Humanising Language Teaching
Year 4; Issue 4; July 02

Eleanor Watts, Gravesend, UK

A sure way to fire young people's interest is to get them campaigning. What follows is a suggested process of motivation, research, planning and publicity. All the following activities would be suitable for intermediate or advanced students aged between 9 and 17.

Materials needed:
poster sized sheets of card;
coloured pencils;
maps of the area around your school

1. A picture of the future

Language focus:
In my picture, there are … because it will be …
I think buildings will be made of … / clothes will be made of …

a) Individual work (5-10 minutes): Ask your pupils to draw a picture of the world as they think it will look in fifty years' time – the buildings, the plants, the clothes people wear. Do not, at this point, encourage them to discuss it with each other, but walk round the class and ask leading questions about each picture.

b) Class work (5-10 minutes): Discuss the pictures with the whole class, asking different children to describe and explain their pictures. You will probably find that some children were optimistic, others pessimistic. Point out that the world could become better or worse – according to how we behave now.

2. Writing about what we think is wrong with the world

Language focus:
1. The key problem where we live is ….
2. It is caused by … .
3. We can solve it by …ing ….

a) Class work, then individual work: Ask your students to write what they think is wrong with the world in three paragraphs, using the above patterns if they need a structural framework:
What is wrong?
What caused the problem?
How can it be solved?

b) Discuss and display the writing so that the students are aware of each other's concerns.

The attached pieces of writing illustrate the views of four eleven-year-old bilingual children in a British primary school. Each identifies a different key problem (homelessness, air pollution, the killing of endangered species and the felling of trees) followed by their own ideas for a solution. ]Fig 1]

3. Campaigning to change the area around the school

Language focus
1. Future tenses
2. There should be …

a) Group work: Using the same language focus as in 2, ask the children to identify problems in their own community – from simple problems like insufficient open space for games to huge problems like the effects of war.

b) Get the children to plan illustrated posters which identify the problems with which they are concerned and possible solutions. They will need to identify on local maps where they would place their planned features.

c) Ask them to write letters to local officials such as the mayor or local politicians, inviting them to come and read their proposals.

d) If the officials come, they can, in their groups, prepare talks about their plans. If not, they can give their talks to the rest of the school in assembly.

e) Finally, get the children to write letters to the local press explaining what they have done.

The attached pieces of writing are sections of two posters made by pairs of eleven-year-old bilingual children who have been encouraged to think about socially useful projects that would depend on sustainable sources of energy.

One advocates the building of a home and retraining centre for the homeless in a local disused power station. Electricity would be generated by tidal power since it is next to the River Thames. The other plan is for a solar-powered go-karting track which would provide jobs for the unemployed and enjoyment for the bored youth of the town. There would be a repair shop nearby so that when the go-karts crashed, they could be mended, not dumped!

Learning outcomes:

1. that we should "think globally and act locally"

2. that what we think and write can and should be communicated to those who have some power to make the changes we believe in