LESSON OVERVIEW

In this lesson about languages, students watch a video and discuss whether languages change the way we see the world. They also learn how to use ellipsis.

VIDEO & SPEAKING

In the warm-up activity, students read two quotes about language and discuss to what extent they agree with them. Before watching the video, they guess what the answer to the question in the title might be (Do we think differently in different languages?). They also brainstorm possible arguments in support of the answer. Then, they watch the video and check their ideas. 

Before the second viewing, students look at two terms used in the video and discuss whether they show how users of different languages think differently. Students watch part of the video for the second time and check their answers. Then, they look at what people in the video said about speaking different languages. They need to discuss whether they have had similar experiences. Finally, students answer several questions about language and perceiving the world. 

TEACHING HOW TO USE ELLIPSIS

In this part of the lesson, students look at some statements from the video and decide what word or words have been left out. Then, they look at the statements again and complete the rules on how to use ellipsis. This task is followed by a controlled practice activity.  Students need to decide which words they can leave out from a set of statements. After that, students think about the languages they speak or know something about and discuss some questions about them while completing a table. The teacher can choose to divide students into pairs or small groups of people who have a similar linguistic background. Finally, students look at the information in the table and come up with five statements to sum up what they discussed. They need to demonstrate how to use ellipsis in the statements (e.g. English is difficult to learn for Spanish speakers but Portuguese isn’t.).