Presenting relative pronouns - konspekt zajęć

Subject: Presenting relative pronouns

1. Level: The lesson below could be given to a class of 20 students at high-junior level.

2. Aims: To present Relative Pronouns (who, which, that, where, whose) or systematise the previously acquired knowledge on the subject.

3. Age: 16-17

4. Assumed knowledge: The students had already been taught the Present Simple and Continuous tenses. They are also familiar with the use of countables and uncountables and know how to use a / some / any.

5. Aids: Blackboard, the text given to each student on a separate piece of paper, dictionaries, handbooks, a photo of a room placed on the blackboard;


6. Procedure:

6.1 Presentation – Reading

The teacher asks students to read a short text given below including relative pronouns: which and where. They are asked to read the text before actually presenting the Category of Pronoun, as they could notice rules of the structure themselves.
T: Read the text, please. Use your dictionary to help.

‘My favourite room, the place where I live’
My favourite room is our kitchen. Perhaps the kitchen is the most important room in many houses, but it is particularly so in our house because it is not only where we cook and eat but it is also the main meeting place for family and friends. I have so many happy memories of times spent there: special occasions such as cooking Christmas dinner; troubled times, which led to comforting cups of tea in the middle of the night; ordinary daily events such as making breakfast on dark, cold winter mornings for sleepy children before sending them off to school.
So what does this special room look like? It is quite big, but not huge. It is big enough to have a good-sized, round-shaped table in the centre, which is the focal point of the room. There is a large window above the sink, which looks out onto two apple trees in the garden. At one end is a wall with a large notice-board, which tells the story of our lives. All our world is there for everyone to read! The front door is seldom used in our house, only by strangers. All our friends use the back door, and that means they come straight into the kitchen and join in whatever is happening there. Without doubt some of the happiest times of my life have been spent in our kitchen.

6.2 Practice and presentation

T: Which words are new for you?
Ss: We do not know such words as: focal and seldom.
T: The word focal means central or very important. Seldom means not often or rarely. Please, note the translations.

After reading the text, the teacher asks the students to do a short activity.
T: The relative pronouns ‘which’ and ‘where’ are used in the text. Find them and underline them. What does each one refer to?

Ss underline the pronouns and answer what they refer to.
Ss: The first ‘where’ refers to the place which means to the kitchen.
The word ‘which’ refers to memories and occasions.
The second ‘which’ refers to the word centre.
The third ‘which’ refers to the window.
The fourth ‘which’ refers to the notice-board.
T: You are right. These words refer to various things that may be substituted by pronouns. Relative pronouns merge with other words to create relative clauses. These clauses are used to tell us which person or thing we are talking about. It makes it possible to give more information about the person or thing being spoken about.
The teacher writes examples on the blackboard and asks Ss to rewrite it.

Examples:
1. The boy has gone into hospital. (Which boy?)
The boy who lives next door has gone into hospital.
2. The book is very good. (Which book?)

The book which I bought yesterday is very good.
3. This is a photo of the hotel. (Which hotel?)
This is a photo of the hotel where we stayed.
T: ‘We use who to refer to people (and we can also use that). We use that to refer to things (and we can also use which).
4. The book is about a girl who / that marries a millionaire.
What was the name of the horse that / which won the race?

After copying the sentences by the students the teacher asks them to read the sentences aloud. Then they are asked to write their own sentences using relative pronouns. After about five minutes each student is asked to read his / her sentence aloud.
Finally, the students read the text about the room once again.

6.3 Practice

Exercise 1
Link the following sentences with the correct relative pronoun: who, which, that, where, whose.
a) The blonde lady is my wife. She is wearing a black dress.
b) There is the hospital. My sister works there.
c) The postcard arrived this morning. It is from Auntie Nancy.
d) I passed all my exams. This made my father very proud.
e) * Did you meet the girl? Her mother teaches French.
* The teacher has to point out that in sentences like the last one, they must use whose to refer to someone’s possessions.
Example: That is the woman whose son won the lottery.
After linking the sentences with the correct relative pronoun, the students create full sentences. If necessary, the teacher helps them.

Exercise 2
Write in the relative pronouns into the gaps.
a) There is the car .......... I bought yesterday.
b) Do you know the girl .......... was here yesterday?
c) This is the place .......... we live.
d) There is the man .......... car had an accident.

6.4 Production – Writing

The teacher asks Ss to write a description of their own rooms using pronouns in about 150 words. This task can be set as homework.
Comments:
The students were rather interested in the subject and almost always they wanted to cooperate with the teacher. Sometimes even when they did not know some new word, they tried to look the meaning up by themselves in dictionaries. When they had to find what each pronoun referred to, the majority of students were eager to give answers. After the presentation stage, when they were asked to create their own sentences, almost all of the students were able to do so, and as it seemed, with a little help from the teacher they began to understand the structure. At the end of the lesson many students knew how to create simple sentences using relative pronouns