Adult Speaking, Week 4

by
esl critical thinking

Hour 1

Pair Work Quick Discussion (15)

Part A Have you ever … (cook, try, made) …

  1. grilled pork chops
  2. spicy cold noodles
  3. pork and rice soup
  4. soybean stew
  5. barbecued beef small intestines

Part A Questions.

  1. What’s something you’ve always wanted to try?
  2. Can you tell me something you’ve always wanted to learn?
  3. What interesting food have you eaten?
  4. What sports have you played?
  5. Have you ever been on TV or the radio?

Critical thinking Activity 

You will learn and use 2 concepts:

  • correlation
  • cause and effect (causation)
  • hypothesis sentence pattern

Part a. Correlation (10)

A correlation describes how two events change at the same time. A correlation does not say that one thing causes the other thing to happen. Just only how they move together.

Here is an example. Let’s look at the Chicago murder chart.

  1. What are the 2 variables (the two things that change)?
  2. What is the correlation?
  3. Does this chart show causation?
  4. Is this chart true?

Part b. Correlation Sentence Pattern Practice (15)

You can talk about correlations with a simple sentence pattern. Let’s look at that and practice.

Hour 2

More Practice (15)

Read these sentences.

What are the variables? Do the sentences describe correlation or causation? How do you know that?

  1. I can’t believe I failed my chemistry test. I knew I should have worn my lucky sweatshirt to the test.
  2. Roosters crow just before the sun rises. Therefore, roosters crowing cause the sun to rise.
  3. Two days after I drank lemon tea, my cold cleared up completely. Try it. It works.
  4. Spinach can’t be good for me. It tastes terrible.
  5. Too much stress causes people to get sick.
  6. The more I sleep, the more I remember.
  7. The louder the music in a beer bar, the more beer people drink.
  8. The more often girls eat breakfast in the morning, the thinner the girls will be.

Even More Practice (10)

This a video from Freakonomics. Watch the video. Retell the story.

Apply Your Knowledge (20)

This video shows the history of Earth. 200 years of change in 4 minutes. It is a unique presentation that will help build your students’ vocabulary and listening skills. The video is also a good example of telling a great story with hypothesis sentences.

1 Preview vocabulary

  1. life expectancy
  2. wealth
  3. income per person
  4. Middle East
  5. population
  6. industrial revolution
  7. Great Depression
  8. to catch up
  9. colony
  10. inequalities
  11. provinces

2 Watch video and take notes.

3 Find short answers for these questions.

  1. What is the variable for each axis on the graph?
  2. How is each variable counted or measured?
  3. Name 2-3 hypotheses presented in the video.

Discussion Question.

The speaker describes several correlations, but never explains the cause and effect connection.

Work in a small team. Explain 3 cause and effect connection for the speaker’s main hypothesis.

Hour 3

Vocabulary (45)

  • Review last week’s words and phrases
  • Finish next unit.

Hour 4

Story Retelling (30)

Last week, you read stories about inventions.

Today, read a short story about people. These stories are filled with details.

Here are the 4 stories.

Word Puzzles (15)

This food worksheet contains examples of short activities that help students learn English words.

The English activity worksheet is here.

Food Listening Quiz (10)

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