Still working on this lesson- not satisfied with it. First go at it last week; 2nd go today. Need to add something to help them get the point, to tie it all together!
Start out by asking if they'd ever heard of someone finding out that their quiet next door neighbor was, in fact, a notorious criminal. Trying to work in the current issue of the worldwide hunt for the last of the Nazi war criminals. One who is currently being investigated is, in fact, a Ukrainian. This might not be the way to focus on this issue! Would like to use this article to create a short text to read at the beginning of class.
Need more/better questions/something structured for talking about whether or not we know the people who are close to us.
Pass out lyric sheets and have students follow along with Bruce Springsteen's song 'Brilliant Disguise'
- go over unfamiliar vocab and ideas in the song (obviously they have to know what a disguise is)
- Who are the people in the song?
- Do they know each other, really?
- What do we hide from each other?
- Is it ok for married people to hide things from each other?
- What?
(Side issue- What makes a marriage last for many years?- I don't think it ever hurts to talk about this with these kids!)
- Have you ever thought you knew someone well only to find out you didn't?
Pass out copies of the
classroom handout and go over any unknown vocabulary. Tell students that they are going to find out which of their classmates
have had these exciting experiences. They can ask anyone in the class any
question; if the person says "yes," they need to ask at least three
follow-up questions to get the story.
Instruct students to get up (they always want to remain seated and quietly talk to their neighbors only) and start asking
questions. They do not have to start at number one, nor do they have to get
through all of the questions on the list. Instead, they should choose the ideas
they find the most intriguing and use these as the starting point for good
conversations.
Students should very quickly become engaged in
telling their personal stories. During this time, you can circulate and
encourage individual students to elaborate on their experiences.
With about ten minutes left in the lesson, call
the class back together. Ask individual students to report on the most
interesting/surprising/exciting story that they heard. Encourage students to
retell the story, asking the original classmate for clarifications if
necessary. You could also ask for a report back on one of the topics. For
example "Did anyone find a classmate who has a tattoo?" (from this site)
Find out if someone in your
class:
1.
has had a problem with
the police
2.
has almost died
3.
has met a famous person
4.
has had a frightening
experience on an airplane
5.
has had a premonition or
experienced ESP
6.
has had a dream that
later came true
7.
has fallen in love with
a person they could not have
8.
has been on a terrible
date
9.
has gotten a tattoo
10.
has performed a
daredevil act
11.
has backpacked in a
foreign country
12.
has eaten something
disgusting
13.
has won something (for
example, the lottery. a contest)
Listening to them relate what they learned is a blast. So far, no one has come up with any huge 'finds'- but they can relate bad dates and food a few even have ESP... ;) Something to watch here- the definition of 'dream' in #6. It is a dream at night (сон) NOT a 'life dream' (мрія).
