Grammar communication teacher’s notes A1+
Starter Unit 1
Pens and pencils Is she from Russia?
Activity: Board game in groups Activity: Information exchange in pairs and memory
Language: days and months; telling the time; the classroom game in groups
To use: After Student’s Book, page 8 Language: to be; have got; countries; nationalities;
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each the family
group of 3–4 students. Provide a coin and counters for To use: After Student’s Book, page 17
each group. Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each
pair. Cut each worksheet into two.
Procedure
Procedure
■ Divide the class into groups of three or four and give
each group a worksheet, a coin and counters. ■ Divide the class into pairs and give each student in each
■ Ask students to look at the board and explain that they pair an A or B worksheet. Ask the students not to look at
are going to play a game. The aim is to move up the each other’s worksheets.
board and get to FINISH. ■ Ask each student to look at the pictures of the people on
■ Ask students to place their counters on the square their worksheets. Explain that there are three pieces of
marked START. information for each person and point out the small
■ Explain the rules of the game: students take turns to illustrations of the birthday cake, globe and family, which
toss the coin and move around the board in the order represent age, country, and number of brothers and
of the squares from 1–14. They move 1 square for heads sisters. Point out that there are two pairs of twins. Explain
or 2 squares for tails. If they land on a square with a task that some of their cards have the information, and other
on it, they must do the task correctly. If they do the task cards don’t. Tell students that they have to ask their
incorrectly, they miss a turn. If they land on a square partner for the information that is missing on their cards.
with the end of a pen or pencil on it, they move in the ■ Give the students time to look at their worksheets and
direction of the tip of the pen/pencil, either up or down think about what kind of information is missing for each
the board, then do the task on the square they moved to. person/people. Prompt them to think of questions and if
necessary, write them in their notebooks. Elicit a few
■ Students play the game in their groups. Monitor and
help as necessary. examples on the board, e.g.
Is Lisa from Russia? Is Lisa British?
■ The first student in each group to get to FINISH is the winner.
Has Ali got a brother?
Are Ahmet and Isra 15 years old?
Extension
■ Students work in pairs, and ask and answer the
Students create their own questions by drawing times, questions to complete the missing information. Ask
classroom objects and writing dates on pieces of paper. students to ask Is he/she (X) years old? for age rather
They play the game again with their own questions. than How old is he/she?
■ When they finish, pairs compare their cards.
Option
In small groups, students play a memory game. They look at
their worksheets for a few minutes and turn them face down.
Then one student in the group chooses one of the people on
the worksheet. The other students ask two questions each
and try to guess who the person/people on the card is/are.
e.g. Is this person from Brazil? Does this person have
one sister?
Extension
(After Student’s Book, page 21) In different pairs, students
choose one person and write a personal profile and fact file
for them. They can write it in the first person or in the third
person. Encourage students to make up more information
about the person’s family, pets, hobbies, etc. Refer them
to the personal profile on page 21 of the Student’s Book.
Students exchange and read other profiles.
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Grammar communication teacher’s notes A1+
Unit 2 Unit 3
In the library Let’s race!
Activity: ‘Find the differences’ task in pairs and memory Activity: Board game in groups of four
game in small groups Language: present simple (all forms); adverbs of
Language: possessive ‘s; possessive pronouns; regular frequency; everyday activities; free-time activities
plural nouns; question words; everyday objects To use: After Student’s Book, page 43
To use: After Student’s Book, page 25 Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each group of four students. Provide a coin for each group.
pair. Cut each worksheets into two.
Procedure
Procedure
■ Divide the class into groups of four and give each group
■ Divide the class into pairs and give each student in each a worksheet. Give students a few minutes to read
pair an A or B worksheet. Ask the students not to look at the questions.
each other’s worksheets. ■ In each group, ask students to work in pairs and form
■ Ask students to look at their worksheets. Decide the two teams, A and B. Ask students to look at the game
names of the teenagers in the picture and point out that board for their team and point out the paths with the ten
there are six differences in their pictures. Explain that the stepping stones. Explain the rules of the game:
differences are related to objects. Explain that students – The aim of the game is for each team to move along
have to find out what the differences are between their board in order of the ‘stepping stones’ 1–10 and
their picture and their partner’s picture by asking and reach the picnic/beach first.
answering questions. – To move along the board, each team tosses the coin.
■ Draw students’ attention to the words under each If it’s heads, they move one stone; if its tails, they move
picture. Ask students to look at their pictures and write two stones.
sentences about the items, as in the example. Give – When they land on each stepping stone, both students
them a few minutes to do this. Remind them that the in the team must answer a question which the other
possessive ‘s is placed after the name/person and before team chooses from the list. Teams can’t ask the same
the noun. Monitor and make sure students use it’s and question twice.
they’re correctly. – Both players in the team must answer the question.
