Kalinago English: projects in EFL

Tomorrow, December 17th 2010, is Anti-Bullying Day and as a person who has been, in different life situations,

the victim, the supporter, the hero...

the observer, the bully, the oblivious...

I decided to channel my energy into creating a lesson plan on the subject. I hope you and your students find it interesting and I hope it helps.

1. Tyler Ward's Cover Version of Eminem's No Love

Write the following paragraph on the board or beam on to a whiteboard/IWB:

It's a little too _______ to say that you're ______ now. You kicked me when I was _____ but what you say just don't ______ me, don't hurt me no more. You showed me nothing but ______, you ran me into the _________ but what comes _________ goes _________, what you say just don't hurt me, don't ____ me no more.

Ask your students to guess what the missing words are.

Purchase & play the song http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/tyler-ward-covers-vol-3/id406190149

or Watch the video via the internet http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz1Y6EZUT10&feature=related
to confirm the missing lyrics.

Ask your students to tell you if they know who the original song and singers are.

(Eminem & L'il Wayne). Who are they? Ask what they think the song ís about.

2. Eminem & L'il Wayne: No Love (video)

a. Ask your students to jot down notes while they watch about what they see on the screen – start the music video – make sure to play without sound (very adult lyrics)*
(this is a clean version)

Eminem - No Love ( Feat. Lil Wayne ) from Top Music on Vimeo.

http://www.vimeo.com/17010892 (available Dec2010)*explicit

((some countries have clean versions of the lyrics available -do a google video search))

b. Ask your students to describe (in as much detail as possible) the story they saw in the video and how it made them feel while watching.

c. Ask students if they think that Eminem or L'il Wayne were ever bullied at school. Were either of them the bullies? Why do they think so?

3. What is Bullying?

Ask students – What is bullying? How does it differ from fist-fighting, verbal abuse or other types of hurtful or angry behaviour?

What factors are usually in place in a situation like the one shown in the video – can we usually tell if someone is being bullied? What happens to people who fight back?

4. Sticks and Stones

(If you have access to real sticks and stones + cards with common insult words put these up on a table in the front of the class.)

Ask students: Is violence always physical? What does the saying Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never harm me mean?

Is it true? How do words harm?

5. Stand on the line
hat-tip Anita Kwiatkowska who reminded me of this conflict resolution approach at TESOL-France

Get students to push the desks out of the way and create an open space in the centre of your classroom. Take a roll of tape and draw a line through the middle of the room. Make sure to assert that your classroom is now a safe-place and ask for respect to be shown to each other.

Example here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H7QMy54Keg&feature=player_embedded

(Alternatively you can opt for asking students to remain seated and raise their hands or stand up in place when answering yes.)

Ask students to stand on the line whenever they can answer yes to a question and to stand off the line whenever they want to answer no. No elaborating on questions -simply asking them to step on or off the tape.

*If you're teaching second language learners you may need to clarify some of the vocabulary beforehand.

Stand on the line/ Stand up/ Raise your hand

... if you like listening to music...
" if you have an mp3 player
" if you have an ipod
" if you have an itouch/ ipad/ iphone
" if you have more than 30 albums on your music device
" if you own any rap music
" if you have any albums by Eminem or L'il Wayne
" ~if no one in your family knows about this... :-)
" if you had an argument with anyone in your family this week
" if you had an argument with anyone at school last week
" if you have ever called someone a bad name in private
" if you have ever called someone a bad name in public
" if you have ever been called a bad name in private or public
" if you have ever been hit by anyone else
" if you have ever hit a brother or sister/ friend
" if you have ever hit a someone you didn't know well
" if you have seen someone else hit
" " … and didn't do anything
" " … and reported it to an authority
" " … and hit the person doing the hitting
" " … and waited, then helped the victim
" if you have ever been a friend of someone who hurts people
" if you have ever been a friend of someone who took their own life.

Thank the students for sharing and then get them to help put the desks back in place. Don't talk about the experience or intervene – at this stage - if some students are emotional, allow them to comfort each other.

6. Who feels what?

Hand out the wordle* Who feels what and the activity sheet asking for the emotions of:

The Bully
The Bully's Lieutenants
The Victim
The Victim's Supporters
The Victim's Hero
The Observers
The Oblivious

Switch groups after 10-15 minutes. There are no right or wrong answers. If teaching 2ndLanguage learners, allow dictionaries.

