WWY if you came across these videos?
If, like me, you have a soft spot for the old Second Conditional and its Presentation, Practice and Production (at this point unplugged teachers may like to desist from reading further), but are fed up of asking …
“What would you do if you found a big hairy spider in your bath?” or even worse …
“What would you do if you won the lottery?”
… you may be interested in a “hidden camera”, moral dilemma TV series called What Would You Do?. The series is produced by ABC and is in American English.
Here’s a sample episode! Ask yourself the question below, then watch the video (you may have to click through to Youtube).
“What would you do if you’re sitting in a bar minding your own business and you saw an attractive young woman being persistently harrassed by a male stranger?”
Here’s some more (+ questions)
- Video 1 : What would you do if you were viewing a house for sale when you saw one of the other potential house-buyers putting things in her handbag?
- Video 2 : What would you do if you were in a restaurant when you saw the waiter drop some food on the floor and then put it back on the plate that he was going to serve?
- Video 3 : What would you do if you were in a bar and you saw a drunken young woman being led away by a man that she had just met?
- Video 4 : What would you do if you were in a bar and you saw a couple of pilots who were about leave for the airport obviously drinking too much alcohol?
- Video 5 : What would you do if you witnessed somebody trying to commit fraud by deliberately slipping in a supermarket and then threatening to sue for damages?
- Video 6 : How would you react if you were in a restaurant sitting next to a couple whose kids were screaming and generally misbehaving?
- Video 7 : What would you do if you were in a café and you overheard a young man trying to persuade his pregnant teenage girlfriend to have an abortion?
- Video 8 : What would you do if you saw a group of girls harrassing and insulting another girl for being overweight?
- Video 9 : What would you do if the person you had just let in front of you in a supermarket queue won an enormous cash prize for being “5 Millionth Customer”?
- Video 10 : What would you do if you saw a mother using her child to shoplift from a clothes shop?
- Video 11 : What would you do if you were walking down the street and somebody collapsed on the pavement right in front of you?
- Video 12 : What would you do if you were in a bar and saw a man drugging a young woman’s drink while she was in the toilet?
What I might do with these videos
Here’s a few ideas!
1. Ask your students to discuss the questions in class, then ask them to choose one of the videos to watch for homework. At the beginning of the following class, ask them for a brief explanation of what they learnt from their video.
2. Roleplay : Show your students one of the videos, discuss the issues involved, then ask students to reenact the scene in pairs.
3. Show your students one of the videos with the volume down and ask them to write the dialogue between the people who appear. Stop/start the video to give them time to imagine and write down what the different people say.
4. … what would you do?
Returning to the title of this post (What would you do if you came across these videos?), if YOU have any other ideas on how these videos might be exploited, please leave a comment below! Thanks for dropping by! (Ian James | @ij64)
Adam
November 19, 2011
My post ‘The zombie apocalypse and its role in the ELT classroom’ looked into how videos can be used to practice the whole gamut of conditional variants. I recommend interactive video adventures for practicing the first conditional: you watch a clip for three or four minutes and then you have a choice of which way you want the story to continue. There are more details on my blog post.
http://www.yearinthelifeofanenglishteacher.com/2011/06/the-zombie-apocalypse-and-its-role-in-the-elt-classroom/
I really like the ideas you propose here, and will be sharing them with my colleagues at work if that’s OK!?!?!
ij64
November 22, 2011
Thanks for dropping by, Adam. I am also a zombie fan, so will definitely be using your ideas the next time the first conditional crops up. May even introduce a bit of realia: baseball bats, ketchup and the like!
Yours apocalyptically,
Ian
I can do this
November 20, 2011
IJ
I just finished looking at conditionals with my students and I felt that same tasteless bland feeling even after looking at a self-help list I had compiled. These videos are great. Once again, I congratulate you on getting things right and making EFL classes real.
For teachers who have students that complaint that their Enlgish classes have nothing to do with real life, well, this makes it real. Thanks for compiling and sharing.
Ellen in Mexico
ij64
November 22, 2011
Thanks for your kind words, Ellen, I really appreciate them! :-)
bren brennan (@brenbrennan)
November 21, 2011
Superb find. Sooooooo much more useful than ‘the lottery question’ (sigh) and ‘if you were attacked by a crocodile’ (New English File).
Excellent. Thanks, Ian.
ij64
November 22, 2011
Thanks for the positive feedback, Bren! :-) … One further question if I may: What would you do if you won the lottery, decided to buy a crocodile with your winnings and were then attacked by it?
bren brennan (@brenbrennan)
November 22, 2011
:) Isn’t it obvious, Ian? I would get my newly acquired twin albino pet hippos to see off the croc
bealer81
November 22, 2011
Some really nice ideas here Ian. I recently did a second conditional lesson myself, based around a BBC programme called The people watchers. I wrote about it here on my blog if your interested -http://fiveagainstone.wordpress.com/2011/11/13/building-steam-with-a-grain-of-salt/.
I like your idea of acting the scenario out too, some excellent extension ideas.
Thanks for sharing.
ij64
November 29, 2011
Great lesson, Adam! Have just tweeted it! :-)
Arjana
November 22, 2011
Hi Ian,
thanks for sharing this fantastic lesson and the videos. I used one of the videos in the classroom today and my students loved it. So completely different and real, not only for them, but also for me.
arjana
ij64
November 29, 2011
Thanks for the positive feedback, Arjana! Glad it worked out so well! :-)
Maria Valdes
November 28, 2011
Very good ideas!!! I’m also fed up with the question “What would you do if you won the lottery” :)
ij64
November 29, 2011
Thanks, Maria! :-)
evaguti
November 28, 2011
Brilliant! I think I’ll go for your first suggestion: ask them to pick one to watch at home and then report back to the group. It’ll make an interesting follow-up activity to the bystander effect ;-) Thank you
ij64
November 29, 2011
Thanks, Eva! Hope it works! :-)
Naomi Epstein
December 23, 2011
I think that video number two is clearest for use without sound, and one can that be adapted for teenagers at different levels. Am eager to try this out with my deaf and hard of hearing students!
Will get back to you on this one!
Thanks for a great post!