LESSON PLAN

High School: LIC. TEORETIC B. FRANKLIN

Teacher: ROXANA ALEXANDRA NELEAPCA
Topic: Reported speech
SS level: FIRST CHOICE
No. of SS: 30
Grade: 12th
Type of the lesson: reading comprehension, language
Skills focus: reading, speaking, writing
Objectives:
By the end of the lesson students will be able to:
1. recognize the different tense changes used with reported speech in specific
contexts
2. use reported speech correctly in communicational practice
3.

find and use the most proper English counterparts in the conversion from Direct

speech to Indirect speech

Methods/ Procedures:
-

deducing

prediction

Interaction: individual, group work, in pairs

Materials : handouts, worksheets, task sheets
CONTENTS
Stage 1: warm up discussion
Phase: 2 minutes
Interaction: T - SS
Procedure: T greets SS and asks them if they are ready to begin their lesson.
SS greet teacher.
T asks who is on duty and if there is anybody absent.
SS are ready to begin the English lesson

Stage 2: Checking the previous knowledge

Phase: 8 minutes
Interaction: T - SS
Procedure: T asks SS what their homework was and checks how they did it.
T chooses two or three answers. SS check their homework.
Stage 3: Lead in
Aim: to deduce in what situations tense changes in reported speech
Phase: 10 minutes
Interaction: group work
Procedure: SS are divided in groups. Each group receives a handout presenting some
sentences in different tenses as so they can deduce the changes that occur when using
reported speech opposed to simple sentences.
Stage 4: Presentation
Objective 1 - recognize the different uses of the reported speech
Activity 1
Aim: to introduce all the uses and meanings of how to form reported speech
Phase: 10 minutes
Interaction: SS T
Aid: handout
Procedure: T presents the SS a slide containing the meanings and the uses of reported
speech. For each example presented, SS have to build some simple sentences and the
reported counterpart of their own.
Possible problem: time management
Stage 5 Practice
Objective 1 - recognize the ways to express reported speech in specific contexts
Activity 2
Aim: to use properly reported speech in given contexts
Phase: 8 minutes
Interaction: pair work
Aid: worksheets

Procedure: In pairs SS receive worksheet containing conversion exercises they have to

solve. After solving the exercises the pairs will present their work. The possible errors
are corrected.
Possible problems: the correct use of reported speech
Stage 6 - Production
Objective 2 - use reported speech in communicational practice
Activity 3
Aim: to debate on how the entertainment world is affecting our day to day life
Phase: 10 minutes
Interaction: pair work
Aids: blackboard
Procedure: T asks some helping questions so that the students can give their honest
opinion on the matter. (possible questions : What do you think of the entertainment
world of today? Do you have any thoughts about the oldies music such as Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin etc.? Do you think the quality of todays entertainment is better than the
past entertainment? How does it affect us? What would you change?)
Possible problems: the correct use in conversation of the tenses

Stage 7 Assigning homework

SS are asked to write a short paragraph (5 lines) in regards with the topic discussed in class
about the world of entertainment.

HANDOUT 1

I like ice cream

She said (that) she liked ice cream.

I am living in
London

She said (that) she was living in

London.

I bought a car

She said (that) she had bought a

car OR She said (that) she bought a
car.

I was walking along

the street

She said (that) she had been

walking along the street.

I haven't seen Julie

She said (that) she hadn't seen

Julie.

I had taken English

lessons before

She said (that) she had taken

English lessons before.

I'll see you later

She said (that) she would see me

later.

HANDOUT 2

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. (Click here for more about using 'say'
and 'tell'.) If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and
then the sentence:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.

Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the
'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and
'your'.
(As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English.
I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that'
or if you don't use 'that'.)
But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the
reported speech:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.

Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the
information in direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general
facts, and even then usually we like to change the tense):

Direct speech: The sky is blue.

Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Tense

Direct Speech

Reported Speech

present
simple

I like ice cream

She said (that) she liked ice cream.

present
continuous

I am living in
London

She said (that) she was living in

London.

past simple

I bought a car

She said (that) she had bought a car

OR She said (that) she bought a car.

past
continuous

I was walking along

the street

She said (that) she had been walking

along the street.

present
perfect

I haven't seen
Julie

She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.

past perfect*

I had taken English

lessons before

She said (that) she had taken English

lessons before.

will

I'll see you later

She said (that) she would see me

later.

would*

I would help, but..

She said (that) she would help but...

can

I can speak perfect

English

She said (that) she could speak

perfect English.

could*

I could swim when

I was four

She said (that) she could swim when

she was four.

shall

I shall come later

She said (that) she would come later.

should*

I should call my

She said (that) she should call her

mother

mother

might*

"I might be late"

She said (that) she might be late

must

"I must study at the

weekend"

She said (that) she must study at the

weekend OR She said she had to
study at the weekend

Reported Questions
So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative
sentences. But how about questions?

Direct speech: "Where do you live?"

How can we make the reported speech here?

In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the
same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that, once
we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a question any more. So we need to
change the grammar to a normal positive sentence. A bit confusing? Maybe this
example will help:
Direct speech: "Where do you live?"
Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
Do you see how I made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We
make a present simple question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away. Then I
need to change the verb to the past simple.
Another example:
Direct speech: "where is Julie?"
Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.
The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of the
present simple of be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So,
we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past simple.

Time Expressions with Reported Speech

Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change
time expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when
we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech.
For example:
It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech
was said.
Here's a table of some possible conversions:

now

then / at that time

today

yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June

yesterday

the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of
December

last night

the night before, Thursday night

last week

the week before / the previous week

tomorrow

today / the next day / the following day / Friday

WORKSHEET
A) Change the following sentences from DIRECT to INDIRECT SPEECH:
1. He said, I will be here at noon.
He said that he would be here at noon.
2. Mary said, The train will probably arrive on time.
..
3. He said, I have to finish this report by five oclock.
..
4. The doctor said, Mr. Smith will improve quickly.
..
5. William said to me, I am leaving in the morning.
..
6. The teacher said, Everyone has to write a composition.
..
7. John said, I saw that movie on Wednesday.
..
8. Helen said, I have read that book.
..
9. Mary said to John, I cannot go to the movie with you.
..
10. John said, I have finished studying my lesson.
..
11. Mary remarked, John speaks English well.
..
12. William said to me, I will not see Mr. Jones until Tuesday.
..
13. Mr. Smith said, I will refuse their offer.
.
14. John said, I certainly hope it wont rain tomorrow.
.
15. Henry said, I can meet them later.
.
16. The boy said, I am only eight years old.
.
17. She said to me, The lights have gone out.
.
18. The man said, The telephone is out of order.
.
19. He said, I will never speak to her again.
.
20. I said to the clerk clearly, I have already paid that bill.

B) REPORT what the guests said at a wedding last Saturday:

1. Miss Moore: Theyll make a lovely couple.
Miss Moore said (that) they would make a lovely couple.
2. Mr. Smith: Theyre going to live in Brighton.

3. Mrs.Jones: The bride and the groom are very nice young people.

4. Mr. Roberts: The bride is wearing a beautiful wedding dress.

5. Mr. Clarke: The couples parents look happy.

6. Miss Mayall: The brides father has bought them a big flat.

C)

Do the same:
1. He asked, How long does it take you to have lunch?
.
2. He asked me, What are you doing at the weekend?
.
3. She asked, Why are you late, Tom?
.
4. My mother asked me, Where is your umbrella?
.
5. The secretary asked the man, Who do you want to see, sir?
.
6. The students asked, What time does the bell ring?
.
7. He asked Tom, What kind of films do you like watching?
.
8. The teacher asked the girl, When do you have to be home?
.
9. They always asked, Why dont you let my cat in?
.
10. The passengers asked, When did the last train leave?
.
11. He asked, What will you do tomorrow, Jane?
.