Mark Stoneburgh is currently a professor at Institute of Science Tokyo. When not busy with teaching and teacher training, Mark volunteers his time to animal rescue. Email: mjstoneburgh@yahoo.com

Anthony Page has been living in Japan for nearly 30 years and currently resides in Tokyo, where he holds teaching positions at a number of universities. When he is not busy with his work, Anthony enjoys spending time with his family, walking and reading.

The aims of the lesson

This lesson plan contains the following 4 steps, each building logically on the previous. Students will: 

1. practice giving opinions about a familiar topic, 

2. give and respond to opinions about a variety of topics, 

3. give a structured response opinion,

4. give a mini presentation. 

These are all important skills for ESL students to master and this activity is flexible since it can be used across levels, with a variety of topics, and in different conversational settings. The lesson plan is written primarily for the students as if it were a segment in a textbook, and it is therefore easy for the teacher to follow.

 

Procedure

The teacher should put the students into pairs or small groups for steps A) to C) and change the pairs/groups over and set time limits at his/her discretion. The teacher can also add other lexical phrases that he/she thinks are useful for giving opinions, agreeing, and disagreeing.

The teacher will need to help to prepare the students for the more challenging step D) (mini presentation) activity by emphasizing the 5 points to remember on P.4, namely: 

1. Use the ‘Introduction / Body / Conclusion’ structure.

2. Make eye contact with the audience.

3. Speak loudly, slowly, and clearly.

4. Try to use gestures.

5. Be prepared to answer questions afterwards.

In addition, the teacher should focus on preparing the students with regard to any other points that he/she feels are important when presenting in front of the class. Again, setting time limits here provides an important parameter for the students.
 

1. Use the framework below to answer the following 3 questions about your hometown.

 

Is your hometown...

1. a good place to live?

2. an interesting place to visit?

3. famous for anything?

 

Useful language

Giving an opinion       Giving a reason            Giving support

In my opinion, ....        because ...                      For example, ...

I think ...                     The (main) reason is ...   A good example is ...

For me, ...                   One reason is ...

I feel ...

As far as I’m concerned, ...

1. Now let’s brainstorm a list of 10 opinion statements (not facts) to share our opinions about. The first 2 have been completed for you.

2. All Japanese students should start learning English at elementary school.

3. Japanese food is very healthy.

4.  

 

4.

 

5.

 

6.

 

7.

 

8.

 

9.

 

10.

 

Now give your opinion about each of these statements using the language above to help you. You should also either agree or disagree with your partner(s) using the language below to help you.

 

Useful language

Agreeing                                 Disagreeing

I (completely) agree               Actually, I don’t really agree

Yes, that’s right                      I know what you mean, but ... 

Absolutely                             I understand what you’re saying, but 

Yes, of course                        Yes, but don’t you think ...

Yes, I’m with you on that      I’m not sure

 

2. Now choose 1 of the topics above to talk about in more detail by giving a structured response. Make some notes below to help you. You don’t need to write in full sentences.

My topic:  ___________________________________________________

Introduction (Give your opinion about the topic)
 

Body (Explain your 3 reasons for this opinion)

Reason 1: Firstly, ...
Reason 2. Secondly, ...
Reason 3: Finally, ..
 

Conclusion (Give a summary)

Now take it in turns to give your structured response to your partner(s.) Remember to listen carefully to the other student(s) in order to ask some follow questions and agree or disagree with what they said. You can make some notes about the points you want to respond to below.

Notes:
 

3. Now go back to your notes and add a few more supporting details. Then take it in turns to stand up and give a mini presentation to the class. Remember to:

4. Use the ‘Introduction / Body / Conclusion’ structure

5. Make eye contact with the audience

6. Speak loudly, slowly, and clearly

7. Try to use some gestures

8. Be prepared to answer questions afterwards

You can make some notes about the points you want to respond to below.

Notes:

 

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