Overview

Lesson Procedure

65-75 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up10 minutes
2. Direct Instruction20 minutes
3. Guided Practice15 minutes
4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up10 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of an event where you had to change the way you spoke partway through: a family gathering, a game, a job, a class visit. What made you change, and what exactly did you change? Did anyone notice?"

   Students write for three minutes and share in pairs. Collect a few moments of change and list the cues that caused them: a new listener arrived, someone asked a question, the mood changed, a microphone came on. Point out that most of the cues came from the situation, not from any rule.

   Frame the lesson. In grades 9-10, students practiced choosing one register for each context. SL.11-12.6 keeps the same words but raises the demand: at this level the contexts are mixed, the shifts happen inside a single event, and "command of formal English" follows the grades 11-12 Language standards. L.11-12.1 adds that usage is a matter of convention that changes and is sometimes contested, and L.11-12.3 asks students to vary syntax for effect.

2. Direct Instruction20 minutes

   Part 1: A scale for registers. The linguist Martin Joos described five styles of speech, which he called "clocks," in his 1961 book The Five Clocks; teachers now usually call them registers. The table is a common classroom adaptation of his scale, and its labels give students a shared vocabulary for the shifts they will analyze. They describe the distance between speaker and listener, not how good the speech is.

   Five registers, from most fixed to most personal

   Register	What it sounds like	Where you hear it
   Frozen	Fixed words, said the same way every time	Oaths, pledges, the formula "Do you take ..." at a wedding
   Formal	Planned, one speaker to many, standard grammar, few interruptions	Opening statements, toasts, ceremonies, testimony
   Consultative	Standard but two-way, with questions and background supplied	Interviews, asking a coach or a doctor for advice, panels during questions
   Casual	Among friends and peers, with shortcuts, slang and fragments	Hallways, team buses, group chats read aloud
   Intimate	Private shorthand between very close people	Family at home, a best friend

   Part 2: One panel, many moments. Transcript 1 is an invented public panel at a town library: two seniors answer questions about summer jobs from an audience of parents, teenagers, employers and one twelve-year-old. Assign two readers for the panelists and one for the moderator. As they read, students mark each place where a speaker's register changes, and whether the change fits the moment. Then work through the examples, and use Diagram 1 to see both speakers' paths at once.

   1Ms. Solís: Good evening, and welcome to the Brookfield Library's panel on summer jobs for teens. Tonight's panelists are two seniors from Brookfield High School, Imani Castillo and Ben Ashworth, who both worked last summer. Each will make a brief opening statement, and then we will take your questions. Imani, would you begin?

   2Imani: Thank you, Ms. Solís, and thank you all for coming. For the past two summers, I have worked at Carver Hardware, first stocking shelves and then at the paint counter. I would like to make one point tonight: a first job teaches skills that no class can, but only if the employer is willing to train and the teenager is willing to be trained. I will come back to both halves of that sentence.

   3Ben: Yeah, hey, everybody. So I did an internship at an accounting firm last summer, which was honestly kind of a grind, but I learned a ton. Mostly spreadsheets. Lots of spreadsheets.

   4Ms. Solís: Thank you both. Let's go to the audience. Yes, the young man in the front row.

   5Audience member (a boy of about twelve): Um, how old do you have to be to get a job?

   6Imani: Great question. For a lot of jobs, you have to be at least fourteen, and until you're sixteen there are limits on how many hours you can work. But you can start earlier with things like pet sitting or helping a neighbor with yard work. That's how I started, actually. When I was your age, I walked my neighbor's dog every day after school.

   7Ben: I'd add that entry-level youth labor markets tend to be fairly inelastic, so compensation doesn't necessarily track experience.

   8Ms. Solís: Perhaps in other words, Ben?

   9Ben: Oh. Sorry. Basically, your first job probably won't pay a lot, even if you're really good at it.

   10Audience member (an adult): I'll be honest. I run a landscaping company, and I've stopped hiring teenagers. They show up late, they're on their phones, and they quit in August.

   11Ben: With all due respect, that's kind of a tired take. Maybe pay more and they'd stay?

   12Imani: I think that's a fair concern, and I've seen it. At Carver, two of the five summer hires quit before July. But the three who stayed had something in common: a manager who explained the job on the first day and checked in during the first week. Employers who want teenagers to stay can make that first week count, and teenagers who want to be hired again can show up on time and put the phone away. Both halves, like I said.

   13Ms. Solís: We have time for closing statements. Imani?