■ When they finish, ask students to work in pairs and take They must use and and because in their answers. If they
turns to ask about the six objects in order to find six don’t, they move back to the previous stone.
differences. Before they start, draw their attention to the ■ Tell students that they can make up their answers or
example dialogue on their worksheets. Demonstrate with talk about other people they know if they can’t think of
a student and point out the use of the possessive pronoun anything to say. Give examples if necessary.
in the response. ■ Give students time to play the game. Monitor and make
■ Give students time to do the task. Monitor and make note of any problems with present simple forms or
note of any problems with the possessive ‘s and adverbs of frequency. Check the errors at the end of the
possessive pronouns. When they finish, students game with the whole class.
can compare their pictures. (Note: to make it more
challenging, students cover the sentences.) Option
Option Fast finishers write their own questions using the present
simple and adverbs of frequency. They play the game again
Put students in small A and B groups. In each group, one with their own questions.
student looks at the picture and asks questions to test their
partners’ memory. For example, Is it Annie’s tablet? (No, it isn’t. Extension
It’s Ben’s.) or Is it Ben’s tablet? (Yes, it is. It’s his.) Encourage
students to use possessive pronouns in their replies. Students pick one of the ‘you’ questions from the list (i.e. 1–3,
5–9, 12, 14, 16–20) and conduct a class survey. Ask them to
walk around the class asking their questions and taking note
of their classmates’ answers. They share their information in
small groups.
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Grammar communication teacher’s notes A1+
Unit 4 Unit 5
There’s a(n) ... / There are some ... One picture = 1,000 sentences
Activity: Picture dictation in pairs Activity: Pairwork writing activity with visual clues
Language: There is/There are; countable and Language: can/can’t; like, love, hate, can’t stand + gerund;
uncountable nouns; some, any, a/an; prepositions of adverbs of manner
place; food and drink To use: After Student’s Book, page 69
To use: After Student’s Book, page 55 Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each group of four students. Cut up the picture cards.
pair. Cut each worksheet into two. Provide a die for each group.
Procedure Procedure
■ Divide the class into pairs and give each student in each ■ Divide the class into groups of four, and ask each student
pair an A or B worksheet. Ask the students not to look at to work with a partner in their group. Tell the students
each other’s worksheets. that they are going to play a game in their groups and
■ Ask the students to look at the words and draw their they will work in pairs. Write the following key on the
attention to the phrases above the pictures. Tell them to board. Then give a set of picture cards (face down) and a
write a, an or some on the lines, depending on whether dice to each group.
the noun is countable or uncountable, singular or plural.
like hate can can’t love can’t
Monitor and check answers.
stand
■ Ask students to then draw the items in the words and
phrases in the room shown in their first picture. So, ■ Explain how to play the game by doing an example with
Student A draws in the picture of the kitchen and the whole class. Roll the die and point out the number on
Student B draws in the picture of the living room/dining the die (e.g. 3), and then refer to the key on the board,
room. Encourage students to be creative and draw e.g. 3 = can. Turn over a picture card. Tell students that
the items in/on/near/next to/under/above other items they have to write a sentence about the picture using can
in the picture. They don’t need to draw the items in with an adverb of manner where appropriate e.g. I can
‘logical’ places. sing well. Ask the students to count the number of words
■ When they have finished, students take turns to describe in the sentence (four).
the position of the items in their pictures to their partner, ■ Students play in groups of two or three pairs. In each
who must draw them in the room shown in his/her group, each pair takes turns to roll the die, pick a card
second picture. Give an example, e.g. There are some and write a sentence with an adverb and their word. Set
eggs on the dining table. Monitor and make note of any a time limit for the students to write their sentences.
problems with language. ■ When time is up, students read out their sentence. If it
■ When they have finished, students compare is grammatically correct and makes sense, they win one
their pictures. point per word. If there’s a mistake, they get only get one
point for the whole sentence.
Option ■ Students continue playing the game and keeping count
of their scores. The first pair to reach 60 points is the
For further practice, students ask each other two questions
winner. Monitor and make note of sentences to go over
related to other details in each picture (e.g. the furniture)
with the whole class.
using Is there a(n) ... in the (kitchen)? and Are there any ... in
the (living room)? Note: to make this more challenging, students can play
on their own in small groups, writing sentences
Extension individually. Alternatively, the game can be set up as a
whole class competition, with small teams competing.
