Life tastes good! Coca cola...
This is an out-of class activity which takes advantage of two facts: 1. Students watch TV almost every day. 2. English language is present in many TV ads. Students are then asked to listen to TV ads. They have to spot certain sentences/ utterances already chosen by the teacher and identify the product advertised. Then, they fill their personal card with this information. The student who has completed the card earlier and better wins a surprise bag ( full of chocolates, sweets..)
- A personal card for each student ( they can be designed by the students themselves). In this card they will write down their names, course, and each product they have identified.
- Several sentences extracted from TV ads ( song lyrics are very useful). Choose new ads so that you'll be sure that students will have the opportunity of watching them at least once.
- Draw a big ear in a cardboard and write down the sentences chosen on it.
- Display the big ear ( you can leave it empty, without sentences in it for some days, this will grow students' expectation).
- Explain that they're going to participate in a contest. Deliver the personal cards or show a model one to be copied by your students.
- Write the sentences inside the ear you have already displayed.
- Establish a time limit ( this depends on the number of sentences and their difficulty)and tell them that they have to find in what ads these sentences appear, and write down the NAME OF THE PRODUCT ADVERTISED on their cards.E.G. I have displayed the sentence: 1. Life tastes good. Students should write down: 1.COCA-COLA.
- Explain what the prize is and wish your students luck.
- Keep a record on each card about the day it was given to you.(Although students will ask you for this, cards can't be returned to their owners for correction. Once they have given the card to you, there is no way back. Sorry!) Once the deadline is over, display the answers and check the cards to know who is the winner.
This activity was put on practice with children from 10 to 14 years old. It was amazing how much children enjoyed this activity. Some of them decided to work in teams( although they knew the prize would be divided), others asked their families for help...
You can adapt this activity to any purposes, e.g. if you're interested in any expression you've heard on an ad, a tense you're introducing in class, or students can also look at the mistakes made when pronouncing English words ( there are plenty of them).
If you have any suggestion, comment or question, please contact me at: email@example.com
RAQUEL. FROM SPAIN.
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