Talking Cultures

The United Kingdoms international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).

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Contents
CTRL and click on a title to bring you to the corresponding page

How does it work? .............................................................................................................. 3 Target group........................................................................................................................ 3 Level..................................................................................................................................... 3 Lesson plans....................................................................................................................... 3 Products .............................................................................................................................. 4 Additional materials............................................................................................................ 4 Technical requirements...................................................................................................... 4 Cyber well-being ................................................................................................................. 5 Managing the wiki ............................................................................................................... 5 Scheduling the project ....................................................................................................... 5 Talking Cultures Lessons ..................................................................................................... 6 Class biography.................................................................................................................. 7 Our country ....................................................................................................................... 11 Food ................................................................................................................................... 18 Famous people ................................................................................................................. 23 Festivals ............................................................................................................................ 29 Music.................................................................................................................................. 38 Holidays............................................................................................................................. 45 Sports and activities......................................................................................................... 53 Farewell ............................................................................................................................. 59

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How does it work?

Talking Cultures is a series of mini-projects using an intercultural teachers kit containing ten units each one focussing on a specific area of culture. Each unit has a series of tasks that lead to the production of a wiki component. This wiki is shared with other countries so that the learners can discover a new culture. The topics have been selected with a teenage audience in mind and are skills focussed to build up the confidence of the learners. A wide variety of activities and teaching techniques have also been incorporated to sustain interest in the project.

Talking Cultures Aims: to promote intercultural dialogue and improve students coomunication skills through miniprojects on a wiki space.

Target group
13-16 year olds

Level
The children should be elementary level and above, capable of writing short texts such as postcards with teacher support

Lesson plans
This pack contains materials for the Talking Cultures project. This includes: 9 units with student handouts and teaching notes Links to online British Council materials Topics Class biography Our country Food Famous people Festivals Music Holidays Sports Farewell Mini-projects Write a profile of a classmate Describe a place Write a recipe Write a profile Design a poster Select the best musicians Write a postcard Describe a popular sport Make a farewell gift

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These units can be taught in any order, but we recommend that the Class biography is done first and the Farewell done last. Each unit plan involves the learners using a range of skills and a final product is produced. In some cases the topic may need to be done over more than one lesson to allow the students to do some research. A space on the wiki is allocated to each topic mini-project. There are 4 main stages to each topic: 1. Preparation The listening, speaking and reading tasks help students prepare to create their mini-products for the wiki. 2. Products (writing) Students may have to do a few drafts before uploading onto the wiki. This can be done in pairs or small groups. 3. Share Students upload and edit the content on the wiki. 4. Exchange Students explore the content produced by other countries. Students can be given a task to look at 2-3 contributions from other countries and write down an interesting fact, a similarity and a difference. If using the Discussions feature of the wiki, students could ask questions, write their comments/reflections, etc. Please note that most of the listening material is available online on the LearnEnglish website (links given in teachers notes of each lesson). If you cannot play the podcast directly from the website, you can download it to the computer and listen to it offline. Alternatively, if possible, you may assign some of the listening to be done as homework.

Products
For some units two or more options are given for the writing task. You may choose which one you would prefer your students to do.

Additional materials
Some of the lessons contain links to additional materials that can be used with your class. Please check that the content of external links is appropriate for you students. Further resources on the topics can be found on the following British Council websites: LearnEnglish: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/topics TeachingEnglish: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/

Technical requirements
Teachers and students must have Internet access and e-mail addresses. The wiki service is free of charge. This project will include three primary tasks for teachers: Editing and updating: Teachers should be able to update the wiki within agreed deadlines Monitoring and moderating: Teachers should be able to access the wiki on a regular basis, monitor and moderate their students edits and posts Project work: Teachers should be able to ensure that the work is organised to be shared with other participating schools.

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Cyber well-being
As your students will be working online it is recommended that you take some time to think about the issues involved with using the internet with your students. The British Council Learning Technologies course has a unit on Cyber Well-being. You can do this free unit (once logged in) on the TeachingEnglish website: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/train/learning-technologies-classroom-online

Managing the wiki

Getting started
Take a tour of the wiki: http://www.wikispaces.com/content/wiki-tour Working the Wiki Way in English Language Teaching a presentation on the benefits and challenges of using wikis and some guidance on how to edit your wiki. http://fliki.wikispaces.com/file/view/Working+the+Wiki+Way+in+ELT.ppt

Roles
You may wish to give your students roles throughout the project to help you manage the wiki. This will also give the students ownership over the wiki. It is recommended that for each topic you assign 2 or 3 students as Wiki Editors. These students can be responsible for uploading content onto the wiki, editing content when necessary and helping other students with their projects. Other roles that could be given if you would like are: Grammar Guru (edits grammar mistakes), Word Wizard (edits vocabulary), Layout Leader (makes sure the wiki page is laid out well and is pleasing to the eye) or Researcher (looks for necessary information or pictures for other students).

Editing content
You will need to decide if you allow all the students or only the Wiki Editors to edit the wiki. The students will not be able to edit the wiki at the same time. Therefore, it is best for the teacher or 1 or 2 students together to upload the class material on the wiki. Alternatively, you may wish to organise times during class or home for students to add content. To give students permission to edit content, you will need to send them an invitation. For more information on how to invite students to the wiki watch this video: http://www.wikispaces.com/content/wiki-tour/invitations

Discussions
The wiki contains a discussions tab. You or your students may wish to create discussions for your partner class to contribute to. However, you will then need to monitor the content to ensure it remains appropriate. You may remove the discussions tab if necessary. For more information please see link: http://blog.wikispaces.com/2011/01/tips-and-tricks-tame-your-discussiontab.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wikispaces+%28W ikispaces+Blog%29

Scheduling the project

The project begins when you receive an invitation to join the wiki and your partners contact details. As you may have different school holidays, it is important that you agree on a schedule of when each unit will be completed. It is expected that each unit is done within two weeks. But it is up to you to decide.

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Talking Cultures Lessons

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Class biography
1. Writing Work in groups and write 20 questions together; using the topic prompts below. Make sure you write two questions for each prompt. These should all be questions that you can ask another student in the class. One example has been done for you: Hobbies 1. 2. Family 1. 2. Food 1. 2. Home 1. 2. School 1. 2. Friends 1. 2. Holidays 1. 2. Favourites 1. 2. Dislikes 1. 2. 1. Future 2. What is your favourite type of food?

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2. Speaking You are now going to interview another student in your class. Make notes of the answers to your questions below:

3. Listening Here are some notes about my friend Helen

Tennis and swimming Sister 16 years old Becca Lives near school flat Best friends - Sam and Mike Holiday visited grandmother

tennis twice a week Father office likes school

brother 9 years old- Adam

favourite food chicken and onions favourite subject English

cinema or play card games boring holiday hates helping mum future-work in a bank, live in city with cat

grandmother village

Favourites are hip-hop and funny films hates shopping

Your teacher will read about my friend Helen. Can you find six differences between the notes and your teachers information?

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4. Writing Look at the information below about my friend Helen:

I am going to tell you about Helen. She is in my class at school. Her hobbies are playing tennis and swimming and she goes swimming twice a week. She has a younger brother called Adam and an older sister called Becky. Adam is 9 years old and Becky is 16 years old. Her father is an office worker. Her favourite food is chicken and she hates onions. She lives in a flat near to the school. She likes school and her favourite subject is English. Her two best friends are Sam and Mike. Sometimes they go to the cinema or play computer games. Last holiday she went to visit her grandmother. Her grandmother lives in a village and it was very boring! She loves hip-hop music and watching romantic films. She hates helping her mum and going shopping. In the future she wants to work in a bank and live in a house in the city with her cat.

