Unit 0
Unit 0
Revision
Subject: Free time
Language: Present simple and present continuous; can / can't
Functions: Talking about repeated actions; talking about likes and dislikes; asking
for and giving directions
Note for Trinity College, London Exams: Unit 0 revises language taught in Smart English A2 for
Trinity GESE Examinations Grades 3 and 4 (present simple and present continuous tenses; can /
can't). When making a fresh start with this book, it is important for students become accustomed to
the format and ingredients of each Unit and how this level of the course works without being too
challenged by new language. The topics are new and interesting and will immediately be recognised
as contemporary issues, regardless of the language content. All students who need revision, whether
or not they have worked with the previous book, should do this Unit. However, if for any reason
you don't feel they need the revision, or want to discuss the issues of social media, go straight to
Unit 1.
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 1 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
• Read The BIG question with the class. Explain that it means: Can you live happily without
social media? Elicit initial reactions. Do a quick survey and find out how many students use
social media sites and if there are students who don't use them. Write the numbers on the board.
• Read the FACT box with the class. If by any chance students don't know Facebook, explain
that it's a very popular social media site in the west. Ask a student to write 500 billion on the
board (500 + 9 zeroes). Ask students if they are surprised. Ask how many hours a week they
spend on their favourite social networking site.
2 FOCUS ON ...
Words
Pictures / background information
Picture 1 shows a person using a mobile phone. Mobile phone is the UK term while cell phone is
the American term. In general conversation people usually refer to their mobile rather than mobile
phone. Picture 2 shows a computer flat screen, as used with a desktop computer. A desktop
computer is used at home or at work, and is not moved around very easily. Picture 3 shows the
typical profile of a Facebook user. Your profile gives a quick summary of who you are. Photos with
tags on them show what you've been doing recently. Tags are labels that help you to find a photo
easily. Picture 4 shows someone using a laptop computer, one that is portable (sits on your lap or
knees), in other words, easy to carry around. Picture 5 shows someone typing in a text message on
their mobile phone. Picture 6 shows an instant message, in this case on Skype the free telephone and
message service. An instant message (IM) is a short message that you can send between computers.
Both people are online at the same time and talk to each other by typing text and sending small
pictures in real time. You can also send videos and play video games online using IM.
• Look at the unit title with the class. Explain that social networking means meeting people, and
that we often social media to do this.
• If your class is just beginning a course, you may want to use a warm-up activity. The warm-up
activity below works both with students who know each other and students who have never met
before.
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 2 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
2A
• Students look at the photos. Read out the words in the box and make sure students can
pronounce them.
• For b), check that students understand that UK means the 'United Kingdom', ie, Britain, and
that US means the Unites States, ie, America. Students may not know what an instant message is,
so explain this term.
• Students match the words in the box with the correct pictures. They probably know or can work
out what laptop computer and Facebook profile mean. Encourage them to use their
dictionaries.
• Check the answers.
2 FOCUS ON ... Words A Answers
1b 2c 3e 4a 5d 6f
2B
Elicit or teach the vocabulary that we use for online situations, especially social network websites:
• We post comments and photos (write comments and place photos on sites such as Facebook);
we chat online (exchange messages); we update our status (say what we're doing now or what
we're thinking about) on social networking websites. If we meet someone face-to-face, we meet
them in real life. If we take exercise, we do a physical activity like running to get healthy and
strong.
• Put students in pairs to do the exercise. Check the answers.
2 FOCUS ON ... Words B Answers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2C
• Read out the questions and make sure students understand them.
• Elicit questions and answers from confident students. For Question 5, elicit answers such as “I
text them or I call / ring / phone them”. “I text a lot.” / “I send a lot of texts”. Explain that
text is the word (noun) we usually use for send a text message.
• Students do the task in pairs.
2D
This exercise teaches key words from the 5 short texts on the next page in order to make them
easier to understand when they read them (or read and listen).
• Explain that positive means good.
