Lucky and unlucky

What's in the lesson

1. 1Warm-up
2. 2In this lesson
3. 3Guess the words (1)Vocabulary exercise
4. 4Guess the words (2)Vocabulary exercise
5. 5Check the wordsVocabulary
6. 6Check your understandingReading comprehension
7. 7Listen: a game-day ritualListening comprehension
8. 8Use the new wordsVocabulary exercise
9. 9Who did what?Grammar exercise
10. 10With or without did?Grammar exercise
11. 11Subject questions and questions with a prepositionGrammar rule
12. 12Ask the right questionGrammar exercise
13. 13Questions for your teacherGrammar exercise
14. 14Say it naturallySpeaking practice
15. 15A superstition surveySpeaking practice
16. 16Let's discussDiscussion
17. 17Wrap-up

Homework

1. 1Homework: closest meaningVocabulary exercise
2. 2Homework: your sentencesVocabulary exercise
3. 3Homework: questionsGrammar exercise
4. 4Homework: a superstition from homeDiscussion

Words

• superstitious/ˌsuːpərˈstɪʃəs/

  believing that some objects, actions or numbers bring good or bad luck

• lucky charm/ˌlʌki ˈtʃɑːrm/

  a small object that some people carry because they think it brings good luck

• ritual/ˈrɪtʃuəl/

  something that you always do in the same way, for example before an important event

• jinx/dʒɪŋks/

  to bring bad luck to something, often by talking about it

• knock on wood/ˌnɑːk ɑːn ˈwʊd/

  something people say, or do, to avoid bad luck after talking about something good

• belief/bɪˈliːf/

  an idea that you are sure is true

• omen/ˈoʊmən/

  a sign that something good or bad is going to happen

• coincidence/koʊˈɪnsɪdəns/

  when two things happen at the same time by chance, in a surprising way

• pass down/ˌpæs ˈdaʊn/

  to give knowledge, objects or beliefs to the younger people in your family

• irrational/ɪˈræʃənl/

  not based on facts or clear thinking

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

Let's talk about luck.

1. Are you a superstitious person? Why, or why not?
2. Is there a number, a color or a day that people in your country think is lucky or unlucky?
3. Do you have a lucky object, or something you always do before an important day?

Grammar rule

Subject questions and questions with a preposition

Subject questions: no do, does or did

When who, what or which is the subject (the person or thing that does the action), the word order is the same as in a statement:

• Who called? (Someone called.) · What happened? · Which team won?

Object questions: normal question order

• Who did you call? (You called someone.) · What did you see?
• With be or another helping verb, there is no do: Who are you talking to? · What have you done?

Questions that end with a preposition

In everyday English, the preposition goes at the end:

• Where do superstitions come from? · What are you afraid of? · Who are you talking to?

Not Who did call you? Say Who called you? And Of what are you afraid? sounds very formal: in conversation, say What are you afraid of?