Lessonplansandideas

StorytellingforEnglishLearning

www.rebeccalemaire.wordpress.com Taps 1

TapsLanguagelevel:pre-intermediatetoadvanced(thestudentsproducewhateverlanguagetheycan).AgeGroup:8+,Teenagers,Adults.Time:60minMaterials:Filmclipsoundtrack(Tapssound),Filmclip(TapsVideo)LanguageandSkills:Writingandspeaking.Thereis/thereare,presentcontinuous,directspeech,indirectSpeech.

Overview

ThislessonplanisbasedonashortfilmbyMatthewGravelleandeditedforlanguageteachingbytheBFI.Studentslistentoasoundtrackanddescribethescenetheyimaginewhenlistening.Thefilmclipisrevealedandstudentswriteadialogueforthethreetaps.Finally,theyperformtheirdialogueingroupsand/orinfrontoftheclass.Thelanguageisgeneratedbythestudentsthemselvesandisthereforeverydifferentfromclasstoclassandquitemotivatingforthestudents.

Lessonplansandideas

StorytellingforEnglishLearning

www.rebeccalemaire.wordpress.com Taps 2

1.Tellthestudentsyouaregoingtoplaythesoundtrack(noimages)ofaveryshortfilm.Askthemwhatkindofsoundstheythinktheymighthearinasoundtrack?(Elicitdialogues,silence,musicandsoundeffects).2.Askthestudentstoclosetheireyesandplaythetapsoundtrackonce.3.Askthestudentstotellyouwhatkindofsoundstheyheard(withoutinterpretingthemyet).Writeanyvocabularytheyneedontheboard.(Squeak,drip,snort,suckingsound,etc.)4.Playthesoundtrackasecondtimeandaskthestudentstowritedowneverythingtheyhear.Playittwice,pausingnowandthenandthencheck.Tellthestudentsnottoworryifit’sincompleteorsomehowinaccurate.Thisisjustmeanttobeavaguestructureforthecomingdialogueandthewords‘drip’,‘squeak’and‘snort’areusuallycompletelyneweventoadvancedstudents.Theirscriptcouldbesomethinglikethis:Drip…drip…dripdripdripsqueak….silence…..squeak…dripdripdrip…snort(orsuckingnoise)…squeak,squeak,silence,squeakshortsilencesqueak,etc,etc…5.Askthestudentswhattheycansee/visualise/imaginewhilelisteningtothesoundtrack.Theywriteashortparagraphusingthereis,thereare,+presentcontinuous.E.g:Agateisswinginginthewind,apigissnorting,etc.Monitorandprovidevocabularystudentswishtouse.(Thisisaninterestingstageasstudentsusuallyaskforidiomsandexpressionsthattheydon’tusuallyfindintextbooks).6.Getthestudentstoreadtheirparagraphstoeachotherortotheclass.7.Revealthefilmandallowthestudentsexpresstheirsurprise,ortheiropinionabouttheclipinashortclassdiscussion.Youcanaskthem:Areyousurprised?didyouexpectthat?Whoseparagraphwastheclosest?Whosewasthemostdifferent?(Makesurethestudentsunderstandneitherisbetterorworseandthereisnorightorwrong).8.Ingroupsofthree,thestudentssetthecontext.Wherearethetaps?Howaretheyfeeling?Dotheyhavenames?Studentswriteacoupleoflinesaboutthis.9.Intheirsamegroupsofthree,studentswriteadialogue.Therearethreetaps,whatdoeseachtapsay/thinkaloudateverymoment?Thestudentscanusetheirscriptforthis.Youcanalsoplayandpausethedifferentpartsofthecliptogivetimetothestudentstowritetheirdialogue.9.Studentspracticetheirdialogueingroupsofthree(eachstudentisassignedtheroleofatap–tap1,tap2,tap3.).

Lessonplansandideas

StorytellingforEnglishLearning

www.rebeccalemaire.wordpress.com Taps 3

10.Studentsperformthedialogueinrealtime(withthevideoplaying)withthesamemovements,saying‘drip’,‘squeak’andspeakingtoeachotherwhenthetapsturntoeachother.Don’tworrytoomuchifthisdoesn’tworktidilywiththevideo.Thestudentswillprobablyenduplaughingalotbutthemainexercisewillhavebeenachieved,withlotsofvocabularyproducedandgeneratedbythestudentsthemselves.Thislaststagecanbedoneingroupsof6(withonegroupof3presentingtotheother)andthenchanginggroupsanddoingitagain(especiallyforlargegroups),andfinallyvolunteerscanperforminfrontoftheclassifyourstudentsarenottooshy.11.Extensionattheendorinthenextclass:reviseallthenewexpressionsandvocabularythestudentsprovidedintheirdialogues.Follow-upandExtensionideasforhigherlevels:

• Writeaveryinformaldialogueandaveryformaldialogueandperform.• Studentslistentoanothergroup’sdialogueandwritewhatthey

rememberinreportedspeech.E.g:Tap1saidthathewasbored.Tap2agreedthattheyshouldtrytoescape.