*Depending on your culture and the age-group you're teaching, you will need to make a decision on which wordle to use. One of these includes the phrase sexual thrill and uses harder adjectives.

7. Tell your story

As the teacher, you should now tell a story from your own personal experience (your childhood or that of one of your kids) of either being bullied, watching a bullying experience plus what you did or didn't do or, perhaps, even of being the bully yourself in a specific situation.

It is very important that you share a true personal story rather than something in the news at the moment - if you can - as it will help your students trust you enough to tell their own.

Now ask your students to share a story from their lives: they can write their stories in their blogs or notebooks and make sure that they know that they will not required to share these stories unless they choose to. Stop them after a long enough period has passed and then ask for volunteers of those who would like to share their story publicly: again remind everyone that your classroom is a safe haven today and ask for respect without judgments.

8. Bully Me No More: question cards

Print out enough copies of the card game on coloured paper to create multiple small groups of 3-5 students. Cut the cards and distribute the questions you feel suitable for your age group. Put them face down on the table, the students should turn over the cards and ask each other the questions on them.

9. Write a play

Divide up your class into groups of no less than 6 – 10 students and ask them to script a play about bullying:

Act I: A horrible incident occurs afterschool.

Act II: A school meeting is called to discuss the incident.

Act III: 25 years later, everyone meets at a school reunion.

Who is everyone now? What do they do/ what jobs do they have? What do they talk about?

If the students would like to, get them to choose characters, act it out / film and/or host on YouTube.

10. Follow-Up: Internet Research and Project Work

Post up the following options on the board and ask students to choose which they would like to research on in order to work collaboratively. Students can then use their computers/web2.0 tools to create posters/ prezis/ glogsters/ animotos/ wallwishers/ comic books/ infographics etc.

Bullies throughout history:a timeline
How to: A guide by students to teach teachers how to spot and deal with bullies
What is cyberbullying: how to report, prevent it and stay safe online
Cyberbullying: what stories are in the media today?
How to spot sexual predators (off and online)
Understanding the psychology of the bully / victim/ supporters/ observers
What is defamation of character? Understanding the legal issues of slander and libel.
What is the NOH8 campaign?

Useful links:
http://www.delicious.com/KalinagoEnglish/bullying

I love hearing from you!

Please add your thoughts if you enjoyed this lesson plan and you feel like there's something you would like to question, add or say about it - don't worry about perfection or agreeing with me: it's always a pleasure to hear from you and know your own opinions.

Best, Karenne

education

Download the lesson plan:
bullymenomoreLessonPlanDecember2010KarenneSylvester

A good language institute will consistently make an effort to keep its teaching staff up to date on modern teaching practices and new methodologies and Tom Carlson, DOS of Linguarama Stuttgart, certainly excels at this.

Although his training style can sometimes be teacher-centered, I can honestly say that over the last four years he's provided me with many new ideas and overall been a great influence. I've learned so much from him and look forward to much more!

Anyway, this latest workshop was entitled Projects in the Classroom and in this blog posting, I'll review some aspects of Tom's transparencies, go through the quotes he presented for us to reflect on and at the end of the posting provide one of my own tried&tested project concepts.

Great theme, isn't it, and so vital for long-running courses. Have you ever tried doing a project with one of your business English groups?

It's such a smashing way to engage students and encourage collaborative learning.If you've done any project work in your adult EFL/ESL classes, don't hesitate to add your tips and tricks in the comments - even if they weren't BE oriented. We discovered, after careful searching, that there's really little out there, in print or on-line and yet there's a strong market for this type of work and age group.

If you're a materials author or a wannabe.... this is a niche! Just quote me and Tom in your acknowledgements, ok!?

Why do a project?

to encourage speaking in a natural and realistic setting
to focus the course in a motivating group activity that requires English
to counteract some of the "same old, same old."
to work on a specific lexical set over and over again
to provide an opportunity for feedback based on a series of classes

What projects are not:

task-based-learning activities

The Framework
The project should include the following:

clear language learning aims
relevance to the business students are in, the field or market
a defined final result

Notes when planning:

when doing and for how long
where
resources that will be necessary
process the teacher will use to monitor language
process the students will use to record language

Why bother?

collaboration leads to confidence, is highly motivational and provides continuity.
projects give students ownership; students buy into working together not just as a learning activity.
provides realism and is highly communicative.

