| Body | This activity was inspired by Mia Lin’s Interactive Video presentation at the University of Oregon in July of 2017 and is designed for Novice Mid and Novice High secondary learners of English. The purpose of this activity is to empower learners to analyze and practice appropriate language in a variety of contexts.
Learning Objectives: Students will be able to…
- Talk about themselves, friends, and family with someone after first meeting him/her.
- Talk about themselves, friends, and family with someone after having known him/her for a long time.
Mode(s): Spoken Interpersonal Communication, Interpretive Listening, Presentational Writing
Materials Needed: Video 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re5veV2F7eY), Video 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LORyEX_5czg), Handout
Procedure:
- Set the Stage: Explain to learners that their goal for the day is to learn how to describe themselves, friends, and family in two distinct contexts: when meeting someone for the first time and after having known someone for a while. At this point, the learners may want to self-evaluate how well they think they are able to engage in the goal.
- Observe: Show learners two different clips from the movie Mean Girls. The first video showcases descriptions of self, friends, and family upon meeting someone for the first time. The second video showcases the same descriptions among people who have known each other for some time. As they watch, have learners record their observations on Part 1 of the handout.
- Analyze: Ask learners to discuss their observations as a class. Some questions to scaffold the discussion could include:
- What adjectives were used in the first video? What adjectives were used in the second video? How do you know which are appropriate?
- How does the situational context (meeting someone for the first time versus talking with someone you have known for a while) change how words are received from context to context?
- What verbal and non-verbal cues let you know that there was a misunderstanding in the conversation? That something that was said was inappropriate?
4. Practice/Extend: Allow learners to brainstorm their own descriptions of self, friends, and family on Part 2 of the handout. Then, provide 7-10 minutes to practice the conversations in each context. The best approach for these practice sessions at this proficiency level is to give learners one minute per conversation and have them switch partners after the minute is up.
5. Reflect: Have learners reflect on their success by filling out Part 3 of the handout.
Notes:
- Mean Girls uses colloquialisms that teachers may deem inappropriate for young (elementary or middle) learners. As such, the activity was written so that it could be implemented with other video sources.
- While this activity does not involve direct grammar instruction, inductive reasoning would be easy to incorporate as part of Step 3 if teachers wish to analyze language accuracy as it relates to adjective agreement and word choice with their students.
- This activity intentionally incorporates the goal-setting and reflection processes embedded with LinguaFolio Online, an autonomous online language learning portfolio for learners. Check out LinguaFolio Online and its associate mobile app, LFOtoGo, at lfonetwork.uoregon.edu.
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