FOCUS LEVEL 1 STARTER UNIT

FOCUS LEVEL 1 STARTER UNIT STARTER UNIT

Welcome to Focus, Level 1. The Starter unit contains 8
lessons that aim to establish the basics for students, Unit 0.1 In class (page 4, workbook page 4)
so that they can confidently tackle the full units that
Imperatives, alphabet, classroom language
follow. Each lesson comprises one page in the Student
Get students moving with this alphabet song and dance.
Book and half a page in the Workbook. The activities
are self-explanatory, and should successfully carry https://app.gonoodle.com/activities/
students to the required level. lmnop?s=Search&t=alphabet

Here, we will provide some extra hints and activities to Remember, students usually learn the alphabet songs
help liven up these lessons, and get students engaged. or chants fairly quickly. However, they often have
We will refer to tech tools that can enhance learning. difficulty enunciating individual letters. One way to
help this is to fill the board randomly with words.
GoNoodle is a themed video site that gets students
Get students to call out words. Then divide the class
moving (dancing, stretching, etc) according to a huge
into 2 teams. One player from each team stands a
range of topics (maths, science, etc). We will make
couple of meters from the board. Teacher calls out a
some recommendations here, but you should check
word. The 2 students try to find and circle the word.
the site regularly for suitable material.
The winner gets 1 point. They must then spell out the
https://www.gonoodle.com/
word correctly for a second point. Active Teach has a
Kahoot is a great way to make quizzes, and an Scoreboard in the Games tab. Individuals take their
excellent tool for either warm up or wrap up. Students turn to represent the team. No helping allowed by
need their mobile devices for this one though, so be other team members.
prepared.
https://kahoot.com/
Unit 0.2 I’m from … (page 5, workbook page 4)
For mind maps and other project types,
Subject pronouns, to be, numbers countries and
www.popplet.com is a great tool. Also available as an
nationalities, age
app.
Pay particular attention to gender here. Encourage
Sign up to these tools (use your email as username
students to use he/she. (If they talk about a pet, remind
and a very simple password). They are free and very
them to use ‘he/she’ instead of ‘it’.)
powerful.
Make full use of the Word Store at the back of the book
At every stage, use any opportunity to encourage pair
(page 22 for subject pronouns; page 1 for nationalities).
and group speaking exercises. Try to get students used
Extra option: get students to choose a nationality, then
to this right from the beginning. In the Focus Active
go online to find the flag for that country. Divide the class
Teach, there is a Countdown Timer in the Games tab.
into groups of 4. Each student describes their flag, and the
Use this in full screen to control the timing of free
others have to guess the nationality. For example: “My
speaking activities. You can set the timer to however
flag is green, white and orange.” “Are you Australian?”
many minutes you need.
“No, I’m not.” “Are you Irish?” “Yes, I am.”
A good GoNoodle video for classroom management
Ask students to bring some of their favourite items to the
(quiet time): https://app.gonoodle.com/activities/
next lesson.
quiet-time-1?s=category&t=Class%20Routines
And some more options: https://app.gonoodle.com/
categories/class-routines Unit 0.3 Favourites (page 6, workbook page 5)
All weblinks can be embedded into the appropriate Demonstrative pronouns, plural nouns, colours,
section/page of the Active Teach platform using the adjectives, objects
linking tool. This topic is perfect for pair speaking activities. Use the
items students brought in to generate conversation. Also,
for this, that, these and those, have students position the

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 FOCUS LEVEL 1 STARTER UNIT

items around the classroom and talk about them. Don’t Put students into pairs and tell them to take turns saying
forget to use the countdown timer in Active Teach to help “I have got…” The statement can be true or false. The
them manage their time. partner student then has 3 questions to try and learn
whether the statement is true or not. For example:
Student A: I have got 5 pet dogs. Student B: Have you got
Unit 0.4 My family (page 7, workbook page 5)
a big garden? What do you feed them? Who takes them
Possessive adjectives, possessive ‘s, family
for walks? After 3 questions, Student B has to guess if it’s
Project activity: get students to use popplet (app or web- true or false.
based) to make their family tree. Tutorial available here:
*Important: Teacher should model this at the beginning.
http://blog.popplet.com/we-are-family/
Pay particular attention to have/has got.
Have you got a secret handshake? https://app.
Unit 0.5 Abilities (page 8, workbook page 6)
gonoodle.com/activities/secret-handshakes-
Can/can’t, common verbs 4?s=Search&t=i%27ve%20got
In the practice section of the lesson, divide the class
into groups of 5 or 6 for charades. Give each student a
Unit 0.8 Times and dates (page 11, workbook
statement (“You can sing beautifully.” “You can’t play the
page 7)
violin.” and so on…) Students then act out the statement
Days of the week, months and seasons, times, ordinal
well or badly according to can/can’t. Use the countdown
numbers
timer in Active Teach to give each player 30 seconds.
Full class game. After practising the months, teacher
*Important: Teacher should do one example of both can
calls out a month and the class shouts out the following
and can’t before starting.
month. For example: T: May, Ss: June; then T: October, Ss:
Can/can’t song here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.
November, and so on. The same can be done for days of
com/watch?v=9UFo7OwbQKc
the week.
Project: divide the class into pairs. Each pair makes a
Unit 0.6 At home (page 9, workbook page 6) map of the year using popplet (app or web-based).
Prepositions, there is/there are, rooms and furniture Make full use of the Word Store at the back of the book
For prepositions of place, invite 3 students to the top of (page 21 and 22).
the class. Place them in various positions in relation to
each other (behind, next to, between, etc…) and elicit
the prepositions from the class. Make sure to get all
information: i.e. not behind, but Mert is behind Serpil
(for between, make sure they give two object nouns:
Serpil is between Mert and the table)
Video about an upside-down house: https://www.
youtube.com/watch?v=keboCi3eboU
Don’t forget to use the Word Store, page 1.
For Ex 7, 5 true and 1 false, do a model on the board
of your own bedroom. Emphasise that they are not
to write True and False beside their own statements.
Their partner must guess. This is a very common
misunderstanding.

Unit 0.7 Gadgets (page 10, workbook page 7)

Have got, gadgets

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