Who am I?

Here is a teaching idea based on The Bourne Identity. In the film a man is pulled out of the Mediterranean with gunshot wounds, unable to remember anything about himself. The only clue as to who he might be is an account number for a bank in Zurich. Eventually, the mystery man manages to get access to the bank and a safe deposit box which contains lots of cash, several passports (all in different names) and a gun. Who he is and what had happened to him makes up the rest of the film, so I won't spoil the surprise for you.

The exercise is for more advanced students i.e upper intermediate and above and could be a great way to practice modal verbs and other phrases that express probability and possibility.

Lesson Plan

1 Write this sentence on the board;

"A man is found in the sea alive, but he has been shot twice. What happened?"

2 Students have a couple of minutes to write down a possible explanation.

3 They get in groups and decide which answer is the most suitable for action - adventure movie script.

4 Now explain the basic premise of the Bourne identity, if necessary write it up on the board or give it out on a handout.

5 Tell the students that they are Bourne and they are just about to open their safe deposit box in the bank. Give each group a box/bag with a lot of objects. They can be tickets leaflets, fake money, toy guns, photographs, in fact just about anything.

6 The students have 5 to 10 minutes to create their "own" identity.

7 Students then come to the front of the class, show the contents of their box and explain about who they are.

8 As a follow up students could;

a write a story based on the contents of the box.

b write a confidential CIA/FBI/MI6 etc report on the person.

c video their answers and post them via Youtube/ Google Video to the class/personal blog.

d create their own scene from the movie using a particular object from the box.

e watch the Bourne Identity and compare and contrast their answers with the film's.