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Teaching UP for Arrival and Approach: A B2+/C1 Lesson Plan

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the downloadable versions of the lesson plan, exercises and answer sheet. 

This 60–90+ minute lesson develops learners’ ability to move beyond simple dictionary definitions of phrasal verbs and make more nuanced lexical choices.

The lesson begins with turn up, show up and rock up, using the accompanying video to explore how three expressions with the broad meaning of arrive can communicate different attitudes and connotations. Learners then extend the idea to other arrival expressions and to the productive pattern movement verb + up to + endpoint, such as walk up to, stride up to, cycle up to and gallop up to.

Lesson aim

By the end of the lesson, learners will be more confident in understanding the nuances in meaning between various phrasal verbs and movement expressions with up that denote arrival or approach that denote arrival or approach, and more able to select appropriate verbs to fit the situation.

Secondary aims

Learners will also:

• recognise that turn up, show up and rock up overlap in meaning rather than having completely separate definitions;
• interpret how context and speaker attitude influence lexical choice;
• distinguish established phrasal verbs such as turn up and pull up from transparent movement patterns such as walk up to somebody;
• expand their range of verbs for describing manner of approach;
• justify why one lexical choice may be more appropriate than another.

Level

B2+/C1

Time

60 minutes core lesson

Extend to 75–90+ minutes using the optional production and discussion stages.

Materials

Learners use the linked resources at: 

https://learningenglish.tailtiu.org/phrasal-verbs-with-up-for-arrival-and-approach/

VERY IMPORTANTLY: Click the above link to the learner-sided page, which will open up in a new window, and keep it open beside the teaching notes here.

Alternatively, you can click on the buttons at the bottom of each page for downloadable and printable PDF versions of the lesson plan and materials. 

The linked resources are: 

• the video tutorial Turning Up, Showing Up and Rocking Up;
• only 0:00–3:20 of the video is used for the lesson;
• the learner article on UP for arrival and approach;
• accompanying online exercises;

Lesson procedure

1. Lead-in: how many ways can you arrive?

Time: 5 minutes
Interaction: Pairs → whole class

Write:

Daniel arrived at the meeting.

Ask learners to think of other ways to express the same basic idea.

Do not initially provide turn up, show up or rock up.

Possible learner suggestions might include came, appeared, got there, turned up, showed up and others.

Then ask:

Do all of these expressions create exactly the same impression?

Briefly collect ideas around:

• formality;
• lateness;
• expectation;
• surprise;
• speaker approval or disapproval.

Purpose

Establish the central question of the lesson:

If several expressions can describe arrival, why does a speaker choose one rather than another?

Avoid resolving the question yet.

2. First viewing: gist

Time: 4–5 minutes
Interaction: Individual → pairs

Play the video from 0:00 to 3:20 only.

Before viewing, give learners one question:

Gist question

What is the main point of the video?

A. Turn up, show up and rock up have completely different meanings.
B. Only turn up really means arrive.
C. All three can mean arrive, but situation and connotation can influence which one we choose.
D. The three expressions can always be used interchangeably.

Answer: C

Pairs compare before whole-class feedback.

Do not analyse individual expressions yet.

3. Second viewing: video comprehension

Time: 8–10 minutes
Interaction: Individual → pairs

Learners now watch 0:00–3:20 again and complete the following comprehension task.

Video comprehension: Turn Up, Show Up and Rock Up

Learners watch the video and answer the questions individually, or in pairs or groups.

Feedback

Learners compare answers in pairs before checking and discussing as a class.

For the online version, these are determinate comprehension questions, so normal correct/incorrect feedback can be used.

4. Language focus: prototypes rather than fixed definitions

Time: 7–10 minutes
Interaction: Whole class → pairs

Return to the three target items.

Build the following working model:

Immediately stress:

These are tendencies, not rules.

Compare:

He is always turning up late.

with:

Only ten people turned up.

Then:

My cousin suddenly showed up after ten years abroad.

with:

Everyone showed up for the meeting.

Ask learners:

What does the context contribute to the meaning?

The aim is to prevent learners replacing flexible lexical knowledge with three new rigid definitions.

5. Contextual-choice practice: choosing the best fit

Time: 8–10 minutes
Interaction: Individual → pairs

Learners complete contextual sentences choosing:

turn up / show up / rock up

This activity should not operate as a conventional one-answer vocabulary test.

For example:

Jamie ______ twenty minutes late carrying a takeaway coffee as if nothing had happened.

Possible interpretations:

rocked up

Probably the strongest fit. The lateness, coffee and relaxed attitude support the slightly casual or brazen connotation.

turned up

Also natural. This places more emphasis on the fact and timing of Jamie's arrival.

showed up

Possible. This would make Jamie's eventual appearance or presence more prominent.

Online feedback principle

For online exercises involving turn up / show up / rock up:

• YELLOW = a linguistically defensible choice;
• feedback explains whether it is the most appropriate choice in this context and why;
• feedback may explain what a different choice would imply;
• RED = genuinely incompatible, erroneous or structurally impossible answer.

Do not mark the preferred member of turn up / show up / rock up green simply because it matches the suggested answer.

