English for refugees - Describing homes - finding accomodation

  PART ONE

Aim - To help refugees with some grasp of English describe and find accommodation Greek city of Thessaloniki

Materials - Photographs of different kinds of housing  either from magazines or via  via smart phone.

Level - Elementary/intermediate.

1 - Ask students to think of their dream/perfect home. You may need a photograph to help get your message across and then describe the place and say why you want to live in this place.

2 - Now elicit suitable vocabulary for describing a home;

Type - e.g. flat/house/villa etc

Size - e.g in  square meters or number of rooms/bedrooms

Location e.g in the centre/suburbs/countryside

Amenities e.g.garden/swimming pool/utilities room/garage etc

3 - Write these on the board elicit further terms from the students.

4 - Now students look for a suitable dream home on their smart phones or simply describe it to the person next to them. Students then ask each other why they want to live in this place.

5 - Now draw a floor plan of your own or one you have found on the internet. Label the rooms and facilities, check comprehension.

6 - Students then draw their own present home/previous residence floor plan or for their dream home.

7 - Students then describe their plan.

e,g, It is/was

       It has/had

       I like/liked etc

PART TWO

Aim - To help refugees with some grasp of English describe and find accommodation Greek city of Thessaloniki

Materials - Photographs of different kinds of housing  either from magazines or via  via smart phone and a map of the city..

Level - Elementary/intermediate

1 - In the next lesson recap the language used to describe homes (see part one)

TYPE

SIZE

LOCATION

AMENITIES

2 - Now divide the students into two groups landlords/landladies and tenants - explain terms.

3 - Now in their groups students think of questions the landlords/landladies and tenants would ask.

Landlords/landladies

e'g How long do you want to stay?

     Do you have pets?

     How many people are there in your family?

     How will you pay the rent?- cash/credit card/direct debit?

     etc.

Tenants

e.g Where is the apartment?

      How big is it?

      How many bedrooms does it have?

      How much is the rent?

      Howe much is the deposit? 

      etc.

4 - Write these and any others on the board so students can see them during the following exercises.

5 - Give out landlords/landladies and tenants role play cards (cut into strips)

6 - Work on vocabulary issues and either assign roles at random or ask student to choose their own roles. 

7 - Students write down/copy suitable questions and practice them in pairs.

8 - Now students stand up and the landlords/landladies go to one corner of the room and tenants to the other. Explain that the tenants are looking for accommodation and the landlords/landladies have properties in and around Thessaloniki. Remind students that in Greece prices are often are negotiable so they can haggle/negotiate things such as cost of rent.

You may also need to pin up a large  map of the city to help students understand where the properties are located

9 - Student try to find suitable property/tenant. Encourage students to try more than one option.

10 Students then explain how they made their choice to the class.

11 - If time permits students swap roles.

In the next lesson students can repeat the exercise using their real life details in order to recap.

Thank You For Smoking - A Lesson Plan

I saw Thank you For Smoking over the summer and as a satire it was one of the best I've seen for a long while. So, here is a lesson plan for upper intermediate and advanced students that uses it. You don't need to show the whole film, just short extract(s) - two or three minutes long.



Lesson plan

1 Write, "Thank You For Smoking" on the board. Now ask students what is weird or unusual about this sentence. Of course, usually we are asked not to smoke.

2 Now explain that this is a title of a film. Ask students to write down a couple of ideas about what it may be about. If some of them have already seen it, ask them to form a separate group and write down the main idea of the movie.

3 Students swap ideas.

4 Tell the students that they are going to see a short extract from the film and that they should write down as many points as they can.

5 Now show a short extract (2 mins 30 sec till 5 mins)

6 Students exchange notes in groups of two - four (depending on their language level.

7 If necessary, show again.

8 If some students have seen the movie before they form groups with those who haven't and explain the main idea of the film. Alternatively, get them to explain it to you.

9 Now tell the students that there is going to be a class debate on banning smoking in public places such as bars, clubs etc (see here for the law in England).

10 Divide the class into two. One half will be in favour of the measure, the other against. They think of as many points that support their viewpoint.

11 Students form groups of four to six with people from both "sides"and and discuss the issue.

12 This could be used as the basis for a discursive essay writing lesson. Students could also record their personal opinions on their mobile phones (video or audio) and upload them to their blog. They could then ask other students to comment on them.

Freeganism

I came across an article at Alternet today about freeganism.

One Person's Dumpster Is Another's Diner

By Becca Tucker, AlterNet. Posted March 21, 2007.

