Unit 3: Function: Expressing Surprise & Interest

Identify expressions of surprise and interest across a variety of communicative contexts, including conversations, dialogues, and written texts.

Use a range of appropriate phrases, idioms, and exponents to react naturally and genuinely in both formal and informal situations.

Distinguish between genuine surprise, mild interest, strong disbelief, and polite acknowledgement, and select the correct expression accordingly.

Apply communicative functions in structured dialogues and role-play activities, as required by the Moroccan 1st Year Baccalaureate curriculum.

Master correct intonation patterns and choose an appropriate register (formal vs. informal) depending on the speaker's relationship and context.

Formulate relevant follow-up questions that demonstrate active listening and genuine engagement in a conversation.

Understand and produce exclamatory sentences using 'What' and 'How', applying the correct word order and punctuation.

Produce coherent, contextually appropriate short dialogues at the standard assessed in the regional and national examinations.

Expressing surprise and interest are among the most frequently tested communicative functions in the Moroccan 1st Year Baccalaureate English exam, particularly in the dialogue writing and oral interaction sections.

Mastering this unit gives students the tools to sound natural and fluent in real conversations, moving beyond purely grammatical accuracy towards genuine communicative competence.

The ability to vary register and intonation demonstrates a high level of linguistic awareness, which is rewarded in both regional and national assessments.

Used to ask for details — critical when reacting to surprising news. Example: 'What did you say?' / 'Where did that happen?'

Used to confirm information expressed with surprise. Example: 'Are you serious?' / 'Did that really happen?'

After expressing surprise ('Really?!'), speakers naturally ask a follow-up Wh-question or Yes/No question to learn more. Without these forms, the conversation cannot continue naturally.

happy, sad, excited, angry, bored, worried — common descriptors students already know.

This lesson expands that set to include surprise/interest-specific adjectives: amazing, incredible, unbelievable, fascinating, extraordinary.

Understanding the spectrum from basic to expressive adjectives helps students choose the right word for the degree of surprise they want to convey.

Simple structure: What + a/an + adjective + noun! — e.g., 'What a nice day!'

Simple structure: How + adjective/adverb! — e.g., 'How beautiful!'

This lesson will extend these structures to more complex and communicatively rich exclamations used to express genuine surprise and interest.

Used in dialogue to describe current facts: 'She works in a hospital.'

Used to announce recent news that triggers surprise: 'They have just discovered a new planet!'

Used when recounting past events that provoke a reaction: 'He won the competition yesterday.'

Recognising these tenses in a conversation allows students to understand the news being delivered and respond with the appropriate expression of surprise or interest.

Familiarity with topics such as school, family, travel, sports, and technology ensures students can understand the dialogue contexts in which surprise and interest are expressed.

Students should already understand that a dialogue is an exchange: one speaker provides information, the other reacts. Expressions of surprise and interest are always a reaction, not an opener.

Can you form at least two different Wh-questions from a single sentence?

Can you name five adjectives that describe emotions or reactions?

Can you write a simple exclamatory sentence using 'What' and another using 'How'?

Can you identify whether a sentence is in the simple present, present perfect, or simple past?

Can you explain in your own words what 'turn-taking' means in a conversation?