Students play a guessing game in small groups. They take
turns to choose one item from the pictures and write it Extension
down without telling the other players. The other players try
to guess the item by asking Have you got a(n)/any ...? The Students write six true sentences about themselves, one
student who guesses the item wins a point. for each verb on the board, using adverbs of manner
where appropriate.
When they finish, ask students to find a partner. They then
take turns to read three of their sentences to each other. For
every sentence, the student listening must agree with ‘Me
too!/Me neither!’ or disagree with ‘Really? I do/don’t!’. Write
the exclamations on the board for students to refer to. When
they finish, students find a different partner. Monitor and
help as necessary.
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Grammar communication teacher’s notes A1+
Unit 6 Unit 7
Ten seconds Past charades
Activity: Group memory game, drawing and pairwork Activity: Groupwork guessing game with charades
storytelling Language: past simple affirmative regular and irregular
Language: present continuous (all forms); shops; verbs; sports; free-time activities
shopping; clothes To use: After Student’s Book, page 95
To use: After Student’s Book, page 81 Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each group of four students. Cut up the cards.
student and fold it where indicated (or cut off the
sentences). Make an additional copy of the picture on
each worksheet for each group of four students. Procedure
■ Divide the class into groups of four. Give a set of cut-up
Procedure picture cards to each group. Ask the students to shuffle
■ Divide the class into groups of four. Put a copy of the the cards and place them in the middle of the group,
picture on the worksheet for each group at the front of the face down.
class or stick them on the wall of the classroom. Make sure ■ Explain that the students are going to play a game. Tell
students know where their group’s picture is, but can’t see them that each card has a picture and a short sentence in
it from where they’re seated. the past simple on it. Students take turns to turn over the
■ Explain that one student from each team is going to come cards and act out the situation/activity shown, without
to the front and look at a picture for ten seconds. They must speaking or showing the card to the other students. The
then go back to their team and tell them as many details other students in the group have to guess the situation/
about the picture as they can (e.g. people, clothes, shops, activity and say a sentence exactly as it appears on the
actions, etc.). At this point, they can’t write anything down. card, beginning with ‘I ...’. Students score one point for
■ Set the time and ask a student from each group to go and each sentence they guess correctly. Tell students that
look at their pictures for ten seconds, before returning they can only take one card at a time and they can’t put
to their groups and describing what they saw. Then a the card back and pick another one. The first team to use
different student from each group does the same. Repeat up all the cards, shouts Stop! and the game finishes.
the process until all the students in each group have ■ Ask the students to play the game in their groups.
looked at the picture. Monitor and make sure they’re playing according to the
■ Students now work in their groups and write down rules and are keeping track of their points.
as many sentences as they can describing what they ■ When a group shouts Stop! ask all the groups to stop
saw in the picture. Allow ten minutes for this. Give an and collect the cards. Give students five minutes to
example and remind students that they need to use the write down as many sentences as they can remember.
present continuous. Allow them to refer to their books or Explain that each correct sentence they write counts for
dictionaries if they need help with vocabulary. five points, in addition to the points they scored whilst
■ Give a copy of the worksheet (folded so that the sentences playing the game.
are not visible) to each student and ask them to look at ■ After five minutes, hand out the cards again so that the
the picture and check whether the sentences their group students can check their sentences. Ask them to add up
wrote are correct. Check with the whole class. their score. The group with the highest number of points
■ Ask the students to unfold the worksheet and look at the is the winner.
gapped sentences. Give them time to complete them
with the present continuous form of the verbs. Check Extension
answers in the class.
■ Students draw the extra details given in the sentences in Divide the class into pairs and give each pair four cards. Ask
the picture. When they finish, they compare pictures in the students to copy the sentences into their notebooks. On
small groups. their own, ask them to extend each sentence by adding an
and or because clause. Do an example on the board, e.g. I
Key bought an expensive ring because it was my mum’s birthday.
1 are carrying 2 is walking 3 is sitting 4 is holding When they finish, students read out their sentences and
5 is cleaning 6 is playing 7 is eating 8 is wearing compare their ideas.
Extension
In pairs or small groups, students invent names for each
person in the picture. They also make up information, e.g. job,
where they live, why they are in town today/where they are
going, how they feel, etc. Encourage them to make notes.
In different pairs or groups, students take turns to choose a
person in the picture and ask their partner(s) Who’s this?
They compare the characters they’ve created.7
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Grammar communication teacher’s notes A1+
Unit 8 Unit 9
Create your story Check the facts
Activity: Pairwork storytelling Activity: Quiz in pairs or groups
Language: past simple regular and irregular verbs Language: comparative adjectives; superlative
(all forms) adjectives; animals
To use: After Student’s Book, page 107 To use: After Student’s Book, page 121
Preparation: Make two copies of the worksheet for each Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for
pair. Cut each worksheet into two. each student.