   14Imani: When I started at the paint counter, I did not know the difference between satin and semi-gloss. By August, customers were asking for me by name. Not because I was talented. Because someone taught me, and because I let them. That is what a first job can do.

   15Ben: Thank you. I'd just say this: apply, even if you think you're not ready. The worst answer you'll get is no, and I heard plenty of those before the firm said yes.

   • Matching the room's opening register (paragraphs 1-3)

     Ms. Solís welcomes the audience, introduces the panelists by full name and school and asks, "Imani, would you begin?" Imani: "Thank you, Ms. Solís, and thank you all for coming. [...] I would like to make one point tonight." Ben: "Yeah, hey, everybody. So I did an internship at an accounting firm last summer, which was honestly kind of a grind."

     Result: A public event, a moderator's formal introduction and the word "statement" all make formal English appropriate for the openings. Imani thanks the moderator by name, states her experience in complete sentences and previews a claim she will return to. Ben's opener would suit a friend's group chat; in a library full of strangers, parents and employers, it spends his first impression on filler ("so," "honestly," "kind of").

   • Shifting down for a young listener (paragraphs 5-7)

     A twelve-year-old asks, "Um, how old do you have to be to get a job?" Imani: "Great question. For a lot of jobs, you have to be at least fourteen [...] When I was your age, I walked my neighbor's dog every day after school." Ben: "entry-level youth labor markets tend to be fairly inelastic, so compensation doesn't necessarily track experience."

     Result: Imani moves down from formal to a casual register in the middle of the same event: contractions, "you," a personal example sized for a twelve-year-old, and a direct answer to his question. Her grammar stays standard; what changes is the distance between speaker and listener. Ben moves the other way, into technical vocabulary, and answers a question the boy did not ask. Adapting to a context includes adapting within one. (Her facts are accurate for federal child labor law: 14 is the minimum age for most non-farm jobs, and 14- and 15-year-olds have limits on hours; state rules can be stricter.)

   • When the context indicates a repair (paragraphs 8-9)

     Ms. Solís: "Perhaps in other words, Ben?" Ben: "Oh. Sorry. Basically, your first job probably won't pay a lot, even if you're really good at it."

     Result: The moderator's question is a polite cue that his register missed his listener, which is one way a context "indicates" what is needed. Ben's repair works: one plain sentence the boy can use. A skilled speaker watches for such cues (a moderator's hint, a puzzled face, a follow-up question) and repairs without losing the point.

   • Formal English under pressure (paragraphs 10-12)

     An employer says teenagers "show up late, they're on their phones, and they quit in August." Ben: "With all due respect, that's kind of a tired take. Maybe pay more and they'd stay?" Imani: "I think that's a fair concern, and I've seen it. At Carver, two of the five summer hires quit before July."

     Result: A hostile comment tempts a speaker to drop into the register of an argument with a friend. Ben's "with all due respect" is formal in form, but the dismissive "tired take" makes it sarcastic. Imani stays courteous and precise: she concedes, gives numbers (two of five quit; three stayed), names what the three had in common and ends by linking back to her opening claim. Command of formal English shows most when a speaker is provoked.

   • Varying syntax for effect (paragraph 14)

     "When I started at the paint counter, I did not know the difference between satin and semi-gloss. By August, customers were asking for me by name. Not because I was talented. Because someone taught me, and because I let them. That is what a first job can do."

     Result: Imani's closing moves from two full sentences to two short fragments and ends on a short sentence. The fragments are deliberate: each begins with "because" or "not because," so together they answer the question the listener is asking, and "because I let them" pays off her opening point that a teenager must be "willing to be trained." Varying syntax for effect is what L.11-12.3a asks, and a fragment used this way is a choice, not a lapse, even in formal speech.

   Part 3: What command of formal English means at this level. Show Diagram 2. The grades 11-12 Language standards expect students to know the conventions of formal English, to recognize that some usages are contested (careful speakers and usage guides disagree about them), and to tell both apart from classroom "rules" that are not rules of English at all. A speaker with command does not break a convention by accident, does not overcorrect in an effort to sound formal, and can explain a choice on contested usage, for example by consulting a current dictionary's usage note (L.11-12.1b).

3. Guided Practice15 minutes

   Owen Mbeki, an invented senior and drum major, is giving a toast at the retirement dinner for his school's band director, Ms. Pruitt, after 31 years. The room will hold her husband, her colleagues, the principal (Dr. Gaines), her family, and current and former students. Owen rehearsed a first draft with his friends in the band (Transcript 2), then rewrote it for the dinner (Transcript 3). Pairs read both and list three differences that come from the audience and three that come from the occasion.

