In order to implement this lesson, an IWB is necessary as well as computers/ tablets for
the learners so they can use the free software suggested.
In most cases, learners need to create an account for using this software.
Pre task
Activity 1
Students are asked to choose a friend/person they admire and talk about the traits
they admire about him/her.
Activity 2
The teacher projects a PPT slide with several different celebrities displayed in wax museums -e.g. Madame Tussaud’s-, among which there is a heroic figure, and asks the students to identify them, to justify their fame and to spot the hero explaining his/her distinctive characteristics. Here is a sample of the activity:
Look at the pictures of some wax figures one at the London Madame Tussaud’s Museum and work with a partner try to provide answers to the following questions:
Questions
Activity 3
Click on http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_9000000/newsid_9001500/9001539.stm to read how British children describe a ‘role model’. Whose ideas do you mostly agree with?
Complete the following table with the appropriate information:
Name of child | Age | City / country | Idea of hero |
Activity 4
In groups, write 3-5 major characteristics of a role model (adjectives and short phrases on a word document). Choose another group and all together share your ideas using Bubblus (https://bubbl.us) and then present to the class the complete profile of a role model using your ideas and the new ideas from the other group. Compare and contrast the results with the other groups. Upload your mind maps on Padlet.
Here follows an example layout of this brainstorming tool:
Task cycle
Activity 5
Watch a short movie clip on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRMcPJrWm-g) and complete the missing information on a Google Drive quiz at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bL9VfqjfJKDs6WD5O-2KwkBTNIsdk1tRKOouk4RLfCg/viewform
Activity 6
Work with your partner and complete this table once again with information from the clip.
The role model | The danger | The heroic action |
Activity 7
Get into groups. Choose one of the two old characters of the clip. Use Storybird (http://storybird.com) to create a digital story book of up to 10 pages with their personal memories of their first meeting in their youth.
Alternatively, you can write the story on a word document, convert it into a pdf file and use Flipsnack (http://www.flipsnack.com) to turn it into a flipping book. Upload it on Padlet. Remember to include an interesting title, an author’s name and illustrations in your story pages. Also remember to write as the old man or the old lady.
Language focus
Activity 8
Use Wordle (http://www.wordle.net) or Tagul (http://tagul.com) to express in adjectives the characteristics of the young role model of the movie clip.
Activity 9
What are the characters in the clip thinking? What are they saying? With your partner or group, use Windows Live Maker or Amara (http://www.amara.org/el) to add up to 20 captions in various parts of the video to show either the characters’ thoughts or words. Compare your group’s captions with those of the other groups.
The activities in the language focus cycle act as consolidation of the newly
acquired knowledge.
Students have carried out the tasks well if they have successfully reached the outcome of the lesson using the suggested ICT tools. The teacher can provide students with a self - evaluation sheet to check if they have responded appropriately to the CEFR criteria set for this lesson namely the following “can do” statements:
Teachers should have tried all these sites and created accounts in order to avoid delays throughout the trialling.
Students should be given time to become familiar with the aforementioned ICT tools. The teacher can modify the activities according to the resources, equipment and learners’ interests.
This lesson aims at building attitudes and values. During the activity, there is a shift from the superficial level of what teenagers think a role model is to a more in depth understanding of what being a role model entails.
It is based on material used for EFL teacher training in Greece. The original version of this task (without the TBLT and ICT dimension) was acknowledged as a sample of good practice by the Hellenic Pedagogical Institute.
There are lots of user-friendly online tools which teachers can easily adopt and incorporate in their teaching situations.
Teachers become familiar with the use of TBLT methodology
It uses a lot of online tools which motivate and appeal to learners.