WebQuest on Smoking Ban: Would You Like to Kiss an Ashtary
Natasha Jovanovich, Serbia
Nataša Jovanović (Natasha Jovanovich) has substantial 15 years long experience in ELT, her ELT experience and a range of ESOL courses extended over the years to advanced levels of proficiency and to teaching Cambridge exams main suite, IELTS and US exams TOEFL, SAT,GRE and GMAT. Apart from teaching, her translation of the book by Dr Helen Fisher, an American author and research professor at Rutgers University, was published in 2005. The book embraces the issues of gender studies and the role of women in today’s world, business, science and family life.
E-mail natasa-jovanovic@sbb.rs, natashabbc@gmail.com
Menu
General
Introduction
Task
Process and resources
Final task
Self-evaluation questionnaire
Evaluation rubric
References
Level: upper intermediate/advanced
Age: 14+
Type: group of minimum 10 students to apply the webquest in a real life classroom situation over a longer period of class attendance or the whole term and/or semester
1. Take a look at the following pictures
N.B. photos taken from www.freedigitalphotos.net
There is an ongoing debate on health issues related to smoking. Talk with the person sitting next to you about the questions listed below. Listen carefully to what your partner is saying and then elaborate on your partner's ideas speaking with another person in the group.
Do you know many smokers?
Do you think a lot of teenagers smoke?
Why do teenagers take to smoking? Is it the peer pressure to blame? Bad role models?
What is your opinion on whether pregnant women should stop smoking immediately after they find out they are pregnant?
Would you ever suggest to a friend or a classmate that they should give up smoking?
Should tobacco advertisements be allowed at all in the media?
Do teenagers start smoking because their parents smoke?
Do cigarettes really help some people relax?
Useful expressions
In my opinion…
To my mind…
As far as I am concerned…
I firmly believe…
I should say…
The way I see it…
It seems to me that…
It appears to me that…
I would argue that …
For me…
In my view…
From my point of view…
It goes without saying that…
If you ask me,…
I perfectly agree with …
First of all,…
Furthermore,…
Hence…
Thus…
Therefore…
Moreover,…
Unlike…
As opposed to …
In contrast to…
However,…
Recap: Brainstorm vocabulary related to the pictures above.
Do the ‘Smoking questionnaire’ online
www.yourfamilyshealth.com/cardiology/smoking_quiz/
and now watch BBC video report on an antismoking campaign
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4709258.stm
and write down any new words while listening to improve your listening skills
You are a team of UK based school pupils- called “Hard core smoking banners” who are going
- to investigate and report on effects of smoking;
- to investigate and report on the results of smoking ban in the UK;
- to do a number of activities related to smoking research in order to improve your reading, listening and writing skills as well as internet search skills. The activities are going to be both paper-and-pen and internet –based;
- to initiate a campaign against smoking in your school and community and possibly think of other ways to get involved; and
- eventually, you will weigh the pros and cons of smoking voiced by the participants in the campaign, collate your findings and write an opinion essay or a report on the topic of smoking based on the conclusions drawn from this Web Quest.( please see the Final task).
To complete this WebQuest, you will need to do the following tasks:
1. What do history and statistics say about smoking?
Divide the class into two groups and do the assignments as follows:
1st group - use your internet search skills to report on “History of smoking and tobacco growing”.
2nd group
- go online to collate the statistics on health risks caused by smoking; and
- download the diagrams, charts, tables and the statements by clinics, research institutions and medical doctors. Make sure these are referenced and attributed to their original writers and sources.
Both 1st 2nd groups
When you finish your reports, exchange it with the other group and report your findings.
Useful expressions you could use to explain the statistics:
One in……………… patients in hospitals ………
Majority of them…
Most of them
None of them……………
Each of them………………
All of them……………
A high percentage of …………………
The highest percentage of……………
Hardly anybody……………………………………………………………
The biggest tobacco importer is……………………………………. ………………
The biggest tobacco exporter is ………………………………………………………
The biggest tobacco consumer is ………………………………………………………
The biggest tobacco producer is ………………………………………………………
The rise in the lung cancer and other smoking related diseases in the 20th century……
Useful verbs
to increase, to decrease, to level off, to grow steadily, to decline, to rise
Useful grammar tips
You may need to use a lot of passive voice structures so here are a few sentences on tobacco growing with several examples of the use of passive voice.
- Tobacco was believed to be a cure-all, and was used to dress wounds, as well as a pain killer. Chewing tobacco was believed to relieve the pain of a toothache!
