1. Lesson Plan Cristiane TinôcoCristiane Tinôco Ligia FarneziLigia Farnezi Relva CarolineRelva Caroline Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais Gramática Pedagógica Professor Deise Prina Dutra

2. Class English course class; Teenagers; Intermediate level; From sixteen to twenty students;

3. Linguistic items to be focused Usage of the modal verbs “can” and “could”; Indirect speech

4. Examples The examples would come from comic strips, so that the topic would be lighter to be presented and discussed. Students could also bring, for another class, examples from different species, such as texts, songs or sitcoms.

5. Comic Strips

10. Class: step 1 - input The class would be divided in groups of four; Each group would get some (2 to 4) comic strips; They would look up new words and read the comic strips to their group partners.

11. Class: step 2 - output Each one of the group should write a report about what happened in a chosen comic strip. This way, they would practice indirect speech. One of the written reports should be chosen to be told to the class by one of the members of each group.

12. Class: step 3 - Language analysis After students report, the teacher would ask him/her and the class about the situation. Was it a conversation between two friends or between mother and son? Is it formal or informal? Were the characters in the comic strip being polite? Were they talking about abilities and skills?

13. Class: step 3 - Language analysis Ask students to find and underline the modals “can” and “could”; Sentences where they appeared should be written on the board and analyzed: which differences between the usage of both verbs could the students notice?

14. Class: step 3 - Language analysis Ask students to find out the function of the modals: offer, request, permission, possibility. Write the functions on each strip. Lead students to see the pattern of modal verbs by asking questions: What comes after modal verbs in the sentences? What is the form of the verbs after modals?

15. Class: step 4 After the explanations, students should write one sentence for each function found and explain their choice for “can” or “could”.

16. Language analysis Language analysis would be done again after the production activity so that students would get a chance to check the usage: the meaning and the form.