Learning English through Popular Culture

1. Learning English through Popular Culture NSS Network Informal Gathering June 25th 2010

2. Promote sharing of • experiences • ideas • resources

3. NSS Network E-grouphttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/NSSnetwork/ handout

4. Getting to know one another • Tell your group members: • Your name • Your school • Levels and no. of classes you’re teaching

5. Warm-up activity • Follow the instructions to play the game. • Listen carefully! • Slap/escape when you hear the word “module(s)”

6. School sharing: GCC&ITKD Lau Pak Lok Sec School Ms Au Yong Tan Fung Ms Luk Wing Yan Ms Ma Ho Yan Ms Lai Wing Yee

7. Teachers: • Experienced in teaching LA • Developing expertise in • designing materials • Planning group set up Background School background • Students: • Average ability • Weaker in this year’s S4

8. School-based module on popular culture Rationale • Variety of text types • Interesting topics for students • Can include SBA tasks • Not much ready-made material available

9. Arrangement for teaching the electives

10. Extra-curricular programme Module overview

11. Activities Objectives Defining popular culture • Categorising pictures • Class survey • Report and definition • Defining popular culture • Asking questions • Reporting Introducing heroes and villains • Categorising famous people • Reading about comic book heroes • Creating a superhero • Supporting decisions • Vocabulary related to superheroes • Describing appearance and character

12. Categorising pictures Report and definition

13. Activities Objectives Superhero movie review and discussion • Commenting on characters in a movie • Evaluating a student discussion • Writing a review • Comparing two movies • Describing character, justifying opinions • Discussion skills and language • Vocabulary for giving opinions of a movie

14. Plot summary, setting and characters Vocabulary work on the plot summary Comparing the characters of Peter and Harry Discussion questions Writing a letter to Mary Jane Discussion • Which is the most important event in the story? • Who is a better boyfriend for MJ – Peter or Harry? • What kind of superpowers would you like to have? Work on “Spiderman”

15. reading and writing a review SBA task watching a student interaction assessment rubric http://www.hkedcity.net/article/project_sba_eng_present/ep4/

16. Activities Objectives Real life heroes and villains • Watching an interview with a famous person • Reading a biographical article • Writing a biographical article • Giving a presentation • Listening and reading skills • Language features of a biographical article • Presentation skills Advertising and movie trailers • Reading about advertising techniques • Analysing a movie trailer • Writing a voice-over • Reading and listening skills • Speaking

17. preparing presentation sample presentation biography

18. movie trailers adverts

19. Activities Objectives Final task – writing a scene from a movie • Learning features of a screenplay • Watching and evaluating a student movie • Writing a scene from a movie in the format of a screenplay • Recording the scene (optional) • Dialogue writing • Understanding assessment criteria

20. assessment rubric students’ work With thanks to staff and students at NLSI Lui Kwok Pat Fong College The Metalmen sample screenplay School Hero

21. Assessment – Portfolio Contents

22. Letter to Mary Jane Do you remember that Harry’s father said bad things about you. Harry didn’t speak up for you. That shows that he was cowardly and weak. A good boyfriend shouldn’t do it

23. Extract from movie review

24. Assessment The marks for the portfolio relate to students term marks for English: • Two pieces of writing (Letter to Mary Jane and a movie review) • Movie Clip • SBA (Group Discussion) Examination • Writing Paper Write one long essay in about 400 words

25. Teachers Watching the sample group discussion is particularly useful Students learn many useful phrases and expressions from the movie reviews Too much focus on movies, may include issues like social networking Students need more help in writing a persuasive letter and a voice-over Students Love to make a movie clip Find the topics interesting Particularly interested in analyzing the technical aspects e.g. camera angles Advertising skills like use of humor can attract students’ attention Writing a voice-over for a movie trailer is too difficult for them Responses from students and teachers

26. Improvements for the future • Provide a wider variety of text types and media for students to study (eg social networking media, etc) • Need to introduce new elements each time – after all, this is popular culture…… • Include an exam-type writing task at the end of the module

27. Thank you!Any questions? http://cd1.edb.hkedcity.net/cd/languagesupport/resource/english/88S/index.htm For downloading worksheets etc:

28. Sharing resources Refer to the form and material you brought with you Check out the recommend-ations on the NSS Network E-group! Share your texts with the group

29. Useful websites (from e-group)

30. Thank you! Please don’t forget the evaluation form