Dancing Teens

1. Ask the students to think of any films from the 1980s featuring teenagers dancing. Elicit a few titles.

2. Tell them that they are going to watch a video which explains why dancing in films was popular in the 1980s. The video is available on the BBC website and on BBC’s Facebook page (it’s a public post, so you don’t have to log in.) You can also find it on Twitter here.

3. Explain that for each time period (early 80s, mid 80s and late 80s) they will first have to answer one or two questions, they will look for a series of synonyms, and finally they will be writing the film titles mentioned in the video.

Dancing_Teens.pdfDownload

4. Play till 2:39, corresponding to the early 80s. Allow some time to answer the different sections. Play again.

5. Repeat the same procedure for the mid 80s (from 2:40 to 3:54) and late 80s (from 3:55 to 5:08).

6. Check the answers with the whole group.
VOCABULARY: Early 80s: 1. polished, 2. supported, 3. fad, 4. tanked, 5. mirrored, 6. blend or mash-up; Mid 80s: 1. ruled, 2. archetypal, 3. grown-up, 4. taking over, 5. defiance, 6. deemed; Late 80s: 1. diluted, 2. standstill, 3. heralding.

7. Have the students complete a summary using words from the vocabulary section (the synonyms they had found in the video) in the correct form.

Dancing_Teens.pdfDownload

KEY: 1. archetypal, 2. defiance, 3. backed, 4. ruled, 5. heralded, 6. blended, 7. fad, 8. had tanked, 9. were diluted, 10. standstill

8. Go over the film title sections and discuss any movies the students may have watched. Assign each film to pairs of students, and ask them to do some research about them. Provide the following as a guide:

– Film title:

– Genre:

– Release year:

– Director:

– Lead actors/actresses:

– Dance styles featured:

– Soundtrack:

– Plot summary:

– Notable Quotes (if any):

– Fun facts:

– Sample clips:

– Sources Used:

9. Have the students share their findings!

The seed vault

1. Ask the students to draw the scene you’re about to describe. Play this sound effect of a snow blizzard from BBC Sound Effects to help set the scene. Read the following:

I’ve been lost in the middle of this blizzard for almost half an hour. It’s difficult to see where I am, but I’ve just noticed a strange light square in the distance and I’m walking towards it. Could it be a house? Perhaps one of the houses in the town where I’m staying? I shouldn’t be too far away, after all.

As I get closer, I can see something similar to a tower made of concrete with a steel door and a tiny bridge in front of it. It seems to be carved into the side of the mountain! And then there’s the strange blueish light on a big square above the door.

I can’t help but feel a sense of mystery and intrigue. I’m now certain this is not a fancy hotel or someone’s house. I approach the door. It’s clear that it leads to something special. I take a deep breath, reach for the handle and turn it. The door creaks open, and I step inside.

2. Have the students share their pictures.

3. Display a picture of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault and discuss any similarities and differences.

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

(Source: TIME)

4. Tell the students that they are going to watch a short video about this facility. As they watch it, the students first explain why the numbers in activity 1 are mentioned in the video.

The_Seed_Vault.pdfDownload

POSSIBLE ANSWERS:

1300 – the number of kilometres from Svalbard to the North Pole
200 – the number of years the seed vault has been planned to last
3 – the number of vault rooms
120 – the number of metres from the front door to the vault room that is in use
3,000,000 – the number of seeds that will be stored in the three vault rooms
500 – the number of seeds per sample there will be in the future
1700 – the number of gene banks around the world
9,000,000 – the amount of dollars it cost to build the Svalbard Global Seed Vault

5. The students work together to complete a short gapped text about the Global Seed Vault with one suitable word for each blank.

SUGGESTED ANSWERS: 1. seeds; 2. preserve; 3. tunnel; 4. bags; 5. boxes; 6. shelves

In their own words, the students explain why the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is important, and how it can help us in the future, using the information from the video. Share and discuss the students’ answers. You may even want to explore any possible problems or disadvantages this type of facility may have.

6. Ask the students to read the beginning of a story that takes place at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. As they read, have them identify the setting, the characters and the plot of the story.

The_Seed_Vault.pdfDownload

7. Finally, ask the students to finish the story! Why not invite them to visit BBC Sound Effects, look for the sound effects that best suit their story endings (you can even mix different effects by clicking “Mixer Mode”) and create the perfect atmosphere for an intriguing story sharing session?

Life in the year 2100

In 1966, BBC’s “Tomorrow’s World” featured a number of students from the UK sharing their own predictions about what they thought life would be like for them in the year 2000. The selection in the video around which this lesson revolves is certainly not the most optimistic, but I thought it would still be a good exercise for the students, and it might even help them refine their own predictions about our future.

