1. style and fashion
2. footwear
3. boots

Lesson plan
Car boot sales in the UK
Topic
Level:
Time:
Aims
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•
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Car boot sales
E3 / Intermediate 1 / B1
120 mins
To expand students’ knowledge of vocabulary in the context of car boot sales
To provide reading practice about car boot sales in the UK
To identify the difference between formal and informal language
To develop the ability to take part in a conversation to buy and sell goods at a car boot sale
Introduction
This lesson is about car boot sales and their place in modern society in the UK. Students will be given
the opportunity to read about car boot sales and develop their vocabulary and discussion skills at the
same time. They will also focus on a typical conversation heard at a car boot sale and consider the
appropriate use of formal and informal language to increase their confidence to participate in these
events.
Tip – In order to play the final role-play task, copy and cut up for each group of 4 students:
1 copy of Resource C page 3 (item cards) and 3 copies of Resource C pages 4 and 5 (money).
Preferably, these would be printed in colour and laminated in order for them to be reusable.
For Task 5, students will need glue and scissors.
Procedure
Warmer (5 - 10 mins)
Option 1 (internet access required)
• Play the video (which can be found at the following link) as the students are walking into the
classroom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcmn60VlWiI
• Elicit prior knowledge of car boot sales by asking the following questions:
What’s happening in the video?
Has anyone ever been to a car boot sale?
What sort of thing can you buy at a car boot sale?
• Make a note of student responses on the board and address any common errors.
Option 2
• Hand out the pack of student worksheets and ask students to look at the Warmer.
• Elicit prior knowledge of car boot sales and the names of things you can buy there.
• Make a note of student responses on the board and address any common errors.
• Drill accurate pronunciation of the names of the items, eliciting number of syllables and word
stress.
Differentiation
The 2 options can be used in conjunction with each other. More able learners can write down all the
items they see in the video that are for sale while lower levels can be given pictures as prompts.
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© British Council 2012
Lesson plan
Task 1 – Preparation for reading (10 mins)
• Put students in pairs and tell them to look at Task 1 on the worksheet. They should make
sentences that includes the words they know in the word cloud before they make a note of any
words they don’t know.
• Ask individual (stronger) students to write their sentences on the board to provide examples
for the others.
• Give group feedback and encourage peer teaching of unfamiliar vocabulary and address any
common errors.
• Tell students the are now going to read a text which includes all the words in the word cloud
and make a group prediction about the content based on the students’ sentences.
Task 2 – Reading 1 (Running dictation) (25 mins)
• Put students into pairs, comprising of one ‘runner’ and one ‘writer’ and tell students they are
going to do a running dictation.
• Put several copies of the text (Resource A) on a wall outside the classroom (or, depending on
the size of your classroom/ numbers of students present, on the opposite wall to where the
writer is sitting).
• Tell the runner to go and read and remember short chunks of the text and come back to the
writer with the aim of eventually dictating the whole text. The writer should write the text on
lined paper on page 3 of the worksheet. The runner can go back to the text as many times as
necessary.
• Give a time limit of ten minutes.
• The pair who are the first to dictate the whole of the text (and with a reasonable level of
accuracy!) are the winners.
• Ask them to look at the original text to check their spelling.
• Tell students to work in pairs and discuss the questions at the bottom of page 3 of the
worksheets. Elicit group feedback.
Differentiation
Give weaker students the gap-fill version of the running dictation (Resource B). The missing words in
Resource B all appear in the earlier word cloud and this can also be used to give extra support to
those finding the vocabulary difficult). To give both students the opportunity to be ‘runner’ and ‘writer’,
ask them to swap roles after the first two paragraphs.
If you are unfamiliar with Running Dictations, you can find further instructions here:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/running-dictation. You could also use an online timer with
music to time your students. http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/timer
Task 3 – Reading 2 (20 minutes)
• Ask students to look at Task 3 and elicit / explain what an interview and a transcript are.
• Ask students to try to write a question for each of Sasha’s answers.
• Instruct students look at the actual questions that Sasha was asked, match them to the
corresponding answer, and compare the actual questions to their own ideas.
• Monitor before eliciting correct answers and addressing any errors you noticed.
Differentiation
Give weaker students the actual questions from the start.
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© British Council 2012
Lesson plan
Task 4 – Post-reading vocabulary task (15 minutes)
• Put students in pairs and ask them to look at Task 4.
• Encourage students to match the words to the correct definitions.
• Elicit correct answers from individual students and drill (individually and chorally) for accurate
pronunciation.
Task 5 – A conversation at a car boot sale (15 minutes)
• Ask students to look at Task 5 and establish that A = buyer and B = seller at a car boot sale.
• Provide the students with scissors and tell them to cut along the dotted lines before
rearranging the conversation.
• Monitor, listening for pronunciation errors and assisting where necessary.
• Ask for feedback and confirm the correct order before handing out glue.
• Drill for accurate pronunciation of the statements.
• Ask students to stick the statements into the second table in the correct order.
Differentiation
You could ask two (stronger/ more confident) students to act out the conversation, while the others
listen and follow the text.
Task 6 (Extension task) – Formal and informal language focus (10 mins)
• Elicit students’ prior knowledge of the distinction between formal and informal by discussing
the sort of language you would need in different situations and asking for some examples.
• Explain that students should use the language from Task 5 to write the informal version of the
formal language.
• Monitor, providing assistance as required.
• Ask individual students to read the correct answers aloud.
Cooler (15 mins)
• Ensure all learners understand the nature of a role-play activity.
• Allocate ‘buyers’ and ‘sellers’ (a ratio of approximately 1:3 would be ideal).
• Distribute a set of item cards to each ‘seller’ and a set of money cards to each ‘buyer’
(Resource C).
• Read the following:
The winning seller will be the seller with most money.
The winning buyer will be the buyer with the most items.
The game will end when either a. all the items have been sold or b. all the money has been
spent.
Don’t forget to use the new language you have learnt during today’s session!
• Monitor the activity, encouraging fluency and only intervening with accuracy when necessary
Extension
Tell students to look at the extension task. Monitor and provide assistance as required.
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© British Council 2012
Lesson plan
Suggested answers
Task 3 - Actual questions Sasha was asked
7. Why did you decide to do a car boot sale?
4. How much did it cost to have a pitch at the car boot sale?
6. How did you choose which car boot sale to go to?
5. How did you get you items ready for selling?
9. On the day, what was the weather like?
3. What time did you have to get up?
10. What did you think of the buyers?
2. How long did it take to sell your stuff?
8. How much money did you make?
1. What will you do with the leftover things?
Task 4 – post-reading vocabulary task
1. b
2. e
3. f
4. c
5. h
6. g
7. d
8. a
Task 5 / Task 6 – A conversation at a car boot sale
A: Hi. How much for the vase?
B: The vase is a fiver.
A: That sounds a bit steep! I’ll give you £2.50.
B: It’s a bargain at £5! It’s an antique! How about £4?
A: Will you take three quid?
B: It’s yours for £3.50. And that’s my final offer.
A: I’ll leave it, thanks. What about the clock?
B: The clock’s a pound.
A: Ok, a pound sounds fair. I’ll take the clock.
B: Cheers, mate. You won’t regret it.
A: Thanks. Bye.
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© British Council 2012