Using your notes from the interview write a similar profile of your partner:

A profile of __________________________ by ______________________

__________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________ __________________________________________

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Teachers notes It is recommended that this topic is first in order to introduce the class. 1. Writing Pre-teach any vocabulary they may need before starting this task. Monitor and support the students as they write questions in groups. Make sure that they all write the questions they have created on their papers as they will be separated later. Highlight any common grammar or vocabulary problem areas. 2. Speaking Make sure that their partner is chosen at random (put their names in an envelope for example). Advise the students to look at the notes about Helen as an example of what they are expected to write. 3. Listening Read out the model profile. The students need to tell you when they hear different information from the information in the notes about Helen. You can get the learners to say bananas when they hear something untrue. 4. Writing If possible attach a class photo to the main wiki. The students profiles can be added next or under the photo. Option 1: Students write a profile of their partners in a Word document. Teacher or wiki editors copy and paste the student profiles to the Class biography web page. Option 2: Students write a profile of their partners in a Word document and upload it to the wiki. Option 3: Students write a profile of their partners, make a Voki (see below), and embed it on the wiki. Vokis are animated audio recordings. Students create an animated character and give it a voice. It is great fun to do and breaks down the inhibitions that students often have when faced with recording themselves speaking in English. For more information see lesson plan on TeachingEnglish: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/creating-vokis-%E2%80%93-online-animatedcharacters-speak.

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Our country
1. Vocabulary Can you match the pictures to the descriptions below? One has already been done for you.

1. Sandy beaches

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

modern shopping centres high mountains

clean rivers

sandy beaches traditional houses farms

beautiful lakes picnic areas

historical places

traditional markets

woodland

modern flats

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2. Speaking Work with a partner. Which of the things shown in the pictures can you find in your country? Which places in your country would you see these? For example: In the north of the country there are high mountains. In London there are modern shopping centres. Is there anything different that you can see in your country? 3. Listening Listen to Rebecca talking about a visit to Kazakhstan. Can you check which of these she talks about? mountains great lakes rivers deserts plains farms Listen again and answer the questions: Why did it take Rebecca 6 hours to meet the berkutchy? Which large country does Kazakhstan border? When did Kazakhstan move its capital city? What can you see in Astana? woodland shopping centres Modern buildings eagles oil beaches

4. Speaking Rebecca talks about the geography of the country and its capital city. Can you say something about the geography of your country? Think about these questions: Where is your country? Which countries does it have borders with? How big is it? Whats the population? Does it produce oil? Valuable metals? Diamonds? Anything else? Whats the capital city called? Where is it? How old is it?

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5. Reading Draw lines to match the places with the descriptions. London has been done for you.

SCOTLAND

The south-west coast of Wales has some beautiful, sandy beaches.

The south-west of Scotland has a lot of woodland and castles and has St Andrews, the most famous golf course in the world!

The Highlands in the north of Scotland have beautiful mountains.

IRELAND

ENGLAND WALES

London the capital of the UK is in the South-East of England. It is a big city with a lot of old and new buildings.

The south-west of England has many historical monuments such as Stonehenge.

Cumbria in the north-west of England is famous for its mountains and the Lake District.

Bangor in the north-east of Ireland is very beautiful. It is by the sea and there is a famous rock formation called Giants Causeway.

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6. Reading

My city
Newcastle is in the North-east of England. It is a small city with a large modern shopping centre and some traditional markets. There are many beautiful old buildings such as the university which was built in 1834. Newcastle is famous for the six bridges over the River Tyne. The most famous bridge is called the Tyne Bridge which looks similar to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. There are also many interesting places near Newcastle and north of the city there are some beautiful beaches but it is too cold to swim in the sea. There are also some historical places including Alnwick Castle which is used in the Harry Potter films. It is where the children play Quidditch. There are no high mountains near Newcastle but there is a lot of woodland and in the summer many people go to Kielder Forest for walks or picnics. 7. Writing
Your class is going to make an information leaflet about your town or place in your country .Your teacher will give you instructions. Write notes for you first draft below.

_________________________________________________ _________________________________________________

____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________

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Teachers notes 1. Vocabulary Get the students to do this activity alone and then they should check their answers with a partner before you give feedback. 2. Speaking Check that your students have the language to talk about different areas of the country (northeast, etc.) and give them any language they need during the activity or at the feedback stage. 3. Listening Elementary Podcast, Series 1, Episode 6, Section 4: Our person in http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-06 Transcript Ravi: Right. Its time for Our Person In. Im looking forward to this. In this part of the podcast we hear from different people around the world and this time, Rebecca Dalton is Our Woman in Kazakhstan. Rebecca: On a cold winters morning, with thick snow on the ground around us, I watched the magnificent golden eagle fly high into the sky above us before returning to the arm of the berkutchy and sit on his thick leather glove. I had travelled for over 6 hours on difficult roads to meet this man the name berkutchy means the eagle king. The journey gave me an idea of just how big and how empty Kazakhstan is. It is the ninth biggest country in the world, bigger than all of Western Europe, yet it has a population of only fifteen million so most of the country is almost empty. And this empty countryside has everything; a major mountain range on the border with China, great lakes and rivers, deserts and plains. Most importantly for Kazahstan, it also has oil perhaps twenty per cent of the worlds supply and many valuable metals can be found here. Over ten years ago, Kazakhstan moved its capital city. The new capital, Astana, is full of new buildings designed by famous international architects a thoroughly modern city. Yet it is out here on the empty plains watching the golden eagle fly that you get a true feeling of this little known country. The oil and valuable metals will bring changes to Kazakhstan in the years to come but you feel and hope that the berkutchy will continue to fly his eagles in this wonderful, lonely space. Tess: Its amazing isnt it? Kazakhstan is absolutely huge but most of us dont know anything at all about it. Ravi: Yeah. It sounds fantastic though, doesnt it? Tess: You say that about everywhere New Zealand, South Africa Ravi: Its true, I know. Id love to travel round the world one day and see all of these places. Tess: By public transport? Ravi: OK. But I really do want to travel. But the next best thing, listeners, is hearing about your countries so do remember that you can send your texts to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org. Tell us something interesting about your city or your country. Tess: That would be great.

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Answers mountains great lakes rivers deserts plains farms a) Difficult roads/ big country c) Over 10 years ago v v v v v woodland shopping centres Modern buildings eagles oil beaches

v v v

b) China d) new buildings designed by famous international architects

4. Speaking This might work better as a whole class discussion depending on your learners. 5. Reading This simple reading activity is a lead in to their wiki work.

Highlands

South-west of Scotland/ St Andrews Bangor Cumbria

London South-west Wales South-west/ Stonehenge

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6. Reading Ask some comprehension questions to check understanding. 7. Writing Decide whether you would like your class to write about your town or your country. With the class brainstorm places in the town or country the students can write about. Then allocate each pair of students a different place to write a short paragraph about. Give them time to research about their place and to find pictures (this could be done for homework). The teacher or wiki editor puts a map of your town or country on to the main wiki. Option 1: The students write descriptions in a Word document and send to the teacher or wiki editor to add to the page next to or under the map. Option 2: The students write descriptions in pairs and make a Glog (online poster). The teacher or wiki editor adds the Glogs to the page next to or under the map. See the lesson plan on TeachingEnglish for more information: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/using-glogstercreating-interactive-online-posters For examples of Glogs see: http://greetingsfromtheworld.wikispaces.com/Glogs+from+Croatia

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Food
1. Vocabulary

Fry is a cooking term. Below is a list of other cooking terms. They all have the vowels missing; can you find them? The first one has been done for you. A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. 2. Speaking Now you are going to find out about your partners cooking skills. Ask your partner the questions and write in their answers: Answers you can use: Yes, really well Questions How well can you cook? Can you cook pasta? Can you cut an onion into small pieces? Can you fry an egg? Can you make tea? Can you bake a cake? Can you make soup? Can you make a milkshake? Yes, I guess so Not really Partners answers Boil Gr _ ll B _k _ Ch _ p C_t St _ _ m St _ r _ dd

What do you think? Can your partner cook well?

