Oral English LESSON 7 TEXTBOOK: UNIT 7 FUNCTIONS: speculating, assuming and predicting

Speculating SPECULATING What is a speculating? Why do we speculate? I ask students what they think the words means to get them to begin thinking deeply about it. They would have looked it up in a dictionary as I asked the question.

recall What did the textbook say about speculating? Students are expected to read the textbook before the class, the activity acts as a primer for the class activity.

speculating ‘speculating’ is verb of ‘speculation’ [n] meaning ‘an act of speculating’ [v] sense: ‘to assume something to be true without conclusive evidence’ = speculation [formal] Another sense: ‘A message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence’ = an assumption All I’m doing here is re-presenting what they might’ve found in their dictionary look-up strategy, but what I am doing is getting them to make a strong link with their First language meaning of the English word – this is called associative learning.

brainstorming Try to think of some ways to speculate? It can be either in the form of imagining the future or the outcome of some activity I try to get students to use their noggins to think about the meaning of the language and then use it to communicate an idea, regardless of whether they are right or wrong. This activity gives them more experience with the language and strengthening the concept as an English thing and the link between the English word and the meaning they have in Chinese.

Your examples Some student ‘speculations’ “-----------” [explanation of function] “------------” [explaining the process of speculating] [example of formal/informal speculation] I like to present students ideas to the whole class; it’s an affective tool to lower any anxiety they may have about using English in front of their peers by implying that what they said is important enough for me to highlight and talk about. If it’s wrong, I provide them corrective feedback as I discuss it.

Your examples “-------------” [speculating can involve two speculations] [example of speculating]

Your examples “-----------” [example] “------------”

Some general examples ‘it’s gonna rain tomorrow’ ‘I’m gonna pass the exam’ ‘winter’s gonna be warm’ ‘the uni’s gonna pass it’s evaluation’ ‘I’m gonna marry that girl’ ‘I’ve got the winning numbers [to win the lottery]’ ‘there’ll be no humans a hundred years from now’ ‘the Artic will completely melt in the next few years’ ‘her music’ll be popular next year’ Here, I have just provided some of my own examples; it functions as additional language exposure to get students to notice the language used to construct speculations – the notion of noticing is extremely important in language learning

Ways to introduce speculating Lexical phrases used to introduce a speculation but aren’t the speculation “it’s going to …” “I’m going to …” “the agent/actor is going to …” “I’ve got …” “there’ll be …” “her something will be …” This is additional language used to say a speculation – lexical phrases that act as an introductory device for the actual speculation and is recyclable language; it can used for many functions other than for speculating

Group activity Watch some video of people speculating … http://video.foxnews.com/v/2160966250001/speculation-swirls-over-who-will-become-the-next-pope/ Students watch the video clips showing actual people saying speculations and provides a real social context for language use – hopefully this helps develop their socio-cultural understanding of how and when speculations are used, as well as what they sound like – enunciation is an important part of speaking, so I try to provide students with real language utterances rather than the idealized pronunciations they get from dictionaries and their pronunciation class

Pair work Get in pairs and practice speculating Here, students practice saying speculations with each other further deepening their connection with the language through repetition and strengthening their experience with it

Assuming ASSUMING What is a assuming? Why do we assume?

recall What did the textbook say about assuming?

assuming ‘assuming’ is verb of ‘assumption’ [n] meaning ‘an act of assuming’ [v] sense: ‘to take for granted without proof’ = an assumption [formal] Other senses: ‘to assume everyone wants peace’; = an assumption

brainstorming Try to think of some ways to assume? It can be either in the form of imagining the relationship between two things or a belief about something or someone

Your examples Some student ‘assumptions’ “-----------” [explanation of assuming] “------------” [explaining the process of assuming] [example of formal/informal assumption]

Your examples “-------------” [speculating can involve two assumptions] [example of assuming]

Your examples “-----------” [example] “------------”

Ways to introduce assuming Lexical phrases used to introduce an assumption but aren’t the assumption “it’s going to …” “I’m going to …” “the agent/actor is going to …” “I’ve got …” “there’ll be …” “her something will be …”

Group activity Watch some video of people speculating …

Pair work Get in pairs and practice assuming

predicting ‘predicting’ is verb of ‘prediction’ [n] meaning ‘an act of predicting’ [v] sense: ‘to state, tell about, or make known in advance, especially on the basis of special knowledge’ = to predict [formal] Other senses: ‘to foretell something’; ‘prophesy’ = to predict

recall What did the textbook say about predicting?

brainstorming Try to think of some ways to predict? It must be about the future, something that may happen or could happen but you don’t know for sure

Your examples Some student ‘predictions’ “-----------” [explanation of predicting] “------------” [explaining the process of predicting] [example of formal/informal prediction]

Your examples “-------------” [speculating can involve two predictions] [example of predicting]

Your examples “-----------” [example] “------------”

Group activity Watch some video of people speculating …

Pair work Get in pairs and practice predicting

recap Speculating Assuming Predicting