Potential pitfalls, problems:

unexpected or extended absences
if students don't 'buy in' right from the outset
students lose interest or feel the work's beyond their level
marginal results

But as Tom said:

Planning ahead is the best weapon you have for avoiding these problems so you still need to be ready to think on your feet!

Tom then handed out a few quotes from Project Work, Diana L. Fried-Both, OUP 2002, to all of us teachers - we had to think about what the quotes meant, what effects would be desirable in a language course and how our students would be affected.

We also had to think about problems which could occur when planning or implementing projects.

Project work draws together students of mixed ability and creates opportunities for individuals to contribute in ways which reflect their different talents, creativity, language goals and styles.

As colleagues we agreed in general with the quote and thought about how projects encourage team cohesion, how it feels natural to the students (reflects their lives, simulates their professional work) and gives the students an opportunity to learn something about themselves.

Of course, one area to watch out for is the possibility of having team members who are really very dominant!

Your role is perhaps the most vital in trying to maintain an overview and inspiring confidence so that your students feel they are learning by working towards their objectives.

As long as aims are formed and clarified by the group of students, we agreed with this statement.

We felt that clear strategies should also fall within the process of planning and that the teacher's role should include regular feedback to ensure that they themselves can see that they're learning.

To get a copy of a good, simple speaking skills feedback sheet - from my website, go here.

The irony is, the more passive you appear to be, the more successful the project is in terms of learner autonomy and independent learning.

Funny concept, the idea of passivity. It's a scary theory and it's even scarier in practice - 'til you're practiced anyway. ;-)

However we all agreed, if you do less - the students do more.

Student-led activities require teachers to step back.

The line has to be carefully defined, the borders firmly in place because passiveness in the classroom can also be perceived as laziness on the teacher's part and some students, depending on their cultural backgrounds, will strongly object if they aren't actually being controlled!

Transparency is clearly important.

On the other hand as Jim mentioned, when doing projects there's actually more opportunity to feedback to the Training Officers/HR managers regarding the students' English levels and abilities to deal in a team within another language setting.

It was a very good session - ta, Tom!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a PROJECT idea
-tried, tested, true.

Where-oh-where's my business angel?
by Karenne Sylvester

Objective: find funding for a new project
Duration: minimum 10 lessons x 1.5ue (works best with 15)

Overview:

Students have to create a company (or use their own/one in their field). They are required to define a product or service, establish the objectives and mission of this work - it does not need to be something serious, they work out the financial viability of their concept, create a presentation for venture capitalists, present the presentation and win funding (or not).

Notes:

Best with a large group so that you can make at least two competing groups but not essential (have also done this activity with a class of 4). Best results occur when you can find another BE EFL class within the company or institute who will be prepared to act as the venture capitalists. Working with another teacher is lots of fun and their class can research millionaires and take on their personalities (see Forbes 500 for list of global millionaires). Failing this, in the final lesson you can also act as if you are one.

Language resources:
Supportive photocopiable sheets from Business Communications Games, Business Builder, Business English frameworks to discuss: mission statements, company structure, corporate culture, company history, company image/designing a logo, sales figures, trends and graphs, employee morale.

TwIT (Teaching with Technology) resources:

Youtube playlist (here)

Slideshare presentations

| Get your Presentation Pack

Procedure:

In the first lesson, present the idea to the students. Explain what materials you have which can support the activity. Get them to decide what they would like to do, how they will create both company and product and what supportive materials they think would be a good idea to use in order to learn the necessary lexical steps (I usually give them the books and let them choose but you can bring in photocopies of relevant sheets and let them do a scan of them and decide). Get them to do a full project plan and curriculum timetable, ask them if they would like to establish roles and decide who's doing what.

In my experience, each time that I have done this project with BE adults, I have been wowed by the results and out-of-class effort the students have put in. One group created a new bicycle and then found pictures of future bicycle concepts and photo-shopped them to carry "their" own logo.

One group presented the most complex and detailed sales projections I've ever seen, one group invented a cup which connects to a computer to stay warm with revolving photos.. part of which apparently now exists...

Perhaps I'm just lucky, but even at one company I worked at, our sister class who had become the millionaires took the project very seriously indeed, reviewing the presentations with the utmost of sincerity, eventually granting "5million" to one of the teams!

Have you got a great idea?
Go on ahead and share too - click on COMMENTS - a box will open up and you can write out your project there. Or, if it's something you typed up you can e-mail it to me and I'll stick it somewhere with a link to it. If it's already on your blog or website, simply write the link for us all below.

Best,
Karenne