The Wind

For this plan you need the ad for wind power made by Epuron. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IjUkNmUcHc

Here’s the lesson plan and the pdf file

1. Show the the still. Ask what do you think is going to happen? Get students to perhaps write their ideas. Compare and deal with any error or language issues.
2. Tell them that the guy in the ad is in fact the Wind or a personification of the wind. Ask them to think about what kind of things he might do(nuisances and disturbances) and to work in pairs and write their ideas down. Don’t tell them if their right or not.
3. Watch the clip until nearly the end, up until the scene with the newspaper and check if they predicted correctly.
4. Do the first exercise on the pdf and practice and go over any new stuff with them. then show them the clip again so they can check the order
5. Do the second exercise. watch the clip again so that they can check and clarify with them any issues
6. Give out the second page of the pdf file and get them to fold it immediately and to only look at the top half of the sheet, get them to complete it, but tell them not to turn over the sheet until you tell them(you could give them a time limit). Ask them to turn over and complete the bottompart of the sheet and not to look back and repeat the process as many time as it takes for them to complete sucessfully both halves or until you think they’ve had enough.

The other pages in the pdf file can be used if you want for further work on personifications e.g. you can get them to cite well known personifications and their attributes. As for the ad idea, they may not find it easy to do if you limit them to inventing a personification of something, but you could give them the choice of doing that or just inventing an ad. I found that telling them they could do it as a storyboard is a good idea, they don’t have to be good at drawing, they could use picture from internet or cut out from mags.

PDF epuron wind ad

Lev Yilmaz

I’ve known about this guy for some time and I’ve always wanted to try to use one of his animated films which are available on YouTube, but I always wonder how students will reacte to his slightly off key humour, especially some of the sexual stuff. Anyway I’m going to give this one a bash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvb2EAfOo-4

It’s basically about worrying about the way you look and what you should, can, can’t do about it. What I’d like to exploit is his use of “even though” “look like” and “feel like”, but there’s alot of other stuff too.

Pre-intermediate and above

Start with a dictation about yourself and the way you look, I’ve used this to introduce some of the target voc. There’s a photo of  Boroughs as a friend thinks I look like him. You could include a photo of someone you look like or and someone you would like to look like.

Clear up any issues on the text

My Body

I’m kind of medium height and medium build. I’d like to be a little taller. I’m also nearly bald, so I wish I had more hair. My nose is a bit too big and when I was young this used to worry me. I’m also a little over weight and even though I’m not fat I’d like to be a little thinner. A friend of mine thinks I look like William Boroughs, which worries me, because I don’t like the way he looks

Ask them the following questions ( be careful there maybe, no there will be people who are sensitive about these. I made sure everybody was okay about this before doing the lesson. You can get them to do this in small groups or as written work perhaps before the lesson, or even after

• Are you happy with the way you look?
• What would you like to change?
• What do you wish you looked like?
• What could you do to change it?
• Do you think people worry too much about the way they look?

Now watch the video as far as 1:27. Only because after it could offend some people, however there’s stuff that could be used.

Get them to associate the body part with the cause or problem as they watch. You will probabally have to watch a couple of times.

Body part	Problem/cause
legs	wrinkles
body	Not well defined
arms	pale
belly	Not as thick as before
Head size	Too thin
eyes	Too fat
hair	Likes food too much
Forehead	Too far apart
Under his eyes	wrinkles
complexion	Too skinny
Neck and chin	Out of proportion

Here’s the script, I think I’m going to draw their attention to different stuff like:

Even though

Looks like

Feels as if

(Not) good at

Though

and get them to do some work on these, I haven’t got round to making something up yet, so any suggestions are welcome. Thanks

I’ve always thought that my legs looked out of proportion to the rest of my body. When I was a kid I was sort of fat, so I tried to lose some weight by getting a lot of exercise, but the only exercise I liked was biking, so even though I lost some of the weight, my legs were the only part of me that developed any muscles. So today even though they look like this, it feels as they look like this. I also think my arms are too skinny because I never lifted weights or anything. So even though they look like this it feels as if they look like this, and although I’d like to build them up a little I’m no good at push-ups and I’m no good at chin-ups and no good at barbells and no good at curls, so whenever I get paranoid about I just wear a shirt that’s too big for me and leave it at that.

