Docus: Story of Stuff

Exploitation 1 – November: Listening/Note-taking (aural/writing)

In November we watched the 20-minute documentary Story of Stuff a couple of times, in two different sessions. Students were required to practice note-taking of ideas and useful language (UL) and then to practice/practise re-telling in small groups. (Here’s a November post on this, a recap.)

I also recorded more info and asked students to practice reading aloud. New Podcast Episode for You All

Exploitation 2 – December: Oral Summary (oral/aural)

I asked students to practice making an oral summary mostly, in the exam format time limit: about 4 minutes. I got German’s and Lucía’s by email and sent them feedback so they could improve it. In class, sts are welcome to do this presentation over this short month of December.

If they don’t manage it, they should not worry: we’ll keep at it in the following way…

Exploitation 3 – January: Adapting Info to Develop Different Topics, or Exploitation 2 (oral/aural; writing)

Considering the broad range of topics the language and ideas in this documentary can be applied to, I’m asking sts to develop the following individual project:

Imagine a speaking task or several that could benefit from your work on this documentary: economy, consumerism, environmental issues like protecting the planet, waste and toxic waste, democracy, consumer rights, labo(u)r rights, poverty, human rights, environmental rights, gender and the environment/ employment/ consumerism… Create one or a few outlines and watch the documentary a few times — the more times you watch the more your brain will pick up chunks of language!

When you are clearer about topics or points you want to mention in your OP, start taking notes and working on an outline, to guide your speaking practice later on. Remember: don’t write it down as a narrative! That would be a writing exercise (and you can do this later on, by taking your recording down as a dictation), not practicing/practising speaking at home!

Pay attention to structure and your English.

Listen and read the handout I gave you again, if it’s helpful to improve your reading aloud skills, your pronunciation and intonation, your English at large — what we can do to help.

Brush up your outline and presentation. Keep practicing. When you think it’s good, do it in class for feedback or send it to me with the subject line: C1 OP – SoS, or something as clear about the topic as that! Thanks! ❤

This should be your key project over the winter holidays supposing you don’t have any spare time for your English. But I do hope you have more time for your English, of course! 😉 ❤

I hope everybody can give a 4-minute presentation on any topic they worked on!

Post your questions and suggestions, please!

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