A subculture of people make a statement by living off the waste of millions. For three days, a reporter gave it a dumpster-diving go in the "freegan" paradise of Manhattan. (click here to read on).

I thought that it would make for an interesting lesson. As the article is quite long and complex this would be best done by advanced students.

Lesson plan

1 Write the word freegan on the board and ask students to come up with a definition. make sure they understand that any definition is acceptable and there are no wrong answers.

E.g A freegan is a person who rides a bus without paying.

or

Freegan is a organic compound found in inactive volcanos.

2 Students share their answers with each other.

3 Now write the headline on the board (and explain what a dumpster/diner is)

"One Person's Dumpster Is Another's Diner"

4 Student then speculate on what the article is about and what a freegan might be.

5 Hand out the article and ask students to answer the following questions;

a What is a freegan?
b Why do some people do this? (support your answer with examples from the text).
c What is the writer's opinion of freeganism?
d Would you ever try freeganism? Why/why not?

6 Students first find the answers on their own and then get into groups of three/four to discuss their answers.

7 Elicit answers from the class.

8 Would freeganism ever become acceptable in Greece? Why/why not?

9 Ask students to watch this video on freegan eating and if it changes their mind.




10 Students post the video along with a response (in written or video form on their blog). Alternatively, they could post a response on the original YouTube video.

Teaching My Big, Fat Greek Wedding In Greece

As part of the course book I use in preparing my students for the CAE and CPE exams there is a section on the different ways families work in England and Greece. To make the rather dry exercise a little more interesting, I decided to use My Big, Fat Greek Wedding in class. Not having a DVD player in the school I used my ibook to show the movie.

Lesson Plan

1 Ask the class if anyone has seen the movie. Since it was a popular film here in Greece ask those who have seen it to explain the basic plot to those who haven't (see here for summary).

2 Now outline the background to the scene you're about to show (1hr 02 mins to 1hr 7 mins).

Ian Miller, the only son of a very WASPy family meet Toula's, Greek American one for the first time and much cultural confusion ensues.

3 Ask students to write down all the differences they can between the two families.

4 Students discuss their answers in pairs then as a class.

5 Ask them if they think that the film offers a realistic portrayal of Greek people.

6 Students post their answers in written form on the class blog or video them and post them via YouTube.

This exercise worked very well and we got a lot of very sophisticated analysis of the film's portrayal of Greeks and Americans.

History as now - Teaching history as news

The BBC has a series called On This Day that treats recent historic events as if they were breaking news. This gives some excellent raw material for several possible teaching ideas.For example this exercise focuses on tenses and in particular the changes needed when talking about recent events compared with those which are over and done with i.e. the differences between the use of present perfect and past tenses, I know, it sound very dry but the idea is to make those concepts more concrete to the students by using real examples.

You'll need to have;

1 Two photocopies (no more than one page each, one of which is from the BBC's On This Day and the other a more conventional historical account (Wiki would be my first port of call). The event should ideally, be something that the students are already aware of. In this lesson plan I'm going to use the fall of the junta in Greece in 1973.

2 A photocopy with details from a historical event that student know about.

Lesson Plan

1 Ask students what they know about the 17th November 1973 (which is a holiday for students in Greece). Students work in pairs and write down what they know. Tell them that if they don't something in English, you'll translate.

2 Elicit answers from the class.

3 Ask them what they know about the 25th November 1973. Odds on, they'll not know much. Explain to them that you will give them a handout which gives some information about the event.

4 Divide the class into two groups, give one group this page from the BBC and the other this extract from the Wiki page on the Greek junta (from The Ioannidis Regime to the end).

5 Tell the students that they should read it and it is their responsibility to figure out the vocabulary as a group.

6 Then they form pairs with one person from each group.

7 They compare the different versions on two levels;

a the information given
b the tenses used



8 Now choose an event from history that your students are familiar with e.g. The Fall of Constantinople ( see here for the Wiki entry - The Siege and Final Assault of the City). Explain to the students that they have to imagine that they are journalists reporting from the city on the events mentioned in the photocopy. Make sure that they are clear on the use on tenses in this case.

9 This can either be done in the form of a BBC On This Day style report or you could record it as CNN live report on a digital camera/mobile phone and post it via itunes as a podcast or YouTube video on the class blog.

Vlogging and EFL/ESL

For those of you unaware of the term a vlog is an amalgamation of the words video and blog. Basically, instead of writing a post, you record it on video. I thought that this might be a good way to spark more student interest in their blogs. I've only just started doing this as I only recently got broadband at home. On a standard 56kps dial - up it's not really feasible to upload large files.

