Can you?

Learners: Korean high school students

Learner Level: Intermediate
Class size: 25
Time: ~15min
Learning outcomes: Be able to construct and ask each other questions about ability using the
word “can”.

MATERIALS

• A worksheet with several interview questions (~7) students can ask each other about
ability. The worksheet should not have complete sentences but instead should have a
list of talents such as “play an instrument” and “dance” so students have to practice
constructing the questions. Worksheets should have a pace for students to record
names of students next to each ability.

BACKGROUND

Talent shows are popular in the U.S. The popularity of talent shows extends from school
talent shows to TV shows that are dedicated to displaying talents. This can be an interesting
cultural point to bring up and compare with your students’ culture. Also, talent shows are based
on the concept of ability. A goal of this activity is to distinctly mark the word “can” as a word tied
to ability in order to distinguish it from the word “could” that will be brought up in a later lesson.
The content of the current lesson is hobbies, this activity also provides an empowering way to
look at students’ hobbies as talents.

PROCEDURES

1. Write “talent show” on the board and ask students if they know what it means. Clarify the

meaning if they don’t recognize this word. Ask students about talent shows. Ask if their

school has a talent how each year or if they watch any on TV. Explain that in the U.S

talent shows are popular in schools, movies, and TV shows. You can provide a short

personal anecdote or a short video clip of an American talent show if you are unfamiliar

with them. Here’s a fun example, you could show ~1:00min of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oi10Zv_a78
2. Ask students what they can do. Some students may volunteer answers such as “play

soccer” and “sing”. Explain that today they will be interviewing their classmates to find

students to join the talent show. In order to do so they will be asking their classmates

what they can do.

3. Pass out the worksheet.

4. Go over any vocabulary the students may not be familiar with and write them on the

board with simple explanations. You can do this by asking the students if there are any

words they do not recognize and seeing if other students can explain the word, first.

5. Explain that it’s the students’ job is to make questions using the list. Go over the first one

with the students as an example. First, ask for any volunteer students to create the

question. For example, if “play an instrument” is listed the student may say “Can you

play an instrument?”. Write this first example as a template on the board.

6. Tell students they also need to use full sentences when answering the questions as well,

ex. “Yes, I can ________”, “No, I can’t __________”. Write these on the board as a

template for the students as well.

7. Tell students they need to write the names of the students who say “yes” next to the

question they answered yes to.

8. Allow students time to interview one another. Walk around the classroom as students

interview each other and make sure they’re on task and using complete sentences.

9. Once everyone is finished, ask the students to return to their seats. Ask students about

who they were able to find for the talent show. For example a student may answer

“Daeun can tell jokes”. In order to encourage students to answer feel free to say what

you can do from the list. If students feel comfortable, you can alot a few minutes for

some students to show off their unique talents to the class.