Linguistic content:

• Using "going to / not going to" to describe future activities
• Presentation of the grammatical form and the pronunciation issues
• Students do structured practice with workbook exercises
• Students use the forms in communication tasks

Communication tasks:

• Reading event listings in newspapers and magazines
• Providing information about weekend events to others
• Completing individual weekend activity plan
• Students work in groups to share information
• Students develop individual plans
• Observe and act as resource

Learning strategies:

• Cooperate
• Selective Attention
• Model Selective Attention
• Students do structured practice with event listings
• Students use the strategy in the communication task

Preparation (8-10 minutes)

• As students are arriving, chat with them about whether they like to go to movies, concerts, restaurants
• Ask how they find out what's going on around town
• Review homework sheet on simple future; ask for examples of other ways to talk about the future
• Outline goals for today's class

Grammar Presentation and Practice (8-10 minutes)

• Move from preparation into presentation of "going to/not going to."
• Discuss native speaker pronunciation ("gonna"). Stress that they don't have to do it, but they need to be able to understand it.
• Use selected items from textbook exercises for student practice and to identify and clear up any confusion.

Strategy Presentation and Practice: (5-6 minutes)

• Hand out photocopied page with sample event listings.
• Read first one aloud, describing strategy for identifying key information (Selective Attention). Connect to discussion during preparation stage if possible.
• Have class as a group read the others, modifying strategy to fit.

Communication Practice, Part 1 (12-15 minutes)

• Students divide themselves into groups of four.
• In each group, give movie listings to one student, TV listings to another, theatre and concert listings to another, and restaurant guide to another.
• Give each student an entertainment budget for the weekend.
• Students work together to develop weekend plans. Plans can include joint activities (2, 3, or all 4) as well as individual ones. Plans can include activities not listed on the distributed materials.
• Tell students that the product of the activity will be a written weekend activity plan.

Communication Practice, Part 2 (5 minutes)

Each student writes an outline of planned weekend activities. The outline should include costs for each activity to be sure the student is staying within budget.

Evaluation (5-6 minutes)

Bring students back together as a class. Ask members of each group to give examples of ways they used "going to" in making their plans. Ask members of each group to describe how reading strategies helped them find the information they needed to make their plans.

Expansion (homework for next class)

Required Materials:

• Homework exercise on the simple future
• Textbook section on "going to"

Authentic Materials:

• Weekend TV listings
• Newspaper movie listings
• Newspaper theatre and concert listings
• City magazine (restaurant guide)