A sample TalkTalk course for 13-15 year olds
DAY ONE
Topic: Finding out about each other
Let´s get to know each other, teacher talks about herself and the students can ask any questions they like. Give students time to think about good questions, tell them to avoid asking you what your favourite colour is or whether you like dogs!!!
Students prepare their own introductions and will answer questions from the teacher. Again, tell them to think of interesting things and to include at least one lie
Topic: Finding out about where we come from
My country, my town, teacher draws a picture on the board showing all the interesting places in their home town and describing what they do in their free time. Students work in pairs to provide a presentation on their home town
Topic: Directions around my town
Prep the lesson by talking through the vocabulary and writing it up on the board. Teacher draws a simple map showing two points, where you are and where you want to go, then invite two students up to the front and get them to ask you for directions…using the map and vocab role play the scenario
Role play. In pairs the students will create their own maps again showing where they are starting and where they want to go [home to school for e.g.]
In turn each pair comes to the front and role play giving directions [the one asking could pretend to be a Japanese tourist just to fun things up]
DAY TWO
Topic: Celebrities
Discussion. Lets talk about who are our favourite celebrities
Who would you invite to a party you can select 10 celebrities, dead or alive. Everyone makes a list.
Celebrity party, a role play game where every student comes as a celebrity but no one else knows who they are. Students ask questions to find out who everyone is. Prize for the first student to discover who everyone at the party is, including the teacher! [alternatively have students come to the party with their identity stuck on their forehead or back and have to find out who they are by asking questions….to which the answer is always a yes or a no ]
Topic: Food and Restaurants
Talk about food, healthy, fast, national and favourite, British, American etc. [ make a list of healthy and unhealthy foods, activities etc. [ you can use it for hangman later on ]
Students work in small teams to create a menu for their restaurant
Role play at the restaurant, who can complain the most!
Coach vocabulary and correct [leave some vocab up on the board ]
British or American?
Two countries separated by the same language
Put the students into two groups and task them to preparing a presentation on what cultural and language differences there are between the UK and America. Ensure that they include a list of 10 words which are different, e.g. biscuit and cookie, elevator and lift
Quiz on the differences between the UK and America
DAY THREE
Topic: A day at the movies
Let´s talk about the films we like to watch
If you have online access in the room watch some trailers to set the scene
In groups students present film reviews to the class
Students prepare a short scene for a film they know well and then perform it for everyone else, who has to guess which movie they have chosen
Academy Awards role play for the films clips we have seen
Film Quiz
Topic: At the Airport
Where shall we go on holiday?
Students browse through holiday brochures and select a holiday
Role play: We're flying easyjet today and everyone has a part to play, whether it's the pilot, a passenger, flight attendant or check in officer we need to get our flight off on time!
Coach through the relevant vocabulary
DAY FOUR
Topic How long can we talk for !
Students form two lines facing each other and the teacher starts by choosing a topic to talk about and sets the stop watch
Students can then choose their own topics and are timed how long they can keep talking for
Topic: TV Remote control
Discussion about what TV programmes we watch, capture them on the board, ask what they are e.g. serial, and write this alongside
The teacher then has the TV remote control and the students are the tv
In groups of 3 or 4 each group has to chose a tv programme, like The Simpsons, Family Guy etc, prepare to act out their TV when the teacher points the remote control at them, they must stop as soon as he changes channel of course and be ready to start again at any time !
Topic: Reklamas! [ Adverts]
You can't have tv without lots of reklamas of course…so now lets make some of our own and role pay them
Teacher can start this by acting out their own advert
DAY FIVE
Topic: National Stereotypes
Being British or American, teacher talks about what this is like an writes e.g.’s of stereotypes on the board [ we talk about the weather all the time, can’t stop saying please, thank you and sorry, drink warm beer, love football and do not like the French etc.]
You can also go through some typical slang [bloke, off your trolley, cheap as chips, costs a bomb, cheers, give me a bell etc.]
Students then role play as British / American
Get students in small groups to make a list of things they associate with particular countries, you’re Italian so think about what it means and how you behave
Role play as your nationality
Topic: Facebook
Facebook has been around for 15 years, these students don’t know of a world before FB
Debate. Put students into two teams, is Facebook a good thing or a bad thing for young people, allow them to go off to do research if possible
Topic: Final fun quiz
Questions prepared bythe students for each other in groups, based on what we have covered on the course
AWARD THE COURSE CERTIFICATES