I have tried parts of this lesson plan before in some of my writing classes where eventually the students write an opinionative paragraph(s) on a topical issue. I haven’t tried this one out yet as I’ve been busy with midterms, but I will definitely do this lesson plan this Friday coming with my reading and writing students. I will post up a reflection about the actual lesson outcome.
This lesson plan is designed for intermediate sophomore university students (20-25 years old) The class is for 2x45 minutes. The idea behind this lesson is to get students to voice their own opinions and back them up with reasoning. To critically think about a controversial topic that is relevant to them and has meaning. By this they’ll be encouraged to hopefully participate, contribute their thoughts, gain other information which has been shared in groups and then eventually write their view of the topic along with their thoughts.
Activity
I present the topic, Cosmetic Surgery. First, as a class we try to distinguish the difference between cosmetic surgery and plastic surgery so all students understand. For a few minutes the students talk to their partners about anything they want on the topic.
I then show a clip on YouTube about some famous celebrities in Korea and their appearance before and after cosmetic surgery.
In each corner of the room there are four categories: Strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree and strongly disagree. After watching the clip I tell the students to move into one of the corners to choose their view on We should not have cosmetic surgery! I then give time for the students to have a discussion about their feelings on the topic. If there are too many students in one category I will divide them again in to smaller groups (but keeping them in that category).
Next, I play another clip on a Korean woman who became addicted to cosmetic surgery and eventually disfigured her face beyond recognition.
Here, the students can remain in their category or change to a different one if they feel it’s necessary. Again I give ample time for students to discuss their thoughts and share ideas.
After the break I inform the class that the groups will discuss (to the rest of the class) their views on the topic and their reasons to back it up. There can be one spokesman for the group or they can have several volunteers, it doesn’t matter. Each group will take turns in presenting their views and I highly recommend that each student take notes on the other group’s position.
Once all groups have shared their views on the topic each student will have some time to reflect and again change if they feel they are in the wrong category.
For homework the students must write an opinionative paragraph(s) from their position on the topic and bring it in the following week. If I had a smaller class I could easily set this up for a debate.
I will post up my reflections of the lesson plan after the class next Friday.