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3. Listening Listen to Carolina's conversations with her friends and then do exercises A) Tick which of the foods below are in the recipe you hear for Guasacaca: beans chicken avocado herbs green pepper sugar onion tomato

B) Look at Carolinas conversation with Emily. Put the expressions in the right places. put it in chop it all up sort of thing mash one
Emily: Hi. Hows it going? Everything under control? Carolina: Oh - Im beginning to panic a bit. The rice and beans are done, theyre cooking now, thats for Jamie hes vegetarian. I need to _______________- and I need to make the guasacaca - oh dear, and I wanted to have a shower Im so hot. Emily: What time are they coming? Carolina: I told them eight oclock. I hope theyre late! Emily: Dont panic. Youve got plenty of time. What can I do to help? Whats gwuh .. whatever it was? Carolina: Guasacaca. Its like a salad ____________________, with avocadoes and herbs. It ____________________the meat. Emily: Well, why dont you tell me what to do and Ill make it while you have a shower. Carolina: OK thanks. Youre an angel. Um, you need an onion, some green pepper, some red pepper, some garlic, um some parsley and you ________________ in quite small pieces and _____________________________. Its all here look. Emily: OK. Ill start chopping. How much garlic? Carolina: Um, three of those what do you call them? The small parts of garlic. Emily: Cloves? You mean cloves. Three of these? Carolina: Yes thats right. Emily: Then what? Carolina: Then you put it in a bowl with olive oil, vinegar, a little sugar and some chilli powder. Oh and some salt. Emily: And what about the avocado? Carolina: You ___________at the end. There are two avocadoes in the fridge. You _______________, you know, with a fork so its like a paste, and the other one you just chop, so its in pieces. Emily: I think I can manage that. And then I add the avocadoes to the stuff in the bowl? Carolina: Yes. And __________________ the fridge. Emily: Right. No problem. You go and make yourself look beautiful.

add that goes with grill the meat put everything in a bowl

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4. Reading Check the recipe for Guasacaca below with detailed amounts given. There are 5 differences with Carolinas recipe can you find them? Mexican Guasacaca Ingredients 2 avocados 1 large tomato 1 onion red pepper green pepper 3 cloves of garlic Amount A handful of parsley A pinch of chilli Salt Sugar cup of olive oil cup of vinegar

Method 1. First chop the avocados and place them in a bowl. Mash them well with a fork to make a paste. 2. Then chop the onion, tomato, peppers and garlic into small pieces. 3. Mix in the other ingredients and put in the oven. 5. Writing You are going to write a recipe from your country. Use the form below to make notes:

My recipe for ___________________________ by ___________________________ Ingredients

Method

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Teachers notes 1. Vocabulary Boil; Grill; Bake; Chop; Cut; Steam; Stir; Add; 2. Speaking Ask a few students to give feedback on the information they got from their partner. 3. Listening Elementary Podcast, Series 1, Episode 9, Section 6: Carolina http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-09 Background to listening: Carolina is from Venezuela and she has come to England to live, study and have fun. Each episode Carolina gives updates on her life in England. In this episode, Carolina is preparing a special meal for her friends. A) Tick which of the foods below are in the recipe you hear for Guasacaca: beans chicken x x avocado herbs green pepper sugar onion tomato

B) Look at Carolinas conversation with Emily. Put the expressions in the right places. Transcript
Student accommodation - In the shared kitchen Emily: Hi. Hows it going? Everything under control? Carolina: Oh - Im beginning to panic a bit. The rice and beans are done, theyre cooking now, thats for Jamie hes vegetarian. I need to grill the meat - and I need to make the guasacaca - oh dear, and I wanted to have a shower Im so hot. Emily: What time are they coming? Carolina: I told them eight oclock. I hope theyre late! Emily: Dont panic. Youve got plenty of time. What can I do to help? Whats gwuh .. whatever it was? Carolina: Guasacaca. Its like a salad sort of thing, with avocadoes and herbs. It goes with the meat. Emily: Well, why dont you tell me what to do and Ill make it while you have a shower. Carolina: OK thanks. Youre an angel. Um, you need an onion, some green pepper, some red pepper, some garlic, um some parsley and you chop it all up in quite small pieces and put everything in a bowl. Its all here look. Emily: OK. Ill start chopping. How much garlic? Carolina: Um, three of those what do you call them? The small parts of garlic. Emily: Cloves? You mean cloves. Three of these? Carolina: Yes thats right. Emily: Then what? Carolina: Then you put it in a bowl with olive oil, vinegar, a little sugar and some chilli powder. Oh and some salt. Emily: And what about the avocado? Carolina: You add that at the end. There are two avocadoes in the fridge. You mash one, you know, with a fork so its like a paste, and the other one you just chop, so its in pieces. Emily: I think I can manage that. And then I add the avocadoes to the stuff in the bowl? Carolina: Yes. And put it in the fridge. Emily: Right. No problem. You go and make yourself look beautiful.

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4. Reading Mexican Guasacaca 2 avocados 1 large tomato (not in Carolinas recipe) 1 onion red pepper green pepper 3 cloves of garlic A handful of parsley Chilli sauce (powder) Salt Sugar cup of olive oil cup of vinegar Parsley Method 1. First (last) chop the avocados and place them in a large bowl. Mash them well with a fork to make a paste. 2. Then chop the onion, peppers and garlic into small pieces. 3. Mix in the other ingredients and put in the oven (fridge). 5. Writing Before the students start their mini-projects, brainstorm or discuss with the class about local eating traditions: Which local traditional foods are there?, Which do you like or don't like?, Can you cook them?, etc. The students write their chosen recipes in pairs in a Word document or PowerPoint and then send to the teacher or Wiki Editor to add to the page. Sample recipe projects: http://www.elanguages.org/page/45969 Additional activities Food around the world quiz: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/play-with-friends/quiz-food Guasacaca video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUBVoFHHjt4 Grandmas trifle video: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/overcooked/grandmas-trifle Baked beans video: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/overcooked/beans-toast

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Famous people
1. Famous Britons Can you match the famous British person to each of the categories below? 1. A Prime Minister 2. A Queen 3. A well known footballer 4. A well known singer 5. A famous group 6. A well known writer 7. A famous artist 8. An inventor 9. A scientist 10. An explorer a. Robbie Williams b. J K Rowling c. John Constable d. John Logie Baird e. David Beckham f. James Cook g. Elizabeth Windsor h. Tony Blair i. Beatles j. Stephen Hawking

2. Speaking Work in groups. Can you think of a famous person in your country for each of these categories? Are there any categories you would like to add?

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3. Reading John Logie Baird Mr TV John Logie Baird is a man whose invention changed the lives of many people. We will look more closely at the life of the Father of television. He was born in Scotland on the 14th of August 1888 and his father worked for the church. Even as a young man he was very interested in machines and inventing. He set up a simple telephone system so he could speak to friends who lived near his home without leaving the house. He was often sick in his childhood and was unable to join the army when the First World War started because of his health. He studied Electrical Engineering and in 1916 went on to work for the Clyde Valley Electrical Power Company but after two years he decided to set up his own business. It was his dream to create a machine that could transmit moving pictures live across distances. Many scientists at the time were interested in inventing this kind of machine. He wanted to be the person who made the first television so he gave up his work to concentrate on this invention. He gave the first demonstration of his television in 1926 in front of 50 other scientists and in 1927 he showed how television could be used across distances by transmitting a programme from London to Glasgow (552 kilometers). This was the first time this had been achieved and by1928 he was able to send moving pictures across the Atlantic from London to New York. Other scientists began to develop similar machines and in 1937 the BBC chose to develop their programmes using a system developed by an American company called Marconi. He died in 1946 but his invention lives on. Decide if the following is true or false: 1. He had to leave the army because of his health 2. He made a simple television system when he was a child 3. He had always wanted to be an inventor 4. Marconi actually invented television before Logie Baird 5. He was 58 when he died T T T T T F F F F F

4. Vocabulary Can you complete the prepositions used in the reading without looking into the text?

a) I am interested __________ science. b) His mother works _______ a bank. c) I was born _______ November 1st 1998. d) He set _______ a shop last year. e) Windows was developed ________ Microsoft.

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5. Listening Listen to Megan talking about David Attenborough. Make some notes to answer these questions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Writing Choose a famous person from your country and write a profile of them. They can be dead or alive. Use some of the questions below to help you. You dont need to know the answer to every question. When were they born? What do you know about their family? Where did/ do they come from? Why is she/ he famous? What did they do? Why did you choose this person? What questions would you ask this person if you could meet them? My profile of _________________________ by __________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ What does David Attenborough do? Is he very popular in the UK? And in the rest of the world? What do you find out about his appearance? Why does Megan like him? What question does Megan want to ask him?

