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Lesson 9 – In your mind\’s eye

Warm up

  1.  Ask students How easy do you find it to see pictures in your mind
    Tell them they are going to try an experiment. Advise them that it is better if they close their eyes, but they do not have to. Tell them you are going to say a word, and they should see a picture in their mind. Say dog.
    Tell them to open their eyes. Ask them what did they see. Do they know the dog or was it a dog they have never seen before?  What did it look like? Could they hear it?
  2. Elicit hear, smell, taste, and feel.
  3. Tell students they are going to try another experiment, Advice them to close their eyes. Say Think of your favorite food and your favorite place to eat.
    Tell them to open their eyes, and describe their experience.

Main Activity

Listening

  1. Tell them they are going to hear a description. Close their eyes if they want
  2. Play the recording once
  3. Ask them to compare their experiences with their neighbors.
  4. Ask for examples of interesting details. Add any new adjectives

Speaking

  1. Tell students they are going to describe short journeys for each other to imagine. Put them in pairs and look at the text below.
HOW TO PLAN YOUR JOURNEY
  • Begin by describing the time of year and the weather.
  • Then start the journey with: You are walking along a quiet road in the countryside…
  • The journey should have another seven different stages. You can choose stages from the box or think of others.

 

Possible stages:
garden    field    path    river    castle     Temple     bridge
lake    forest    house   village   waterfall    beach      hill 
  • Talk about the details of the things at each stage of the journey. Is there anything interesting or unusual about them? What other things are there? Remember to use some adjectives.
  • Make short notes for each step of the journey. Do not write sentences – just add verbs of sense, some nouns, and some adjectives, e.g. smell grass/see a beautiful tree.
  • End with a sunset.
PLAN YOUR JOURNEY
Describe the time of year and the weather.
You are walking along a quiet road in the countryside…
Stage 1 ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. …………………………………..
Stage 2 ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. …………………………………..
Stage 3 ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. …………………………………..
Stage 4 ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. …………………………………..
Stage 5 ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. …………………………………..
Stage 6 ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. …………………………………..
Stage 7 ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. …………………………………..
Describe the sunset. ………………………………….. ………………………………….. ………………………………….
  1. Tell students to read the instructions and ask if they have any questions
  2. Let them discuss the stages of the journey together. They do not have to plan the same journey, but they should help each other think of ideas and words
  3. When they have finished planning, change partners.
  4. Ask one of the pair to describe their journey from their notes. Advise them to speak quite slowly and leave some time for their listener to imagine the scenes. Remind the listener that closing their eyes if they want can help them imagine more clearly.
  5. When they have finished, ask the other student to describe their journey.
  6. Ask them to compare their experiences with the others.
  7. Ask if anyone had very strong or unusual experiences.

Follow up

Students write an account of the journey they listened to and the experiences they had.