Week Three
Podcast lesson: The Talented but Tragic Life of Michael Jackson Source: Download MP3 http://www.voanews.com/mediaassets/specialenglish/2009_06/audio/Mp3/se-itn-michael-jackson-27jun09-cq_0.Mp3
Read the Web Page http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2009-06-26-voa9.cfm?renderforprint=1
Background: For summer school this year the students are spending time each day discussing current events. One current event having a huge impact on my students is the death of pop star Michael Jackson. They have brought up many questions and seem to know who he is regardless of their native country or native language; as it is a common issue for all of my students I felt this would be a great lesson to use during my time with them.
Time of lesson: 30 minutes.
Directions: Today we are going to learn new vocabulary words having to do with health. Click on the website I have on your desktop titled ‘Michael Jackson.’ We are going to read the page and underline the four vocabulary words: autopsy, death, painkillers, and invincible. After you underline the words, go back and reread the page. Open a new document and type in each word. After each word, type in your guess of the meaning of the word. Remember how to use the context clues we have talked about before to try to figure out the meaning. Because we are using a podcast, we can listen to it by clicking on the desktop icon ‘Michael Jackson music.’ This way, you can hear it and you can read it. After you are done typing out your guesses, you may print out your work. Tomorrow we will review the guesses and the real meanings to compare how we did using our context clues.
Review/Analysis
1.The podcast (and webpage) meets the needs of the instructional purpose because it allows the students three forms of modalities: listening, reading, and writing. It also relates to a topic they are genuinely interested in at this time.
2. The motivation for this topic is high as they all know in some facet who Michael Jackson is; also, it is a real event and this fits in to our current events curriculum.
3. The information the students need will be on their desktop so this alleviates the stress for them to find the same information and will take much less time to search.
4. Potential problems for this lesson are: technological glitches-in using a podcast you need to have an adequate media system in place. If speakers aren’t working or the internet is down, it will cause problems. One way to be prepared is to have the dictated version (the webpage as listed above) saved as a document on my computer so I can open and we can read it together on the projector. Also, I can download the podcast onto an MP3 or another device and play it for the students out loud. The group of students is intermediate/beginners so some vocabulary may be difficult for them. I will have to be prepared to offer individual support for questions that may arise during the activity. A second challenge could be their typing skills; if these are very low the allotted time may not be sufficient.
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I think your lesson is great. It is a perfect current event that promotes discussion among the students.
ReplyDeleteFor a follow up activity you could also ask them to write a paragraph using the new words and then share it with a classmate. This way, they have another opportunity to practice those words.
I love the way you are able to embed links to two different types of media! I tried to embed a podcast in my lesson for this week, but got some funky error messages and had to abort.
ReplyDeleteI also like the subject of your lesson - helping students understand a major story tied into current events.
One aspect of this that might be approached from another perspective (you mentioned in your directions that this lesson was going to introduce vocabulary associated with health." I think it's ok to discuss with students, and migth be emotionally helpful, to categorize the new vocabulary you listed as words associated with death.
I know this can be a difficult topic, but talking abuot it in a more "clincial" classroom setting may help students undersand the topic of your lesson better.
What an interesting Podcast topic!
ReplyDelete1.For young people this will be a great lesson experience. Taking advantage of a current iconic celebrity figure news to teach vocabulary items is a wonderful idea. Lesson learned from such current media news are hardly forgotten
2. I like what you say about the lesson topic's appropriateness - i.e. reinforcing and making practical "three forms of modalities: listening, reading, and writing."
3. I had trouble with the way you ended the lesson saying, "After you are done typing out your guesses, you may print out your work. Tomorrow we will review the guesses and the real meanings to compare how we did using our context clues." Shouldn't every lesson have its completeness?