Summary
This downloadable PDF lesson plan for English teachers is designed to help B2 students master negative sentences. This ESL class material explores the grammar and nuanced use of negation, double negatives, and polite disagreement in various social contexts.
Activities
- Students watch an engaging video about the linguistics of negation. They answer comprehension questions to understand concepts like negative concord and the different ways our brains process negative versus positive statements.
- Learners practice forming negative sentences in various ways. The exercise covers standard negation with "not," as well as forming opposites of words by using common negative prefixes (e.g., un-, non-) and suffixes (e.g., -less).
- In a final role-play, students work in pairs to handle realistic scenarios. They practice giving a colleague feedback or politely commenting on a friend's cooking using nuanced negative phrases to sound more diplomatic.
Vocabulary focus
The lesson introduces key terms related to language structure and meaning, such as 'negation,' 'affirmation,' 'nuance,' 'prefix,' and 'suffix.' It also provides a bank of useful phrases for expressing polite disagreement and giving constructive feedback in a professional context.
Grammar focus
The main grammar point is the formation and use of negative sentences. This includes standard negation with 'not', forming negatives with prefixes and suffixes, and understanding the function of double negatives (litotes) to create understatement and polite, nuanced meaning in formal English.
