Colton Harris - Moore: A lesson plan

This lesson plan is based on an article I first saw in Time about Washington state's answer to Jessie James.

Lesson Plan

This is aimed at intermediate or post intermediate students and could be used as a warm up on lessons concerned with crime or could be used as part of a lesson on discursive essay writing skills.

1 Show this photograph to your class. What crime to you think this person has committed?


2 Now students read the first paragraph of the Time article on Harris - Moore.

"Visitors hoping to catch a glimpse of the bald eagles on Camano Island in Washington State's Puget Sound are more likely to see a different bird in the sky: a police chopper skimming the cedar forests in search of an outlaw. Colton Harris-Moore, a gangly 18-year-old with furtive eyes and a dimpled chin, has been on police blotters since he was accused of stealing a bike at the age of 8. Since then, he is suspected of having committed nearly 100 burglaries in Washington, Idaho and Canada. Police allege that he graduated from bikes to cars, then to speedboats. Lately, he is suspected of stealing three small aircraft — all the more impressive given that he has never taken a single flying lesson."

3 Now divide the students into two groups.

The first group imagine they are a reporter who has been given the chance to interview Coltan. Now think of questions to ask using;

Who
What
Where
When
Which
Why
How

The second group reads the article taking notes as they will not be able to see it again. Alternatively, you could ask students to take notes from this video.



4 Pair of students from each group with the "reporters" interviewing the "Coltons". Remind both sides that they are free to improvise. This could be in the form of written answers or could be recorded as video using students mobile/cell phones.

5 Follow up ideas include essays

Decide on a suitable punishment for Colton if he were caught?

Is Colton a hero?

Would you want to be like him?

Remember, remember 5th November - EFL/ESL plan

I know it's a little late but I thought I'd post this anyway. It's aimed at advanced and upper - intermediate students.

1 - Write out this short poem on the board;

"Remember, remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason, why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot."

2 - Explain any words such as gunpowder, plot and treason then ask them in groups to speculate on the meaning. Click here for more background on the Gunpowder plot.

3 - Each groups writes up their opinion in just one sentence and puts in on the board.

4 - Students then use Youtube to find out what happened. Alternatively, you set this for homework.

5 - In order to avoid students simply copying and pasting from Wiki each group has to present the events in just 60 seconds without the aid of notes. Another idea is that the present a 2 minute slide show.

6 - When you feel that the students have understood the facts behind the Gunpowder Plot then tell them that they are going to pretend that they are journalists who are reporting the event as if it was happening now. To hep understand the idea direct them to the BBC's On This Day web page where historical events are reported as if they were breaking news.

7 - The easiest way to do this is find a similar news story from recent times and change the details in order to make it fit in the Guy Fawkes story.

8 - The students then produce a version that can be filmed. The students form groups in order to decide how to shot the story as a straight to camera news piece. Show them some examples from CNN and Reuters. They can use the video camera, mobile/cell phones, web cameras or digital cameras for this. The footage can be edited with Window Movie Maker or iMovie.

Alternatively, they can download footage from Youtube (Real Player will let you do that) and do the report as a voiceover. On a technical note videos from Youtube are .flv files whch cannot be used in Movie Maker, however Real Player does allow you to convert .flv to .wmv which are compatible.

I'm currently doing this with students though from a slightly different starting point. Instead of Guy Fawkes they choose a place and time in history they'd like to visit and report on that instead.

I'm a Mac, I'm a PC - Some EFL/ESL teaching ideas

Over the last few days I've been watching the series of ads Apple has put out to show the difference between Macs and PC's running Windows. The clips are short, witty and visually straight forward which got me thinking abut how I could use them in lessons.



One idea would be to compare the ads from US and UK and ask students what would need to be changed to make the spots more suitable for their own countries.

Another idea which I am currently trying out is students making their own videos using the same format but instead of talking about other pairs such football teams, sports, fashion brands etc. The format, however, would be the same i.e. 30 second clip using two people against a neutral background. Video cameras, digital cameras, mobile phones or webcams could all be used to create this. The editing could be done with Windows Movie Maker which comes as standard with every copies of Windows.

The benefits of doing this include students trying to write a script which sounds like natural spoken English, practicing speaking skills and getting instant feedback on their performance. And it's fun, by the way.