Class Level: High-Intermediate

Class Type: Speaking

Topic: Privacy and the Digital World

Activity 1: The Wheel of Digitality!

  • For this activity, students can remain in their seats (class is usually formed in a semi-circle facing the front whiteboard). Each student will take turns reading aloud a random question about the internet and internet safety, before answering the question themselves. Questions will be drawn using a wheel choice generator.
    • Looking back, I think I would have like to execute this activity a bit differently. While yes, I believe it was successful, it very much felt like a cold open to my lesson and less of a warm-up. As well as going through each student one at a time caused the students on the other side of the room to lose focus easily. If I were to do this again, I think I would create a question sheet to be handed out to the class and have the numbers on the wheel. Opposed to having the entire question written on the wheel generator. This way students would be able to have at least a moment to think about the questions, and what they might want to say or add to the conversation around that question. I would also first give the question to an individual, and then open up the question to the class once they have had a chance to answer.

Activity 2: Online Acronyms

  • For this activity, Tt lists common online acronyms on the board vertically. Ss will then try and guess the meaning of the acronyms before Tt writes the correct answer on the board. For example; BRB = Be Right Back.
    • While I enjoyed this activity and believe it went over well, I did not go over all of the slang/acronyms on the worksheet I had created before handing it out for the next activity. If I were to do this again, I would probably just write them on the board first, and then go over them giving brief examples of how they would be used opposed to having the students try to guess. Alternatively, it was suggested that another way to do it is to have the acronym and instead make students race to guess the right answer out of two possibilities (Ex: IRL = Inventing Raccoon Laxatives vs In Real Life). Either way, the biggest downfall to how it was executed was that not all of the vocabulary was introduced before moving onto the next activity.

Activity 3: Make a Conversation

  • After some or all of the words are introduced, Tt will hand out a worksheet with the same acronyms from the last activity, and room for Ss (in pairs) to make a brief conversation/dialogue roughly 3-4 lines each of a conversation using at least 3 of the acronyms. Once time is up, each pair will read their dialogue to the class.
    • Like I had mentioned before, I would have liked to have gone through all of the vocabulary/acronyms before i had handed out the worksheet, as students were too occupied with reading all of the words and meanings instead of listening to the instructions i was giving. That being said, I also only repeated them once or twice and forgot to ensure everyone understood the instructions. Some students ended up working solo on making phrases/dialogue opposed to pairwork like I had intended. I also struggled to get the class to come together when it came to reading each pair’s dialogue aloud. Something that was suggested was that I should raise my voice a bit and tell the class that we’ll be presenting our dialogues. With the word presentation, it signals to the students that they will be sharing their work with the class. Due to my inability to wrangle the class together as one group, I ended up going through each pair and having them tell me their dialogues one by one. If I were to do this again, I definitely have a game plan on how to make it more efficient.

Activity 4: Online Safety Q&A

  • In this activity, Tt and Ss come together as a class and have a discussion about the internet and internet safety. Topics such as how can we stay safe in online spaces. Ex: Should you accept friend requests from strangers? Why or why not?
    • The class was really receptive to the questions being asked and had really thoughtful and insightful answers. However, if I were to do this again, I think I would put it with the other questions or keep all of the online discussion topics together opposed to separated like I had had it. It was also close to the end of the class, and the switch from one activity to the other was a little jarring. Another suggestion was to make this lesson into two. One about the internet and internet safety, and the other about online slang. If I were to do this theme of lesson again, I think I would want to segregate it into two lessons so that the material is more coherent.

Activity 5/Closing:

  • If there is any time left over, Tt shows Ss the commercial from the 90’s/early 00’s “You wouldn’t download a car”
    • Unfortunately there was not enough time in the class to show this commercial, but that is okay! I try to have some smaller filler activities planned for the end of the class in case activities run faster than anticipated.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this lesson went! The students were really receptive to what I had to say, and listened to me for the most part. I was able to keep them on their toes in anticipation for their respective turns. As well as I felt confident in my presence within the room as a teacher. While there is a lot that I would do differently if I were to teach this again, I am happy with my performance with this class. C: