I wanted to find a short article about bullying which would lead into a lesson about speaking up and being assertive. This is for university liberal arts students, and I’ll try it next week. In a Business context, it could be a news article about overworking leading to suicide by company workers in Japan. The aims of this task are to get students to assert their opinions, interact in groups of 3 or 4, learn some feelings & needs vocabulary, and a few basic phrases for expressing them. Furthermore, the students can work on a real social problem.
Here's the Google Doc. and I would appreciate any comments, thank-you: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1I5Z8IT_TxuvkF05t7o4U2-T37CD0N35UAl_avIl0BZs/edit?usp=sharing
Drama in class! Fantastic idea and such a nice way to raise awareness. Are the numbers really that high?
ReplyDeleteWhy is the vocabulary input after the writing? Won't they be using these in their stories?
I also really like the use of a storyteller.
The activities are 'language rich' and scaffolded meaningfully. I particularly like the table for taking notes and the vocabulary you have for feelings and needs - you've exploited the text fully - well done Alan!
ReplyDeleteAnastasia Loukeri Thanks for your comments. I think they are that high unfortunately, but there are polices for bringing them down. I'm co-teaching with a psychologist, who is great for being able to quickly adapt materials, and focus on feelings and needs. I put the vocab after the stories, to try and get them to notice the gap, and then scaffold the vocab into counseling phrases after that. So I guess I wanted to focus on fluency first. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteAdi Rajan Hi Adi, thanks for the comment. The vocab in this context is crucial for helping the students to become more expressive. Thanks, and I want to post about your ESP interests, as I have similar interests too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to teach story writing and raise awareness about such an important issue for young students. Two days ago, a fifteen-year-old boy commited suicide in my country, Greece, probably due to bullying so I think activities relevant to this should always be included in the materials we use to teach. I loved it!
ReplyDeleteHi Alan, I've added comments to the doc. It's good to see this topic being raised and tackled in a sensitive way. I'm sure a lot of teachers in a lot of contexts would find these materials useful. Well done.
ReplyDeleteMyrto Chatzigeorgiadou I'm sorry to hear that. I wish tragedies like this could be avoided, and all students could be trained that it's not ok to join the crowd and have a laugh at other people's expense. Thanks for your nice comments though!
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