GETTING TEENS TO SPEAK - IDEAL SCHOOL (2nd Conditional focus)

GETTING TEENS TO SPEAK - IDEAL SCHOOL (2nd Conditional focus)

Here is a lesson which worked a treat this week.
(I adapted a few of the ideas from a British Council conversation lesson plan.)

1. Write down any words they think of about school on the board then pick a few to discuss afterwards asking why they wrote that.

2. Have each student say a subject they currently have at school (it was a class of 9 and we managed to go around almost twice!)

3. In groups/pairs, get students to choose 6 subjects and put them in order of easiest (1) to hardest (6). Explain why and compare with others in the class.
(1 - English - yay! French from the exchange student. 6 - Physics, Maths, Chemistry)

4. Now do the same again but this time ask them to order them most useful to least useful. (English came top again, also History and German which then fuelled a brief Swiss German vs. High German debate - a touchy subject here in German-speaking CH! Physics came last.)

5. Hand out and read 4 descriptions of schools and get students in pairs to decide which is the best one in their opinion, but 1 has to think in terms of them as a student who would have to go there while the other is a parent thinking about sending their child to it. (There were a few disagreements here which was entertaining to watch!) Bring class back together to hear their decisions and reasoning. Cast another vote after hearing from everyone. Institut Choix was the winner.

6. Now the class has to imagine that they are on the local education board and are planning to open a new school. We didn't have time to go into much detail, so they only spoke about what it would have. You could get them to plan it out on paper, each member of the board focusing on one area e.g. timetable, subjects, facilities, etc.

Some of the ideas that came out were fascinating:

School would take place later than now (9am instead of 7:35 - they must have got this from hearing about my school days in the UK!) but instead of actually going to school - bearing in mind that some students have up to an hours' travel time - they work from home and contact their teacher via conference call if they need help. One student questioned this, as he likes being able to talk to others, but another classmate suggested using Skype or social media. I also told them about sites like this!

Attachment: Choosing a School


Comments

  1. Hannah McCullochNovember 17, 2017 at 5:01 AM

    drive.google.com - Screen Shot 2017-11-17 at 13.56.31.png

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elizabeth BekesNovember 18, 2017 at 5:51 PM

    This sounds like so much fun, and it is built up beautifully. I was saying elsewhere that we tend to disregard the classroom as an authentic environment; talking about a dream school at school sounds really meaningful to me. School is their reality, that's what students know most about and that's what they love or hate. It's interesting to hear that they are prepared to take on the parents' point of view as well. I have always found that teenagers have a great sense of fairness and even if they are difficult at times, "deep down" they value good teaching and education. Their wish to start the school day later coincides with research saying that the teenage body and mind wake up later (around 9, actually)... :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Julia BlinovaNovember 19, 2017 at 2:43 AM

    Hannah McCulloch What a fantastic activity! I especially like the parent-teenager debate part. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hannah McCullochNovember 20, 2017 at 2:42 AM

    Thanks! I really can't take that much credit for it, though. You can find the ideas here: teachingenglish.org.uk - Conversation lesson - School

    ReplyDelete
  5. Walton BurnsNovember 28, 2017 at 6:19 AM

    Great topic to get students talking. They always have something to say about what they love and hate in school!

    ReplyDelete

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