Our last lesson was the cheating lesson then we had a break for a couple of weeks due to the midterm exams. During the transport lesson one of the students mentioned how he 'needed' a car, in fact, he 'needed' two cars, maybe even three. This information surprised another student from a different country. The exchange between the two students got me thinking about necessities and what our students value, and do different cultures value the same things? The class was for two hours with international students studying a variety of different majors at a Korean university. All the students have an IELTS score of 5.5 or above. I will continue to use Bloom's as a guide for my activities. I have 50 students spread over three classes.
For this lesson on necessities, I modified, or some would more accurately say, stole ideas from a National Geographic textbook. The class started with some warm-up questions.
Class 101.
The questions focused on prized possessions. Students gave several answers to the questions, including their smartphones and computer. As the conversation developed, some students mentioned their family and friends and their importance to them.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Knowledge.
Key Skills Developed: Identifying, Naming & Retrieving.
The National Geographic textbook uses Ted Talks as a basis for their chapters. The Ted Talk for this chapter is "Less stuff, more happiness" by Graham Hill. Before the talk was viewed, students discussed the questions with their partners. Question one needed me to elicit some responses from the students, but questions two and three were relatively easy for the students to understand and discuss. Many of the students felt that possessions do make us happier. I prodded the students on this point, and they began thinking about excess - would one house make you happy? What about two houses? How about 100 houses? Would they make you 100 times happier?
The students then watched the Ted Talk. After the video, we discussed the new vocabulary. I sometimes forget these lessons are meant to be EAL lessons, which means I don't always include activities that focus on language skills. Thankfully, the textbooks used for this lesson did remember to include activities to improve the students' language skills, and we moved on to the listening skills section.
The listening section turned out to be far too long. It is quite boring for the students to watch the video three times. Sections three, four and five on page two could be set as homework.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Comprehension.
Key Skills Developed: Interpreting, Paraphrasing & Summarising.
The second part of the lesson focused on the differences between necessities and luxuries. The chart on page three shows the percentage of people who feel each item is necessary. The items are cars, clothes dryers, home air conditioner units, microwaves, and home computers. I spent about 20 minutes on the chart. I asked the students to describe the information and whether people thought the items were a necessity or not. The questions on the worksheet delve deeper into a student's thinking, and it is important to encourage the students to think about why three of the products stopped being necessities in 2005.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Analysis.
Key Skills Developed: Attributing, Organising & Outlining.
Having discussed why items become necessities and then why they become luxuries, I asked the students to list three luxuries and three necessities in their lives. They had to give reasons for their answers. Students then shared their answers with the class by getting up and writing the items on the board. We then had a discussion about the items. Since this was the first class, the timing was not well managed, and therefore we didn't have enough time to complete the activities. I intend to spend less time on the listening section for the next class, which should allow me to complete the critical thinking evaluation activities on page five.
Class 102.
In the first class (Class 101), we ran out of time because I am a terrible teacher, and I was letting the students speak and share ideas. I was hoping that in the lesson with my second class (Class 102), I would be able to finish the worksheet and the evaluation skills, but yet again, I let the students speak, bad teacher! Oh well, let's see how Class 103 perform.
Class 103.
At last! I managed the class time effectively, and we completed the worksheet.
Critical Thinking Skills: Evaluation
Key Skills Developed: Organising, Outlining, & Structuring
The students worked individually and created a list of human necessities. They then formed smaller groups and had to decide which of their necessities they think are the seven most important. The students then presented their findings to the class, and we had a brief discussion about their necessities.
This was a very interesting lesson. I think it is good to have students think about necessities and luxuries, and this lesson ties in very nicely with next week's class on finance.
For this lesson on necessities, I modified, or some would more accurately say, stole ideas from a National Geographic textbook. The class started with some warm-up questions.
Class 101.
The questions focused on prized possessions. Students gave several answers to the questions, including their smartphones and computer. As the conversation developed, some students mentioned their family and friends and their importance to them.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Knowledge.
Key Skills Developed: Identifying, Naming & Retrieving.
The National Geographic textbook uses Ted Talks as a basis for their chapters. The Ted Talk for this chapter is "Less stuff, more happiness" by Graham Hill. Before the talk was viewed, students discussed the questions with their partners. Question one needed me to elicit some responses from the students, but questions two and three were relatively easy for the students to understand and discuss. Many of the students felt that possessions do make us happier. I prodded the students on this point, and they began thinking about excess - would one house make you happy? What about two houses? How about 100 houses? Would they make you 100 times happier?
The students then watched the Ted Talk. After the video, we discussed the new vocabulary. I sometimes forget these lessons are meant to be EAL lessons, which means I don't always include activities that focus on language skills. Thankfully, the textbooks used for this lesson did remember to include activities to improve the students' language skills, and we moved on to the listening skills section.
The listening section turned out to be far too long. It is quite boring for the students to watch the video three times. Sections three, four and five on page two could be set as homework.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Comprehension.
Key Skills Developed: Interpreting, Paraphrasing & Summarising.
The second part of the lesson focused on the differences between necessities and luxuries. The chart on page three shows the percentage of people who feel each item is necessary. The items are cars, clothes dryers, home air conditioner units, microwaves, and home computers. I spent about 20 minutes on the chart. I asked the students to describe the information and whether people thought the items were a necessity or not. The questions on the worksheet delve deeper into a student's thinking, and it is important to encourage the students to think about why three of the products stopped being necessities in 2005.
Critical Thinkings Skills: Analysis.
Key Skills Developed: Attributing, Organising & Outlining.
Having discussed why items become necessities and then why they become luxuries, I asked the students to list three luxuries and three necessities in their lives. They had to give reasons for their answers. Students then shared their answers with the class by getting up and writing the items on the board. We then had a discussion about the items. Since this was the first class, the timing was not well managed, and therefore we didn't have enough time to complete the activities. I intend to spend less time on the listening section for the next class, which should allow me to complete the critical thinking evaluation activities on page five.
Class 102.
In the first class (Class 101), we ran out of time because I am a terrible teacher, and I was letting the students speak and share ideas. I was hoping that in the lesson with my second class (Class 102), I would be able to finish the worksheet and the evaluation skills, but yet again, I let the students speak, bad teacher! Oh well, let's see how Class 103 perform.
Class 103.
At last! I managed the class time effectively, and we completed the worksheet.
Critical Thinking Skills: Evaluation
Key Skills Developed: Organising, Outlining, & Structuring
The students worked individually and created a list of human necessities. They then formed smaller groups and had to decide which of their necessities they think are the seven most important. The students then presented their findings to the class, and we had a brief discussion about their necessities.
This was a very interesting lesson. I think it is good to have students think about necessities and luxuries, and this lesson ties in very nicely with next week's class on finance.
As always if you need the worksheet just send me an email.
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