I’m also starting to get a little belly because I really like food and even though it looks like this, it feels as if it looks like this. I feel guilty when I eat cheese and guilty when I drink wine and guilty when I eat hamburgers guilty and when I eat french-fries, and I guess I just feel guilty when I eat anything at all.

I also think the width of my head looks too thin and that my eyes are too far apart, and my hair isn’t as thick as it used to be and I’m getting these wrinkles on my forehead and under my eyes, and I always look sort of pale and my neck and chin are not very well defined;. So all in all, even if I look like this I feel as if I look like this.

Lesson for BBC Clip on the Unsinkable Brazilian Pygmy Gecko:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pimZMS-B4dQ

Dictate the following to the students

1. What am I?  ____________ are small to average sized _________ belonging to the family ________nidae, found in warm climates throughout the world.

Tell them not to worry about what the missing words are yet.

Ask them to try to guess how the following 3 sentences could be completed.  For the first e.g It could drown in a teacup, the “real” answers are: a drop(of water/rain, finger tip and rain.

Now play the video, but only allow them to  listen ( with my Laptop I just turn the screen otherwise you could record the video using “Audacity”), ask them to put all the sentences in the the right order ( you could perhaps dictate these too), they will probably hear the blanked out word; Gecko, however if they don’t on a first listening get them to keep guessing and then finally after 3 or 4 if they still don’t get it show them the video and ask them to complete the first sentence you gave them. Finally ask them if they noticed that some of the words(the ones in bold) had been changed, ask them if they heard the original words, take their suggestions and then play it once more to check. The words are reptiles, undergrowth and puddle respectively

1. It could drown in a…
2. Could sit comfortably on a…
3. It’s so small that it has special problems with, for example…
4. So exceptionally small no other animals compete with it
5. But its skin is hydrophobic; rain cannot wet it
6. It’s so light and its skin is so water repellant that it can literally stand on water
7. So nimble it can escape from the hunting monsters of the forest
8. But the _________ is unsinkable
9. A fall into water, you might think, would risk death by drowning

Geckos are small to average sized lizards belonging to the family Gekkonidae, found in warm climates throughout the world. Geckos are unique among lizards in their vocalizations, making chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckos. An estimated 2,000 different species of geckos exist worldwide, with many likely yet to be discovered. The name stems from the Indonesian/Javanese word Tokek, inspired by the sound these animals make. The Malay word for gecko is cicak.

USING WORDIA

Wordia http://www.wordia.com/meta/who_are_we is a visual dictionary  where anyone can upload a video on a chosen word, saying what it means to them or giving a deffinition of the word.

It was recently “Refugee Week”  http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk/ and wordia grouped “word videos” together, such as Freedom, identity, community, home, dentention… You can find the videos here: http://www.wordia.com/Themes/3-Refugee-Week-2009

Lesson idea.

Dictate the following:

__________________is a person who flees to escape conflict, persecution or natural disaster

Ask STDS to fill in the blank, they may need some clues.

Tell them about wordia and that wordia has grouped some words together which people thought had a relevence to being a refugee, or words that were somehow connected. Ask them if they can predict what some the words might be. Put their words up on the white board., it doesn’t matter if they are not the same words, in fact all the better. Ask them why they chose their words and to come up with a short explanation of what their word means to them. You could tell them that you’re going to film or record them and why not upload them to Wordia.

After show them some of the videos and get them to write down any words or phrase they remember. You could perhaps concentrate on one more than the others. There’s one of a man from Senegal talking about the word community,  I found it a little dificult to catch all the words, however my French speaking students found easier, maybe they are more used to Senegal speakers, this probably says something about how we get used to certain types of intonation and stress paterns.

To finish you could get them to do a running dictation with this:

The purpose of Refugee Week is to deliver positive educational messages that counter fear, ignorance and negative stereotypes of refugees, through arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and promote understanding about the reasons why people seek sanctuary.

And ask them what they could do to make refugees feel more at home. Look at the Simple Act page for ideas:http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk/simple-acts/simple-acts.htm However be careful, some people might have very different feelings on this subject.

