Agenda

Forms: 5–8

Aim: to drill and practice asking and answering question in the Past Simple tense

Materials: one copy of the card for each student

Procedure:

1. Write on the board the word “AGENDA”. Discuss its meaning. Give examples if necessary.

2. The students work in pairs. One student is a secretary who has just come back from a business trip. Another is a boss who wants to know if everything was done. The secretary is very lazy and didn’t do anything. And he or she is making excuses not to be fired.

Boss: Did you meet Mr. Brown at the airport?

Secretary: No, I didn’t.

Boss: Why not?

Secretary: Because I didn’t have a car there./Because I was too busy that day./Because the information about the flight on the Internet was wrong.

3. When the students finish the task, ask them to change roles.

Agenda for a secretary

√ Arrange the meeting with producers

√ Buy flowers for the manager’s wife

√ Visit the new office in the center of town

√ Call a travel agent about the tickets

√ Book a room in a hotel in Rome for the director

√ Invite the clients and journalists for the presentation in the Gallery

√ Print the report for the manager

√ Remind the director about his wife’s birthday

√ Read the incoming letters for the director

√ Choose a restaurant for the party

√ Book a table for six for a business lunch at 1 p.m.

Comments

1. The students may think of other professions or situations and write the agenda themselves. After that, present the agenda and the dialogue to the class.

2. The following agenda would be more interesting for children in 1–6 forms:

Agenda for a child

√ Wash the T-shirts

√ Sweep the floor

√ Dust the shelves

√ Not play computer games

√ Not come home late

√ Not watch TV for too long

√ Call your granny

√ Get the letters from the postbox

√ Do homework

√ Water the plants

√ Eat properly

√ Make the bed

√ Wash the dishes

√ Get to school on time