A designer lessons ESL lesson plan developed by George Chilton

This lesson aims to get your students talking about status symbols and the megarich. The dictogloss activity tests both their listening ability and teamwork skills. I haven’t included strict timings here, though this lesson has the potential to overrun, so keep your eye on the clock.

Lesson aims:

  • To practise listening by way of a “deductive” dictogloss
  • Conversation
  • Debate/writing

Stage one – Listening and deductive dictogloss exercise.

Read the following text  as if it were a poem.

When is greatness achieved?

Is it when you win your first tournament,

Or when you go toe-to-toe with a legend,

When you achieve a lifetime’s ambition,

Or when you inspire others.

Maybe it’s when you’re always asking yourself; What’s next?

Next ask your students if they feel inspired. What is the author’s intention? Did they like it? Why/Why not?

Repeat the reading at normal speed, this time ask them to take notes.

Get your students into groups and ask them to read their notes out loud. Correct any grammatical errors they may have made together as a class.

Ask them if they know the words or if they can guess where it came from. Few, if any, will think it’s from an advert.

Now show them the following video:

Pause between lines and write the sentence on the board. Instruct them to compare their reconstructed texts as a group.

Stage Two – Conversation 10 minutes

Rolex Yachtmaster
Image via Wikipedia

Firstly ask if anyone in the room owns a Rolex. Next mind map ideas based on the question – What is a Rolex?

 A watch, a status symbol, expensive jewelry, overpriced, luxury, etc, etc.

Ask your students if anyone would consider buying a Rolex and to discuss this  in pairs. Monitor and guide language.

Stage Three – Second warmer 10 minutes

Tell your students you are going to give them $203,150, if they can convince you they deserve it.

Ask them, in groups of three, what they would do with the money. Give them the following rules:

  1. Everyone must agree.
  2. You must buy the items or invest together.
  3. You cannot save any of the money.
  4. The must decide in 5 minutes.

After you feel they are coming to a close, ask them to justify their answers as a group. The most convincing group can win the money. I use paypal to transfer, usually.

Stage Four –

Tell your students that this sum of money was recently spent on a single item.

It was not a Rolex, a house or a car.

It’s fairly unlikely, but they might guess correctly. The answer can be found here http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/herms-bags-fetch-record-prices-at-auction-5419045

The bag, named the “Hermès Exceptional Collection Shiny Rouge H Porosus Crocodile 30 cm Birkin Bag with Solid 18K White Gold & Diamond Hardware” was bought by someone in Dallas.

Stage Five – debate/writing

Ask for their reactions – are they surprised? Some students say they feel angry at the injustice.

Give them the following statement:

Status symbols like Rolex and Hermès are extremely positive. Those who display their wealth and power are strong role-models for the rest of society.

Either set this as a writing, or initiate a class debate – designating opinions to either side.

If you opt for the debate, take notes and do an error correction to round off.

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Designer Lessons by George Chilton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Creado a partir de la obra en designerlessons.wordpress.com