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Teachers notes 1. Famous Britons This activity can be done in pairs or small groups. It helps to introduce the theme and students are not expected to know all the answers. It will also give you an idea of their background knowledge. 1h (Prime Minister 1997- 2006) 7c Landscape painter 2g 3e 4a 5i 6b (Harry Potter writer)

8d Inventor of television

9j Physicist who wrote a very popular book called A brief history of time 10f The Cook Islands, part of New Zealand, are named after him 2. Speaking This is an important stage as these ideas will help students to choose a famous person from their country to write a profile about later. 3. Reading 1. He had to leave the army because of his health (He never joined) 2. He made a simple television system when he was a child (telephone) 3. He had always wanted to be an inventor 4. Marconi actually invented television before Logie Baird 5. He was 58 when he died 4. Vocabulary a) I am interested in science. b) His mother works for a bank. (at or in are also grammatically correct) c) I was born on November 1st 1998. d) He set up a shop last year. e) Windows was developed by Microsoft. 5. Listening 1. He is a presenter on TV for wildlife programmes. 2. He has been watched by a billion people. 3. He is about 80 with white hair. 4. Voice/ hes interested and excited/ programmes good/ programmes about the animals 5. What will happen in the future? Is it too late to save the planet? T T T T T F F F F F

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Elementary Podcast, Series 1, Episode 8, Section 2: Id like to meet: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-08 Transcript

Ravi: And joining us today is Megan. Hello Megan. Megan: Hi Ravi. Ravi: Where are you today Megan? Megan: Im at home. In Reading. Ravi: Oh yeah, I know it. Do you like it? Megan: Its OK. I quite like it, yeah. Ravi: OK then Megan, tell us, who would you like to meet? Megan: Id like to meet David Attenborough. Ravi: Great choice. I know who David Attenborough is I think anyone who watches television in Britain will know who he is but maybe you can explain to people who dont watch television in Britain who David Attenborough is and what hes well known for. Megan: Well actually Ravi, David Attenboroughs wildlife programmes have been seen by more than one billion people all over the world so I think people will know who he is. They might not know his name but I think theyll recognise him. Erm, hes a TV presenter and he makes programmes about nature and wildlife and the natural world and they are just fantastic. Erm .. Ill say the names of some of the programmes in case anyone recognises them, erm, there was Life on Earth, the Life of Birds, the Blue Planet, Planet Earth theres been so many of them. Ravi: And what is it about David Attenborough that you like? Megan: Oh, everything. Hes getting quite old now hes over 80 now, but he looks great hes got really white hair. And I love his voice he just sounds so interested in the animals that hes talking about and sometimes he gets really close to them and hes almost whispering but you can just see how interested and excited he is. I think the programmes are brilliant. But the other thing is that the programmes are always about the animals not about him. Y know some presenters just talk about themselves all the time. I think his programmes are the best things on TV. Ravi: So, you like animals then Megan? Megan: I love them. I want to be a vet. Ravi: And what would you say to David Attenborough if you met him? Megan: Well, Id like to say "thank you" I think for his programmes and tell him that I think theyve been really important in telling people about climate change and global warming and the real things that are happening to animals because of what people do. I think his programmes have made a lot of people realise the problems animals have to face. And Id like to ask him what he thinks will happen in the future, yknow, if its too late to save the planet, kind of thing. Ravi: Yknow. I think Id really like to meet David Attenborough as well. I really love those programmes. Do you know what he said about TV advertisements Megan? Megan: No? Ravi: He said he will never do an advertisement on TV. He says if people know you will take money to say you like something then they cant trust you anymore or believe what you say. Megan: Yeah. You really do trust him when you listen to him. Ravi: Well, thanks Megan that was great. And remember that were always happy to hear from you so if youd like to tell us about a TV presenter in your country you can send it to us at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org, thats learnenglish - all one word - at- britishcouncil all one word DOT org, thats o-r-g.

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6. Writing Try to make sure that the students all choose different famous people to add variety to the wiki. This could be done in pairs or groups. It might be best to get your students to do some research on their famous person in a library or at home before they write up their profile. Option 1: The students write the profiles in a Word document and send to the teacher or wiki editors to copy and paste the material into the wiki. The students should try to include a picture of their famous person with their descriptions. Option 2: The students create a newspaper clipping by adding text into this newspaper generator: www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp. The newspaper can be saved as an image and inserted into the wiki by the teacher or wiki editors. Option 3: Create a magazine cover with a picture of the famous person: http://bighugelabs.com/magazine.php. The magazine cover can be saved as an image and inserted into the wiki by the teacher or wiki editors. Additional materials This website has information about famous Britons: http://www.aboutbritain.com/articles/famous-britons.asp

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Festivals
1. Speaking Have you ever been to a festival? What type of festival was it? What do you think makes a good festival? 2. Vocabulary

Look at the word search below. It contains 11 words related to good festivals. The first one is done for you. Can you find the rest? The pictures are clues.

S M F O O D W E G X

B T D E Q S R G Z D

Q B A F G T M N E P

L S T G A P M I T B

F R O E E U Z P Z V

A Y H U S C L M Z A

R T I I V J D A A C

M F C S V E A C A G

E U U D D V N I Y K

O B J W E N C I C G

C O S T U M E S R V

D S X A R L T I S S

O F D V L N S Z R H

P D M Z M O B I U F

Y R T E O P G L F D

1. Art 4. 7. 10.

2. 5. 8. 11.

3. 6. 9.

Can you add any more ideas to the word list above?

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3. Speaking Find somebody who Talk to your class mates and find people who Remember to ask another question to get some extra information. Find somebody who... has been to a festival in the past year. Name Extra information

can tell you about their favourite festival.

has never been to a festival but would like to.

thinks that music is an essential ingredient for a good festival.

knows something about a British festival.

4. Reading Your teacher will give you a text to read about a festival in the UK. When you have read and understood your text, tell your group about it. Use your own words. 5. Speaking When you have read about one of the festivals, told your group about it, and listened to your class mates tell you about a different festival, decide which one you would go to, as a group, and why. Imagine that your school has decided to send your group to one of these festivals. You may have to have a group vote to decide. You can only choose one festival, so you all have to go to the same one. Compare your answers with the other groups in the class.

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Look at the poster for the Bladbury festival. Would you like to go to this festival? Why? Why not?

B L A D B U R Y A R T & C U L T U R E F E S T I V A L

The tickets are 45 pounds* and can be bought on the day or beforehand at: www.billet.com

*50% of the money goes to charity

Saturday July 21st From 10am to 10pm At the River Park in Bradbury
You can see: Performances by local bands and theatre groups A photography competition You can join in: Salsa dancing lessons Face painting for children Food tents with a range of local dishes such as meat pasty and scones with cream

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6. Writing You are going to make a poster for a festival that is popular in your country. Work in groups and discuss between you: What type of festival is it? Where does it take place? How long does it last? How many people can go to the festival? How much does a ticket cost? Does some of the money go to charity? What is special about your festival? Why do people go? Once you have answered all the questions design your poster.

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Teachers notes 1. Speaking This can be done as a whole class discussion to lead in to the topic. 2. Vocabulary Words can be in any order.

ART DANCE MUSIC STAGE

3. Speaking

CAMPING FOOD POETRY THEATRE

COSTUMES FRIENDS SOUVENIRS

Use the two blank spaces in the table to personalise the task for your students. Include local festivals depending on where you are living. Then check that students know how to construct the questions correctly and write the most difficult on the board if necessary. For example, number five is, Do you know anything about a British festival? Ask students to stand up so they walk around the class speaking to as many people as possible. Make sure they only use the same classmate once in their chart. Encourage students to ask a follow on question in order to find out some extra information and when the set time is up, have some group feedback to share their findings. 4. Reading Cut up the fact files about five of the major festivals in the UK. If you want to include other festivals that you consider should have made it into the big five write up a fact file for them too. You can easily find the information you need on the Internet. Put students into groups of five and give each student a different festival to read about. Give the stronger students the longer texts. When students have read and understood their text ask them to write down 10 key words from their text. Then take the text off them. They should tell their group about the festival they read about using their own words. If you have time and the equipment to do so, print off some photos of each festival and give out to students with the texts. This will help to give them a real idea of what the festival is like.

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Cut up and give one festival to each student to read.