The pedagogical question is:

Why is one expression more appropriate here?

not:

Which word did the answer key expect?

6. Read and expand: beyond three verbs

Time: 7–10 minutes
Interaction: Individual or pairs

Learners now read the accompanying learner article.

Ask them to identify two broader groups.

Established arrival expressions

Examples include:

• turn up
• show up
• rock up
• pull up
• roll up

Productive manner-of-movement patterns

Examples include:

• walk up to
• trot up to
• gallop up to
• come up to
• run up to
• stride up to
• crawl up to
• cycle up to
• drive up to
• fly up to

Ask:

What information does changing the main verb add?

Expected ideas include:

• speed;
• manner;
• transport;
• confidence;
• effort;
• urgency;
• attitude.

7. Grammar noticing: not every verb + up is a phrasal verb

Time: 5–7 minutes
Interaction: Whole class

Compare:

A taxi pulled up outside the hotel.

and:

A stranger walked up to me.

Ask learners whether up is functioning in exactly the same way.

Clarify briefly:

Phrasal verb

The taxi pulled up.

Pull up has an established meaning connected with a vehicle stopping or arriving.

Similarly:

turn up
show up
rock up

Here up functions as a particle within the multi-word verb.

Transparent movement + direction

She walked up to me.

Here walk keeps its ordinary movement meaning.

Changing the verb changes how the movement happens:

ran up to
strode up to
crawled up to
cycled up to

At this level, learners can use the terminology particle and directional/prepositional phrase, but keep the explanation short. The objective is awareness rather than grammatical classification for its own sake.

8. Manner of approach: animals and humans

Time: 5–8 minutes
Interaction: Pairs

A. Horses

Give learners:

The horse ______ up to the gate.

Ask them to compare:

walked up to
trotted up to
galloped up to

What changes?

Possible distinctions:

• walked — slow or ordinary;
• trotted — faster, rhythmic movement;
• galloped — fast, energetic movement.

B. Human movement

Give groups several verbs:

come · walk · run · stride · crawl · cycle · drive · fly

Ask them to categorise the verbs by:

• speed;
• manner;
• confidence;
• transport;
• urgency.

They then create one sentence for three different verbs.

9. Substitution and interpretation

Time: 5–8 minutes
Interaction: Pairs

Give:

A man approached me outside the station.

Learners rewrite it using different choices:

A man came up to me...

A man walked up to me...

A man ran up to me...

A man strode up to me...

For each version, they explain:

1. What basic information remains the same?
2. What new impression does the verb create?

Repeat with:

Maria arrived at the party.

using:

turned up / showed up / rocked up

Pairs should discuss whether more than one version is possible and what changes in the speaker's perspective.

10. Freer production: create the context

Time: 8–12 minutes
Interaction: Pairs or small groups

Give each learner or pair one expression, for example:

• rocked up
• showed up
• turned up
• strode up to
• crawled up to
• galloped up to
• drove up to

They create a short situation in which the expression sounds particularly natural.

Example:

My cousin rocked up at our wedding wearing jeans even though nobody had invited him.

Partners then ask:

Could another expression work?

and:

What would change if we used it?

This makes justification of vocabulary choice part of the productive task.

11. Optional extension for a 75–90 minute lesson

Mini-scenarios

Time: 10–15 minutes

Give pairs neutral prompts:

• Somebody arrives for an important interview.
• An old friend suddenly appears after several years.
• Somebody arrives at a party without being invited.
• A child approaches a parent urgently.
• A confident customer approaches a complaints desk.
• A horse approaches a group very quickly.
• A car approaches the entrance of an expensive hotel.

Pairs create two versions of each situation using different arrival or approach expressions.

They then explain which version they prefer and why.

The class does not need to reach unanimous agreement. A well-supported interpretation is more valuable than forcing an artificial single answer.

12. Exit check

Time: 3–5 minutes

Ask learners to answer three questions individually:

1. Why is it misleading simply to learn turn up, show up and rock up as three expressions meaning arrive?
2. What is the structural difference between turn up and walk up to somebody?
3. Choose one verb that can precede up to and explain what additional meaning it contributes.

Use responses diagnostically rather than grading them heavily.

13: Extra Practice for the classroom or homework

Time: 10-20 minutes

Learners have an extra online exercise. If they do this as an online exercise, remind them to conjugate the verb either orally or in written form as the options appear in base form. 

Suggested timing

For a strict 60-minute lesson, keep article reading focused and move quickly from grammar noticing to one productive task.

For 75–90+ minutes, allow considerably more discussion of alternative interpretations and use the mini-scenarios.

Teacher note: what counts as success?

This lesson is not designed to produce learners who can recite:

turn up = arrive
show up = arrive unexpectedly
rock up = arrive casually

That would simply replace one vocabulary list with another.

Successful learners should increasingly be able to say things such as:

“Both work, but rocked up sounds better because the speaker seems critical of how casually he arrived.”

or:

“I would use turned up because the important issue is when he arrived rather than how surprising his presence was.”

or:

“Strode up to tells me something about the person's manner and confidence, while walked up to is much more neutral.”

That ability to interpret, select and justify lexical choice is the central learning outcome of the lesson.