For homework give them this link http://www.refugeeweek.org.uk/InfoCentre/positiveimages/ and ask them to chose one of the people featured.

Why not do other themes using Wordia and use them for lesson plans.

Further to posting below “The Lion Cub from Harrods”

Possible lesson plan:

1. start out by talking about pets – tell them about a pet you have or had. Go on to talk about unusual pets. In France there’s something called NAC “Nouveaux animaux de compagnies http://www.nosnac.com/

2. Find out if they know anybody with an unusual pet.

3. Tell them they’re going to watch a video about a special pet and its owners but first you’re going to give them the following possible titles for the programme – ask them which they find the most interesting

A. The Lion Cub from Africa

B. The lion Cub from the Zoo

C. The lion Cub from Harrods

D. The Lion Cub from the Pet shop All my students choose the right title.

4.show video to  1:17 this contains most of the information they’ll need to be able to reconstuct the story ie. They bought a lin cub, they brought it up and finally chose to release it into its natural environment, where it was eventually accepted by the pride, and that finally they went back to see it and were recognized.

This is surely because of imprinting, check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(psychology)

5. Show them this photo and ask them what they think the reason for it is.Answer: Imprinting; the birds were brought up from a very early age with the AULA and think of it as their parent.

Finally you could use the mixed dialogue and the gap fill exercises

Wild Pets

This is just a great story, I’d never heard of it before, apparently it was broacasted quite recently on BBC. It’s about how 2 Aussies back in 60s-swinging London, bought a lion from Harrods. Most of this is available on YouTube. I intend to just let my students watch the first part and not worry too much about how much of the commentary they understand, as the images are quite self explanitory.

May be some lead in questions could be about pets – unusual ones, and or where you could buy a lion? or can you buy a lion? and if not now was it at all possible in the past? What kind of problems would you have if you owned a lion? Feeding it, space etc. 

Watch the video and just see what comes up. I think that even with low intermediate students there could be a lot of good interaction.

Poem for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day in most parts of the world is the 26th May. So here’s a poem by Billy Collins called the Lanyard. Here’s the lesson plan:lesson&slides I would say this is suitable for intermediate students with children or children with mothers

Minute Maid is good for your brain commercial

Low Intermediate. I tried this with a group of False Beginners and they found it a little difficult.  video

The main aim of this lesson is to get students to imagine a short dialogue between two people, one of whom believes he/she knows the other. The commercial for Minute Maid is really just a spring board for their dialogue. In the Ad a woman thinks she recognizes man and asks “Aren’t you the father of one of my kids?” The guy seriously tries to remember, thinking of some long forgotten fling at Summer camp, but in the second part of the commercial, after he has drunk his Minute Maid and all his neurons are working, as minute Maid contains omega 3 which “Nourishes your brain” he instantly recognizes his kid’s teacher, and we his mistake in the 1st part of the Ad

1. Introduce the lesson by asking if they have ever bumped into somebody who recognizes them in the street and whether they remembered the person or name of the person. You could talk about how they handled that and the embarrassment it might/might not have created, but how much of this you do really depends on their level
2. Watch the video without sound to 0:12 and ask the students to write a short dialogue between the two people. This will be of the type “Don’t I know you?” Six exchanges should just about do it. Alternatively you could get them to do this at the end; perhaps this would be better with higher level students.
3. Get the STDS. to act out their dialogues. You could get them to try to remember, as they will be very short, and you could record them.
4. Now let them watch and listen to 0:5 and ask them if they understood her question: “Excuse me I think you’re the father of one of my kids” 
5. Try to get them to think about how this question can be understood in 2 different ways. To do this you could ask a student he same question and see how they react. Remind them that you are a teacher and “one of your kids could mean the kids in your class.
6. Let them watch to the end of the first part. The dialogue, although short might not be easy for them. How much work you want to do on this depends on how much they understand. The important thing they need to understand is that he thought he could be the father.
7. Show students screenshot  Ask them if they understand the “promise” on the label and what they think will happen now in the 2nd part, which is the same scene again but this time he is drinking Minute Maid and yes he realizes that she must be his daughter’s teacher.

Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry

Tom and Jerry

I must admit that I was “inspired” by a Jamie Keddie http://www.jamiekeddie.com/

lesson, in fact it’s a blattant copy of a lesson he did for RoadRunner http://www.teflclips.com/?p=228

Begin by playing the first 30 seconds of the cartoon.Here

Then show them the screen captures and the possibilities, I and 2 for each picture. You could dictate these to them, I did with a bunch of children and got them to correct themselves from the text after.Get them to make a decision about which one is right, but it doesn’t matter. Compare and answer any questions

Show them the whole cartoon.

Take all the texts back or get them to cover any texts or notes

Drill the vocabulary for the gap fill exercise; Uses mimes and get the STDS to shout out the word

STDs do gap fill exercise

Show them the sceen shots again and ask them if they can say what is going to happen 5 it doesn’t have to exactly the same)

Play to 0.50

First possibility

Tom comes running round the corner, slips on the roller-skate and hurtles full speed into Spikes kennel and smashes it.

Second possibility

Tom comes running round the corner slips on the roller skate, falls head long and slides full speed along the ground into Spikes kennel and pushes it away. Spike who is painting it and not looking at what he is doing, continues to paint Tom.

Play to 1.57

First possibility

 Jerry takes the dynamite and throws it. It rolls into the kennel. Tom puts his head into the kennel and the dynamite explodes with Tom inside

Second possibility

Jerry takes the dynamite and throws it. It rolls into the kennel Tom tries to get it out before it explodes, but Spike arrives and so he pretends not to be doing anything. Tom tries to stop spike from looking inside, spike pushes him away, puts his head inside the kennel and dynamite explodes

 

 Gap fill exercise. (You can copy and paste this).

• Tom ________running round the corner, _________on the roller-skate and ________full speed into Spikes kennel and ___________it.
• Tom ________running round the corner_________ on the roller skate, ________head long and ________full speed along the ground into Spikes kennel and _______it away. Spike who is painting it and not looking at what he is doing ___________to paint Tom
• Jerry _________the dynamite and _________it. It rolls into the kennel. Tom ________his head into the kennel and the dynamite _________with Tom inside
• Jerry _________the dynamite and _________it. It _________into the kennel Tom ________to get it out before it____________, but Spike arrives and so he _________not to be doing anything. Tom __________to stop spike from looking inside, spike ________him away, ________his head inside the kennel and dynamite explodes
• 

Pandas and earthquakes

Sichuan earthquake and pandas

 

1. Show students the picture and ask them what they think the situation is and what’s happening? Ask them if it could be a film set or if it’s real life? Get them to speculate on what might have happened

2. Show students this fact: 70 000 dead and 5 million people in the street and ask them what it could refer to? (by this time they might have already guessed in which case you could just give them the statistics and ask them what they know about this disaster and if any of them have ever experienced an earthquake.

3. Put ideas up on the board

4. Ask them how pandas might be linked to this. (They had to move the Pandas from their centre)

5. Tell them they are going to watch a video about the Pandas. Let them watch it with sound to 00:33 and ask them what they understood.

6. Tell them they are now going to see the Deputy director of the centre talking about what happened and how the Pandas reacted to being moved, but that there won’t be any sound.

7. Ask them in twos to write what they think he said in L1 (not Chinese, unless that is you have Chinese STDS.) and tell them that they are going to translate into English whatever they have written and that it mustn’t be to long as they will have to remember it. (Offer help where needed, don’t correct too much at this point)

8. Tell them that they are going to act out the scene and that one of them will play the director and the other the interpreter. (record them if you have the possibility or film them)

9. Let them listen and ask the groups to suggest any corrections they think are necessary. You could record them again at this point, but depending on how many groups you have it could become a bit tiresome.

10. Let them listen to the video and see if they perhaps mentioned any of the same things

11. Get them to do the matching exercise first and then the gap fill. Here Don’t forget to collect up the matching exercise first You could let them listen again before if you think it’s necessary or you could, if you think it’s to easy cut off the words at the bottom of the page or not to do the matching exercise.

12. For home work get them to check out the Wikipedia site and either get them to find out information for the next lesson or give them specific tasks