LESSON OVERVIEW

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

• discuss everyday problems and ways to fix them or get help with services;
• practise using causative verbs (have/get something done) in different contexts and tenses;
• watch a video about a repair café and practise listening for details.

Students talk about breaking and fixing things, watch a video about a repair café and discuss people’s feelings about it. They learn and practise causative forms have/get + object + past participle (e.g. I had my shower fixed). Students study sentences about common problems and services, explore possible responses and describe photos using the target structure. 

WARM-UP AND VOCABULARY

This lesson focuses on the structure have/get something done and starts with a warm-up. Students look at different objects (e.g. a bike, a chair, a cup) and discuss breaking and fixing things. Following that, they watch a video about a community project called a ‘repair café’. First, students think about what a repair café could be. They then watch part of the video and check. Moving on, students watch the rest of the video and write down adjectives people use to describe how they feel about repair cafés. Afterwards, they discuss questions about repair cafés and fixing things. Next, students explore sentences about common problems and how to get help (e.g. The windows are dirty. You should call a…). They complete gaps with professions (e.g. accountant, cleaner, hairdresser). After that, students match responses (e.g. I know. I’ll get them cleaned next week) to the statements from the previous task.

HAVE/GET SOMETHING DONE

In this part of the lesson, students practise causative have/get + object + past participle to talk about services. They do tasks where they study dialogues, rules and verb forms in different tenses. Then, students rewrite sentences using the correct form of have/get something done (e.g. The plumber fixed my shower. – I had my shower fixed.). Following that, they complete gaps with the correct form of have/get something done in sentences about actions and services. After that, students describe photos using sentences with have/get something done. Finally, they look at different categories (e.g. car maintenance cooking, gardening) and think of tasks for each. Students work in pairs and ask their partner whether they do these tasks themselves or have them done by someone else. They ask at least one follow-up question. Each person asks about three categories.

HOMEWORK/REVISION

This lesson also includes an additional task that you can use as homework or revision. In the task, students finish sentences using the correct form of have/get something done and their own ideas. Then, they choose two sentences and turn them into questions. The task is available in the teacher’s version of the worksheet. You can print it and hand it out to your students. It’s also included in the e-lesson plan.