Oct 6, 2008

While You Were Sleeping: Reported Speech

This a very funny scene. Your students will enjoy it a lot. Tell me if you like it or give suggestions by leaving a comment, please.





Before you watch the segment:


Talk to a partner about the following situations. Decide what you would do:

1) What would you do if you saw someone falling on the subway tracks? Justify it.

2) If you saved someone's life, would you expect a financial reward? Why/Why not?

3) Would you hide a secret in order not to hurt a stranger's feelings? Why/Why not?


Now watch the movie segment and decide who said each of the following lines:

Lucy (Sandra Bullock)



A Doctor



A Nurse

A Police Officer










1) Will you marry me? ____________________________

2) Are you okay? _______________________________

3) There’s a train coming and it’s fast. ________________

4) Are you family? ______________________________

5) She’s his fiancee. _____________________________

6) I need to ask you a few questions. _________________

7) He is in a coma. ______________________________

8) He was pushed from the platform at the train station. ___

9) She jumped on the tracks. ______________________

10) She saved his life. _____________________________


Now rewrite the sentences, using reported speech:

EX: 1) Lucy asked if he would marry her.

2) Lucy asked if he was okay.



Answer key:

3. Lucy said there was a train coming and it was fast.
4. A doctor asked if she was family.
5. A nurse said she was his fiancee. 
6. A police officer said he needed to ask Lucy a few questions.
7. A doctor said he was in a coma.
8. Lucy said that he had been pushed from the platform at the train station.
9. A police officer said that she had saved his life.
10. A police officer said that she had jumped on the tracks.


Grammar Goal: Reported Speech


• Choose an attractive movie segment with several characters


• Decide which verb tenses you want to assess


• Select a few lines from the segment with the target structures


• Students check which characters said them in the segment


• Students come up with indirect speech statements



WORKSHEET

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

lovely activity; I´ll try it on this week. :) Thanks.

Unknown said...

It helped me a lot this week. My students just loved it...

thank you

Claudio Azevedo said...

How wonderful. I'm really glad they liked it. See you around.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. It really helped me in class.!

Claudio Azevedo said...

Great! Thanks!

zildasiena said...

I love this movie,so I loved working with it in class.Thanks very much.

zildasiena said...

I love this movie,so I loved working with it in class.Thanks very much.

zildasiena said...

Lovely movie interesting activity. Thanks very much!

Claudio Azevedo said...

I showed this segment last week. In fact, this is one of my favorite activities in the blog. My students loved it and practiced the grammar point meaningfully. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

very interesting, I'll use it very soon as I'm currently working on movies with my students. Thanks a lot!

Debbie said...

Dear Claudio,
Thank you for sharing this great activity. It worked super with my students. I did it after we worked on a reading activity where there is some dialogue, so I wanted to focus on Reported Speech, your activity helped integrating the four skills.
I would like to know if it is possible to get the video clip without the subtitles as I think it would be an useful follow up to encourage learners to understand without them.
Thanks once again
Debbie

Claudio Azevedo said...

Thanks. I'm really glad it worked out. Sorry, I don't have the segment without the subtitles. It is not the objective of this blog. See you.

Unknown said...

How can I download this movie segment you are showing in your blog? I really wish I could try this activity at class.

Unknown said...

Love to try this activity at class. But can you help me...how can I download this video segment or where can I get it? Thanks

Claudio Azevedo said...

I added the link to download it. Check it at the end of the post, please.

Anonymous said...

Love this activity. Your blog is great!

Dilma Campos said...

Awesome! really good one! congrats!

Mireya Torres said...

I could nt download it :(

Mireya Torres said...

I couldnt download it :(

Claudio Azevedo said...

Try it now, please.

Michelle P. said...

I couldn't download the video! :((((

Claudio Azevedo said...

Michelle, try it now, please.

Michelle P. said...

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :)

conchiqp said...

I'll try it with my class tomorow, sure they will love it too

conchiqp said...

I'll try it tomorrow with my class, sure they will love reported speech this way. Good idea, thank you

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

answer key??

Claudio Azevedo said...

The answer key has been added to the end of the post.

Su said...

Thank you very much for sharing all these lessons. Great work!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi! What a great activity, thank you! However, I'm not sure whether I haven't managed to see the whole clip, or whether I'm right in thinking that sentences 5 -10 are not heard in this segment. Could you let me know please?

Also, I wanted to point out that there's a slip in the answer key (nº6) "need" should be "needed".

Thanks once again - I'll certainly be returning to your blog!

Claudio Azevedo said...

Thanks for lettingme know about the typo. It has been corrected. About the segment, I just checked it again and I did hear the sentences you mentioned. I don't know what might have happened.
Thanks for warning me, though.

Unknown said...

I liked it a lot. I´ll be working on it this week. Thanks a lot Claudio!!

Claudio Azevedo said...

Thank YOU for the feedback. Enjoy it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks! It was great! My students loved it and it was very easy to teach the reported speech. It was a good class, students did not get bored and all of them participated. Thanks a lot!

Claudio Azevedo said...

Thanks, it is wonderful to hear that.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful blog!

zoraida Etcheverry said...

I couldn't download the video! :(
It said invalid parameters! :((

Claudio Azevedo said...

Did you click on the download link at the end of the post? I just checked it and it is working fine.

Ania said...

Wonderful blog and very impressive worksheet. I'm going to use it soon and I'm sure to come back for more. I love the way real-life movie segments are treated like grammar strips, this indeed requires an analytical brain. I don't think ordinary people could be able to do it.

Anonymous said...

This activity is great. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

My students and I have really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Gabriela said...

WONDERFUL!!!!!I´LL USE IT WITH MY STUDENTS!! tHANKSSSS



Gabriela said...

Wonderful!!!!I´ll use it with my students