The Edinburgh Festival What type of festival is it? A better name for The Edinburgh Festival is The Edinburgh Festivals as it is not a single event. In the summer months, Edinburgh has many festivals. The main two are the Edinburgh International Festival, three weeks of music, theatre and dance, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which has thousands of performances from all over the world. Theres also a film festival, a science festival, an art festival, the Festival of Spirituality and Peace, a book festival, a Mela, which is an intercultural festival, and many, many, more! When did it start? The Festival began in 1947, with the aim of providing 'a platform for the flowering of the human spirit'. Where does it take place? In the city of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. How many people go to the Festival? Because there are so many events and so many festivals within The Edinburgh Festival its impossible to know how many people attend. Last year, over 250,000 people watched the final firework display. How much does a ticket cost? Ticket prices depend on which of the many hundreds of events you choose to see. You can also see lots of events for free as they take place in the streets and in public places. For more information have a look at: http://www.edinburghfestivals.co.uk/

Womad What type of festival is it? WOMAD stands for World Of Music Arts and Dance. It celebrates music, arts and dance from countries and cultures from all over the world. When did it start? The first Womad festival was in 1982 and the aim was to give talented artists an international audience. This year its the 25th anniversary of the Womad Festival. Where does it take place? Womad started in the UK but now it has festivals all over the world. Womad festivals have taken place in over 20 countries. This summer Womad festivals are taking place in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Sicily, the UK and Singapore! How many people go to the Festival? 20,000 people just in Womad Charlton Park in the UK. How much does a ticket cost? Prices vary. For example, the Womad festival in Cceres, Spain this summer is completely free but the three day Womad festival to be held in Charlton Park, in Wiltshire, near Bristol costs from 120. Money raised from Womad festivals go to the Womad Foundation Charity. In Womad UK this year some of the highlights include Nneka from Nigeria and Che Sudaka from Spain. For more information have a look at: http://www.womad.org

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T in the park What type of festival is it? A three day music festival. People usually stay in the campsite next to the festival to spend the three days the festival lasts, There is also a fairground. When did it start? T in the Park started in 1994. Where does it take place? In the small town called Kinross in the east of Scotland. The festival takes place in an old airfield. How many people go to the Festival? 80,000 How much does a ticket cost? 115 - 140 but all the tickets for this year sold out within 40 minutes of going on sale this year! What are the highlights for this year? Kings of Leon, The Killers, Lady Gaga, James Morrison and many, many more. For more information have a look at: http://www.tinthepark.com/

Glastonbury Festival What type of festival is it? Glastonbury Festival is a very special festival. In the words of Michael Eavis, the man who started the Festival, "The Glastonbury Festival aims to encourage and stimulate youth culture from around the world in all its forms, including pop music, dance music, jazz, folk music, theatre, drama, mime, circus, cinema, poetry and all the creative forms of art and design, including painting, sculpture and textile art. Most people think of Glastonbury Festival as a giant music festival where friends go to spend three days together going to concerts, dancing, watching performances from around the world, and generally having a three day party. Part of the Glastonbury festival experience is camping in tents in the fields of the farm. When did it start? It started in 1970. Where does it take place? The home of the Festival is Worthy Farm in the town of Glastonbury in Somerset, in the south west of England. How many people go to the Festival? This year there were 145,000 tickets on sale for Glastonbury Festival. Usually the tickets all sell out in a few hours, so you are very lucky to get one. How much does a ticket cost? 145 What are the highlights for this year? The Black-eyed Peas, Lily Allen and many, many more. For more information look at: http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/ or http://www.bbc.co.uk/somerset/glastonbury/

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The Isle of Wight Festival What type of festival is it? A music festival. When did it start? It started in 1968. 1970 was the most famous festival and 600,000 people attended. The most famous performers were Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, The Doors and Leonard Cohen. The 1970 Isle of White Festival is now part of rock festival history! From 1970 2001 there were no festivals. It has only been revived in 2002. Where does it take place? On the Isle of Wight, an island on the south coast of England. How many people go to the Festival? 50,000. This year the tickets are already sold out! What are the highlights for this year? Razorlight, The Prodigy and many, many more. For more information have a look at: http://www.isleofwightfestival.com/

5. Speaking This task follows on from Task 4. When students have read about the festivals and told their group about the one they read about they should decide as a group which one they would go to if they had the choice. They must agree on one festival so encourage them to persuade their friends to go to their favourite one. Groups that cant decide easily should hold a group vote. Then ask all the groups to explain their choices to the whole class. 6. Writing Brainstorm some festivals from your country before the groups start work on their leaflet. The finished projects will be added to the wiki. The template is on the following page. Option 1: The students make the posters in a Word document and send to the teacher or wiki editor to add to the page. Option 2: The students make their posters online as a Glog (online poster). The teacher or wiki editor adds the Glogs to the page. See the lesson plan on TeachingEnglish for more information: www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/using-glogster-creating-interactive-online-posters For examples of Glogs see: http://greetingsfromtheworld.wikispaces.com/Glogs+from+Croatia

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Additional materials For extra listening practice there is a podcast on a bun festival in China. See below. Elementary Podcast, Series 1, Episode 4, Section 2: Our person in: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-04

Robert: In the centre of Hong Kong everything is new, modern and busy. Its difficult to think what the city was like a hundred years ago. But only forty-five minutes away from the centre, on the small island of Cheung Chau we can see another side of Hong Kong a side that is not very different from how it was centuries ago. Every year, in May, Cheung Chau celebrates its Bun Festival. The buns are small, white, bread rolls and huge towers made of bamboo are covered in the sweet buns in the festival, which lasts for a week. No-one knows exactly why the festival started but there is a procession to honour Pak Tai the sea god. In this procession, children in fantastic costumes are carried through the village. The costumes hide the seats that the children are sitting on and it looks like they are flying. For three days before the festival no-one on the island eats meat. The butchers shop is closed and restaurants serve only vegetarian dishes. Even the small McDonalds on the island sells only vegetarian food for these three days. Perhaps, for three days, this quiet corner of one of the busiest places on earth is the only place where you cant buy a Big Mac at McDonalds!

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Music
1. Vocabulary

Your teacher will give you instructions. 2. Speaking Make the questions below you have to put the words in the correct order. Example: 1. Music like do kind what of you? 2. Or is band who musician favourite your? 3. To have concerts many been you? 4. Everyday to you music listen do? 5. Music you download do? 6. To MP3 listen player an do on you music? 7. Instrument a can play musical you? What kind of music do you like? ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________ ________________________________________

Now use the questions above to interview your partner and ask them about music. Make notes of their answers in your notebook. 3. Listening

You will listen to Yasmin talking about why she would like to meet Shakira. 1. What nationality is Shakira? 2. How old was she when she wrote her first song? 3. Which musical instruments can she play? 4. Which cultures influence her music? 5. What do you find out about her personal life? 6. What questions would Yasmin like to ask Shakira?

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4. Reading The Brit Awards The Brit Awards are held every year in the UK. Brit is short for Britannia and it is also an acronym for British Record Industry Trust which is an organisation that supports young people who want to work in the performing arts. The Brit Awards were created in 1977 to give credit to people who work in the music industry; in a similar way to the Oscar awards in the film industry. Every year a Brit Award ceremony is held and it is shown on national television. In the past it was shown on live TV but now they record it and show it on the television the following day. The money that is made from the Brit Awards ceremony goes to a charity, The Brit Trust, which was founded in 1989 to support young people who want to develop their musical talents. The Brit Trust has opened its own school called The Brit School for Performing Arts and Technology. It is in a town called Croydon, near London. Its the only school in the UK which is specialised in the performing arts that is totally free of charge. The school has 750 students aged between 14 and 19 and they can learn music, dance, drama, musical theatre, production, media, art and design.
Article taken from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essential-uk/brit-awards-2009 A) Are there any similar music awards in your country? B) Would you like to go to a school like the The Brit School? C) Would you like to go and watch The Brit Awards ceremony in London?

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5. Speaking Work in groups. Imagine you are judges for a music award ceremony in your country. Decide together who your top 3 for each category below. Try to use some of the useful language while discussing your choices.

The Music Awards 2011 by _______________________________

________ is not my cup of tea

A male solo artist: 1. 2. 3. A female solo artist: 1.

