Listening skills lesson plans: Talking about birthdays

Procedure

1. Write Birthdays on the board and tell students to call out any words they know related to the topic (for example, present, celebrate, etc.). Review pronunciation and then add any additional words from the Vocabulary section above that you think students may not know.
2. Explain to students that they are going to hear three people talking about birthdays. Write these names on the board; Sun-Hyi, Kenji, Martha. Then dictate the following questions:
   a. Who usually celebrates their birthday with their family?
   b. Who doesn’t usually celebrate their birthday with their family?
   c. Who doesn’t usually celebrate their birthday at all?
   Tell students they must listen and identify the correct person in each case. When students are ready, play the recording. Answers: a. Martha, b. Kenji, c. Sun-Hyi

3. Put students into pairs and ask them if they can remember what each person is going to do or get for their birthday this year. Give them a few moments to discuss and then play the recording again for them to listen and check their ideas. Answers: Martha is going to have a party, Kenji is going to get a guitar, Sun-Hyi is going to have a party, but she doesn’t know what she’s going to get (although she’d like a CD player)

4. Put students into pairs and give each group a set of Word cards from Worksheet 6. Be sure to mix the cards thoroughly before you hand them out. Tell students that they are going to listen to the three people again. Explain that this time they should listen carefully and match the words and phrases on each card with the person who says them. Tell students to look at the words and phrases on the cards and give them time to match any they can from memory. When students are ready, play the recording. Answers: Martha; flight attendant, China Airlines, work, restaurant, evening, dumplings, noodles, parents, grandmother, money. Kenji: Tokyo, May 14th, weather, really nice, park, picnic, friends. Sun-Hyi; Pusan, mother, sometimes cooks, meal.
5. Put students into pairs and tell them to ask and answer questions about each person and what they usually do on their birthday, using the word cards as a guide. For example:

   Where is Sun-Hyi from? – He’s from Pusan, in Korea
   What is Martha’s job? - She’s a flight attendant for China Airlines
   Where does Kenji usually go for his birthday? – To a park with some friends

6. Extension options
   Focus on grammar by playing the recording again and telling students to shout Stop! whenever they hear going to. Have them write each phrase they hear with going to in their note books. You may also wish to do the same for adverbs of frequency (usually, sometimes, never, etc). Put students into groups and tell them write what Martha usually does on her birthday as exactly as they can using the word cards as a guide. When student are ready, play the recording again and have them listen and check their work.

Post-listening tasks

1. Put students into groups and tell them to talk about what they usually do on their birthday. Perhaps start them off by talking about what you usually do for your birthday.
2. Now tell students to talk about what they are going to do for their birthday this year, and what presents they hope to get. Their partner should listen carefully and make notes. When they finish, tell students to swap partners. Explain they should use their notes to talk about their previous partner’s plans for their next birthday.