SPEAK LANGUAGES & TRAVEL THE WORLD
  • HOME
    • Samples of FAST FLUENCY TRAINER
  • IMPROVE with SUSAN
    • ABOUT
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • How Being Bilingual Led Me To Teaching
    • PUBLICATIONS by Susan Brodar
  • English SPEAKING COURSES
  • BLOG
  • TRANSLATIONS & INTERPRETING
  • TRAVELLER's TALES
    • A WEARY TRAVELLER's TALES
    • TRAVELLING the world for sports: INLINE SPEED SKATING
  • CONTACT

IMAGINING NATURE – a curiously engaging writing and speaking activity

7/5/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
F. 13 years old
A couple of days ago I came across a teacher’s blog* suggesting we should watch some 2 minute videos on nature by Conservation International and then ask the students to develop similar short speeches to present to the class.
 
I tried this activity out in two different versions and was amazed by the results!
 
These spectacular videos of nature are commented by actors impersonating an aspect of nature:  Mother Nature, the Sky, the Ocean, the Mountain, Water, Ice and many more…
 
In the first activity I asked some tired adults at the end of their late evening’s two-hour conversation lesson to watch the video on Mother Nature with subtitles in English.   I then gave them 3 minutes to discuss in two teams what they were going to say impersonating Water in one group and the Sky in the other.  They had to speak for between 30 seconds and a minute since it was late and the lesson was drawing to a close.  One representative from each team made interesting and detailed descriptions of their characteristics as elements of nature filling the minute easily.  Despite the late hour their speeches were very complete and they really enjoyed the brief activity.
Picture
A & S. 9 years old
The second activity involved showing youngsters aged between 9 and 13 the same videos and having them repeat each sentence after the actor (stopping the video) and reading the subtitles.  I then asked them to imagine they were an element of nature and to write it up.  We subsequently recorded them reading it as well.  The written work which resulted was pretty amazing for their age and they were truly interested in the work they were doing – not such an easy feat for this age group. 
 
I therefore recommend this activity and would be curious to hear other experiences on the subject.  The videos belong to the series:  Nature is speaking.
 
(*if only I could remember whose)
 
I hope you like this suggestion.
Susan
​
Picture
G & M. 13 years old
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Acting
    Adults
    Advanced
    Birthday
    Children
    Christmas
    Describing
    Elementary
    Game
    Grammar Revision
    HEARTELT.ORG
    IATEFL
    Intermediate
    Listening
    Listening Comprehension
    Modals
    Passive Tense
    Past Simple
    Prepositions
    Present Continuous
    Present Perfect
    Present Simple
    Pronouns
    Pronunciation
    Reading
    Reflections
    REVIEW
    Scanning & Skimming
    Senses
    Songs
    Speaking
    Strategies
    Teens
    Toddlers
    Writing


    Picture
    Would you like regular English learning & teaching ideas?  Subscribe to my blog so you don't miss a post!
    * indicates required

    Author

    My name is Susan Brodar, born in London into a multilingual family and brought up bilingual English / Italian.

    I went to school in London until 15 when we moved to Germany where I finished my British education at Munich International School. I started teaching Italian at evening classes aged only 17 and studied Mass Communications and Journalism at Munich University.

    I continued teaching parallel to interpreting at trade fairs and business meetings as well doing translations. After working at the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade for a year I married my Italian globetrotting companion in 1983 and we set up our home near Venice, Italy where we continue to live with our two teenaged children.

    Having taken my British High School-leaving ‘A’ Level exams in English, Italian, French & German I am completely fluent in all four languages and am taking a DELE certification in Spanish to complement them.

    ENGLISH (native)
    ITALIAN (native)
    GERMAN (C2)
    FRENCH (C2)
    SPANISH (B2)

    Archives

    December 2018
    October 2018
    July 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    tutors directory

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Immagine
    Connecting Online Conference (CO16) PRESENTER
    Picture
Picture
Picture
  • HOME
    • Samples of FAST FLUENCY TRAINER
  • IMPROVE with SUSAN
    • ABOUT
    • TESTIMONIALS
    • How Being Bilingual Led Me To Teaching
    • PUBLICATIONS by Susan Brodar
  • English SPEAKING COURSES
  • BLOG
  • TRANSLATIONS & INTERPRETING
  • TRAVELLER's TALES
    • A WEARY TRAVELLER's TALES
    • TRAVELLING the world for sports: INLINE SPEED SKATING
  • CONTACT