4. Go over an unknown/difficult vocabulary with the class.

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Workbook-linked lesson plans and materials © Elac

WRITING A DIARY ENTRY: TASK 2

Note: You do nothaveto use all – or even any – of the activities outlined here. Below are some ideas which you may find useful when teaching this task from the workbook.

Stage 1 – language features of a diary entry

1. Write ‘A Diary Entry’ on the board and elicit what it means.

2. Now hand out the first worksheet and get them to do it in pairs.

3. Combine the pairs into fours and get them to exchange ideas.

4. Feedback session – you should be able to elicit the following but you may have to supply quite a lot. They should add to their worksheet as you go along.

Content. What type of information is included? Personal – lots of ‘I’ and ‘we’

Organisation. How are ideas organised? Short paragraphs headed with the date of the entry

How are ideas joined together? Lots of time conjunctions and additives such as ‘and’, ‘then’, ‘afterwards’ etc.

Style– informal

Tenses – usually past but some futures for plans – especially ‘going to’

Verbs:lots of action verbs such as went, did, visited, saw, enjoyed etc. but also a lot of ‘projecting’ verbs such as hope, would like, expect, think, feel etc.

Stage 2 – Shouting dictation

Taken from the book 'The secret diary of Adrian Mole' by Sue Townsend, the diary extracts will give your students some idea about the organisation and layout of diary entries.

1. Put students in pairs and make 1 'A' and 1 'B’. Have all the 'B’ students sitting on one side of the room and all the 'A' students on the other. 2. Give them the corresponding sheet below. The A students have to dictate their entries to the B students who are on the other side of the room and vice versa. Tell students that unknown words should be spelt out to their partners. With everyone speaking at once, the activity can get noisy!

3. At the end of the activity, get the students to sit back in their pairs again and get them to

4. Go over an unknown/difficult vocabulary with the class.

Stage 3 – comprehension check

1. When you have finished the shouting dictation and checked the outcomes, you need to focus a little on meaning.

2. Handout the comprehension questions for your level of students. They should try the questions individually at first and then check together in pairs before you do any whole-class feedback and checking. You will need to do some whole class feedback but try to keep it as short as possible.

Stage 4 – writing their own diaries

1. Get the students to write down the names of 5 days of the week on a piece of A4 and then tell them to think of one thing that happened on each day.

2. They must then write one noun, one adjective and one verb for each event. They must not write full sentences.

3. Put the class in pairs and get them to exchange papers. The task is to see if, from the clues, the partners can decipher each other’s events and put them in a complete sentence. They should correct each other when / if they get it wrong.

4. Now, individually, the students can write their diaries for the week in the workbook while you monitor and support their efforts as well as you can.

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Work sheet 1

Work in pairs and answer these questions about a diary entry:

Content – what sort

of information do

you find in diaries?

How are ideas

organised?

How are ideas

joined together?

Is the style formal or

informal?

What tenses are

used?

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C1/2 – A

Friday January 2nd

I felt rotten today. It’s my mother’s fault for singing ‘My Way’ at two o’clock in the morning at the

top of the stairs. Just my luck to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parents could be

alcoholics. Next year I could be in a children’s home.

Saturday January 3rd

__________________________________________________________________________________

Sunday January 4th

My father has got the flu. I’m not surprised with the diet we get. My mother went out in the rain to

get him a vitamin C drink, but as I told her, ‘It’s too late now’. It’s a miracle we don’t get scurvy. The

dog has run off because my mother didn’t close the gate.

Monday January 5th

__________________________________________________________________________________

C1/2 – B

Friday January 2nd

__________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday January 3rd

I shall go mad through lack of sleep! My father has banned the dog from the house so it barked

outside my window all night. Just my luck! My father shouted a swearword at it. If he’s not careful

he will get done by the police for obscene language.

Sunday January 4th

__________________________________________________________________________________

Monday January 5th

The dog hasn’t come back yet. It is peaceful without it. My mother rang the police and gave a

description of the dog. She made it sound worse than it actually is: straggly hair over its eyes and all

that. I really think the police have got better things to do than look for dogs, such as catching

murderers. I told my mother this but she still rang them. My father is still lazing about in bed. He is

supposed to be ill, but I noticed he is still smoking! Nigel came round today.

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B1/2 – A

Friday January 2nd

I felt terrible today. It’s my mother’s fault for singing at two o’clock in the morning. I'm

unlucky to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parents could be alcoholics. Next

year I could be in a children’s home.

Saturday January 3rd

___________________________________________________________________________

Sunday January 4th

My father has got the flu. I’m not surprised with the food we get. My mother went out in

the rain to get him a vitamin C drink, but I told her it was too late.

The dog has run off because my mother didn’t close the gate.

Monday January 5th

___________________________________________________________________________

B1/2 – B

Friday January 2nd

___________________________________________________________________________

Saturday January 3rd

I am going to go crazy because of lack of sleep! My father has made the dog sleep in the

garden and it barked outside my window all night. My father shouted at it.

Sunday January 4th

___________________________________________________________________________

Monday January 5th

The dog hasn’t come back yet. It is peaceful without it. My mother rang the police and

described the dog to them. I really think the police have got better things to do than look

for dogs.

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A1/2 – A

Friday January 2nd

I feel terrible today. My mother was singing at two o’clock in the morning.