• Students use their dictionaries to do this exercise. Elicit the fact or explain that un- before a word
means not, so unkind means not kind. Support, both a verb and a noun, means help, kindness or
approval. To lie, in this context, means not to tell the truth. Elicit examples of bullying (both
verbal and physical), for example, children who say unkind things to another child because they
are short.
• Check the answers.
2 FOCUS ON ... Words B Answers
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 3 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
Ideas
This section introduces students to ideas in the unit and gives them an opportunity to talk and say
what they think.
• Read out the statements and make sure students understand them. Point out that we say, “I
prefer to...”, meaning “I like this best.”
• Students discuss the statements with a partner. Alternatively, they can work in small groups.
Circulate and help students to express their opinions.
• Ask students to report back to the class.
3B
• If you think students need the help, pre-teach unknown vocabulary, for example, teenager,
secondary school, engineering, cyber-bullying (online bullying), political.
• Read through the questions with the class, checking students understand them.
• Students read the article again and answer individually or in pairs. Check the answers. A good
way to help students who answer incorrectly is to ask a student who got the answer right to read
out the relevant sentence in the text.
3 READING B Answers
1b 2b 3a 4c 5b
3C
This is students' opportunity to react to the articles, give their opinions and talk about their own
experiences with social media.
• To help students with language, elicit answers to the questions from the class. Correct them and
provide help with language where necessary.
• Question 1: Point out that we say “spend time on something”. Give some more examples, for
example, “I spend about two hours a day…” / “…a lot of time on social network sites.”
• Elicit short answers and opinions, for example, “Yes, I think so.” / “No, I don't think so.”
• Question 2: Elicit general answers from students and perhaps a specific example of a problem
that a student knows about.
Students discuss the questions in pairs. Circulate and help with language.
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 4 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
Ask students to report back to the class and compare ideas. There may be a general consensus that
social media can cause real problems at school. Encourage students to describe what happened,
using the language in the article.
Refer students to the explanation of the tenses in Workbook Unit 0 (page 42). They can read the
explanations and do the exercises in class or for homework.
EXTRA ACTIVITY: grammar activity to practise the present continuous and present
simple.
Put students into pairs. They think of a famous person and write sentences describing
a typical day for that person. For example, if they choose Barack Obama they might
begin: He gets up at 6.30. He has breakfast. Someone brings him important papers.
He reads them. ....
Ask pairs to read out their sentences. The class guesses who the person is.
After reading out their sentences, pairs point to different students and ask:
What's (Barack Obama) doing now? Each student has to give a different answer.
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 5 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
5A
Read the passage yourself and check it for difficult vocabulary. Check students know the word
beach. The listening script is in the back of the book (Audio texts page 67).
• Read through the rubric with the class and make sure they understand the task.
• Either read out the text messages or ask individual students to read them out. Elicit or explain
these things: L = left; @ = at; CU = See you; u = you; sat = Saturday; nite = night; Luv =
love. Elicit the fact / explain that the first message gives directions. Students might have their
shortened text language and can offer their own versions.
• Students to do the task either individually or in pairs. Elicit answers.
5B
This activity aims to give students confidence that they can follow the general meaning of a listening
passage. If you think students need more help, tell them a little more about the phone conversation.
Then play the CD while students listen. Ask students if their answers to Activity A were correct and
check their answers.
5 LISTEN IN B Answers
Correct order of text messages in Activity A:
1 Hi Matt having party Saturday can u come?.
2 Hi Elena party saturday. Matt’s coming. Can u come?
3 Sorry busy sat nite. Have a great time. Luv Elena xxx (kisses)
4 L @ traffic lights into Beach Street 2nd right into Spring Rd. End of rd white house on L. CU Jake.
5C
• Explain the task and read through the questions with the class.
• Play Part 1 again. Students listen and tick the correct boxes.
• Check answers. To help students who answered incorrectly, play the relevant sections again and
get students to repeat the sentences.
