Title: Facts, doubts, demands – in language and in the text

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

Facts, doubts, demands – in language and in the text. Forms and intentions of communication.

Target group:

7th‑grade students of an elementary school.

Core curriculum

II. Language education.

3. Language communication and language culture. Student:

1. understands what language politeness consists of and uses it in the statements;

2. distinguishes between the standard and functional language standards and applies to them;

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

1. functionally uses rhetorical means and understands their impact on the recipient.

The general aim of education

Students learn about communication intentions.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• understands various messages: verbal and non‑verbal;

• differentiates the types of sentences and determines their relationship with the information contained in them;

• indicates the intention of the author of the speech;

• correctly receives text thanks to understanding the meaning of intonation and punctuation in sentences;

• distinguishes and uses verb modes in expression;

• indicates exclamation marks and particles that communicate the author's intentions in sentences.

Teaching methods / techniques

• giving: information lecture;

• problematic: discussion;

• programmed: with the use of a computer;

• practical: exercise exercises.

Forms of work

• individual work;

• collective work;

• group uniform.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher acquaints students with the goals of the lesson, he/she gives the criteria for success.

2. The teacher writes three sentences on the board (in Polish and in English):

Idziemy dziś do kina. Idziemy dziś do kina? Idziemy dziś do kina!

We're going to the cinema today.
Are we going to the cinema today?
Let's go to the cinema today!

Then he asks the chosen student to read the sentences loudly, keeping the appropriate intonation. The teacher asks students about the meaning of the sentences read and about what they differ in terms of form (punctuation marks) and how they carry emotional charge (indifferent or characterized).

Students give their propositions of statements expressing different intentions (interactive board in the abstract).

Realization

1. Students create a note in the form of an infographics (exercise 1), then define the types of sentences (exercise 2 in abstract).

2. The teacher checks students' knowledge of verb moods (knowledge from the V grade of primary school), and then introduces English terms (declarative mood, imperative mood, subjunctive mood). Recognition of modes in propositions of sentences written by students.

3. The students perform the exercise No. 3 and 4. The teacher checks the correctness of performed tasks and provides feedback to the students.

4. The instructor initiates a discussion on ways of expressing communication intentions. To this end, he asks questions:

• What are your other methods / means of expressing communication intentions?

• What is the influence of adjectives, adverbs, particles and exclamation on the nature of expression?

• What is the relationship between the indicated parts of speech and the way of expressing communication intentions?

Then the chosen student sums up the discussion, all write the conclusions in the notebooks and perform exercises 5 and 6 in the abstract.

5. At the end, students create statements that could express the characters portrayed in Exercise 7 in abstract. You can offer pupils to create their own photo galleries and compare different proposals. This is a good opportunity to raise the subject of reading emotions from body language (eg what indicates that the figure expresses a request, doubt, judgment, etc.?).

Summary

The teacher asks the students summary questions, e.g.

• How in a formal way does language help us convey emotions and fulfill our intentions?

• What can not we communicate with written language?

• What can not we communicate with spoken language?

Homework

Write a dialogue in which various communication intentions will appear (at least four different ones).

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Facts, doubts, demands – in language and in the text

We already know that we can mark different attitudes and feelings in the text using punctuation. If we include information without emotions, we end the sentence with a dot. When in turn we have some doubts or we want to learn something, we use sentences ending with a question mark. And if we want the message to be full of emotions or the recipient to react more strongly to it, we choose an exclamation mark. These statements have not only different emotional tones but, above all, reveal various attitudes and intentions of the senders. Three types of sentences (declarative, interrogative or exclamatory) indicate various attitudes of the author of the text to the matters which the author describes and, in a way, the author's attitude towards the recipient.

The character of the expression can be changed by means of punctuation placed at the end of the sentence, intonation or the verb modes which express the speaker's attitude to actions and states. When we talk about facts and provide proven information we use the forms of the declarative mood (eg I saw, I walked, I learned). When we want to warn someone against something, to order something or express objection – then we use the forms of the imperative mood (eg watch out, do, do not disturb). Finally, we use the subjunctive mood to express any doubts or supposition (eg I would notice, it would have flooded, I would win).

About facts, assumptions or firm attitudes directed towards someone (order – warning – threat) is also read out from the meanings of words that we find in the statement. It can be said that they enclose the most important thought and sometimes change the style of the entire message. Some of the following can be used for that:

• adverbs, e.g. immediately, indisputably

• adjectives, e.g. irrefutable, undeniable, important

• exclamations, e.g. oh !, hello!

• particles, e.g. supposedly, certainly, of course

Exclamations

Particles