Saturday January 3rd

________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

Sunday January 4th

My father has got the flu. My mother went out in the rain to get him a vitamin

C drink.

The dog has run away because my mother didn’t close the gate.

Monday January 5th

________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

A1/2 – B

Friday January 2nd

________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Saturday January 3rd

My father put the dog in the garden and it barked all night. He shouted at it.

Sunday January 4th

________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________

Monday January 5th

The dog hasn’t come back yet. It is peaceful without it. My mother rang the

police.

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Comprehension questions: C1/2

1. Give a synonym for the word 'rotten' (January 2nd). 2. Why does Adrian feel rotten on January 2nd?

3. What does 'to go mad' mean in this context (January 3rd)? i. To become really angry

ii. To go insane/crazy

4. (January 3rd) To bark, to howl and to growl are all verbs which describe noises that dogs make. Which noise is:

i. what a dog does when it is being aggressive?

ii. what a dog does when it is bored, looking for attention or to tell you that someone has broken into your house?

iii. what a dog does when it looks up at a full moon at night?

5. Adrian says 'Just my luck!' (January 3rd). Does he mean that he considers himself to be a lucky person or an unlucky person? Why?

6. Scurvy is a disease which you can get if you don't have enough Vitamin C. What types of food might you try to eat if the doctor told you that you had this disease? Give a few examples.

7. Name a verb which can be used instead of 'to run off' (January 4th)? 8. What does 'straggly' mean (January 5th)?

i. Nicely combed, straight hair

ii. Uncombed, untidy hair that (probably) hasn't been cared for very much 9. What tenses are used in the diary entries? Underline/highlight examples.

10. How are the diary entries laid out and organised (i.e. Paragraphs? Bullet points? Pictures? Full sentences? Do you start with your name?)?

B1/2

1. Give a synonym for the word 'terrible' (January 2nd). 2. Why does Adrian feel terrible on January 2nd?

3. What does 'to go mad' mean in this context (January 3rd)? i. To become really angry

ii. To go insane/crazy

4. (January 3rd) To bark, to howl and to growl are all verbs which describe noises that dogs make. Which noise is:

i. what a dog does when it is being aggressive?

ii. what a dog does when it is bored, looking for attention or to tell you that something is wrong?

iii. what a dog does when it looks up at a full moon at night?

5. Adrian's father has the flu (January 4th). Can you think of examples of 4 more illnesses? 6. Name a verb which can be used instead of 'to run off' (January 4th)?

7. What tenses are used in the diary entries? Underline/highlight examples.

8. How are the diary entries laid out and organised (i.e. Paragraphs? Bullet points? Pictures? Full sentences? Do you start with your name?)?

A1/2

1. Why does Adrian feel terrible on January 2nd?

2. On January 3rd Adrian's dog barks. When does a dog usually bark? a. when it is being aggressive

b. when it is bored or looking for attention c. when it is looking up at a full moon at night

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Teacher’s copies of shouting dictation:

C1/2 – TEACHERS COPY

Friday January 2nd

I felt rotten today. It’s my mother’s fault for singing ‘My Way’ at two o’clock in the morning at the top of the stairs. Just my luck to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parents could be alcoholics. Next year I could be in a children’s home.

Saturday January 3rd

I shall go mad through lack of sleep! My father has banned the dog from the house so it barked outside my window all night. Just my luck! My father shouted a swearword at it. If he’s not careful he will get done by the police for obscene language.

Sunday January 4th

My father has got the flu. I’m not surprised with the diet we get. My mother went out in the rain to get him a vitamin C drink, but as I told her, ‘It’s too late now’. It’s a miracle we don’t get scurvy.

The dog has run off because my mother didn’t close the gate. Monday January 5th

The dog hasn’t come back yet. It is peaceful without it. My mother rang the police and gave a description of the dog. She made it sound worse than it actually is: straggly hair over its eyes and all that. I really think the police have got better things to do than look for dogs, such as catching murderers. I told my mother this but she still rang them.

My father is still lazing about in bed. He is supposed to be ill, but I noticed he is still smoking! Nigel came round today.

B1/2 – TEACHERS COPY Friday January 2nd

I felt terrible today. It’s my mother’s fault for singing at two o’clock in the morning. I'm unlucky to have a mother like her. There is a chance my parents could be alcoholics. Next year I could be in a children’s home. Saturday January 3rd

I am going to go crazy because of lack of sleep! My father has made the dog sleep in the garden and it barked outside my window all night. My father shouted at it.

Sunday January 4th

My father has got the flu. I’m not surprised with the food we get. My mother went out in the rain to get him a vitamin C drink, but I told her it was too late.

The dog has run off because my mother didn’t close the gate. Monday January 5th

The dog hasn’t come back yet. It is peaceful without it. My mother rang the police and described the dog to them. I really think the police have got better things to do than look for dogs.

My father is still being lazy in bed. He says that he is ill but I noticed he is still smoking! A1/2 – TEACHERS COPY

Friday January 2nd

I feel terrible today. My mother was singing at two o’clock in the morning. Saturday January 3rd

My father put the dog in the garden and it barked all night. He shouted at it. Sunday January 4th

My father has got the flu. My mother went out in the rain to get him a vitamin C drink. The dog has run away because my mother didn’t close the gate.

Monday January 5th