Here is a lesson I did yesterday.

Lesson Plan

I Write on the board or hand out a photocopy with the following situation;

Imagine a situation:

You're the head of a refugee camp somewhere in a poor, developing country. The annual crops have failed once again and thousand of people arrive at the camp seeking food and medical help. The problem is that you have supplies enough for, at most 5000 refugees, however another 15,000 have come. As the days pass the death rates, especially amongst the very young and the very old rise dramatically. Despite repeated calls to the international community the aid promised by western governments fails to appear.

At this point a local drugs baron/warlord appears on the scene and makes a proposal; in return for supplying food and medical supplies for the camp you must agree to let him use the place as a cover for his cocaine/heroin/etc production facilities.

Do you agree?

2 Go through any possible problems with vocabulary.

3 Divide the class into groups of three or four students and ask each one to make a decision. Give them five to ten minutes for this.

4 Go round the class and elicit their decision. Alternatively, set up a debate in which those who agree have to discuss their choice with those that disagree.

5 Explain that now a spokesperson from each group is going to justify their opinion in a statement of between 30 and 60 seconds and that you will record it on video and put it on their class blog. The other members of the group will help the speaker with the wording of the statement.

6 Each group chooses a spokesperson (they will probably need some conjoling for this).

7 Go to a quiet place in the class or better still outside and video the student.

8 Post the videos via, say YouTube on their blog. The other students have to write their opinions on the blog.


See here for yesterday's lesson

Using music in class

Last week I posted a Rage Against the Machine video, Wake Up and said that I was going to do the song as a lesson. Here is the lesson plan for post intermediate classes. For this you'll need the song along with copies of the lyrics and some information about the song and singer/group (see here).

Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine

"Come on!
Uggh!

Come on, although ya try to discredit
Ya still never read it
The needle, I'll thread it
Radically poetic
Standin' with the fury that they had in '66
And like E-Double I'm mad
Still knee-deep in the system's shit
Hoover, he was a body remover
I'll give ya a dose
But it can never come close
To the rage built up inside of me
Fist in the air, in the land of hypocrisy

Movements come and movements go
Leaders speak, movements cease
When their heads are flown
'Cause all these punks
Got bullets in their heads
Departments of police, the judges, the feds
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
You know they went after King
When he spoke out on Vietnam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Yeah!
Yeah, back in this...
Wit' poetry, my mind I flex
Flip like Wilson, vocals never lackin' dat finesse
Whadda I got to, whadda I got to do to wake ya up
To shake ya up, to break the structure up
'Cause blood still flows in the gutter
I'm like takin' photos
Mad boy kicks open the shutter
Set the groove
Then stick and move like I was Cassius
Rep the stutter step
Then bomb a left upon the fascists
Yea, the several federal men
Who pulled schemes on the dream
And put it to an end
Ya better beware
Of retribution with mind war
20/20 visions and murals with metaphors
Networks at work, keepin' people calm
Ya know they murdered X
And tried to blame it on Islam
He turned the power to the have-nots
And then came the shot

Uggh!

What was the price on his head?
What was the price on his head!


I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard a shot
I think I heard, I think I heard a shot

'He may be a real contender for this position should he
abandon his supposed obedience to white liberal doctrine
of non-violence...and embrace black nationalism'
'Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them.
Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to
pinpoint potential trouble-makers... and neutralize them
and neutralize them, and neutralize them, and neutralize them'

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

How long? Not long, cause what you reap is what you sow"


Lesson Plan

1 Explain to the students that they will hear a short extract from a song (20 - 30 seconds). As they listen they should think of some questions using the following question words;

What
Where
Which
When

E.g Where is the band from ?
Which album is it from ?

2 Students write down their questions. Get them to check their grammar with each other before you go around and check them.

3 If a student recognises the song and/or performer then they take over your role. All the class's questions will be directed at him or her. Otherwise you answer them.

4 Write questions on the board;

This might be a good time to deal with any vocabulary issues. Just don't get too bogged down in explaining every possible nuance.

1 Why do you think the song is called "Wake Up"?
2 What do you think the song is trying to tell us ?
3 What names (people, places) are mentioned ?

5 Hand out the lyrics and play the song.

6 Students discuss their answers in pairs and groups.

7 Elicit answers from the class, and ask them if they know any of the names/places mentioned.

8 Now tell them that for homework they have answer a longer list of questions(see below) which I've posted on their class blog (I also posted a video and the lyrics to help them). The answers can either be written in their notebooks and discussed in the next lesson or posted on the blog.