5D
• Do the same with Part 2. For Question 1, if students are having problems, play the sentence
“Someone put the party on Facebook, so we decided to have the party at my house.” Ask:
What happens if someone writes about a party on Facebook? Elicit the answer that a lot more
people will come to the party (many of the them uninvited – called gatecrashers)
5 LISTEN IN C and D Answers
Part 1
1b 2 a 3 c
Part 2
1a 2a 3b 4c
5E
This activity revises language in the listening passage. It also practises punctuation and spelling.
• The first text message revises giving directions, so go through it with students. (See Answers
below.) Check students know the difference between left and right in English.
• Students do the activity either individually or in pairs.
• Invite students to the board to write the answers.
5 LISTEN IN E Answers
1 Hi Matt, I'm having a party on Saturday. Can you come? Jake
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 6 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
2 Hi Elena, I'm having a party on Saturday. Matt is coming. Can you come? Jake
3 Sorry, I'm busy on Saturday night. Have a great time, love, Elena (xxx=kisses)
4 Turn left at the traffic lights into Beach Street. Take the second right into Spring Road. Go to the
end of the road. It's the white house on the left. See you, Jake.
B Conversation
This activity revises the function of talking about likes and dislikes and provides an opportunity for
students to talk about themselves and their friends.
• Read through the language in LB 6 (Likes and Dislikes) with the class. Check students
understand it and ask them to complete the sentences.
• Point out that we use like /love /enjoy / hate + verb + ing. Ask students what they like/ enjoy /love
/don't like / hate doing.
• Read through the questions with the class and elicit answers.
• Students discuss the questions in pairs. Circulate and help with language.
• Invite some pairs to talk about the questions in front of the class.
7 YOUR TOPIC
This is preparation for a more formal presentation or for a student-led discussion as used in oral
examinations. .... .
• Read through the questions with the class and elicit answers.
• Students make notes about the questions. Tell them to begin like this: “My topic is: How I
communicate with my friends.”
• Circulate while students are preparing and encourage them to write down key words rather than
whole sentences. Tell them to be honest as that will make their talk interesting.
• Before students give their short talk, tell them to: breathe deeply before they start; speak slowly
and clearly; make eye contact with the audience; and smile!
• Invite a confident student to give the first talk, followed by the others Encourage students to
clap afterwards and to say one thing they really liked about each talk.
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 7 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
8 PSYCHOLOGY in English
Background information
This cross-curricular section focuses on psychology. In particular it focuses on
empathy, and links cyber-bullying with the fact that it's easier to be cruel to someone
on the internet (where you can’t see them) than in real life, face-to-face. See these
references:
www.psychologytoday.com/print/43752
www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=what-me-care
• Set the scene by telling students that a close relative is very ill, and look very sad as you say this.
Ask: How do I feel? Elicit the word sad. Ask: How do you feel? Elicit the fact that the students
feel sad for you. Explain that this feeling is empathy, when you understand and share the feelings
of another person. (Then tell them that it's not true and your relative is fine.)
• Ask students to describe what is happening in the pictures. Picture 1 shows a boy and a girl.
Ask: Does the boy have empathy for the girl? What do you think? Picture 2 shows a boy online.
Ask: Is he feeling empathy? What do you think? Why not?
• Students read the text quickly and match the pictures with the paragraphs. Tell them not to
worry about understanding every word.
• Elicit answers. (Paragraph 1/ the boy and the girl. Paragraph 2, the boy online.)
8A
• Read the questions with the class and check they understand them. Students do the activity
individually or in pairs, using their dictionaries.
• Check the answers.
• You may also want to teach these words: before students read the text again: neighbour, die, ability.
8 PSCHOLOGY in English A Answers
1 research 2 decline 3 pain 4 connection 5 growth
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 8 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
8B
Read through the questions with the class and check they understand them. Students read the text
again and discuss the questions in pairs. Circulate and help students with their language.
Elicit answers from the class. Check students understand the text but also encourage them to give
their own ideas.
For Question 1, here is another example of empathy: Your friend has to leave their school and
friends because their father has a new job in a different town. They're upset and sad and you feel sad
for them.
8 PSYCHOLOGY in English B Answers
Answers from the text
1 Empathy is the ability to understand the feelings of another person. Examples: You hear a
neighbour's child has suddenly died and you feel their pain. A child cries and another child feels
upset.
