Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 1; January 03

by Caty Duykaerts, English teacher, I.E.P.S.C.F.-Uccle, Belgium
Email : m5julia@yahoo.com

At the turn of the century – and millennium – the magazine Time produced an abundant retrospective of a hundred of individuals who –for better or worse – most influenced the last 100 years. They are presented in 5 fields of endeavour : Leaders & Revolutionaries, Artists & Entertainers, Builders & Titans, Scientists & Thinkers and Heroes & Icons. Each entry provides the reader with a detailed biography, description of achievements, pictures, quotations, sometimes audio sources and links to further information.
Here's how I have used this Time Archive file with my students :

Level : upper-intermediate +
Materials : access to the Internet
Time : 45 minutes at the computer + 10 minutes per pair of students
Focus : reading, negotiating, collecting information, reporting, discussing strategies
Preparation : task sheet

1. in the multimedia laboratory The students are paired and receive the following instructions : go to the site www.time.com/time/time100/index.html and select one person among the list of 100. Read the given information and prepare a report including :

• the name of the selected person
• his/her brief biography
• his/her best achievements
• unexpected facts you discovered
• the reasons for your choice

2. back in class
Each pair gives the oral report (which can also be presented as an interview). If, by chance, two pairs have selected the same person, this is even more interesting, as we can see how the same input of information is treated. When all the pairs have spoken, we round up the activity with a feedback discussion on questions such as the selection process, the reading strategies, the data collection, the speech preparation, the speech itself (structure, voice, eye contacts, gambits,…).

Note :
I insist on having the students paired, as I like them to discuss as they work at the computer. This reinforces cooperation and makes the tasks much more lively !