An introduction to Collocation - a lesson plan
by Tanju Deveci
- 1

Level: Pre-Intermediate

Length of Lesson: 50 minutes

Type of Lesson: Lexis-Collocations

Objectives:
Main Objectives:
By the end of the lesson students will have
a - been encouraged to notice some collocational usages of the words 'make', 'do' and 'have' in a written (in the form of a letter seeking for advice)and recorded dialogue by listening to the conversation first and then reading the typescript.
b - recorded these collocations on a worksheet provided by the teacher.
c - practiced using these collocations in context by writing sentences about themselves or their family members.

Subsidiary Objectives:
By the end of the lesson students will have had some practice on listening for specific information.

Assumptions: Even though the students aren't familiar with the word 'collocation', they might not remember it in class. Therefore, I will use the word 'phrase' in class to refer to 'collocation'. They have also done work on different kinds of collocations. They have seen collocations such as 'to make friends', 'to make money', 'to do homework' etc. However, they have not had the chance to work on the infinitive forms of these collocations or written different sentences using these collocations. That is, their knowledge of these collocations is on recognition level.
They have been introduced to different ways of recording vocabulary items in their vocabulary journal and the importance of this has been made clear to them. Therefore, I do not expect them to have problems using the vocabulary -sheet that I will provide them with.
I also assume that they will be familiar with the most grammatical structures covered in the materials.

Anticipated Problems:
a - Some of the students might want to understand every single word in the text. If this happens, ask them not to worry about all of the words that they do not know and encourage them to get the gist of the text first of all. If they have problems with target collocations or any other important vocabulary items, use one or more of the strategies below:
- Supply context
- Give explanations
- Mime
- Let peer-help
- Use equivalents in students' L1
- Compare with the students' mother tongue

b - Some of the grammatical structures in the text may be new for the students, and they might want to understand them fully asking for clarification from the teacher. If such a thing happens, tell them that as long as they can understand what it means from the text, they should not worry about grammatical explanations since they will be learning them in later lesson.

c - Since dictionaries do not contain all the infinitive forms of the target collocations, they might have problems trying to figure out the infinitive forms. Therefore, work with the whole class to extract infinitive forms.

For example: I made a new friend to make new friends

d - There might be a power-cut in the building, which would impede the listening. If this happens, read the dialogue changing your voice.

g - The bell might go off in the middle of the last stage where they are supposed to produce their own sentences using target collocations. Since this part is important, let the students know that they might need to stay in class 5 minutes extra and that they will be able to take their break after this. Also, their friends might want to come to class for their friends while they are still on task. To avoid this, put a 'PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB' sign on the door.

Materials:
- A reading text in the form of a letter.
- A text in the form of listening.
- Pictures representing the people in the story.
- A tape-recorder.
- OHP
- Hand-out for recording collocations.
- The typescript of the dialogue.

Procedure:

Stage 1:
Aim: To establish the aim of the lesson (5 minutes).

A: T -- Ss : Write the following sentence on the board:
(Ss -- T)
I am ………………… a coffee.

Elicit what could be put in the blank. Expected answers: drinking, make, making, having.

B: T --------- Ss: After underlining the collocations, try to reach a consensus that these phrases have different meanings, and we need to learn them as phrases. Also, let them see that direct translation from L1 would not help them. To do this, ask them to translate the phrases into their L1

a) to make a coffee: Kahve yapmak/kahve hazirlamak (as in Turkish)

(they might say that kahve yapmak is a direct translation. Therefore, ask them if we can say do a coffee. Do and make have the same direct translation in Turkish language: yapmak)

b) to have a coffee: Kahve içmek -içmek in Turkish meaning to drink. Point out that we can say to drink coffee in English, but to have a coffee is more natural.

C: T -- Ss: Tell them that in this lesson they will be dealing with such words including do, make and have. And make the importance of the lesson clear for them.

Stage 2:
Aim: Aim: To help students notice some collocational usages of the words 'make', 'do' and 'have' (15 minutes).

A: Ss -- Ss: Remind the students of the letter that they had read in the previous lesson. Tell them that this letter contains some phrases with make, do and have. Ask them to read the letter again to underline phrases in which the words make, do and have are used. (Display the instructions on OHP)

First do one example with the class on OHP.

B: Ss -- T: When they are finished, ask in what lines they have found the phrases. And check if they have the meanings correct. Do this as follows:
- Ask them to translate the phrases into Turkish.
- Ask concept questions.
- Get them to reflect on the tenses used
- Mime (if possible)

C: T -- Ss: While the meaning of each phrase is discussed, ask them to note the forms of the phrases on the worksheet that you provide them with.

Stage 3:
Aim: To have students listen to a dialogue for the gist meaning (5 minutes).

A: T -- Ss: Ask them why Güllü's boyfriend could be behaving the way he is doing. This will give them a chance to predict first.

B: T -- Ss: Show them a picture of the boyfriend Hulusi and explain that he is in a pub talking to one of his friends. Make it clear that they will be talking about Hulusi. Their task is to listen and see what he thinks about Güllü, and what kind of people his parents are.

C: Ss -- T: Have open-class feedback.

Stage 4:
Aim: To give students a chance to make guesses about the correct choice of word (make, do and have) to fill in the blanks in the collocational phrases in the typescript of the dialogue they have just listened to (10 minutes).

A: T -- Ss: Tell them that working in pairs, they will read the typescript of the dialogue, but they need to provide the correct word (make, do, or have) in the collocational phrases in the correct tense.

Do one or two example with the class.

B: Ss - Ss: Get them to do the task in pairs.

C: Ss : When they are finished with the task, play the dialogue for a second time for them to check their answers. When the conversation is over, have open class feedback. If time does not seem to be enough for the following stages, only have oral feedback.

D: T -- Ss: Elicit the infinitive forms of these collocations and ask them to record them on their worksheets while teacher writes on OHT.

Stage 5:
Aim: To give the students' the chance to personalize the target phrases by writing sentences about themselves or their family members (15 minutes).

A: Ss-- Ss: Ask them to write some sentences about themselves or their family members using the target phrases. Give one example about yourself first.

Yesterday I had a fight with my wife, but I bought her some flowers and she forgave me.

B: Ss -- Ss: When they have written their sentences, ask them to write their sentences on the board so that the other can also read.
If time does not allow all the students to write their sentences on the board, have only early finishers write on the board after you check their sentences. This will guide the other students as well. After students have read each other's sentences for peer-correction, ask some of them to read out their sentences to class for feedback.
If the bell goes off in the middle of the activity, keep the student in class for another five minutes, telling them that the next lesson will start five minutes late.

Contingency Plan:

Aim: To have student revise the phrases they have learnt in the lesson (10 minutes).

Ss -- Ss: Get them to play hot-seat using the target phrases, where the students are put into two groups and with the help of the group member one person from each group tries to come up with the correct co-occuring word for the word given by the teacher. Each time he/she gets it correct the group gets a point. The group with most points is the winner!

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