_____ is definitely the best________

I cant stand ___________

2. 3. An album 1. 2. 3.
I prefer ___________

I dont think ___ is one of the best

A single: 1. 2. 3.
I absolutely love ________

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Teachers notes Lesson adapted from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essential-uk/brit-awards-2009 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essential-uk/music 1. Vocabulary Give each group a copy of the A-Z below. They have 3 minutes to think of any words related to music as they can. This includes music styles (jazz), musical instruments (piano) and event related words (concert) but not the names of musicians or groups. The group with the most words wins and you can try to fill words for any letters they dont know. They are not expected to know all of the words and they may have different ideas to those below.

Music A-Z

A C E G I K M O Q S U W Y

B D F H J L N P R T V X Z

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Crib sheet Acoustic/ accordion Concert/ classical Electronic Guitar/ gospel Instrument Kit (drum kit) Musician/ metal Oboe Quick tempo Song/ soloist Ukulele Wind (instrument)/ world music Young? Band Drums Fiddle Hip-hop Jazz Lounge music/ lead singer New age Pop/ piano Rap Trumpet Violin Xylophone Z _________

During feedback it would be good to mention any musical styles or instruments that are popular in your country. 2. Speaking 1. Music like do kind what of you? 2. Or is band who musician favourite your? 3. To have concerts many been you? 4. Everyday to you music listen do? 5. Music you download do? 6. To MP3 listen player an do on you music? 7. Instrument a can play musical you? 3. Listening Elementary Podcast, Series 1, Episode 2, Section 2: Id like to meet: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-02 1. What nationality is she? 2. How old was she when she wrote her first song? 3. Which musical instruments can she play? 4. Which cultures influence her music? 5. What do you find out about her personal life? 6. What questions would Yasmin like to ask her? Colombian 8 the guitar and the piano Arabic, Indian, Brazilian, Iranian Shes got four dogs and she likes working in her garden. How she writes her songs; to teach me how to dance What kind of music do you like? Who is your favourite band or musician? Have you been to many concerts? Do you listen to music everyday? Do you download music? Do you listen to music on an MP3 player? Can you play a musical instrument?

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Transcript
Yasmin: Oh, Id like to meet Shakira. Ravi: Shakira. Thisll be interesting. Can you tell us something about her? Yasmin: Sure. Shes a singer and a dancer too shes from Colombia and she sings in Spanish and English. Tess: And why did you choose Shakira to talk about today? Yasmin: Erm, for quite a lot of reasons. First, I think shes a fantastic singer. I just fell in love with her voice the first time I heard her sing. Its so different. And then, she writes her own songs she wrote her first song when she was only eight I think. I love singing and I write my own songs too, so I understand how difficult it is and Id love to sit down with her and write a song together. Im sure she could teach me a lot. Tess: Can she play any musical instruments? Yasmin: The guitar and the piano. In the beginning she wrote songs and sang in Spanish, and she was very famous in Latin America, but she didnt speak English, so she had to learn it. And I think she learnt it really well. I admire her because she didnt just translate her old songs from Spanish to English she wrote new ones in English. It isnt easy to write songs in a foreign language, but her words are great I think. She still sings in Spanish too she records two versions of her songs, one in English and one in Spanish. Another reason I like her is because shes a mixture of different cultures, and that makes her music interesting. Her mother is from Colombia but her father is Lebanese, so theres a lot of Arabic influence in her music and not only Arabic theres Indian, Brazilian, Iranian - shes interested in all sorts of music. And I think shes a nice person too. Her videos are very, well you know, sexy, but I dont think shes really like that shes got four dogs and she likes working in her garden, and she doesnt drink alcohol and she doesnt smoke. Ravi: Thanks Yasmin. Erm, one more question. What would you like to talk to Shakira about, if you could meet her? Yasmin: Oh, lots of things. Like I said before, Id like to ask her about how she writes her songs. And Id like her to teach me how to dance.

4. Reading This should lead to a discussion on kinds of music the students like so they can choose their favourite singers, etc. 5. Speaking This activity is in preparation for the following Writing activity. 6. Writing Option 1: Students write up their charts from the Speaking task in a Word document and these are copied and pasted by the teacher or wiki editors into the wiki. The students may like to add the words of their favourite song or a YouTube clip. (Please note: Some countries cannot access YouTube so please check with your partner teacher before using it to create content). Option 2: Ask students to do a class survey. You can use the questions from the Speaking section of this lesson and brainstorm more questions that could be asked, e.g. Who is your favourite female singer? What is your favourite band? Divide the students into pairs or small groups and give each group or pair a different question. The students must ask everyone (or nearly everyone) in the class their question. Use the Music survey worksheet on the next page. Students then write up their results. The results can then be typed and added to the wiki by the teacher or wiki editors.

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Music Survey
Excuse me, Im doing a survey on music Would it be OK if I Sure, no problem.

Write your question below. Then write the students names who you interviewed and their answers to your question.

Name

Question:

Reporting Results: The majority of the people in this class . . . Most people in this class . . . Quite a few people in this class . . . About half of the people in this class . . . Hardly any of the people in this class . . . Almost no one in this class . . . Write up your results in your notebook.
Adapted from: www.bogglesworldesl.com

Additional activities Extra resources/ lesson ideas related to music can be found on the Learnenglish site or at the links shown at the start of the teachers notes.

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Holidays
1. Vocabulary
Look at the mind map below. You have 2 minutes to write as many words as you can about holidays:

Sunbathing

Holidays

Hotel
2. Listening You are going to hear 5 people talking about their perfect holiday. Make notes below about what they say: Person1

Person 2

Person 3

Person 4

Person 5

3. Speaking Now think about your perfect holiday. Tell your group. Think about where you would go, when you would go, who you would go with and what you would do.

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4. Reading/ Speaking You are going to read a holiday story. Your teacher will give your group a card. You have to make a group decision about what to do. Here is some useful language you can use while making the decision. You can also add your own ideas.

Giving opinions I think we should . . . What about . . . Let's . . .

Agreeing I agree I think so too

Disagreeing That's a good idea but . . . I don't agree with . . .

Make sure that you all agree before you move on to the next card and say why. This way you get to speak more English. 5. Writing Look at the postcard below from Suzanne. Can you write a similar postcard about a holiday place in your country?

Hello Fatma, How are you? I am on holiday in Blackpool in the north-west of England with my family. We love Blackpool because it is a very fun place. Yesterday we went to the city centre. I went sat on the sand and ate an ice-cream and my brother rode a donkey along the beach. Then we ate fish and chips. In the afternoon we went on a double-decker bus. We had a tour of the city and saw the funfair. I think we will go there tomorrow. Today it is raining so we are going to the shopping centre. Love, Suzanne

Fatma Soyoz Bukukdere Cad. Istanbul Turkey

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Teachers notes NB Prepare pictures of holiday places in your country beforehand or get the students to find photos. 1. Vocabulary Divide the class into groups of 3 or 4. Then give out the papers and tell the students to keep them face down until you say. Explain that you want them to write down as many words/ expressions they can think of related to holidays in 2 minutes and the winning team is the one with the most correct words. Give them the examples: sunbathing and hotel. Then give them a countdown to turn the paper over and start. 2. Listening Ask the students to make notes about where the speaker wants to go, why and what they want to do. They may not get answers to all of these questions from all speakers. Elementary podcast, Series 1, Episode 9, Section 5 http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-09 Transcript
Tess: And that takes us into Your Turn the part of the show where we ask you what you think. I told you earlier that Im going away for the weekend, cycling. Thats a perfect holiday for me and thats what we asked people for Your Turn Whats your perfect holiday. Lets hear what they said. Speaker 1: Ooh what a lovely idea, I love holidays. The beach for me. Sitting in the sun, with a cold drink and doing absolutely nothing. That would be perfect. Bah, my next holiday seems ages away. Speaker 2: Hmm. I just get really bored sitting on a beach all day with all that sand getting everywhere. Id rather be in the countryside or just somewhere where there arent any crowds. The beach is always so crowded. Speaker 3: What I really like about a holiday is when I dont have any plan, yknow? I like travelling about and if I like somewhere I stay there for a few days and if I dont I just get on a train and go somewhere different. Thats what I really like when I dont have to worry about timetables and all that stuff. Speaker 4: I would really love to go on a cruise. Yknow? A holiday on a boat where you travel to different cities. My aunt and uncle went on one last year and said it was great. Everythings planned for you so you dont have to worry about anything at all. Lovely. Speaker 5: My perfect holiday would be a trip to China. Ive always wanted to go there. It just seems so fascinating so different, yknow. And thered be so much to see. Id love to tour the whole country but I guess that would take years. Tess: Ravi? Your perfect holiday? Ravi: I really want to go to Australia. A couple of my friends went there last year and said it was brilliant

3. Speaking Ask the students to think about their perfect holiday and without writing think about: Where they would go? Why? Who they would go with? What they would do? What they would eat? Then they will tell their group. Select a member from a few groups to tell you about one of the other students perfect holiday.

