Harry Potter Descriptions

Benjamin Moderate

PROCEDURE

1) We started this activity with short a game of “Simon Says”. (“Mr.Ben Says”) Any TPR warm up always goes down well, and this is a good way to reintroduce the more familiar body parts, and get the students up, active, and listening. The perennial favorite “heads, shoulders, knees and toes” song also works well. Genki high school classes can enjoy these “elementary” type games.

2) For the list of Harry Potter descriptions, and the vocabulary list, we had the students read out the words in turn, and had the rest of the class repeat them. This is a good trick if you can pull it off, as it means you don`t have to speak at all, and the students gain confidence by having their peers repeating them. Flashcards would work just as well, though we used a handout.

3) Then we asked questions, using the pictures as a starting point. Some of the pictures are more ambiguous than I would have liked (e.g. Snape) but we asked about each characters “look”, once we had established the word meanings. This is the time to ask them who is their favorite character and chat about Harry Potter.

4) Dialog. You know the drill. Listen and repeat as a class, then pair practice.

5) As a diversion, I brought a singing Matsu-Ken doll to school. The Ss were all very amused and surprised by it. We had them describe Matsu-ken. (rounded, pale, bald, Japanese).

6) Arrivals Lounge. The students listen to the different characters self descriptions, and then try to pick them out of the crowd, in a kind of “Where`s Waldo” activity. This went down pretty well. I changed “trainers” (an English word) to “sneakers” in the actual class because they didn`t know it.

7) The final part really wins the students over, as it is an information gap activity. The students put white stickers with names of famous things or people on them on their partner`s foreheads. They then ask descriptive questions, and try to guess who they are. Even the more ill-behaved lads in my class enjoyed this, and it ends the lesson on a high. It is a good idea to model the activity first with the JTE, if you have time and perhaps suggest a list of people to choose from on the board. This helps less able students.

NOTES:

This is a class I used with my first years at Tateyama and they all seemed to enjoy it, especially the final “name game” activity. I adapted it from an older class I conducted about descriptions the previous year. Then the students designed their own monster in sections, then swapped the sections around. This class also has a lot in common with the nostalgia-soaked game “Guess Who.” There is quite a lot of vocabulary in this lesson, and its VERY busy. For lower level students this would pose a challenge, but it could be adapted to a simpler level with easier vocabulary, or by focusing on one activity. (Oh, and the movie with Ralph Fiennes came out AFTER I made these pictures, by the way, which is why Voldemort looks like a vampire bat. These days my personal vision of him cuts no ice!)

HANDOUTS and WORKSHEETS:

The lesson plan in table format, along with handouts for this lesson, can be found here:

http://teachingactivities.pbwiki.com/f/harrypotterhandouts_bmoderate.doc

http://teachingactivities.pbwiki.com/f/harrypotterhandouts2_bmoderate.doc