Star Wars – may the grammar be with you

So, Star Wars, love it or hate it, I am firmly in the former camp, it is going to be a big deal this winter.  So, what better way to engage students with a bit of grammar?

This is using quotes from the film, the whole tiny texts thing that we are into.  I’ve tried to use them for different grammar points and it should be seen as either revision, or perhaps an introduction for some of these grammar points.

I would say you should be thinking Upper Int upwards, though you could edit out sections, for example the section on negative adverbial inversion, and do it with Intermediates.  It really is a bit of a pick and mix, whichever parts you want.

Procedure:

Just follow the worksheet really.

However,  with the scrolling text you need to try to get them to take notes to check, or you could throw some simple questions up there for them.

  1. What type of base is it?
  2. What did rebels steal?
  3. Where is Leia going?

Materials:

  1. Star Wars – Word
  2. Star Wars – PDF Version
  3. star-wars-answers

PS – the reason for the PDF was that the fonts changed and it really annoyed me.

Mini Lesson – Inversion in quotes

Last year while looking at a well known coursebook I was struck by the number of quotes that started each unit.  I was also struck by the fact that these contained a lot of good language that wasn’t being used.  There were lots of nice discussion questions, but nothing on the vocab or grammar the quotes contained.  So, I started to try to focus on these and encourage my students to notice what grammar was being used in them and to talk about why?

That’s what this mini lesson does – you could use it as a warmer, a flexi-stage, or just take the approach and apply it to quotes as you find them.

  • Time: 20-30 mins
  • Level: Upp Int and above
  • Aim: To look at a model of Inversion
  • Sub aim: To encourage students to notice and be aware of grammar and reasons for using it

Materials:

  1. Procedure
  2. Worksheet 1