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How do you accept a lei? Make vs do: make a wish, do your best, do me a favor

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches make vs do collocations, from make a wish to do me a favor, through Lei Day in Hawaii.

Grammar
Make for things you create (make a lei) and set phrases (make friends, make a mistake); do for chores, effort and favors (do the dishes, do your best, do someone a favor).
Topic
Lei Day in Hawaii, first celebrated in 1928, and the manners of accepting a lei, with words such as plumeria, fragrant and giver.
Activities
A feature to read, a lei-making workshop and a listener's message to hear, self-checking drills, a chat with a host, a do-and-don't sort and open boxes.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: say it with flowers!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: a lei for youVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: May Day is Lei Day

    • Look at the photo: Lei Day in the parkPictureUnlock
    • Read Riley's story on the show's websiteArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: my first lei

    • Listen to Riley and OrlandoListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Viola's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: make a wish, do your best

    • Study the scheme: make or do?Grammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct option: make or do?Choose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: make or do in the correct formFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: make or do?Fill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: which word goes with the verb?Choose the optionUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: welcome to Hawaii!

    • Choose the right replies: a lei for youChatTry it
    • Sort the tips into the correct columns: do or don't?Sort into columnsUnlock
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: make or do?Fill in the gapsUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: make or do?QuizUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Orlando's welcome cardChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Riley answers ViolaDrag and dropUnlock

33 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • plumeria
  • feather
  • fragrant
  • giver
  • contest
  • display
  • chore
  • favor
  • wish

Grammar: make vs do: collocations to learn

Make usually means create or produce; do is for actions, jobs and chores. At a lei-making workshop, learners sort the phrases by meaning, then learn the rest by heart: make a wish, do me a favor, do your best. They also use every form, from makes and did to has done.

Make or do?

make: you create or produce something. do: an action, a job or a chore. Some phrases you just learn by heart.

Create with make, act with do

Make is for things you create or produce (make a lei, make noise, make money) and for set phrases (make friends, make a wish, make a decision). Do covers chores, work and helping: do the dishes, do homework, do business, do your best, do someone a favor.

VerbUse it for…Phrases
makesomething you create or producemake a lei, make a plan, make noise, make money
makephrases to learn by heartmake friends, make a wish, make a mistake, make a decision
dochores, jobs and homeworkdo the dishes, do the shopping, do your chores, do homework
dowork and effortdo business, do a good job, do your best
dohelping someonedo someone a favor (Can you do me a favor?), do a favor for a friend

Every form of make and do

Both verbs are irregular: make, made, have made; do, did, have done, with makes and does for he, she and it. In questions, do can appear twice: Did you do your homework? After the helper, the main verb stays in the base form.

The forms, for every person

PersonPresent simplePast simplePresent perfect
II make / I doI made / I didI have made / I have done
youyou make / you doyou made / you didyou have made / you have done
hehe makes / he doeshe made / he didhe has made / he has done
sheshe makes / she doesshe made / she didshe has made / she has done
itit makes / it doesit made / it didit has made / it has done
wewe make / we dowe made / we didwe have made / we have done
theythey make / they dothey made / they didthey have made / they have done

do twice in one question

In questions and negatives, do / does / did is also a helper, so you can see do twice: Did you do your homework? Does Orlando make leis? I don't make mistakes… very often! After the helper, use the base form: make or do.

Three traps and a quick test

Say make a wish and make friends, never do, and do the dishes after dinner, never make. A quick test: creating something new usually takes make, whether it's a lei, a plan or noise: Orlando makes leis from fragrant plumeria.

Three more traps

Say make a wish (not: do a wish), make friends (not: do friends) and do the dishes after dinner (not: make the dishes). A quick test: when you create something new, like a lei, a plan or noise, it's usually make.

On Lei Day in Honolulu

  • Orlando makes leis from fragrant plumeria.
  • Riley did her best, but the needle was sharp!
  • Orlando always makes a wish with the last knot.
  • Riley made friends with Belinda at the workshop.
  • “You did a good job, Riley!”
  • Viola made her first lei when she was seven.

Common mistakes

  • I did a mistake with the needle.

    I made a mistake with the needle.

    mistake goes with make

  • Make your best!

    Do your best!

    your best goes with do

  • Can you make me a favor?

    Can you do me a favor?

    a favor goes with do

  • I make my homework after dinner.

    I do my homework after dinner.

    homework goes with do

Try the make vs do exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 19 auto-checked exercises
  • 5 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • use make for things you create and for set phrases: Orlando makes leis from fragrant plumeria. Riley made friends with Belinda.
  • use do for chores, effort and favors: Darius always does the dishes. Can you do me a favor? Just do your best!
  • avoid the classic slips: make a mistake, not do a mistake; do your homework, not make your homework
  • accept a lei politely and explain the custom: Lower your head so the giver can place it.

Lesson 20 closes Customs and manners, unit 5 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. B1.1 lesson 16 used make in another sense (it doesn't make you sign up); here it means create, next to do for jobs and favors. Lesson 21 opens unit 6, Art and design, with whose. Lei Day suits the pair: lei makers make leis and wishes, and a guest does their best with a new custom.