- Soon after, sailors brought tobacco back to Europe, and the plant was being grown all over Europe.
- During the 1600s, tobacco was so popular that it was frequently used as money! Tobacco was literally "as good as gold!".
- This was also a time when some of the dangerous effects of smoking tobacco were being realized by some individuals. In 1610 Sir Francis Bacon noted that trying to quit the bad habit was really hard!
http://academic.udayton.edu/health/syllabi/tobacco/history.htm
Optional tasks
1. Exercise
Divide the class into two groups:
- 1st recap the use of passive voice; and
- 2nd recap the ways to form passive voice in different tenses.
Useful websites for Internet search tasks
www.forestonline.org/output/page34.asp
www.cancercouncil.com.au/editorial.asp?pageid=370
www.helpwithsmoking.com/history-of-smoking.php
www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7486/313
www.britannica.com/eb/article-242780/smoking
Optional websites
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoking_ban
www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/
www.smokefreeengland.co.uk/thefacts/the-regulations.html
www.nosmokinglaw.co.uk/
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4709258.stm
www.cancerresearchuk.org/
www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/B/breathe/index.html
www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kissing+the+ashtray
www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/s/smoking_ban.asp
2. Let’s cut down on our smoking
Scan the text on ‘Tips how to quit smoking’
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/specials_/smokingban/article1748272.ece and come up with more tips by yourselves and share them online on the website link provided.
Divide the class into 2 groups: ‘Non smokers’ and ‘Pretend – smokers’
start the activity “How assertive are you?”.
Students mingle and pick a partner so that a non - smoker starts making suggestions to his or her chosen partner about the best ways how to quit smoking .
Tip: use the ideas you have read in the previous reading task
Use the following expressions for making suggestions
I think you could/should/might like to
How about ………?
What about …?
Fancy a …………………?
Why not + bare infinitive…………?
Why don’t you + bare infinitive………?
It is absolutely necessary/crucial/essential that you…+/ should / infinitive…
Visit the website and download the ‘No smoking signs’
www.nosmokinglaw.co.uk/english_no_smoking_signs.htm
TIP: You will need your school computers and printers to print the signs and a pair of scissors to cut out the signs and a glue to stick them in order to design school posters.
Go online to have your say on BBC website
‘Do you support smoking ban’ …have your say.
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4014899.stm
3. Spreading the word about smoking
Go online and get in touch by email with other teenagers in the world, spread the word about your campaign and ask them to join.
Bookmark the websites you have found and the ones provided by the teacher related to smoking and smoking bans.
Tips on social bookmarking
- Go to http://www.delicious.com or http://www.furl.net/ and set up an account. You can do this from the register page e.g. http://delicious.com/register or the get started page www.furl.net/getStarted.jsp . You will need to verify the account by clicking on the email you receive after step one of your registration.
- Try using other people's favourites to find an interesting link or article on smoking.
- Add any links from our WebQuest on smoking to your delicious or furl space
- share the link for the video ‘You don’t want to kiss an ashtray’ with other schoolmates by email
4. Your community can get involved!
Go online to enter a competition at how to get across the idea to your mates that smoking isn't a good idea using a funny sketch, a short video clip etc
www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/B/breathe/howtoenter.html
www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/B/breathe/index.html
Get in touch with the institution on cancer research by email and design a poster for the school main hall and leaflets to distribute all over town.
www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutus/contactus/cancerinformationnurses/
Get together with your webwise mates and set up your school blog on smoking and start off:
a. ‘Have your say’ debates online
b. a quick vote on: Do you think the effects of smoking are negligible?
Optional task
Organize a video conference on smoking ban getting parents, schoolmates and all stake holders together who you think might be able to help.
Reading for gist activities
Divide the class into 2 groups to read the texts and then report back to the other group on your findings:
Smoking ban in all pubs and clubs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4709258.stm
Smoking – fuming mad?
