Dessert 3-1 / TED TALKS / Day 1 of 1
GENERAL AIMS
- Video about humour, some music, and a little about understanding
- Students learn vocabulary, watch video, answer questions and follow up with a discussion.
STEP SUMMARY
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A |
Setting it up |
Preliminary vocabulary and discussion |
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B |
The video |
Students watch video and answer questions |
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C |
Discussion |
Students speak in groups |
RECOMMENDED LEVELS
Upper Intermediate +
ACTIVITY TIME
30 minutes
MATERIALS
- Board, screen or flip chart
- Handouts for class:
HO1 vocabulary, comprehension questions & discussion themes
Quickpage
Class Plan
PART A: SETTING IT UP
| A | STEP 1 | SETTING IT UP INVOLVING THE STUDENTS REGGIE WATTS | |
| a) | Ask the students what languages or accents that they find most difficult to understand. Why are they difficult? | ||
| A | STEP 2 | SETTING IT UP INTRODUCE THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |
| a) | Tell the students that they are going to watch a short video on Ted Talks about a man who has many talents: he is fluent in many languages, in music and in public speaking, to name a few. They will be watching him speak about various themes and will have to make comments about them. | ||
| A | STEP 3 | SETTING IT UP PRETEACH VOCABULARY REGGIE WATTS | |
| a) | Give the students the handout. | ||
| b) | Go over the vocabulary in the top vocabulary box (eliciting &/or providing explanations and examples).
Although the video is short, there is a lot of useful vocabulary which can be used in other situations. |
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PART B: THE VIDEO
| B | STEP 1 | QUESTION 1 USING THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |||
| Q1 | Pause | 0’15 | Tell the students to read and prepare themselves to respond to Question #1. Q1— Can you understand what he is saying? What languages do you think he is speaking? |
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| Play | 0’15 – 0’58 | Students watch and listen to the video. | |||
| Pause | 0’58 | Ask the students if they’d like to watch one more time. | |||
| Replay | 0’15 – 0’58 | You can repeat this part if necessary, but only repeat it once. | |||
| Answers to Q1:
Let the students say which languages they think were spoken. You don’t have to press them for the content. Also, don’t say that it is hard to understand him. Just get some feedback. Some of the languages: |
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| B | STEP 2 | QUESTION 2 USING THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |||
| Q2 | Pause | 0’58 | Students read Question #2. This is a short section to watch and if you like, you can repeat it a couple of times. Q2— Listen carefully to what he is saying and try to repeat it in your own words. |
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| Play | 0’58 – 1’17 | Students watch and listen to the video. | |||
| Pause | 1’17 | Ask the students if they’d like to watch it again. | |||
| Replay | 0’58 – 1’17 | You can repeat this part if necessary. | |||
| Answer to Q2:
Let the students try to describe what they heard in their own words. Don’t be too leading but rather just accept various interpretations. At this point there is no right or wrong answer. You just want to hear from the students. Again, don’t say that it is hard. Stay serious and elicit what is possible. Repeat once or twice, tell them not to worry. They might have better luck with the next one (Question #3). |
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| B | STEP 3 | QUESTION 3 USING THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |||
| Q3 | Pause | 1’17 | Students read Question #3. Q3— What point is he making that is considered common knowledge? Why are people laughing? |
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| Play | 1’17 – 1’38 | Students watch and listen to the video. | |||
| Pause | 1’38 | Ask the students if they’d like to watch it again. | |||
| Replay | 1’20 – 1’38 | You can repeat this part if necessary. | |||
| Answer to Q3:
Elicit what you can at first, then let on that what he is saying is absurd, that one idea or sentence might be contradictory to the last one spoken, or that there doesn’t appear to be anything in common. So then, it’s not really possible to understand what point he is making. People are laughing because they are catching on to this. |
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| B | STEP 4 | QUESTION 4 USING THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |||
| Q4 | Pause | 1’38 | Students read Question #4. Q4a— Why did he change his voice? |
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Q4b— What kind of music do you think he is now going to introduce? Play1’38 – 2’03Students watch and listen to the video. Pause2’03Stop immediately at 2’03
(or when you hear “You know what I am saying?” for the first time). Replay1’40 – 2’03You can repeat this part if necessary.
Answers to Q4:
Q4a— To imitate somebody speaking in that situation (which is a hip hop singer about to introduce his music).
Q4b— Hip hop
| B | STEP 5 | QUESTION 5 USING THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |||
| Q5 | Pause | 4’57 | GAP-FILL: Students read Question 5 and prepare themselves to fill in the blanks of the sentences as they are being spoken. There is also a question at the end of the gap-fill:
Q5— Check out the Answers section below to see the sentences. |
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| Play | 4’57 – 5’32 | Students listen for the information. | |||
| Pause | 5’32 | Tell them you’ll play it one more time (or more if they like). | |||
| Replay | 4’57 – 5’32 | You can repeat this part if necessary. | |||
| Answers to Q5:
“…..I arrived at the conclusion. (pause) Tomorrow is another day. Not just any day, but it is a day. What is he talking about? IT’S VERY HARD TO SAY. |
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| B | STEP 6 | QUESTION 6 USING THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |||
| Q6 | Pause | 6’19 | GAP-FILL: Students read Question 5 and prepare themselves to fill in the blanks of the sentences as they are being spoken. There is also a question at the end of the gap-fill:
Q6— Check out the Answers section below to see the sentences. |
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| Play | 6’19 – 6’45 | Students listen for the information. | |||
| Pause | 6’45 | Tell them you’ll play it one more time (or more if they like). | |||
| Replay | 6’19 – 6’45 | You can repeat this part if necessary. | |||
| Answers to Q6:
“…..Feel not as though it is a _SPHERE_ we live on, rather an _INFINITE_ _PLANE_ which has the Once we understand that all the spheres in the sky are just large infinite planes, it will be _PLAIN_ to see.” (Then he laughs. Why?) IT’S LIKE A PLAY ON WORDS, ALTHOUGH IT’S ONLY FUNNY TO HIM. HE LAUGHS AT HIS OWN JOKE, AND THAT’S FUNNY TO OTHER PEOPLE. |
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| B | STEP 7 | MIMICKING REGGIE WATTS USING THE VIDEO REGGIE WATTS | |
| -OPTIONAL-
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If your students are a little brave, have them try to speak like Reggie Watts, improvising in groups, or, if you have much time, they can even prepare a little. If you explore the latter, encourage them to use good grammar, but play with the ideas. | ||
DST 3-1 A video of humour and music and communication of ideas
PART C: DISCUSSION
REGGIE WATTS HO 1
Discussion
| C | STEP 1 | DISCUSSION DISCUSS REGGIE WATTS | |
| a) | Place the students into new groups of 3 or 4 and have them discuss the two questions. Encourage them to give reasons for their points of view, to respond to the other people’s comments, and to explore the themes. | ||
| C | STEP 2 | DISCUSSION OPTIONAL (DIFFERENT) FOLLOW-UPS REGGIE WATTS | |
| a) | ∙Monitor the various groups, taking note of grammatical, lexical and pronunciation difficulties. Write them on the board and go over them with the students after the discussion.
∙After a set time limit of 10 minutes (for example) or after the speaking has reached its peak, elicit different comments and perspectives from the class. ∙Monitor the groups and if you find that there are a number who have a certain viewpoint and a number who have a different one, organize them into two teams for a debate. |
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