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4. Reading Holiday maze Adapted from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/holiday-maze by Emma Pathare Procedure Set the context for your students. The students are going on holiday together and want to have the best time possible. You can set the context by describing the situation, telling an anecdote, showing a picture or posing some discussion questions. I find that students love to talk about their experiences ask them about times they have been on holidays with friends. Get them to talk about problems they had and things they enjoyed. You might need to check some of the vocabulary used beforehand such as: Package holiday Gondola Canal Robbed Argue Tourist Information Office

When the context has been established, put the students in groups of 2 to 5. The activity can be run as a whole-class with you using one set of cards. The students ask you for the card they have chosen after each discussion. You can also run the activity as independent group work, with a set of cards for each group. The important thing is to encourage as much discussion as possible. Students listen to or read what is written on the first card. They must then discuss the different options and come to an agreement about what to do. They then read the next card until they reach a conclusion and find out if they had a successful holiday or not. It is absolutely vital that the students really discuss each option and its possible implications; if they dont, they will finish very quickly and will not have had the speaking practice that the activity is intended to provide. Your role: walk around and listen to the groups. If groups are not really discussing much, ask questions about their reasons for their decisions and prompt them to discuss more. Before you start the activity, think carefully about how to group the students. How can you best encourage speaking?

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Cut out cards

1
Its summer! You decide to go on holiday with some friends. Will you: travel as a small group? card 2 ask some more friends and go in a big group? card 3

2
One of you wants to bring his sister too. Do you: agree? card 4 say no? You dont want the group to get too big. card 5 decide to ask a few more friends and make a bigger group? card 3

3
There are too many of you everyone is arguing because they want to go to different places! Will you: divide into two small groups and go on different holidays? card 2 have a big meeting about the problem? card 4 decide to plan a holiday going to all of the different places that people want to go to? card 6

4
Everyone is happy now. Should you go to: Italy? card 7 India? card 8 Australia? card 9

5
Now nobody in the group is happy. Your holiday will be really bad if you dont change your decision. Go back to card 2.

6
You try but it is impossible you would have to be millionaires! Will you: go back to card 3? take a vote on where to go? card 9 ask the advice of someone you all trust? card 7

7
You are going to Italy! Do you: book a package holiday in an expensive resort by the sea? card 10 fly to Rome and book a hotel when you arrive? card 11 fly to Rome and then take trains around the country? card 12

8
You are going to India! Do you: book a package holiday by the sea in the beautiful southern state of Kerala? card 10 book a holiday through Adventure Holidays Company, which offers tours of sites such as the Taj Mahal? Card 13 fly to Delhi, go to the central train station and then travel by train all over the country, anywhere you want, very cheaply? card 12

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9
You are going to Australia! Do you: book a package holiday by the sea with scuba-diving and surfing? card 10 fly to Sydney and book a hotel when you arrive? card 14 book a holiday with Adventure Holidays Company, which has tours looking at the wildlife in the Australian outback? card 13

10
One of the friends in your group now tells you that they cant swim and hate the beach! There is no point in going on a beach holiday. Go back to your last card and choose again.

11
You fly to Rome and go to the city centre. The Tourist Information Office tells you that all the hotels in Rome are full. Do you: take the train to Venice which leaves very soon and hope to get a hotel there? card 15 wait and buy a cheap railcard which lets you travel everywhere in Italy by train? card 12 change your plans and take a cheap flight to Australia? card 14

12
You arrive at the central train station. Its late and you are all very tired. You find that there are no trains until the morning. Do you: sleep on the station platform? card 16 try and find a cheap hotel or hostel for the night? card 17

13
You go to the office to pay for your holiday. The man tells you can have your tickets the next day. When you return, Adventure Tours Company is not there you have lost your money! You just have enough money for a cheap holiday in Italy, flying to Rome on a cheap flight and then travelling around Italy by train from the central station. card 12

14
You fly to Sydney. In the airport there is a Tourist Information Office, where you book rooms in a hotel near the centre of the city. When you arrive at the hotel, you find that it is in what looks like a dangerous neighbourhood. Do you: check into the hotel anyway? card 18 try and find another hotel? card 17

15
You arrive late in the evening. A man talks to you at the station and says he has rooms in a palazzo; a palace! Do you: say yes? card 19 say no and try and find an Tourist Information Office? card 20 walk around the city until you find somewhere to stay? card 17

16
You find a park to sleep in. It is uncomfortable and cold, and you are worried that you might be robbed. A man wearing a suit comes to talk to you and asks you to go with him he says he has a nice surprise for you all. Do you: go with him? card 22 stay where you are until the morning? Card 23

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17
You walk and walk but dont find anywhere to stay. Your bag is heavy and you are all feeling very tired. Do you: go back and sleep at the station? card 16 return to the airport, go home and wait until next year? card 21

18
You check in to the hotel. The rooms are beautiful with beautiful views over the city. The hotel staff are all very friendly and helpful. You have a fantastic holiday; the holiday of a lifetime!

The end!

19
The man takes you to a bus. You drive through the beautiful city until you arrive at a gondola station. You all get into a big gondola and are taken to a wonderful hotel on a canal. The hotel used to be a palace. You have a holiday that you will never forget, in one of the worlds most beautiful cities!

20
The Tourist Information Office is closed. The name and address of a hotel is on the window. You are all tired. Do you: give up, return home and wait until next year? card 21 go to the hotel on the sticker? card 18

The end!

21
You return to the airport. You have to sleep in the airport for three nights before you can get a flight home. The flight is very expensive; there are only first class tickets. When you do get home, your luggage does not arrive it has been lost! Next year you will make some different decisions

22
The nice surprise turns out to be really bad. The man takes you to a dark street and suddenly you are surrounded by five men who take all your money, passports, watches and jewellery. Your holiday is at an end; you go to the police, phone your parents and you have to pay for the flight when you get home.

The end!

The end!

23
In the morning, you all have a meeting. Will you: go home now and save your money for next year? card 21 get on a bus outside the station and see where it takes you? card 24

24
When you get off the bus, you find that you are in the middle of a traditional festival. All the people are having great fun and are very welcoming. You are invited to stay for a free holiday; you accept and have an exciting time that you will never forget!

The end!

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5. Writing Option 1: Students think about a place they have visited and then create a postcard in a Word document. If possible ask students to include photos from their trip. They should refer to the model postcard for the kind of information they should include. The writing can be quite short for this. The teacher or wiki editor adds their postcards to the wiki. Option 2: Students create a photo album of their trips using photos with descriptions included. Students can use PowerPoint for this and the teacher or wiki editors upload the presentations.

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Sports and activities

1. Vocabulary

Look at the sports below. Can you decide which category they go into? cricket golf snow-boarding Table-tennis kayaking rugby rock-climbing tennis bungee-jumping motor-racing football

ski-mountaineering baseball

motocross

volleyball

windsurfing

Traditional sports

Extreme sports

2. Speaking Which of the sports above have you tried? Which would you like to try? Do you know anyone that does extreme sports?

3. Reading/ listening Your teacher will give you some clues about sports. Take turns to read the clues can you guess the sports?

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4. Listening In Your Turn you will hear 5 people answer this question: Why dont more people watch womens football? Before you listen, what do you think? Now listen and make notes about what they say. The first one has been done for you. Speaker 1

Doesnt like football and thinks men like to watch men play.

Speaker 2

Speaker 3

Speaker 4

Speaker 5

5. Reading Read the descriptions of sporting customs in the UK. Some of the customs or rules might seem strange but they have been practised for hundreds of years. When you have finished reading answer the questions below: 1. Which sport is practised throughout the UK? 2. Which sport is not usually played by men? 3. Which sport has an incredible number of players? 4. Which sport is the most dangerous? 5. Which sport requires the most physical strength? 6. Which sports involve throwing something?

