Урок-разработка в 8 классе "Дебаты. СМИ"
план-конспект урока по английскому языку (8 класс) на тему

Open lesson

Date: 8.12.2010

Teacher  : Damdinova Darima Boroevna.

Topic: Mass Media - good or bad?

Grade: 8th 

Lesson: Developing skills. Debates.

Objectives:

Educational –

to let students broaden their knowledge about advantages and disadvantages of mass media;

Developing-

to develop students’ critical thinking, ability of being focused on the main ideas, ability to work in group.

Practical  -

 to teach students to talk about advantages and disadvantages of mass Media.

Upbringing  -

to develop students’  ability to  listen to opponents, to be tolerant and respectful of  other people’s opinions.

I used one of the most difficult technologies in teaching – debates which you know needs good level of communicative competence. Students should use and practice all the abilities, skills and qualities they have acquired in the English lessons. It goes without saying that they should show their good grammar, the vocabulary on the topic and the adequate speaking skills. At this lesson they had a chance to develop their reading skills, they read the rules of the debates, writing skills – they had to write down questions to the opponents, and listening skills – they had to listen to the video and understand what it is about.

 I tried to be quite in the pace with modern technologies and used informative communication technologies: everybody knows  that nowadays we can’t do without Internet, so I got some information from Internet and used  the computer, the projector and  the video.  All those means were supposed to inspire the students, to raise their interest to the lesson and the topic.

 We work a lot with proverbs and sayings and I decided to show the way we do this work at the lessons. And you   know it’s a common way to warm up students. Proverbs make students think and develop their critical thinking and add some wisdom. I love them and usually start my lessons with them. Just a little game is a very good means of motivating students, waking them up, tuning them in English. Sometimes they are tired or sleepy and we need to make them more active. As for the debates  I think I see the expected results. They were highly motivated and interested in the topic. They expressed their ideas pretty well.   You could see their prepared speeches and their abilities to understand their opponents and adequately give arguments and counterarguments. Taking into account their objective level we can admit that they can’t make grammar mistakes. We work a lot with grammar and I hopefully think that by the 11th year they will have learned acquired  all the necessary grammar competence, I mean they  will be able to use grammar in their speech perfectly well.

I think the goal of the lesson has been achieved taking into consideration the fact that the level of the students is pre-intermediate.  

Agenda.

1. Greeting and introducing the issue of the lesson. (2 min.)
2. Warm-up with proverbs.(5 min)
3. Explaining the rules of the debates. (1 min)
4. Showing the video about television. (5 min)
5. Expressing the general idea by the Affirmative side. (3 min)
6. Expressing the general idea by the Negative side. (3 min)
7. Debating. (15min)
8. Voting. (3 min)
9. Conclusion (3 min)
10. Feedback. (5 min))

Procedure.

1. Good morning, dear students! We are having an unusual lesson today. We have a lot of guests who will watch your debating and you should decide at the debates whether mass media are good or bad. Our guests are going to be the audience and they will vote for one of the teams. I am your judge and I will judge your debating.
2. We should warm-up. Let’s do some exercises with proverbs.

You should finish the proverbs. A bird in the…    Those who live… Every cloud …  A friend in need… Out of the…  Out of sight….Every cloud …  Students finish the proverbs: …hand is worth two in the bush,  …in glass house should not throw stones,…is a friend indeed,…frying pan into the fire frying pan into the fire,…has a silver lining.  You see there are some proverbs which can refer to debates. Which proverbs can refer to debates?

S: Look before you leap. What does it mean? It means think well before saying something.

T: What else: every cloud has a silver lining. How  can you explain that?

S: There is something good in every bad situation.  Even if you lose the game, never give up.

S: A friend in need is a friend indeed. What do you think of that?

S: We all should be friends, not enemies. Be friendly and  polite at the game. And some other recommendations.

• Be sure of your facts.
• Understand your opponents’ arguments .
• Do not express ridiculous ideas.
• Apply the scientific method.
• Cite relevant personal experience.
• Organize your response. (Beginning, middle, end.)
• Treat people as individuals.
• Don’t attack a person but an idea.

