give it back. After I will ask the
learners in pair to do the same for a couple of times. While the students are
doing this role play I name the action of lending and borrowing the pen, this
also in order to highlight the different direction of these two verbs.
Possible CCQs could be:
1. Which one is giving? To lend
2. Which one is taking? To borrow
3. Is that for long time? No
Some phonological problems may occur when pronouncing the word borrow /
br./ as many languages do not have such sounds, this leads the students to
look for a similar sound such as //> /o/ or //> /ow/. A further phoneme to
pay attention to is the [r] /r/ which in some learners are overstressed. In this
perspective a successful drilling activity should be required.

Bibliography :
Murphy R. (2012) English Grammar in Use with Answers: A Self-Study
Reference and Practice Book for Intermediate Students of English. Cambridge
University Press. Cambridge.
Parrott M. (2013) Grammar for English language teachers. 2nd ed. Cambridge
University Press. Cambridge.
VV.AA. (2004) Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary" 7th ed. Oxford University
Press. Oxford.