Skip to main content

The Best Bond - ESL Lesson - Compartives vs Superlatives - Intermediate and up


Comparative/Superlative lesson plan featuring James Bond. Students at the end of the lesson will contrast and compare the different James Bonds on a variety of different qualities and come to a consensus on who is the best 007 of all time. Aside from the grammatical point, this lesson can teach/train a lot of new personality adjectives.

Note: For this to work, your students have to have some knowledge of the 007 movies. Check this out beforehand.

Materials: James bond theme music. Pictures of different James Bond actors.


Introduction: a few minutes. 
Version 1: Come into class dressed in a large coat, sunglasses and a hat. Proceed to interact with your students in 'spy like' ways. Try to elicit the concept of spy/espionage.
Versions 2: You might just come in playing the James Bond theme music to elicit James Bond/Spies.

Lead In: 10 minutes at least with boarding lexis
Students in groups answer these questions.

1. Name three famous spy agencies from around the world?
2. What 4 qualities do spies have to have to be successful and why?
3. Name as many examples of famous spies (real or fake) that you can.

Monitor and get feedback. Hopefully one of the students mentions James Bond. If they don't, mention that there's one very famous spy and then play the James Bond theme music. After that, show a picture of Daniel Craig (the latest Bond) and see if the students are familiar with his character. From here, elicit all of the qualities you want to compare. You can change the difficulty of your lexis depending on your level. For example.

James Bond is...
Tall
Attractive
Sophisticated 
Dangerous 
Resourceful 
Intelligent 
Aggressive 
Passionate 
Charming
Ruthless 
Humorous 
Sexy 
Handsome 
Skilled

There are no right or wrong adjectives to use. Just try to get different adjectives to describe different characteristics of James b
Bond, like - height, looks, behaviour, skills...etc. You can also a lot of new adjectives if you wish.


Target Language: Comparative/Superlatives. Around 10 minutes 
Post Daniel Craig's picture on the board next to these adjectives. Then, take another well known James Bond actor (Pierce Bronson) and place him on the other side of the board. Ask the class 'Who is more attractive?' From here, elicit out the grammatical points of using the comparative.
E.g. Tall (Taller) Happy (happier) Aggressive (more aggressive) "Bond A is more/less aggressive than Bond B."

After you've got the comparative down, work on the superlative. Pull out another picture (or all of them) of other famous Bonds and add them to the list (Sean Connery for example). Now work on the superlative.
E.g. Tall (Tallest) Happy (happiest) Aggressive (most aggressive) "Sean Connery is more aggressive than Pierce Bronson, but Daniel Craig in the most aggressive."


Study 1: Drill work. Approximately 7-10 minutes
Create produce a picture of all of the different bonds with potential rankings on all your different categories/adjectives.  Students have to either vocally drill or write the comparatives/superlatives as practice.  Monitor the activity and make sure they are using the correct rules and structures. The length of this activity will completely depend on how many adjectives you use and or how much you want to drill them.


Study 2: Activation prep 5-7 minutes
Put students into groups or pairs depending on class size and hand them a picture of one of the Bonds. Each group needs to have a different James Bond for the activity to work. Instruct them that they are a representative of this James Bond and must later convince the other groups why their Bond is the best. Have them practice now their arguments.

Monitor group to group to make sure that they are practicing the structures correctly and fluently at this point.


Activation: James Bond Appreciation Society 10-15 minutes 

Set up the room in a semi circle with one desk in the middle. Each group, one at a time, will get up and present their case to the scrutiny of the other students.

Set the task as

-Who is your Bond?
-What qualities (physical, mental, behavioural) make them better than the other Bonds?
-What are their weaknesses? (They have to have some, but have your students play them down)
-Why, if anything else, should they be awarded the best best?

Students take notes and rate the performances of each group. Afterwards, the class decides on which group gave the most compelling argument.

Board and correct mistakes afterwards. End the class with a joke.

Note: You can use comparatives/superlatives for all different levels. If you have a more advanced class, teach more advanced adjectives and or use more features of the comparative. E.g. Daniel Craig isn't nearly as, way more, quite, completely, far more...  There's a lot that you can use.

Good luck!
Chris









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ESL Lesson Plan - Passive Voice - Crime Scene

Here's a lesson for solid intermediates and up with a language focus on the passive voice and crime lexis. At the end of the lesson, students take the roles of police officers and have to give a press briefing to the media about a crime scene that they witnessed. Ideally, you will need an empty room to set up a crime scene for the activation and a language school that is ok with you trashing things around a bit. There are other ways to get around this, if this is not possible. * I create tailored lesson plans for anyone who wants them. If you want me to create you a lesson from scratch, contact me, and I'll do one for you. Please follow my blog on the right to show your support. Introduction: just a couple of min. Do any of the following. 1. Show a clip from a movie that shows a police officer giving a press briefing to the media 2. Come in and immediately address the class as if they are police officers 3. Have a picture of a police chalk outline and ask students wh
2 comments
Read more

Past Modals Intermediate Lesson Plan: "The Worst Week Ever"

Here's a lesson plan that is suitable for Intermediate and Upper Intermediate language students with past modal verbs being the focus. The lesson requires only about 15 minutes of prep to pull off and has a heavy focus on speaking. I recommend doing this lesson for groups of students who already have a decent understanding of past participles. Take a look! I also have a video demonstration of this lesson plan in action that I've posted below. Intro: 1 minute Come into class asking students how their day is going. Have a glass of water with you that you are drinking. When you they ask you about your day, spill the water all over yourself. Elicit the concept of having a bad day. Lead In: 5-7 minutes Demo out the questions and put students in groups 1. Do you often have bad days? 2. What are three things that can typically happen to make a day go wrong? 3. What are 4 bad, but funny, things that have happened to you this year? Target Language: 10 minutes  Before i
1 comment
Read more

ESL Lesson Plan - Create your own Movie - Lexis

  Here's a lesson for intermediate students and up that involves the students making a mock movie and pitching it to a movie studio.   Introduction: just a few minutes.  Come in pretending to be a director and mime filming the class. Elicit the concept of movies or film.  Lead in: around 7 minutes. Demo these questions out and put students in groups to answer them. 1. Do you like watching movies? What is your favorite movie? 2. What good movies have you seen this last year? 3. Who is your favorite actor and director? Why? 4. What well known movies have been made in your country? Lexis: around 10 minutes. Elicit and CCQ the following an actor, a star, a lead role, a supporting role a director a producer a plot a cast a setting a genre a thriller a horror movie a comedy, a black comedy, a romantic comedy a drama a documentary to pitch (a movie) a twist Study 1: around 5 minutes. Matching with strips. Students match the definition with the word with
Post a Comment
Read more