Would you like to receive publication updates from HLT? You can by joining the free mailing list today. |
Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 4; July 03
An ill wind...
Level :
Intermediate to Advanced
Time :
20-30 minutes
In class
- Ask the students to work in pairs. Their task is to decide which of these people would gain and which lose from a national rail strike. Who would both gain and lose?
miners, rail union officials, the strikers, truck owners, woodcutters, the government, black marketeers, out-of-work truck drivers, commuters, petrol station owners, free-lance mechanics, rickshaw coolies, police, street vendors, airport baggage handlers, conscripts, rail blacklegs, pensioners, commercial travellers, housewives, soldiers
- Ask the pairs to come together in groups of six and compare their lists.
Variation
You could ask your class to prepare such a list of possible gainers and losers for other kinds of crisis: drought / bi-national war / earthquake / coup d'état / general election / epidemic.
You could then use their list with another, lower level class. Most teacher preparation is a waste of time when it can be better and more profitably done by groups of students.
