Lexis › Programme › Unit 09 › Lesson 01

What you actually like

A2 Choices
About this lesson ▾

Everyone can say I like pizza. Today we find out what happens when the thing you like is something you do rather than something you eat.

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01
Warm-up · 5 min

Ten things, ninety seconds

Ten things you like and ten you do not. Food, activities, places, kinds of weather. Ninety seconds, no preparation.

Your teacher is writing down what comes after each verb. That is the whole diagnostic.

Baseline · Evaluative words

Seven ways of saying you like or dislike something. Match each to how strong it is.

The strongest dislike
A mild dislike, politely put
A mild dislike, and it is about the match, not the thing
A mild positive — and in British English, genuinely mild
A strong positive, and slightly informal
Neutral — I would not choose it and I will not object
The strongest positive
Teacher note The quite item is worth checking directly. Brazilian students routinely read it as an intensifier, which turns mild praise into enthusiasm and mild criticism into an attack.
Teacher note Correct nothing. Log what follows each verb. Listen for: I like to cook where cooking is more natural, I enjoy to read, I prefer to walk than to drive, and above all I should to go — the unit's named L1 target.
02
Input & Noticing · 10 min

Two people, two lists

Ivo

I love cooking, but I hate shopping for food. That is the problem. I enjoy standing in the kitchen for two hours on a Sunday, and I cannot stand the supermarket at any hour of any day.

I would like to learn to make bread properly. I keep meaning to and I never do.

I prefer eating at home to going out, mostly because restaurants here are too loud. I do not mind a quiet one.

Sara

I am really into cold-water swimming, which everybody thinks is mad. I like getting in when it is about eight degrees and I love the twenty minutes afterwards.

I am not keen on running. I have tried. I would rather swim in the rain than run in the sun.

I would like to do a long swim next summer — the sort that takes six hours. I should probably train for it and I have not started.

Discovery Check

Look at what follows each verb. Answer from the evidence on the page.

1. After love, hate, enjoy, cannot stand — what form is the verb in?

2. After would like — I would like to learn, I would like to do?

3. Ivo writes I prefer eating at home to going out. What joins the two halves?

4. Sara writes I would rather swim than run. What form follows would rather?

Teacher note Question 4 is the first appearance of the unit's L1 target. Would rather behaves like a modal and takes the bare verb, exactly like should, must, can and will. Naming the family now makes Lesson 3 cheap.
03
Focus on Form · 8 min

What follows what

Three patterns, and no rule that predicts them

After…UseExample
like · love · hate · enjoy · don't mind · can't standverb-ingI enjoy cooking.
would like · would love · want · need · hopeto + verbI would like to learn.
would rather · should · must · can · willbare verbI would rather walk.
prefer A to Bboth in -ing, joined by toI prefer walking to driving.

There is no rule. Nothing about enjoy predicts -ing and nothing about want predicts to. The pattern is part of the word, like its spelling — learn it with the verb, not from it.

Row 3 is the modal family. Can from Unit 2, will from Unit 7, and now should, must and would rather. Nothing ever goes between a modal and its verb.

Which pattern

Match each verb to the form that follows it.

verb-ing
verb-ing
to + verb
to + verb
bare verb
bare verb
verb-ing … to … verb-ing
04
Controlled Practice · 14 min

Get the pattern right

Open Cloze

Write the verb in brackets in the right form: -ing, to + verb, or bare.

I love (cook) but I hate (shop) for food. I would like (learn) to make bread, and I should probably (start) this year. I prefer (eat) at home to (go) out, and I do not mind (wash) up afterwards. I would rather (stay) in than go to a loud restaurant.

Error Correction

Six sentences, six pattern errors. Rewrite each one in full.

1. I enjoy to read before bed.

2. I would like learning Italian.

3. I should to call her tonight.

4. I prefer walking than driving.

5. I can't stand to wait.

6. I would rather to stay in.

Teacher note Item 4 is the one nobody guesses. Prefer A to B is unpredictable and simply has to be learnt as a phrase — say so rather than looking for a reason.
05
Communicative Task · 15 min

Ten things, again

Task card · Speaking · Diagnostic

The same ninety seconds, with the patterns now.

Ten likes and dislikes, all of them activities rather than nouns. At least three -ing verbs, two would like to, one prefer A to B, and one would rather.

  • No nouns. I like pizza is free; I like making pizza is the task.
  • Include two things you would like to do and have not started.
  • Finish with one preference stated both ways: I prefer X to Y and I would rather X than Y.
Teacher note Ban nouns explicitly, or half the ninety seconds will be food. The pattern problem only appears when the thing liked is a verb, and that is the whole diagnostic.
Before you speak

Two decisions.

1. You enjoy the activity of cooking. Which?

2. You think it would be a good idea to call her. Which?

06
Feedback & Reflection · 5 min

Which pattern slipped

Self-assessment

Your teacher logged both attempts.

1. In the warm-up, how many of your sentences had activities rather than nouns?

2. Which pattern went wrong most in the second attempt?

Teacher note Log the three pattern families separately. The syllabus makes Lesson 6 "verb pattern errors; modal + bare infinitive errors", so those counts are that lesson.
07
Wrap-up & Bridge · 3 min

Before Lesson 2

Exit check

One question.

1. What goes between should and its verb?

Informal input, before Lesson 2. Watch any food or travel video for ten minutes. Note five sentences where somebody says what they like or recommend.

Copy them exactly, and mark what follows each verb.