   1Okay, so, can everybody hear me? Cool. For those who don't know me, I'm Owen, drum major, and yes, I'm the one who dropped the mace at homecoming. Twice.

   2So, Ms. P. Where do I even start. This woman has yelled "Again!" at us probably ten thousand times. Remember the bus to Riverside, when the tuba section, well, the tuba section knows what they did. And the thing with the raccoon at band camp? Legendary. If you know, you know.

   3Anyway, she's retiring, which is honestly so unfair to the freshmen, because who's going to make them run the fight song eleven times in the rain now?

   4Love you, Ms. P. Don't get too bored. Okay, that's it. Cheers, I guess?

   1Good evening. For those I haven't met, my name is Owen Mbeki, and I'm this year's drum major. Mr. Pruitt, Dr. Gaines, members of the Pruitt family, and all of us who have marched behind Ms. Pruitt: thank you for letting me say a few words.

   2Thirty-one years. Thirty-one marching seasons, thirty-one spring concerts, and more early-morning rehearsals than anyone in this room could count. In that time, Ms. Pruitt taught about two thousand students to read music, to march in step and, when it was raining and we were tired and the fight song still wasn't right, to play it again.

   3She said "Again!" to us a lot. We complained. We played it again. And somewhere around the eleventh time, in the rain, it got good. That is what she taught us: that good is something you make, one more time than you want to.

   4Ms. Pruitt, the band will keep playing. It will just never be quite as loud as you wanted it. Please raise your glasses. To Ms. Pruitt.

   Debrief with four questions. (1) Who is left out by "If you know, you know" (Transcript 2, paragraph 2)? Nearly everyone at the dinner: the family, the principal and every guest who was not on the Riverside bus. Inside jokes fit the rehearsal audience of band friends; a toast speaks for the whole room. (2) Transcript 3 keeps the story about playing the fight song again. Why? It is the one memory that everyone can share without having been there, and it carries the tribute: "good is something you make, one more time than you want to." (3) What does paragraph 2 of Transcript 3 do with its syntax? It opens with a two-word fragment, "Thirty-one years," then a list in parallel, then one long sentence whose "when" clause ("when it was raining and we were tired and the fight song still wasn't right") delays the last item, "to play it again." (4) Is the toast formal? Formal in structure: an address to the guests by title, a planned shape and a traditional close ("Please raise your glasses"). It is warm and funny inside that frame, which is what the occasion calls for.

4. Independent Practice15-20 minutes

   Students read Transcript 4, the remarks of an invented student emcee, Priya Raman, at a community foundation's scholarship night. The audience is donors, families, the foundation's board and nine winners. Priya's remarks mix strong choices, a few usage decisions a careful listener could question, and one or two moments that miss the context. Students answer quiz questions 1-10 with the transcript open, then questions 11-20, which apply the standard to new situations.

   1Good evening, and welcome to the Eastlake Community Foundation's twelfth annual Scholarship Night. My name is Priya Raman. I am a senior at Eastlake High School and tonight's emcee. On behalf of the foundation's board, I would like to welcome our donors, our families and, most of all, this year's nine scholarship winners.

   2Here is how the evening will run. I will introduce each award, the donor or a member of the donor's family will present it, and each winner will receive their certificate on stage. Please hold your applause until each winner reaches the stage, so that everyone can hear the next name.

   3Our first award, the Delia Moreno Memorial Scholarship, goes to a student whom the committee says showed remarkable persistence this year: Jamal Whitaker.

   4Oh, the microphone's out. Can everybody in the back hear me? No? Okay. Give me one second. I'm going to project, and my choir teacher is going to be so proud. Can you hear me now? Great. Thank you for your patience.

   5Our next presenter is the founder of Oyelaran Engineering. Mr. Oyelaran, you're the man! Come on up.

   6Before we close, I want to truly thank the volunteers who set up this room, printed the programs and baked nine hundred cookies, which I am told is a foundation record.

   7Nine winners. Nine students who studied late, worked weekends and helped at home, and who now carry this community's confidence with them. Congratulations to each of you. Good night, and drive safely.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: "Name one event in the next month where you will speak. Write the first sentence you will say and one moment in the event where you expect to shift register. What will the cue be?" Collect the tickets; they make good scenarios for Activity 3.