I would like to remind you of the debating rules. First of all, every team should express its general idea, and then at the second stage every member of the team should support this idea with some statements.

3. The third stage is debating itself.   You can answer some questions which you may prepare while listening to your opponents.
4. Before starting our debates will you watch some video? That will be the topic of debating. Say, please, whether you agree with that or not. If you agree, explain, why, if not, give good arguments.
5. A short video.  A man is talking about TV: TV is illusion, TV is lie, TV is what some corporations want something to achieve public, TV controls our mind.
6. You have just seen a very emotional talk of a man who blames TV. So today’s debate is: TV or not TV?
7. You are an affirmative side. Will you, please, express your idea?

The affirmative side: We think that mass media are good and we don’t agree with the video because mass media are what we need in our life. We can’t imagine our life without them. We get a lot of information from TV, radio and Internet; we learn latest news about the current events from all parts of the world. It is a very cheap source of information. You can just sit in your cozy sitting room on your soft sofa and watch whatever you want.

8. Thank you. You are a negative side. Will you say what you think about mass media?

The negative side:

 We are against mass media because people become TV or Internet addicted, they spend too much time watching whatever is on TV, they live an unreal virtual world, forgetting their families, friends and duties. TV became a one-eyed monster controlling our life and our mind, diverting us from real life with its real problems deceiving us with vain promises. People are getting unhealthier, more insensitive, getting used to all the horrors offered by TV every day.

9. Thank you.  I am declaring a second stage. Every member of the team should express their own ideas trying to be convincing.

The affirmative side:

1. We think that TV became an inseparable part of our life because it lets us know about all the current events in the world. We need to know latest news so that we can know what to do and what to be ready for. There are so many changes in the world that we must be aware of them.
2. We need TV because it brings the whole world to your room. We can’t travel a lot- it takes a lot of time and money. TV gives us a chance to travel around the world. You can learn about different countries and peoples, their national habits, customs and traditions.
3. You can relax after a hard working day. There are so many entertainments on TV. You can see your favourite films, soap operas, you can listen to good music or watch theater performances. You can’t afford to go to big cities to see popular theater performances. It’s too expensive. There are so many various programmes which suit different tastes.
4. If you want to learn foreign languages you can do that on TV. Besides, if you want to know about scientific and technological developments you can watch good educational programmes. My favourite programme is … which really broadens my mind and widens my outlook. Moreover, I can use the knowledge I get from TV in my life.
5. TV helps people find their lost relatives or friends whom they lost many years ago. So many people were happy to meet them by means of TV. It is the programme …which gives people hope and happiness.
6. There are different talk shows which help people find solutions to their problems. For example, … the talk show… invites famous people or specialists to TV who discuss some problems and come to some conclusions.

The negative side:

1. TV is bad because people getting more TV-addicted, they waste their time watching  it. They don’t pay attention to their relatives, they forget about their duties, they don’t care about what is going on around them.
2. TV is dangerous because there is too much violence, blood, aggressiveness and fighting on TV. It dulls their sensitivity, they take everything as something quite natural, as everyday affairs even when people are killed before their eyes.
3. TV is bad because children are inactive, they don’t play sports, they destroy their health, their eyes. Moreover, they don’t read books, newspapers and magazines.
4. Due to watching too much TV our brain becomes passive. It doesn’t develop critical thinking. We just swallow the ready information without thinking.
5. TV is ruled by giant corporations which want us to get the information they are interested in. it is a massive mass media control  when people believe that margarine, for example, is good for health and butter is bad. Those corporations are interested in sales because they pay a lot of money for advertisements. But it turned out that margarine is really bad  for us and, unfortunately, it has destroyed so many people’s health.
6. There are too many horror films and thrillers on TV that we become nervous and frightened. We are afraid to go out late at night because we don’t want to be robbed. There are many rude and cruel young people who are affected by cruel scenes of murder in action films; they are very aggressive and violent.

Students vote for or against TV.

 They evaluate each other.