Things to do when you interrupt
A LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS
Different kinds of phrases for interrupting classification and card games.
Lesson Plan Content:
Things to do when you interrupt card games
Instructions for teachers
Cut up one set of cards per group of two to four students and divide each set of cards into a pack of phrases and a pack of headings.
Give out just the phrases cards and ask students to divide them into three categories, first of all without any hint of what the categories might be. If they get stuck, you can tell them that the three categories should the same size and/ or give out the main category cards (1, 2 and 3).
Ask students to split those categories into sub-categories, then those sub-categories into smaller sub-categories, again telling them how many cards to put into each set and/ or giving out the heading cards to help if they get stuck.
After students check their answers as a class or with a copy of the worksheet, they can test each other by:
- Reading out a list of phrases until their partner guesses the function
- Reading out phrases from two different sections for their partner to describe the difference between
- Reading out the name of a category and helping their partner make suitable phrases for it
They can then do speaking practice with the same phrases by:
- Dealing out the phrases cards and trying to use the phrases during group discussion
- Dealing out a set of functions cards and trying to use phrases with those functions during discussion, making sure that they use a different phrase each time
- Dealing out the sorry cards and using as many different phrases with that word as they can during the speaking
- Choosing and discussing the topics given (with or without cards to prompt them to use the language)
Cards to cut up/ Suggested answers
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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1a) Interrupting and disagreeing
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1ai) Interrupting and disagreeing directly/ strongly
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Sorry but do you really mean (to say that)…?
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Sorry but I can’t believe my ears.
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Sorry but I don’t understand how you can say that.
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1aii) Interrupting and disagreeing politely/ indirectly
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Probably, but my own experience of this is…
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Sure, I understand what you are saying, but I’d say that…
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Yeah, I see what you mean, but isn’t it also true that…
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1b) Interrupting and agreeing
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1bi) Interrupting and adding to what your partner said
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Undoubtedly. In fact, I’d say that…
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Absolutely. What’s more,…
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Quite right. In fact, I’d go further and say…
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1bii) Agreeing and ending discussion of that point
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Yeah, sure. I think we all agree on this.
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Okay (name), I think you’ve about covered that.
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Well, I think that about says it all.
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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2a) Interrupting and checking something about what the other person said
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2ai) Interrupting and checking what you think you heard/ understood
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So, (if I understand you correctly), what you’re saying is…(?)
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Sorry, just to (double) check that I get what you are saying, do you mean…?
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Sorry, did you say…?
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2aii) Interrupting and showing that you didn’t understand
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Sorry, I’m not quite clear about…
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Sorry, could you run that by me again? I’m not quite sure that I understand…
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Sorry, could you clarify (exactly)…?
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2b) Interrupting and confirming something about what you said
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2bi) Interrupting and telling your partner that they misheard/ misunderstood
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Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. What I mean is…
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Sorry, I think you misunderstood my point. To put it another way,…
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(Sorry), actually that’s not quite what I said. (It’s not that…, it’s that…)
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2bii) Interrupting and explaining yourself more/ better
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Sorry, I don’t think I explained myself very well.
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Sorry, (I didn’t mean to say…,) what I should have said was…
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Sorry, (that was a slip of the tongue). What I meant (to say) was…
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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3a) Interrupting and changing topic
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3ai) Interrupting and going off topic/ digressing
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By the way, that reminds me. I should have mentioned that…
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Sorry, this might be off topic, but…
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Sorry, going off topic for just a second, I need to say…
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3aii) Interrupting and moving onto the next (main) topic
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Sorry, we’ll have to deal with that another time. The next thing we need to discuss is…
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Sorry, we don’t seem to be getting anywhere with that point. Shall we move onto…?
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Well, we seem to be going round in circles with that, so let’s have a look at…
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3b) Interrupting and getting back on topic
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3bi) Requests to get back on topic/ Questions to get back on topic
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Sorry, can you mention that again in AOB at the end? Now, where were we?
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Sorry, can we get back to…?
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Sorry, can we come back to that later? We were supposed to be discussing…
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3bii) More direct ways to get back on topic/ Statements to get back on topic
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Sorry, we seem to be getting a bit off track. As I was saying…
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Sorry, getting back to the matter at hand,…
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Anyway, we need to get back to the main issue. We were talking about…
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Roleplay a telephone call, teleconference or face-to-face conversation where you interrupt each other a lot. There are suggestions below for things to discuss and things to confirm. You can use things there for different purposes (e.g. using different main topics as minor topics) or use your own ideas if you like.