Students spin a wheel of questions about welcoming guests, handmade gifts and flowers, then learn twelve words, from honor and lower to plumeria and chore, with pictures and audio. They read Riley's feature on Lei Day, then hear her make her first lei with Orlando at a workshop in Honolulu and Viola from Hawaii remember the lei she made at seven; both are AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, including a table that turns actions into make or do phrases. In the speaking chapter, students answer their host in a chat, sort lei tips into do's and don'ts, and open boxes about decisions, mistakes, favors and wishes.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: a word match, an anagram, gaps with the lesson's words and a memory game, then make or do in new sentences and in the right form, word order, a quiz on which nouns go with each verb, Orlando's welcome card to Belinda with options to pick, and Riley's answer to Viola with words to drag in.

Grammar:
make vs do · collocations · make a mistake · do someone a favor
Topic:
Lei Day · Hawaii · Honolulu · leis · customs and manners · gifts · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Start with two columns on the board, make and do, and let students sort phrases they already know: homework, a cake, the dishes, a mistake. Then compare their columns with the scheme's table.
  • Before the feature, ask how people welcome a guest where students live: a gift, food, a handshake? Then read how a lei welcomes and honors someone, and how a visitor should accept one.
  • Play the workshop dialogue twice: first for the steps of making a lei, then for every make and do phrase. Students sort what they hear into two columns: do my best, make a mistake, do me a favor.
  • Act out a lei welcome with a paper ring: one student is the giver, one the guest. The guest lowers their head, says thank you and keeps the lei on, while the class checks the do's and don'ts.

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16Can you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20 · you're hereHow do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What's the difference between make and do?
Make is mostly for creating; do for actions and jobs. You make a lei, a plan or noise, but you do the dishes, your homework or someone a favor. Some phrases don't follow the idea and are learned by heart, such as make friends and make a mistake. The B1 lesson How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai sorts them into five groups in its scheme.
What are common collocations with make and do?
With make: make a plan, make money, make noise, make friends, make a wish, make a mistake, make a decision. With do: do the dishes, do the shopping, do homework, do business, do a good job, do your best, do someone a favor. Learn each verb together with its nouns, as the drills in How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai do.
Is it “make a mistake” or “do a mistake”?
It's make a mistake. Mistake is one of the nouns that go with make, so I made a mistake with the needle is right and I did a mistake is wrong. The same is true of make a decision and make a wish. In How do you accept a lei?, a lei maker tells Riley to go slowly and not make a mistake with the needle.
Is it “do me a favor” or “make me a favor”?
Do me a favor is the right one: a favor goes with do. Can you do me a favor? asks for help, and do a favor for a friend works too, while make me a favor is a common mistake. In the workshop dialogue of How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai, the lei maker says Now do me a favor: tie the ends together.
Why does “do” appear twice in “Did you do your homework?”
Because do is also a helper verb. Did makes the question, and do is the main verb: Did you do your homework? The same helper works with make: Does Orlando make leis? After the helper, use the base form, so Did you did…? is wrong. The scheme in How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai shows this next to a table of every form.
What is Lei Day?
Lei Day is celebrated in Hawaii every May 1, and it was first celebrated in 1928. The idea came from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin: Don Blanding proposed a day for leis in his column, and Grace Tower Warren suggested May 1 and the slogan “May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii.” Today Honolulu holds it at Kapiʻolani Park, with island music, a lei contest and lei-making workshops.
How do you accept a lei?
Travel guides advise visitors to accept a lei graciously and lower their head so the giver can place it. Don't take the lei from the giver's hands, which one guide calls rude, and don't take it off in front of the giver. When the flowers get old, don't throw the lei in the trash. Riley's feature in How do you accept a lei?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, ends with these tips.
How do I teach make vs do to B1 students?
Teach the phrases in groups, not one by one: things you create, chores and homework, effort, favors, and a short list to learn by heart. Then drill the classic slips, such as do a mistake. How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai moves from a feature and a lei workshop full of make and do to the scheme, a fill-in table and four more drills.
What's a good game for practicing make and do?
Try a quick make-or-do race: call out a noun, such as a wish, the dishes or a decision, and teams shout the right verb. For a bonus point, each team says a sentence with the phrase. The boxes in How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai turn the phrases into speaking, with questions like Has a friend ever done you a big favor?
What's good homework for make vs do?
Good homework mixes the phrases with their forms: made, did, has done, makes. In How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai, all ten homework tasks check themselves, from make or do in new sentences to a quiz on which nouns go with each verb and a welcome card from a lei maker to a newcomer in Honolulu.
How do you practice make and do one-to-one?
Talk through the student's real week: they say what they did and made, such as I did the shopping or I made a plan for Saturday, and the teacher asks follow-up questions with both verbs. The chat in How do you accept a lei? on edio.ai needs no partner: a host in Honolulu gives the student a lei, and every wrong reply has a grammar slip.
Are there interactive exercises for make vs do?
Yes. This page plays three parts of How do you accept a lei?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Riley's workshop with Orlando, a gap-fill of make or do in the right form and a chat with a host in Honolulu. Everything else needs an account.
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