www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/extra/series-1/smoking.shtml
Follow-up tasks
1. Vocabulary check
a. Brainstorm the newly acquired smoking related words using spidergrams on the flip chart or big format paper ( e.g. A 3 )
b. Explain the meanings of these collocations, idioms and phrases. Do it in pairs or teams and choose one person to report to the whole class:
A heavy smoker
A nicotine patch
A smoking ban
To kiss an ash tray
Addiction
Peer pressure
Health conscious
To inhale the fumes
Passive smoking
Second-hand smoking
Emphysema & lung cancer
Heart disease
To be dead against smoking
Antismoking campaign
Restrictions
a silent killer
if you cannot remember the words, look it up in the online dictionaries
www.macmillandictionaries.com/online or
www.dictionary.cambridge.org
Optional tasks
a. Think of a good antismoking slogan
Tip: ‘But me no butts’
( N.B. a cigarette butt = a cigarette end But me no buts – a quote by Shakespeare)
b. To finish off on a high note, let’s watch a funny video from YouTube
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQQOv3MpKf4
We are drawing to an end of our Webquest. To sum up, weigh the pros and cons of smoking voiced by the participants in the campaign, collate your findings and write an opinion essay or a report on smoking based on the conclusions drawn from this Web Quest. Either write it up in 500 words and/or draft and present it orally to the class.
Student give feedback on their work during this WebQuest /to practice summarising and note taking/
1. I found the group/team/individual work easy/difficult because
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2. The next time I do the group/team work I’d like to
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3. What did I learn about smoking?
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4. What did I learn about using IT and internet in finding resources and relevant material for research
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5. My English improved during this research because
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Teaching notes and evaluation
Refer to this evaluation form when evaluating your students' work...
| Survey |
below standard 1 |
standard 2 |
above standard 3 |
Outstanding 4 |
| disorganised and difficult to follow; little data, few conclusions; intrusive errors of vocabulary and grammar |
clearly written, logically organised, including a representative range of facts and some conclusions; grammatical and lexical mistakes do not impede overall intelligibility |
carefully planned and checked text, including introduction; a good range of data, and conclusions; logically linked and accurate in terms of grammar and lexis; good rage of vocabulary displayed |
engaging, original and well organised text, consisting of introduction, data (extensive) and conclusion. Few errors of grammar or vocabulary; consistent and appropriate style; illustrative diagrams or charts might also be included |
| Report |
below standard 1 |
standard 2 |
above standard 3 |
Outstanding 4 |
| report is confused and/or short and/or difficult to follow, poorly researched and/or minimally exemplified; intrusive errors of vocabulary and grammar and/or large chunks copied directly from websites |
report is basic but sufficient to present main arguments; divided into clear sections and generally easy to follow; research not exhaustive but sufficient and mainly original; grammatical and lexical mistakes do not impede overall intelligibility |
report is thorough and clearly laid out, with arguments convincingly made on the basis of well researched data; research has gone beyond the most obvious sources and there is ample evidence of original thinking and writing; high level of accuracy and a broad lexical range |
report is exceptionally well argued, demonstrating original, often committed, thinking based on thorough research, expressing a range of points of view but reaching clearly articulated and accurately expressed conclusions |
| Presentation |
below standard 1 |
standard 2 |
above standard 3 |
Outstanding 4 |
| presentation simply read aloud; not easy to follow, poorly illustrated, and/or under-rehearsed; work not well distributed between group members; little apparent liaison or collaboration |
presentation organised into stages, clearly illustrated and sufficiently detailed to give a general idea; evidence of rehearsal and sufficient group collaboration, even if workload not evenly distributed; some reading aloud, but some improvised “telling” |
well organised presentation, with clear and detailed rationale, showing evidence of thorough research and rehearsal; attractively illustrated; work well co-ordinated and evenly distributed; some reading aloud, but some improvised “telling” |
presentation painstakingly researched but presented in an engaging, even entertaining, way; technically impressive, well resourced; even distribution of work, each contribution harmoniously linked to make a coherent whole; report delivered with notes but not read aloud; questions handled effectively and spontaneously |
| Self-evaluation |
below standard 1 |
standard 2 |
above standard 3 |
Outstanding 4 |
| short, clumsily written and/or lacking in self-awareness; inaccurate to the point of unintelligibility |
sufficiently detailed, balanced appraisal, covering all main points; grammatical and lexical mistakes do not impede overall intelligibility |
perceptive self-appraisal; fair and balanced account of involvement, accurately and coherently written; all points covered and some in considerable depth |
extremely insightful detailed and well-rounded account; balanced and informed; written in engaging, accurate and stylistically appropriate style |
| Final score |
Icons
Means the teachers explains
Means the students go online
Means the students recap already acquired knowledge
Dudeney, G ( 2000) The Internet and the Language Classroom Cambridge University Press
March, T . ( 1997) The Webquest Design Process www.ozline.com/webquests/design.html
Please check the ICT - Using Technology in the Classroom – Level 1 course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the ICT – Social Media in Education course at Pilgrims website.
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