2 There is a big decline in empathy since the growth of the internet.
3 On the internet, people don't communicate face-to-face. The research shows we feel most
empathy when we can see the other person in real life.
4 Example answers: Yes, I do / No, I don't. Maybe, I'm not sure.
5 Example answers: Maybe it's much easier to be cruel to someone when you can't see them. /
People are unkind. / Teenagers can be very cruel.
9 PORTFOLIO WRITING
Read through the task with the class and check they understand it.
For the survey, elicit example questions and answers from students and write them on the board.
Here are some examples of questions.
- Do you use social media?
- Why /Why not?
- Which social networking websites do you use?
- How often do you go on it/ them? An hour a day or more?
- Do you use (name of website) too much?
- Would you like to use them less?
- Why do people like social websites so much?
- What do you chat about online?
- Do you think there are problems with social media?
- What kind of problems?
- What can we do about cyber-bullying?
Put students in groups of four to plan and write their questions. Circulate and check the questions.
Students give their questions to eight people. Each group works with another group and take it in
turns to ask their questions. All the students in the group make notes of the replies. Each group then
repeats the process with another group, so that they have interviewed eight students in all.
• In their groups, students read out the answers. Tell them to make notes of:
- how many people give the same answer.
- things that are different and / or interesting.
• Circulate and give help where necessary.
Go through the headings of the report as shown below. Elicit suggestions for headings 1, 2 and 5.
1 Survey title, for example: A survey on the use of social media in our class
2 Number of people in the survey, for example: There are eight people in this survey.
3 Survey questions
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 9 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
4 Report on the survey
5 Summary, for example: Two people don't like social media and don't use them. But most people
use them a lot.
The survey report can be written in class or done for homework. If students do the report in class,
they could do it in pairs. Circulate and help students while they work.
Finally, pairs can exchange reports and check each others' work.
Collect the reports and check them.
Last word
After doing the Workbook exercises, students check their own performance and evaluate their
ability to use the language items highlighted in the unit. If students feel they need to do more work
in certain areas, discuss with them how they could do this. For example, they could use a grammar
practice book with exercise or write sketches on related topics, for example, someone who spends
too much time on social media.
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 10 of 11
Unit 0 Quick Smart English A2-B1 Part A Teacher’s Guide See pages 4-6, 42-43
1 LANGUAGE: Revision - the present simple and present continuous; can / can’t
1A
1 send 2 use 3 don't use 4 doesn't have 5 goes, lives 6 doesn't like, spends 7 costs
2B
1 Do you have a laptop? Yes, I do.
2 Do you like having parties? Yes, I do.
3 Do you work hard at school? Yes, he/ she does.
4 Do your best friends arrange their parties on Facebook? Yes, they do.
5 Do you do about three hours' homework every day? Yes, I do.
6 Does your teacher allow mobile phones in class? Yes, he / she does.
3C
(Individual answers)
3D
1 I can't talk at the moment. 5 No, she's doing her homework.
2 Why not? What are you doing? 6 She always does it before dinner.
3 I'm watching TV. It's a really good 7 Why don't you come for supper?
programme. 8 Mum and dad go out on Tuesdays.
4 Is Jenny there? Can I speak to her? 9 We can watch a DVD.
2 Vocabulary
2B
1c 2a 3i 4e 5g 6f 7h 8b 9d
3 Word building
1 cruel 2 important 3 interesting 4 difficulty 5 pain 6 arrange 7 communicate
8 growth 9 comment
4 Connections
1 b (to) 2 f 3 a 4 e 5 d (to) 6 c
5 Use of English
1 Shall we go to the party now?
2 How do I get there?
3 Would you like me to ask Elena to the party?
4 She's good at arranging parties.
5 We chat about TV, friends and parties.
6 Portfolio Writing
(Individual answers)
© Brookemead Associates Ltd, 2011 QSE A2-B1, Part A (ISBN 978-1-905248-36-0) Page 11 of 11