Questions 1 Why is the song called "Wake up"?
2 Who was (Martin Luther) King?
3 How did he die?
4 What was happening in Vietnam in 1966?
5 Who was (Malcolm) X?
6 How did he die?
7 Why do you think the song was used in the Matrix movie?
8 What does the last line mean?

V for Vendetta lesson plan for ESL/EFL

Nearly every day somebody comes to the blog looking for a V For Vendetta lesson plan. I have talked about how much I liked the film but until now I haven't had the chance to write about a lesson that could be used to teach EFL/ESL stuff.

Many of you might question why I keep on insisting on using things such as films, songs and video games to teach. Isn't learning a serious enterprise ? I grew with comics, movies and video games and I believe that many of the things that make me the person I am today have their roots in these media. For example my political education cames as much from comics such as 2000AD as anything I learnt in school. They taught me more about the horrors of racism, class consciousness and the dangers of authoritarianism than anything than was then available in the British educational curriculum of the 70's and 80's.

Lesson plan (for advanced level students)

1 Tell students that they are going to see a scene from a film which depicts an important event from British history (Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament in 1605). They have to take notes on what they see and hear in order to do some research of their own.

2 Ask students to see the first scene form the movie (preferably on DVD with the English subtitles) and take notes.

3 Students get together in pairs or groups and discuss their notes. Show the scene again.

4 If students have access (I wish, sigh) at the school they then go off for ten minutes and find out as much as they can about the event. Otherwise ask them to do this for homework.

5 Students the report back to the class/teacher on what they learnt.

6 Ask students to talk about the coups, rebellions, revolts or revolutions that have happened in their country in the last hundred years (you may have to work on the vocabulary before starting the discussion).

7 Ask them to make a timeline.

8 Ask students to discuss whether violent social change is ever justified.

Next lesson

9 Show a short scene from the later part of the film (for example chapter 18 to 19) and ask the how the world shown in the film is different/similiar to the one we know today.

10Students discuss their answers in groups.

11 For homework ask students to watch the film at home.

What is its basic message?
What evidence does it give to support it?
Do you agree? Why/why not?

12 Students discuss their answers in pairs then in groups then as a class.

Essay question

"People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people. "

Discuss.

The Ballot or the Bullet vs I Have A Dream - a lesson plan

The bullet or the ballot as Malcolm X once put it. This is a lesson plan I've been playing with for the last couple of weeks and I thought I'd post it and see what you think. It is definitely aimed at advanced learners of English, or indeed you could use it in a social studies class. It is ambitious in its scope, but I believe if you ask a lot of your students then, most times they far exceed your expectations.

Lesson Plan

1 Ask students to write down or research what revolutions/rebellions have taken place in their country over the last 100 years, this can set for homework prior to the lesson or done via internet if ou have access at school. In Greece this is a tall order considering the country's turbulent history during most of the 20th century.

2 Students compare their information in groups and report back to you.

3 Now ask them if drastic social change ever comes about peacefully. Once again they discuss this in groups and emphasise the fact that you want concrete examples to support their ideas.

4 Explain to students that they are going to see Mississippi Burning (either in class or for) homework. If you can, show the trailer for the film to the whole class and ask them to write down;


what kind of film it is
where it is set
when it is set
what the basic plot is

5 Student watch the movie and for homework write down what would they have done if they had been born Black in such a community.

6 In the next lesson students discuss their answers with each other.


7 Now explain to the students who Martin Luther King and Malcom X were. Make sure they understand that both of them were black leaders who lived and campaigned in the same era as Mississippi Burning was set (the early 60'), yet both had very different ideas about how the Afro-American community should deal with racism.

8 Divide the class into two groups and give them links to either "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech  (this is an extract) by Malcolm X or the "I have a dream" speech by Martin Luther King (it might be a good idea to give them the transcripts as well - (see here for Malcom X and here for Martin Luther King.)

9 For homework, student listen to the speeches and write down what each leader thinks should be done  to improve the situation of their community and why.

10 Now explain to students that they are now either Martin Luther King or Malcolm X and they have to debate what is the best way to deal with the problems Black Americans face in the society shown in the film. Students should use the ideas in the speeches to put support their ideas.

11 Organise a class debate

12 Essay question.

"Who would you have followed if you had been a Black American in the 1960's?"