A woman stands in the middle of a court. She can’t believe what is happening. She has her hand over her mouth. She is speechless. What is going on? In this activity, students collaborate to construct a narrative before watching the video and discussing the issues.
Tell students that you have a puzzle for them. Dictate the paragraph below and put students into pairs to share their ideas and explore possibilities.
A woman stands in the middle of a court. She can’t believe what is happening. She has her hand over her mouth. She is speechless. What is going on? In this activity, students collaborate to construct a narrative before watching the video and discussing the issues.
Take feedback. Invite students to share their ideas with the rest of the class.
Note that most people will assume that the word ‘court’ refers to a court of law. They may think, for example, that the woman has been found guilty of a crime, etc.
Tell students that in order to work out what is going on, they will have to look at alternative meanings of one of the words in the paragraph (i.e. ‘court’) Ask students to identify the word and then brainstorm meanings and collocations. Write these on the board as they arise (see possibilities below).
A court (of law)
To take someone to court
A royal court
A basketball court
A badminton court
A tennis court
A squash court
A volleyball court
Use this as an opportunity to elicit other sports areas:
Golf course
Football pitch
Rugby pitch
Hockey pitch
Ski slope
Show students the image below (click to enlarge). They will see that the women is standing on a basketball court.
Repeat the paragraph from step 1 (A women stands in the middle of a court. She has her hand over her mouth, etc.) Ask students to reconsider their answer.
Take feedback and ask students to share their new ideas.
Tell students that the incident is taking place at half time in a basketball match. Tell them that the key to working out what is happening is to identify who else is on the court. Elicit the people that you would expect to find on a basketball court. Add these to the board (see possibilities below).
Basketball players
Referees
Cheerleaders
Mascots
Unruly spectators
Tell students that the woman’s boyfriend is also present. Ask them to guess what he is doing (answer = he is kneeling in front of her asking her to marry him live on TV).
Ask students to guess what happens next. Find out:
Who thinks the woman will say ‘yes’
Who thinks the woman will say ‘no’
Who wants the woman to say ‘yes’
Who wants the woman to say ‘no’
Watch the video from beginning to end. Students will see the woman rejecting her boyfriends marriage proposal.
Put students into pairs or small groups ask them to discuss the following:
Is it a good idea for a man to propose in this way? Why or why not?
Who do you feel more sorry for – the woman or the man? Why
your lessons are great, I really love them :-). I’ve been visiting your website quite often since I discovered it.
This lesson also seems very useful for teaching collocations, however I’d like to point out something that must have been a typo – twice you typed “women” instead of “woman” (and you definitely mean this particular woman :-)).
Hello Alicja
It hadn’t occurred to me that this lesson plan was particularly relevant yesterday (29th February, the day that woman are supposed to propose to men). I would have made good use of it if I’d known. J :)
Jamie, you are a monster teacher. I just love your lessons and so do my students. If you are interested, I have a great lesson plan using Dragons Den. Keep up the great, innovative thinking!
A monster teacher? Yeah – I kinda like that!
Thanks for that Ronnie – yours is comment of the day :)
If you have lessons to share, why not get a site together and upload. I always give out lists of lesson sites to teachers, especially ones that use vide clip …
J :)
Excellent lesson. Highly entertaining for students. Had shown this leap year proposal http://goo.gl/JpX38
Also works well in discussing cultural differences.
Thank Natasha
There’s no end to them! Why do people do it (propose in public I mean – not get married!)
I found another fail proposal beside the clip you posted to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnyKkA05nYw
J :)
[downloaded 1789 times]
Dear Jamie,
your lessons are great, I really love them :-). I’ve been visiting your website quite often since I discovered it.
This lesson also seems very useful for teaching collocations, however I’d like to point out something that must have been a typo – twice you typed “women” instead of “woman” (and you definitely mean this particular woman :-)).
Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Alicja
Thanks Alicja
Woman, women …
Apparently native speakers get confused too sometimes! I do in any case. Jamie :)
I used this lesson today and it went great! Thanks again :-)
And one more thing, recently some more of those disastrous proposals have been published by the Guardian, I’m posting a link in case somebody needs some more ideas :-) http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/28/five-worst-public-marriage-proposals?CMP=SOCNETTXT6967
Alicja
Hello Alicja
It hadn’t occurred to me that this lesson plan was particularly relevant yesterday (29th February, the day that woman are supposed to propose to men). I would have made good use of it if I’d known. J :)
Jamie, you are a monster teacher. I just love your lessons and so do my students. If you are interested, I have a great lesson plan using Dragons Den. Keep up the great, innovative thinking!
A monster teacher? Yeah – I kinda like that!
Thanks for that Ronnie – yours is comment of the day :)
If you have lessons to share, why not get a site together and upload. I always give out lists of lesson sites to teachers, especially ones that use vide clip …
J :)
Excellent lesson. Highly entertaining for students. Had shown this leap year proposal
http://goo.gl/JpX38
Also works well in discussing cultural differences.
Thank Natasha
There’s no end to them! Why do people do it (propose in public I mean – not get married!)
I found another fail proposal beside the clip you posted to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnyKkA05nYw
J :)
My kids loved this. Thank you for sharing!
Hey Alex – yes, it’s a fun one. I’ve started turning it into a story but it’s only half finished.
Thanks for the comment
Jamie :)