   Teacher note on formal English and language varieties. Present formal English as a register students add, not a replacement for the ways they speak at home or with friends. Linguists describe regional dialects and varieties such as African American English as systematic and rule-governed, not as collections of errors and not simply as "informal" speech; each has formal and informal styles of its own. L.11-12.1a's point that usage "is a matter of convention, can change over time, and is sometimes contested" is a good way to discuss why one variety became the expected one in formal settings, and why the expectations keep changing.

   Homework. Tonight students prepare three speaking tasks about one project, a community mural, for a reporter, a dedication ceremony and a class of second graders. The notes end with three draft lines to judge and revise. Show students the directions and rubric before they leave.

   1Last spring, twelve students from Brookfield High School painted a mural of the Maple Street creek, with its herons and willows, on the side wall of the Maple Street Community Center. You were one of the lead painters. The project took fourteen Saturdays, and 46 neighbors helped with the base coat.

   2Task A: A reporter from the local TV station stops you at the wall and asks, on camera, "Why this mural, and why here?" You have about 30 seconds, and the clip may be cut to ten.

   3Task B: At the dedication ceremony, you will speak for 90 seconds after the mayor. The audience includes the mayor, a city council member, the community center's director, neighbors who helped and the painters' families. The program lists your remarks as "Words from the Student Artists."

   4Task C: The next week, a second-grade class from the elementary school next door visits the wall, and their teacher asks you to answer the children's questions for five minutes.

   5Your first-draft lines, which need work: (1) "The amount of volunteers were amazing." (2) "We literally painted until our arms fell off." (3) "Myself and Coach Rivera would like to thank the city."

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 1 of Transcript 4, which choices show that Priya has judged the scholarship night to call for formal English?

   AShe jokes about her choir teacher so that the room relaxes before the first award is presented BShe names the event in full, states her role and welcomes each group on behalf of the board CShe lists every winner by name so that families know when to pay attention DShe explains the rules for applause before she introduces herself to the room

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 2, Priya says, "each winner will receive their certificate on stage." How should a careful listener judge "their" here?

   AIt is a clear error, because in formal English "their" can refer only to a plural noun, never to "each winner" BIt is a clear error, because the formal pronoun for a single winner is "its certificate" CIt is contested: singular "they" is long established and widely accepted, and "his or her" also works DIt is frozen language, because certificate ceremonies always use this exact wording

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 3 says the award "goes to a student whom the committee says showed remarkable persistence." What is the formal-English problem?

   AThe pronoun should be "who," because it is the subject of "showed"; "the committee says" is an interruption BThe pronoun is correct, because any pronoun that follows "a student" should take the object form CThe pronoun should be "which," because it refers back to the scholarship and not to the student DThere is no problem, because "whom" is always the more formal choice and so can never be wrong at a ceremony

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 4, the microphone fails and Priya switches to a casual register ("Okay. Give me one second."). How well does this shift fit the context?

   AIt fails, because an emcee should never leave the formal register once a ceremony has begun BIt fails, because the joke about her choir teacher embarrasses that teacher in front of the donors and families CIt fits only because the audience could not hear her, so her words did not matter at all DIt fits: a problem everyone shares calls for a quick, human reply, and she then returns to formal English

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   What is the problem with paragraph 5, "Mr. Oyelaran, you're the man! Come on up."?

   AIt uses his last name, which is too formal for a scholarship night with families present BIt greets an honored donor in casual slang, and it never names the award he is presenting CIt is too long, and an emcee should introduce every presenter with a single word or at most a short phrase DIt gives away the winner's name before Mr. Oyelaran reaches the stage

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In paragraph 6, Priya says, "I want to truly thank the volunteers." A classmate says the split infinitive ("to truly thank") is an error. Who is right?

   AThe classmate, because English grammar has never allowed a word between "to" and its verb BThe classmate, because a split infinitive is acceptable in casual conversation only and never at a formal ceremony CPriya: the ban on splitting infinitives is a classroom myth, and "to truly thank" is acceptable formal English DNeither, because "truly" should be removed from every formal speech as an empty word

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Paragraph 7 begins, "Nine winners. Nine students who studied late, worked weekends and helped at home ..." What is the effect of this syntax?

   AThe fragment and the parallel series slow the close and give each winner's effort weight BThe fragment is a slip that Priya should have corrected into a complete sentence CThe repeated word "Nine" shows that she has lost her place in her notes DThe series lists three facts that the audience must remember and write down before leaving the ceremony

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Why does Priya explain how the evening will run in paragraph 2?