LEAD-IN

1. Ask the students what they think life will be like in the year 2100. Have them compete the table on the worksheet with their own predictions for each of the categories provided: population, advances in technology, quality of life, housing, climate, and health and medicine. If necessary, elicit and/or model the structures they may want to use to talk about future predictions.

life_in_the_year_2100.pdfDownload

2. Have the students share their predictions and discuss any major differences.

LISTENING

3. The categories in the table are the main areas that are discussed in the BBC video broadcast on 28th December 1966. The students listen to the video with the English pupils’ predictions for the year 2000 and take notes for each category as they complete the table.

Here are some of the main ideas in the video:
– Population – The world will be overpopulated.
– Advances in technology – There won’t be enough jobs because of computers and robots.
– Quality of life – Life will be dull and boring. / People will be regarded more as statistics than as actual people. / Possessions will be rationed due to overpopulation.
– Housing – People will live in very small houses. / People will live under the sea or in the desert due to lack of space.
– Climate – The world might be too hot because of nuclear explosions. / The sea level will rise. / There may be another Ice Age.
– Health and medicine – There will be more cures and not so many sick people.

4. Encourage the students to discuss some of the predictions, and what they think of them in general. Are any of their predictions for 2100 similar to any of the predictions in the video?

FOLLOW-UP

5. Have the students write a few more predictions for the year 2100 related to other categories: school, transportation, food, clothing, relationships, and happiness. Are they now ready for a whole group discussion about each category?

life_in_the_year_2100.pdfDownload

“‘Twas the Night before Christmas”

Using “’Twas The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Clarke Moore, this explosion book features a series of activities related to different language areas and reading comprehension skills that the students complete as they walk through the poem.

‘Twas_The_Night_Before_Christmas.pdfDownload

KEY:

2. 1. c 2. f 3. e 4. b 5. a 6. d The children were nestled… / And mamma in her kerchief… / …for a long winter’s nap / …there arose such a clatter / I sprang from the bed… / Tore open the shutters…

4. 1 – With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
2 – I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
3 – More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
4 – And he whistled, and he shouted, and he called them by name;
5 – “On, DASHER! on, DANCER! on, PRANCER and VIXEN!
6 – On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!
7 – To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
8 – Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

5. leaves / hurricane / sky / roof / sleigh / toys

6. in a twinkling / turn around / bound / prancing / hoof

7. 1 – He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
2 – And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
3 – A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
4 – And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.
5 – His eyes – how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
6 – His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
7 – His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
8 – And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;
9 – The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
10 – And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
11 – He had a broad face and a little round belly,
12 – That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

8. a right jolly old elf / I laughed / when I saw him / A wink of his eye / Soon gave me to know / I had nothing to dread

9. He spoke not a word / straight to his work / filled all the stockings / and laying his finger

To assemble the book, follow these instructions:

1. Print the three pages on cardboard paper if possible (although regular paper will do, too!) Cut the three squares.

2. Fold Square 1 (1-4) and Square 3 (7-10) forward, both vertically and horizontally. Then fold the square diagonally outwards, following the line provided.

3. For Square 2 (5-6), the vertical and horizontal lines are folded outwards, and the diagonal line is folded inwards.

4. Place the three squares in the right order. Glue the squares as shown on the worksheet.

Now the students can draw their own book cover with the title!

To correct the activities, you may want to use this version of the poem sung by Noel Paul Stookey from Peter, Paul and Mary:

Enjoy!

________________________________

I’m Going Back

“I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”

Food waste

1. Write or read the following definition:

“unwanted or unusable material, substances, or by-products”

___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Elicit the word “waste”. Brainstorm different types of waste (electricity, paper, glass, food, wood, water, plastic, metal, chemicals, heat, clothes, etc.)

2. Tell the students you will be focusing on food waste. Why is food waste a problem? Write down a few answers.

3. The students watch a series of short videos with specific ideas or measures to reduce food waste. Each of them has a different focus, from school projects to other types of measures implemented at a national level. The students watch the first three videos and write down the country and/or city where each measure is being implemented and a brief description of the solution that is suggested in each video.

Food_Waste.pdfDownload

In South Korea, an innovative push to cut back on food waste

Young Singaporeans’ smart answer to the world’s food waste problem.

Insects As A Solution To Food Waste

4. Have the students choose one of these videos based on originality, creativity and usefulness, but also thinking of how feasible it might be to implement the suggested solutions where they live.

