One of the things mentioned under ‘Pronunciation’ heading was intonation. It is something we should also bear in mind when we use classroom phrases or in general when we speak to the class.
Pronunciation is mostly based on models and so is intonation. Make it a natural thing in class, something not to be ashamed of, even if it is very different from the mother tongue.
By intonation we mean the changes in speaking melody produced by the rise and fall of the voice. The wrong kind of intonation may change the meaning completely.
Having made your students repeat the phrases below after the recording, let them improvise an oral dialogue with their pair where they have a teacher – student role play using the phrases below with an appropriate intonation. They can, of course, use other phrases too.
The idea is, of course, that when picking up the phrases the students will think hard what the phrases mean and remember them better. Learning by doing!
Classroom phrases for beginners
Stand up, please!. Good morning, everyone! / Good morning, boys and girls! / Good afternoon, everybody! My name is Mike Jones. I am your new teacher in English.
Good morning, Mr Jones! / Good afternoon, Miss Johnson! / Good evening, Mrs Jackson!
Sit down, please! Please take out your textbooks, workbooks and pencil cases. It is so nice to see you again. How are you today?
Fine, thanks. / Very well, thank you.
Is everybody here today? / Is anyone absent? / Where’s Henry this morning?
Sorry, we don’t know. / He is ill. Down with a flu.
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. It’s time to start. Are you ready? Now, say these words after me. Well done! / Very good, thank you! Open your books at page 5. Unit 1. Look at me, a page like this.
Please, what was the page again? Is it this page?
Let’s listen to the text. Sara, can you translate the first sentence, please.
Yes, sure. It is an easy sentence.
Err, Susan/Sammy, the next sentence, please. Any questions?
Not really. This is an easy sentence, too.
Let’s read the text aloud. Read after me, please. / Read after the CD.
Can we read in pairs this time? I think it would be nice.
That’s a good idea. Let’s try it. Read with your partner. Raise your hands if you like the idea. OK, let’s do it. Then look at my questions and answer them in pairs.
We are ready. What do we do next?
Let’s do an exercise. Workbook page 7, Exercise A Write the two sentences in English, please! OK, everyone. Err, two minutes more. / A couple of minutes more and then we stop for today.
Thank you. This was an interesting lesson.
You’re welcome. Your homework is on the blackboard / on the screen. / Goodbye, everyone. / Have a nice weekend!
The same to you.
Finishing a lesson with more advanced students
Do you have the right time on you? Hold your horses, we are not done yet. This lesson is supposed to finish at a quarter to two. We have five minutes to spare.
One more exercise and we can call it a day. There’s no use starting exercise 4 today. Your homework for the next lesson is on the board. Revise the text and the vocabulary. The deadline for the essay is next Tuesday. Make sure you hand it in then.
Hold on a minute! I have one more thing to say to you. We’ll have no lesson next Monday. Put everything back in its right place. Take all your things with you.
Central Park, New York