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UK Sporting Customs Forty-one days before Easter Sunday is a special day for Christians. All over England people used to celebrate this period before Easter by using up all their milk, flour and eggs. They made pancakes with the ingredients and then held pancake races in the streets. Each town has its own rules for the pancake races. The oldest and most famous is held in Olney in Buckinghamshire. The players must be women over the age of 16 and they wear a hat and an apron. They must run for nearly 400 metres with a frying pan with a pancake in it. They must throw the pancake in the air (toss it) at least 3 times during the race. The first woman to the finish line with a pancake in her pan is the winner. It is a great skill to toss a pancake and run at the same time. The Highland Games is a Championship which began in the middle of the 19th century in the Scottish Highlands. The Games are held in September. One of the most popular sports is 'tossing the caber'. Tossing means throwing. Players have to throw a long and extremely heavy wooden pole, like a tree trunk (caber). The average caber weighs 68 kilos and is usually about 6 metres long. The heaviest caber in the history of caber tossing weighed 127 kilos! The player who throws his wooden caber the furthest is not necessarily the winner. The style of throwing is more important than the distance. Players are usually very big and strong! A two day football match held in Ashbourne in the Midlands every spring. The Ashbourne street football game is one of many street football matches played out all over the UK. The town is divided into two teams, depending on where you live. There can be hundreds of players in each team and the two goal posts are nearly five kilometres apart. The ball is not kicked but 'hugged' close to the chest. All locals, young and old, enjoy this very lively and sometimes violent game. The match ends with a few broken arms or injuries but the locals say it is all so much fun. They have been playing this game every year for more than two hundred years. It is a bit difficult to get the ball from one end of town to the other and this year they played until 10 in the evening. Unfortunately, nobody was able to score a goal. 6. Writing Work in small groups. Can you think of some sports that are practised in your country? Once you have some ideas write a short description of the sport below

________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________

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Teachers notes Lesson plan adapted from: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essentialuk/sporting-traditions by Clare Laverly 1. Vocabulary Traditional sports cricket rugby tennis golf Table-tennis football baseball volleyball Extreme sports snow-boarding rock-climbing motor-racing ski-mountaineering (climb up then ski down) bungee-jumping motocross (motor racing off-road) kayaking windsurfing

2. Speaking Get the students to discuss in pairs and then get feedback. 3. Reading/ listening Cut up the following descriptions. The students can work in small groups or pairs to read and guess the sport. This game was started in Scotland and the rules were decided by a Scottish club set up in 1877. Now there are over 2,000 places where you can play this sport in the UK. You have to hit a small ball into a hole. The Association which decides the rules of this game was founded in 1863. There are eleven players on each team and a game lasts ninety minutes. The team has to try and get their ball in to the net of the opposing team to score a goal. The team with the most goals wins. This game has been played since the 1500s and is known as the English National Game. Many countries that were once part of the British Empire still play this game from India to Australia. Two teams dressed in white use a batsman who must hit a very small, very hard ball. The opposing team throws the ball and must try to hit a wicket behind the batsman. This game originated in an English Public school of the same name. The ball used in this game is not round in shape. There are 15 players on each side. The Welsh are very keen players of this sport. New Zealand, Australia and South Africa have good teams. You can play this on a grass or on a hard court. One of the most famous competitions is held every year at Wimbledon in London. The first Championship was played at Wimbledon in 1877 but it is an English sport that has been played in various forms for centuries. The players use a racket to hit a small ball over a net and the opposing player must hit the ball back with his racket.

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Answers Sport 1 golf; Sport 2 Football; Sport 3 Cricket; Sport 4 - Rugby; Sport 5 - Tennis 4. Listening Elementary podcast, Series 1, Episode 3, Section 5: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/elementary-podcasts/series-01-episode-03
Transcript Tess: Now its time for Your turn. In this part of the show, we go outside to find out what people think. And today were going to stay on the subject of football. Weve just heard about the World Cup in 2010, but how many people know about another World Cup in 2007? - the womens world cup. Do you watch womens football? Or maybe play it? Do you like it? Is it better than mens football? Why dont more people watch or play womens football? Why is mens football so much more popular than womens football? So heres the question for today Why dont more people watch womens football? Ravi: Good question Tess. Why dont more people watch womens football? Lets listen to the answers. Voice 1: Well, I dont watch womens football because I dont like football, and thats that. All the football fans I know are men so of course they like to watch men play. Theyd only want to watch women if they were, you know, attractive - wearing little tight T-shirts and very small shorts thats most mens attitude. I cant understand ridiculous game dont they have anything better to do with their time? Voice 2: I think its just traditional in a lot of countries that football is a mans game. I used to play football we call it soccer - at home in the States actually. Its really big there - girls and boys play together at school. There are about 7 million women who play regularly in the States. I think its because your football is quite new as a sport in the States so we dont really see it as a mans game we dont have the same tradition. Its a game for everybody. Voice 3: I love watching womens football. I play at school, lots of girls do. My mum says Im football crazy. Im in the school team and I want to play professionally one day. Girls play better than boys they dont lie down on the ground and cry and pretend theyre hurt and they dont argue with the referee all the time. And they arent violent, they dont try to hurt each other. Voice 4: People dont watch it because they dont know about it. Lots of girls and women play football nowadays the problem is getting people to pay to watch it. We need to take womens football more seriously, we need advertising and companies to sponsor games and teams, we need a proper professional womens league with good pay and conditions, we need to see more games on television, then people might be more interested. Voice 5: People dont watch it because it isnt very good its as simple as that. Ive watched some womens football, and to be honest, they dont play very well. Theyre slower than men - they arent as good technically, the games are boring. Mens football is good to watch, womens isnt. Maybe that ll change in the future, but at the moment, well, I certainly dont want to watch it. Tess: Interesting. What do you think Ravi? Ravi: Well, to be honest, Ive never watched a womens football game, but now I think I will just to see what its like. Tess: Me too. I agree. And what about you? Do you have an opinion about this question? Wed love to know what you think. Why dont more people watch womens football? Or do you have an idea for a different question that we could ask on Your Turn. Send us an email at learnenglishpodcast@britishcouncil.org - and we can ask your question.

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5. Reading 1. Which sport is practised throughout the UK? (Street football) 2. Which sport is not usually played by men? (Pancake racing) 3. Which sport has an incredible number of players? (Ashbourne football) 4. Which sport is the most dangerous? (Ashbourne football) 5. Which sport requires the most physical strength? (Tossing the caber) 6. Which sports involve throwing something? (Pancake races and tossing the caber) 6. Writing Brainstorm some ideas together and find pictures if possible that the students can put on their wiki (or ask the students to prepare these beforehand). Try to encourage the children to write about strange or traditional sports that are played in your country. Make sure that they write the title of the sport and their names at the top. The final writing and pictures (if available) will be added to the wiki.

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Farewell
Teachers notes Writing and Speaking 1. Give the students an outline of a map of your partner country. You can print outline maps from this website: http://geography.about.com/library/blank/blxindex.htm#t 2. Ask students to write any information they remember learning about their partner class on the map. Ask students to compare the information they have written in their maps with their partners. 3. Ask students to think of what the similarities and differences are between your class and the class in the other country. The students can write their ideas on post-its notes or have a whole-class discussion. Parting gift Tell your class that you are going to make a gift to say goodbye to the class you have been partnering with. You or your class can choose what you would like to create. Here are some ideas: 1. Prepare a PowerPoint with some of the great things the class has learned throughout the project. 2. Create a Word Cloud (www.wordle.net) with the words the students thought of when they brainstormed ideas on the country outline above. 3. Write a poem about the project and what you have learned. 4. Create a Voki to say goodbye. See teachingEnglish lesson for more information: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/creating-vokis-%E2%80%93-online-animatedcharacters-speak 5. Record a message or sing an English song. http://www.vocaroo.com/ 6. Create a wall wisher and ask all students to write a short message to their partner class. http://www.wallwisher.com/ 7. Create a video with a computer and webcam. http://www.bubblejoy.com/create.php Note: You may add a Farewell page on the wiki by clicking New page on the top left corner of the Home page and add any content for this lesson there.

Farewell!!!

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