Tales of the unexplained

Task Conducting a survey

Teaching aims: 1. Provide the students with a good chance to practice their English in listening, speaking, reading and writing.

2. Help the students to realize the importance of cooperation, and encourage them to communicate with each other in obtaining useful information.

3. Enable the students to conduct a survey, make conclusions and give recommendations.

Teaching Procedures:

Step 1

Skills building 2:　Greeting others and making introductions:

Good morning, class. In the last period, we learned a new task. It’s about conducting a survey. This is a good way to collect information and help make decisions. In order to complete our survey successfully and accurately, what do we need to do first? (design our questionnaire.) That’s right. Can you remember what is important for completing a questionnaire? (Ss give their answers.) Good. You have a good memory. And I’m sure you are ready to put your questionnaire into practice, right?

At the end of the class, you were asked to complete another questionnaire about our interests and hobbies. Have you got the answers to the question? Can I have a look? (Read to the whole class.) By the way, did you speak English when you were interview others? (No?)

It’s important that we conduct our survey in English. But before we start, we’d better have a quick review about how to begin the interview. Usually it’s easy and natural for us to greet a person we know well.

How do you greet each other or your teachers on the way to school in the morning? (Who would like to perform first?)

What do you say when you are introduced to someone for the first time at a formal situation, a party, for example?

Page 54 Greeting a friend or classmate

Hello! / Hi!

Greeting someone formally, e.g., in a job interview.

Good morning/afternoon. (You can also shake hands with the person.)

Nice to meet you. (Only used when meeting someone for the first time.)

But if we meet a stranger in the street, and we have no choice but to start a conversation with him, what shall we do to make both of you feel comfortable and at ease? How do you introduce yourself to them?

Greeting a stranger, e.g., before asking him/her questions.

Excuse me, (sir/madam) / Hello!

What else is important besides saying “excuse me, or Hello”? (Students give their own opinions, including body language, and facial expressions, also the mood, strategy)

Sentences for references:

1. I’m … from…. I’d like to ask you a few questions about your opinions about….

2. My name is…. I’m from….. I’d like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind. It’s for / to….

Step 2 Practice

Now that we know how to greet others. It’s time for us to practice a dialogue with our partner. Here on the Bb are some sentences for us to make up our dialogue.

Ss may begin their conversation as follows:

S1: Good morning/ afternoon.

S2: Good morning/ afternoon.

S1: My name is … I’m a member of our school students’ union. I’d like to ask you a few questions if you don’t mind.

S2: Certainly not. What do you want to know?

S1: Your articles are often published in some newspapers and magazines. I know you were asked to write an article for our school magazine. Could you please tell me what you’re going to talk about?

S2: …. about the students’ interests and hobbies.

S1: Oh, that must be very interesting. Which…like best?

S2: ….

S1: Thank you. Which…like least?

More questions:

1. How do you know what other students think about their interests and hobbies?

2. How many students are interested in…?

3. What about …?

…

Remember you should greet him first and ask him/her the questions. The listeners should not look at your sentence, just listen and answer the questions.

Now let’s begin! (Ask two or three pairs to act out their dialogue before the class.)

Step 3 Skills building 3: Analyzing statistics

So you know, we can get information or statistics by asking questions or doing interviews. Here, as our homework, we also did an interview about our interests and hobbies. We’ve got the statistics we need. But that’s not the end of our task. We have the numbers, but what do all these numbers mean to us? What conclusions can we make from these numbers? And what should we do to improve some shortages, if there are any? What suggestions can we give to help with decisions? That’s the goal of our survey.

Look at this sentence: over 80 percent of the students in our school have an English-English dictionary.

Now analyse 80%. We can draw conclusions: An English-English dictionary is very useful.

It is easy to get an English-English dictionary.

(Ss can draw more conclusions)

After we draw conclusions from statistics, we have to make appropriate recommendations based on the conclusions. That is one of our major goals when conducting a survey. According to the conclusions we made above, we can make a recommendation:

Every student who is studying English should have an English-English dictionary.

(Ss give more recommendations.)

Here are some statistics gathered from a school survey about students’ hobbies and interests. Analyse the statistics and draw at least three more conclusions. Then make your recommendations. (See page 56 pie chart) (Ss write down the sentences in the book. They can discuss in pairs.)

(help the students to analyse the statistics and give conclusions and recommendations)

Conclusions:

1. Playing sports is the most popular activity for students in the school.

2. The second popular activity for Ss in the school is surfing the Internet.

3. Most Ss in the school do not like reading.

4. Only a few students in the school like playing musical instruments.

Recommendations:

1. The school should have more sports facilities.

2. The school should find ways to arouse Ss’ interests in reading.

3. The school should guide students in surfing the internet.

4. The school should take measures to make more Ss become interested in playing musical instruments.

This is our report about the survey, and it’s important we write a report after the survey.

Step 4 Practice

Now let’s look at the statistics we made just now. Let’s see what conclusions and recommendations we can make. Are they the same with the ones in our book?(draw chart on ppt.)

Ss analyse the statistics in pairs and give conclusions first, then recommendations.

Conclusions:

(Ss Write the sentences on the Bb)

Recommendations:

(Ss Write the sentences on the Bb)

(students discuss in pairs or groups. Put the conclusions and recommendations on either end of the Bb. Ss can come to the Bb and write down their answers without putting up their hands.)

Step 5 Writing a report

1. Page 53, questionnaire. Ss practice the interview in pairs, and get the answers. They can use the vocabulary on page 55.

2. In groups of four. One of the students will be the boss. Ask the rest of the members questions on page 55.

3. Page 57. Suppose you are the boss of the Best Book Club. Here are some statistics gathered from the survey. Try to analyse them and write down your report. Practice in pairs before speaking before the class. (look at the three charts)

Can you describe the statistics to the class?

What conclusions can you make?

What recommendations can you give?

(Ss practice orally. They can give their own opinions)

Step 6 Homework

Write the report about the survey of the Mystery Book Club.

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