Social media sharing

LESSON GOALS Formal and informal English distinction

Omit pronouns and auxiliaries to make writing more informal 

Use informal quantifiers, expressions and phrasal verbs 

Write and respond to social media posts 

SPEAKING Work in pairs. Look at the infographic and discuss questions. 

1 Which social media platforms do you use? If you don't use any, why not? 

2 What content would you be most and least likely to share on social media? Why? 

3 Which type of social media person are you? Are you sometimes a different type depending on what and why you share? Why? 

READING FOR WRITING

Read the three social media posts. Match them with a type of content and a personality type from the infographic. Explain your choices to your partner. 

Work in a group Discuss the questions. 

1 Which of the social media posts would you be most likely to read in real life?

2. What comment would you leave below each post?

Look at the Writing skill box. Find two examples of each type of informal language in the social media posts and comments.

 
WRITING SKILL
Informal language
When writing on social media. we tend to be more informal. Some common examples are
Omitting pronouns and auxiliary verbs
Have you ever. seen a bear doing yoga?
Informal quantifiers
after a bit of a nap
got a ton of comments
Phrasal verbs
She's quite into yoga
What have you been up to?
Informal expressions
I might give it a shot myself!
You'd love it! It's right up your street.


Change the expressions in bold to make them more informal. 

Use the Writing skill box and social media posts to help you. 

1 I've just got back from the city. There's a large amount of air pollution there 

2 I think I' ll try yoga. I've never done it, but it looks fun 

3 The benches can be installed in many different places. 

4 Have you got any thoughts on this? 1 would love to hear your opinion 

5 1really hate people who always postpone things 

WRITING TASK

Write three social media posts. Use your own ideas or choose from the table. Write about 200 words in total and leave room for comments underneath. Find or describe any photos or links you would like to include with your post. 

Things you've read about (interesting articles/ funny stories/ important news)

Personal stories Places you've visited, frustrations and complaints)

Recommendations (a film, book, product you liked) 

CHECK Use the checklist. I have ... 

written posts that are engaging  and/or aldor useful to other people 

used informal quantifiers 

replaced formal verbs with phrasal verbs 

omitted unnecessary pronouns and auxiliary verbs. 

REVIEW Stick your posts up around the classroom. Walk around the room and read your classmates' posts. Leave a comment below at least two of the posts. 

SPEAKING 

Discuss the questions as a class. 

1 Which post did you find the most interesting? 

2 What new information about your classmates did you learn from their posts? Based on the posts, what sort of social media personality from the infographic are your classmates?