   ABecause the foundation's board requires every emcee to read its printed rules aloud to the audience word for word BBecause she wants to show the donors that she has memorized the entire program CBecause the winners have not yet been told that they won, so she must prepare them DBecause a mixed audience at a ceremony needs to know the order and what to do, such as when to applaud

9. Question 9 of 20 · Short Answer

   Rewrite paragraph 5 of Transcript 4 so that it fits the moment. You may add details that a program would supply, such as Mr. Oyelaran's first name and the scholarship's title. Then explain two of your changes.

   Show model answer

10. Question 10 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paragraphs 4 and 5 of Transcript 4 both move into a casual register. In three or four sentences, explain why the shift in paragraph 4 works and the shift in paragraph 5 does not. Quote each paragraph.

    Show model answer

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student visits the reference desk and asks a librarian for help finding sources for a research paper. On the five-register scale, which register fits best?

    AFrozen, because the library has fixed rules that must be recited word for word BIntimate, because the librarian will be helping with the student's own work CConsultative, because it is a two-way exchange with an expert who may ask questions DCasual, because the librarian works at the student's own school and sees the student every day

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student is giving a toast at a teacher's retirement dinner. Which sentence uses formal English correctly?

    A"To the teacher who we owe the most, thank you for everything." B"To the teacher to whom we owe the most: thank you." C"To the teacher whom owes us the most: thank you." D"To the teacher that we owe the most to, whom we thank."

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    At a city council meeting, a student says, "Hopefully, the council will vote on the skate park next month." A classmate says "hopefully" is wrong here because it must mean "in a hopeful manner." What is the best response?

    AThe classmate is right, and the student should instead say "The council will vote hopefully next month" BThe classmate is right, because adverbs may modify only verbs in formal English CNeither: "hopefully" is frozen language and cannot be changed in any register DThe usage is contested but widely accepted; "I hope the council will vote ..." avoids any objection

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In a formal commencement speech, which revision uses a change of sentence length for emphasis?

    A"We lost the first game. We lost the second game. We lost the third game. We lost the fourth game." B"We lost the first four games of the season by a total of thirty points, and the bus ride home from the fourth one was the quietest two hours of my life. Then we won." C"We lost the first four games of the season, and then later on in the season, after a lot of hard practices and a long bus ride home, we won some games, which was good." D"Games were lost by us, four of them, and then, after that happened, a game was won by us."

15. Question 15 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    At the start of a college admissions interview, the interviewer says, "Please, call me Dana. This is just a conversation, so relax." What does this cue indicate?

    AThat slang is now welcome, since the interviewer has asked the student to relax and to use her first name BThat the student should become more formal to show respect despite the invitation CThat a consultative register fits: first names and ease, but still standard English and full answers DThat the interview is over and the rest of the talk will not be evaluated at all

16. Question 16 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In a formal debate, a student says, "Irregardless of the cost, the city should fund the program." What should the student say instead?

    A"Regardless of the cost": dictionaries record "irregardless," but they label it nonstandard BNothing: every word that appears in a dictionary is standard formal English C"Irregardlessly of the cost," because an adverb form is needed at the start of a sentence like this one D"In regard to the cost," because it means the same thing and sounds more formal

17. Question 17 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    A student is asked to give a toast at her cousin's wedding reception. Which opening best fits the occasion and the mixed audience?

    A"So, for those who weren't at the bachelorette party, well, what happens there stays there, right?" B"Esteemed guests, it is with profound solemnity that I address this distinguished assembly on this evening." C"Um, hi. I'm not really good at speeches, so this will be quick, I guess, sorry." D"Good evening. I'm Lena, Sofia's cousin, and I've known the bride for as long as she has been alive."

18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    A moderator asks you, a student panelist, "Why should students join a club?" First a fourth grader in the audience asks it, then the district superintendent asks it. Write a two-sentence answer for each, and name one change in word choice and one in content.

    Show model answer

19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Using one example of each from this page, explain the difference between a usage that is contested and one that is an error in formal English. Then explain how a speaker should decide what to say at a formal event when a usage is contested.

    Show model answer

20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    Priya is asked to record a 20-second video for the foundation's social media, inviting next year's high school seniors to apply. Write the script, using the facts in Transcript 4, and explain two ways it differs from paragraph 1 of her remarks.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to SL.11-12.6: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.