A few months ago, I collaborated with James and Luke Vyner from Creative Listening. We produced a short video in which I go into the streets of London to investigate an English word which may or may not exist!
The video explores attitudes to variation in English, especially concerning different ways in which native and non-native speakers use the language. Although the video focuses on a single word (touristic) the idea is that it raises general issues.
Of course, there are many differences in the ways that native speakers use language and I have made two videos to demonstrate this.
Before uploading a PDF lesson plan, I would like some feedback. How would you make use of these videos in your own classroom? What questions would you ask students and what tasks would you set? You can leave a comment below.
I think the videos are great!. I do a lot of things with them. I show the very first minute or so and then ask my students to predict what is going to happen or what you are going to say or to do; I make them listen to the wole video and afterwards they have to tell me in their own words what they have understood, I make them write what they have seen (activity which reveals a lot about my students manipulation of grammar), I ask my students to imagine how they would make a short video with the same objective. I ask my students even to describe your clothes so as to revise that vocabulary. I love your videos because I have a lot of speaking and written activities to create with them. Thank you very much!!!
The Reading / Listening - United Airlines - Level 3
An American airline is in trouble for the way it treated one of its passengers. A passenger on a United Airlines flight was dragged out of his seat and pulled out of the aircraft along the floor of the airplane. The passenger, David Dao, was a 69-year-old doctor. Dr Dao became unconscious after security guards pulled him out of his seat. His face was covered in blood. He lost two front teeth and the security guards also broke his nose. The doctor paid for his seat but United Airlines ordered him to get off the plane because they wanted his seat for a flight attendant to sit down. The doctor explained he had to work the next day because he had many patients to see at his hospital. United staff didn't listen to him.
Dr Dao is going to sue United Airlines for damages. Dao was born in Vietnam and escaped from the Vietnam War in 1975. His lawyer said being dragged off the United Airlines flight was a "more horrifying" experience than living through that war. Dr Dao's daughter said: "What happened to my dad should have never happened to any human being….We were horrified and shocked and sickened to…see what happened to him." A video of Dr Dao being dragged off the flight went viral on social media. Over 150,000 people have signed an online petition asking the United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz to resign. He said he would not resign. He also initially did not apologize and said Dr Dao was at fault for his injuries.
A video of Dr Dao being dragged off the United Airlines flight. WARNING: The video contains shocking scenes.
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice, drag and drop activities, crosswords, hangman, flash cards, matching activities and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)
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