Topic 2: My City. Tourists’ Impressions vs Residents’ Realities

This topic challenges learners to consider the view of their town/city through other people’s eyes, and take a closer look at what they see themselves (plan suggested at the bottom of the page, but please let your learners get creative!).

Bronte Rose Ainsley’s 12-year-old learner Irene Militello, IH London School Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

Bronte Rose Ainsley’s 12-year-old learner Paola di Maria, IH London School Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

Interview with a tourist in Palermo, Italy

Bronte Rose Ainsley’s 7-14-year-old learners, IH London School Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Interesting impressions of Rome residents:

A ‘non-stick plan’ (Adrian Underhill coined that term :)):

1) Elicit from learners what impressions a visitor might have of their town/city, before they visit* or after their weekend there. What do they think of their town/city? Do these two impressions correspond?

*Optional – Contact us and we’ll get another Purple Carrots class to give their outsider impressions on your place.

2) As with Topic 1 (it’s never too late to do this one too!), allow your students to unleash their creativity in how they present their information. Send us what you have and we’ll upload it to the blog. A few ideas to get the ball rolling:

Tourists’ Impressions

– Interview tourists or visitors.

– Make a tour guide video introducing some of the main attractions.

– Make a tour guide brochure

– Doodle what tourists expect from a visit to your town/city.

– Imagine you’re a tourist visiting for a long weekend. Write a 3-day diary of your trip.

Residents’ Reality

– Interview a local resident (in English). What’s it really like to live there?

– Storyboard: a day living where you live.

– Set up an alternative local council. With a budget, which problems will be dealt with first? Why? How? Debate!

– The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: Shoot a short drama highlighting some positives, problems and suggested solutions.

Enjoy! 🙂

Topic 1: The Identity Tree

identity tree lesson plan

Here’s the lesson plan, but let your learners get creative with the presentation of the topic :). We’ll upload whatever we’re sent.

Topic 2 will be coming soon.

Bronte Rose Ainsley’s 11-12 year old learners, Carducci Scuola Media via IH London School Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

James Egerton’s 16-18 year old learners, IH Rome Accademia Britannica, Italy.

Luca:

Elena:

Elena’s diary

Kelly Brennan’s 9-10 year old learners, Jurmala via IH Riga Satva, Latvia.

Titha’s 12-13 year old learners, IH Rome Accademia Britannica, Italy.

What are Purple Carrots?

We are Purple Carrots: healthy, original and going back to organic*. This is all about communication between English learners from different countries.

*Carrots used to be purple before being engineered orange #fact

Purple Carrots is a space for our learners to share their own experiences and perspectives; and learn from other learners from around the world. The English language can be a vehicle for so much more than just completing the coursebook: our goal is to open up students’ minds to the world of friendships, cultures and identities that go with it.

Every month we’ll set a new topic and an accompanying lesson plan.

If the students don’t have any other ideas, you can follow the plan with them, but we recommend giving them the freedom to produce whatever they wish related to the topic e.g. videos, posters, diaries, song lyrics etc. Let their creativity fly!

Please comment on this post below to get regular updates and lesson plans, which will also be posted here on the blog in the ‘Topic lesson plans’ folder below.

When complete, send the fruits of these lessons to jegerton89@gmail.com or natasha.lambert@ymail.com and we’ll upload them to the blog!

Get involved and spread the word! 🙂

Thanks,

Natasha Lambert and James Egerton
IH Rome Accademia Britannica