Procedure Procedure
■ Divide the class into pairs and give each student in each ■ Give each student a worksheet and explain that the
pair an A or B worksheet students are going to do a quiz. Ask students to look
■ Explain that the pictures show a story and the students at their worksheets. Go through the categories 1–7 and
are going to create the story using the past simple. explain any unfamiliar words, e.g. wildebeest, monument.
The first thing they must do is name the main character. ■ Point out the two questions and three options (a, b, c)
Then, they must look at the pictures carefully and think in each category. Ask the students to complete the
of a plot. Prompt them to read the questions on their questions with the comparative and superlative form of
worksheet to help them. Encourage them to think of the adjective. Do an example to illustrate that the first
more details for their story. Give examples if necessary. question needs the superlative form (it asks about the
■ Ask the students to make notes about their story, but tell top item amongst the three options), and the second
them not to write it down. Give them ten minutes to do question needs the comparative form (it compares the
this. Monitor and help as necessary. two other options).
■ When students have finished making notes, ask all the For example: Which is the largest ocean? (The Pacific
Student As to work with another Student A and all the Ocean). Is the Atlantic Ocean larger than the Indian
Student Bs to work with another Student B. Ask students Ocean? (Yes).
to tell each other their stories. Prompt them to notice if ■ Students do the quiz individually or in pairs. Allow them
their stories are similar or different. to check answers online if possible. They might also want
■ Ask students to now work in A/B pairs. Ask them to take to look up the paintings in category 3 on the Internet to
turns telling their partner their story from memory, using give their opinion.
their notes and without looking at the pictures. Their ■ Students then compare answers in small groups.
partner listens carefully, without taking any notes, then, ■ Point out the last category: number 8. Ask students to
using the cards, re-tells their partner’s story. work in pairs and think of another category, two questions
and three options. Monitor and help as necessary.
Option ■ Put the students in different pairs to ask each other
their questions.
With less confident students, allow them to write out their
story before telling it. They could also do the story writing in Key
pairs and then work with another pair to tell their stories. 1 largest; larger; The Pacific Ocean, The Atlantic Ocean,
The Indian Ocean
Extension 2 fastest; faster; the cheetah, the antelope, the
wildebeest
Ask the students to use their partner’s story pictures (i.e. the 3 most expensive; more expensive; The Card Players,
pictures they didn’t use) and write a story (60–80 words). Violet, Green and Red, Les Femmes d’Alger
Monitor and give feedback while they’re writing. 4 most dangerous; more dangerous; swimming,
When they have finished, ask the students to rewrite the first football, skiing
draft, improving the plot, making corrections to the language, 5 tallest; taller; The Burj Khalifa, The Tokyo Skytree,
adding illustrations, etc. Display the stories around the class The Petronas Towers
and invite students to walk around and read them. 6 oldest; older; The Great Pyramid of Giza, The
Parthenon, The Taj Mahal
7 furthest; further; Neptune, Mars, Earth
Extension
Ask the students to use the comparative or superlative
form of the adjectives in the quiz and write their own quiz
questions. Students ask and answer their questions in
small groups.
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Grammar communication teacher’s notes A1+
Unit 10
Me, too! / Me, neither!
Activity: Individual sentence completion and pairwork
Language: be going to; have to, don’t have to; must,
mustn’t; prepositions of time
To use: After Student’s Book, page 133
Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each
pair. Cut each worksheets into two.
Procedure
■ Divide the class into pairs and give each student in each
pair an A or B worksheet.
■ Ask the students to look at their worksheets and explain
that the sentences are incomplete. Explain that the
students must complete the sentences with their own
ideas to make them true for themselves.
■ Give the students time to complete the sentences.
Monitor and help as necessary.
■ When they finish, explain the difference between Me,
too! and Me, neither! Write the two phrases on the board.
Explain that we use Me, too! when we agree with an
affirmative statement; and Me, neither! when we agree
with a negative statement. Give examples if necessary.
■ Ask students to take turns to read their sentences to their
partner. They respond to their partner’s sentences with
Me, too!/Me, neither! if they agree with the statement
and phrases like Oh, really?/OK./I see. if they disagree.
Invite a pair of students to demonstrate for the class.
■ Monitor while the students do the task and make note of
any errors to correct with the whole class.
Extension
Put the students in different pairs and ask them to share
four of their eight sentences. This time, they ask each other a
follow-up question to get more information.
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