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Main topic/ function |
Minor topics |
Things to check/ confirm |
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Apology Asking for payment Audit Bad news Booking Budget Complaint Conference/ Trade fair Enquiry Finances Ideas for new products Job interview Making arrangements/ Scheduling Marketing Negotiating Permission Placing an order Policies Products Progress Purchasing R&D Staff training
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Advice/ Feedback AOB Cultural differences Delivery Directions on how to get somewhere Food and drink Gifts How things used to be done How to celebrate when a project is finished Meeting minutes Mutual acquaintances/ Message from or for someone else Next conversation Offer Other things you are working on People not there Possible political changes Socialising Something you forgot to mention last time you spoke Something you read online/ on social media Stationery Technology problems Thanking The news Who made a decision |
Addresses Amounts/ Quantities Dimensions Getting in somewhere How to get more information How you heard about something Internet addresses Lengths of time Names Numbers Password Phone numbers Places Prices Pronunciation Reasons for an opinion Reasons for something Reference number Spelling Times and dates What order something should be done it Where that info/ data came from Which part of a document |
Saying sorry when you interrupt card game
Roleplay a conversation like one of those above. Each time you say sorry plus a phrase that no one has used in this round you can discard one sorry card. The person who has got rid of most by the end of the game is the winner.
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sorry
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sorry |
sorry |
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sorry
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sorry |
sorry |
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sorry
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sorry |
sorry |
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sorry
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sorry |
sorry |
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sorry
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sorry |
sorry |
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sorry
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sorry |
sorry |
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sorry
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sorry |
sorry |
Functions when you interrupt card game
Choose one version of the packs of cards below. Deal out the cards between you. You can discard the cards if you use a phrase with that function that no one has used yet.
Very general functions version
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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1) Interrupting and giving opinions
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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2) Interrupting and checking/ clarifying
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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3) Interrupting and controlling the topic
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More specific functions version
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1a) Interrupting and disagreeing
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1a) Interrupting and disagreeing
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1b) Interrupting and agreeing
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1b) Interrupting and agreeing
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2a) Interrupting + checking what was said
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2a) Interrupting + checking what was said
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2b) Interrupting + confirming what you said
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2b) Interrupting + confirming what you said
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3a) Interrupting and changing topic
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3a) Interrupting and changing topic
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3b) Interrupting + getting back on topic
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3b) Interrupting + getting back on topic
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1a) Interrupting and disagreeing
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1a) Interrupting and disagreeing
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1b) Interrupting and agreeing
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1b) Interrupting and agreeing
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2a) Interrupting + checking what was said
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2a) Interrupting + checking what was said
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2b) Interrupting + confirming what you said
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2b) Interrupting + confirming what you said
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3a) Interrupting and changing topic
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3a) Interrupting and changing topic
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3b) Interrupting + getting back on topic
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3b) Interrupting + getting back on topic
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Very specific functions version
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1ai) Interrupt and disagree directly/ strongly |
1ai) Interrupt and disagree directly/ strongly
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1aii) Interrupt and disagree politely
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1aii) Interrupt and disagree politely
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1bi) Interrupt and add to what they said
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1bi) Interrupt and add to what they said
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1bii) Agree and end discussion of that point
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1bii) Agree and end discussion of that point
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2ai) Interrupt and check what you heard
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2ai) Interrupt and check what you heard
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2aii) Interrupt and say you didn’t get it
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2aii) Interrupt and say you didn’t get it
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2bi) Interrupt and say they misunderstood
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2bi) Interrupt and say they misunderstood
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2bii) Interrupt and explain more/ better
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2bii) Interrupt and explain more/ better
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3ai) Interrupt and go off topic/ digress
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3ai) Interrupt and go off topic/ digress
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3aii) Interrupt and move onto the next topic
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3aii) Interrupt and move onto the next topic
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3bi) Requests/ Questions to get on topic
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3bi) Requests/ Questions to get on topic
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3bii) Direct ways/ Statements to get on topic
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3bii) Direct ways/ Statements to get on topic |
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