5. Repeat the same procedure with the next three videos.

How Rotting Vegetables Make Electricity

Pennsylvania students invent solution to their school’s food waste problem

School Food Waste Solutions

6. After choosing the best idea, have the students discuss which solution they would choose, including its strengths and any weaknesses they can find.

7. Encourage the students to think of specific measures we could try at our school to reduce food waste:
– Which are some of the problems they can identify within the school premises?
– What are some solutions they can put forward to help prevent food waste?
Teams work on a list of solutions and prepare a short presentation to be shared with the whole group.

A fashionable Halloween

Using Gemma Correll’s Ghost Fashions poster as inspiration, within a few days we will be exploring different fashion styles and using them to define unique Halloween characters which will hopefully result in some interesting (and not necessarily spooky!) narrative texts.

2. Explain to the students they are going to design a similar poster based on other Halloween characters. Create six teams and give one character to each of them: mummy, monster, witch, warlock, jack-o’-lantern and zombie.

1. Share the “Ghost Fashions” poster with the students. Clarify any unknown words or any questions the students may have. Have them choose their favourite fashions and discuss their choices as a whole group.

A_Fashionable_Halloween_1.pdfDownload

3. The students go over vocabulary related to different fashion styles using this site and this site, together with some picture dictionaries. The idea is for them to revise vocabulary related to fashion and learn new words as they look for inspiration for their own poster. The students choose 16 different fashion styles that they think will help to make their character the most unique.

4. The students take turns drawing their character according to the 16 chosen styles. As they do this, have them discuss briefly what they think each of the characters might be like.

5. Tell the students each team will get one character from each grid and that they will be planning a story with these six characters. Display the posters, have the teams explain the different fashion styles, and use a die to select the characters for each team.

6. Ask the teams to plan a story with the six main characters in mind. Encourage them to use the forest worksheet to plan six scenes and write down or sketch their plan.

A_Fashionable_Halloween_2.pdfDownload

7. The students write the story individually or in groups. Simultaneous or roundtable writing could be a good option here, too!

8. Have the students share and compare their stories. If time allows, I may use some of them with my younger students and have them sketch the stories on the forest worksheet as they listen to demonstrate comprehension.

I was thinking of sharing this activity once we’d finished, but then I thought I’d share it now in case some of you want to try it. If you do, it’d be great if you could share some of the posters created by your students!

Am I invisible?

The following listening and speaking lesson revolves around an experiment carried out by magician Justin Willman to convince several people that they have turned invisible.

Am_I_Invisible.pdfDownload

Roller coasters

Lead-in

1. “Have you ever ridden a roller coaster?” “What was it like?” “What do you think makes a roller coaster exciting?” Write down a few ideas.

Listening

2. Explain that you are going to watch a video about how roller coasters are designed. The students first watch the video till 2:04 and decide whether the sentences in 1 (bottom right corner, the start of the roller coaster on the worksheet) are true or false. Ask the students to provide the right information if the sentence is false. Listen to that part of the video again if needed.

roller_coasters.pdfDownload

KEY: a. FALSE (He wasn’t the first one, but he popularised them.); b. TRUE; c. FALSE (It was 18 miles long.); d. FALSE (It opened in 1884.)

3. Listen to the four main components engineers take into account when designing roller coasters by watching the video till 2:46.

4. Ask the students to follow the track of the roller coaster on their worksheet to complete a number of activities:
– Component 1: Train cars. In their own words, the students explain how train cars are kept attached to the tracks.

– Component 2: Track design. Here four key words are provided. The students listen and write down why they are mentioned in the video.
KEY: a. steel (Most roller coasters are made of steel nowadays.); b. 4 minutes (“Steel Dragon 2000” takes 4 minutes to complete.); c. sick (The way people might feel if the roller coaster is too fast.); d. boring (People will find roller coasters boring if the ride is too slow.)

– Component 3: System to raise the cars. The students complete the sentences with six words as they listen.
KEY: a. gravity; b. pulley; c. crest / is released; d. beneath / conveyor

– Component 4: Braking system. The students join several sentence halves in the best way possible.
KEY: 1. b; 2. d; 3. a; 4. c

Follow-up

5. How about having the students try and design their own roller coaster? At its very simplest, you may want to stick to the more creative part of it and have teams design a roller coaster they would enjoy using some of the information in the video (and at least make it as safe as possible!):

1. What do you want to achieve with your design? What kind of audience will it target?
2. Where will you build your roller coaster?
3. What kind of theme will it have?
4. Try to use as much information from the video as you can when designing your roller coaster!

The teams then present their designs and the group discusses whether they would work or not, taking physics and safety but also fun into account!

If you want to provide some further reading, the students may benefit from this user-friendly website that allows them to build their own roller coaster. They first decide on the height of the first hill, the shape of the first hill, the exit path, the height of the second hill, and the loop. The website will then check whether the ride is possible or not!

Enjoy the ride!

“Down” (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) by Several seconds

Chicago’s best ice cream

I lived in Oak Park, Illinois, for 5 years, so I know what shovelling loads of snow and rushing to Petersen on the following day for some ice cream in hot humid weather feels like. In the following activity, elementary students write down Petersen’s Turtle Pie recipe after being introduced to several words related to food and cooking.

Feels like summer’s here!

1. Write the following letters on the board:

  e      r       c       i       a      m       e        c    

In pairs, the students come up with as many words as they can (e.g. “car”, “am”, “ice”, “care”, “are”, “Marc”, “rice”, “mic”.) Set a time limit. Write down the words they have found. Have any of them used all the letters to write the word “ice cream”?

2. Explain to the students they are going to watch a short report about an ice-cream shop called Petersen. Watch until 0:56 and have the students answer the questions in 1 (a. Oak Park, in Chicago, USA; b. since 1919.)

Chicago’s_Best_Ice_Cream.pdfDownload

3. Tell the students one of Petersen’s best-known desserts is called Turtle Pie. Have them read its ingredients in 2 and explain any unknown words. The students then match 5 words that will be used in the recipe with the corresponding pictures.

4. Watch the video until 2:18, where the different steps to make a Turtle Pie are explained.

5. Go over the cooking verbs in 3 and elicit their meaning. Ask the students to write down the recipe using the ingredients, the words in 2, and some of the cooking verbs in 3. Write the first step as a model and watch this part of the video again.

6. Watch the rest of the video and discuss: “What do you think of Petersen’s Turtle Pie?” “Would you like to try it?” “Why/Why not?”

7. Are the students now ready to write and share one of their favourite summer recipes?

The history of Bluetooth

1. Display this icon:

Elicit any words related to it and its use. Write them down. Have the students complete the following sentence:

“Bluetooth is the technology that…”

The students share their sentences.

2. Ask the students to read about the origin of the name Bluetooth. Check comprehension orally.

Bluetooth.pdfDownload

3. For each sentence, the students look for extra information in the Bluetooth icon. Tell the students to pay attention to what or who the extra information is about so that they can match the sentences correctly and in the right place. Remind the students that, since this is additional information, they will be using non-defining relative clauses to rewrite the sentences (including the use of commas and not using “that” in this type of clause.)

KEY:

1. Not many people have given much thought to the inspiration behind the iconic Bluetooth name and logo, which has become very popular.

2. Bluetooth is actually named after an ancient Viking king. King Harald, who reigned as the king of Denmark and Norway in the late 10th century, was known for uniting the tribes of Denmark and converting the Danes to Christianity.

3. Scholars say Harald was nicknamed “Blåtand”, which means blue tooth, because he had a dead tooth that looked blue and dark.

4. In December 1996, Intel’s Jim Kardach, who had read a book on Viking history, suggested the name Bluetooth as a codename until the marketing group could come up with a formal technology name.

5. “When I was asked about the name Bluetooth, I explained that Bluetooth was borrowed from the 10th century, second King of Denmark, King Harald, who was famous for uniting Scandinavia, just as we intended to unite the PC and cellular industries with a short-range wireless link,” Kardach said.

6. He added that he created a PowerPoint foil with a version of a runic stone, where Harald held a cellphone in one hand and a notebook in the other hand.

7. The codename Bluetooth was first used for a while. When other names, which had been considered for some time, did not work out, Bluetooth remained.

4. The students watch a short video with more information about the origin of Bluetooth. Have them read the selected words provided first and ask them to take notes about each of them as they listen, explaining why they are mentioned in the video.

Bluetooth.pdfDownload

POSSIBLE ANSWERS:

Jelling – a town in Denmark where the rune stones are.
The Jelling stones – rune stones which were placed by some of the first kings of Denmark.
bright colours – the rune stones were once painted with bright colours.
climate-controlled glass box – where the stones are, to keep them safe from the weather and vandals.
Thyra – King Gorm’s wife; smaller rune stone.
Intel – the company Jim Karachi worked for.
Biz-RF, MC-Link and Low Power RF – the names that were first suggested for the new technology.
Swedish – a coworker that told Karachi the story of Bluetooth.

5. Using their notes, the students complete eight sentences using both defining and non-defining relative clauses.

6. Ask the students to look for the origin of the following names (or use this website to work as a whole group):
– wifi
– meme
– spam
– robot

The students write a short description for each of them.