Shalom!
The aim of this page is to offer teachers using The Generation Gap didactic unit, some guidance as to what to do and how to go on about doing it.
The main purpose of the unit is to help 15 - 18 year-old teenagers (In Israel, 10th, 11th and / or 12th grade students in the israeli school system) learn and actively use as much English as possible.
The Generation Gap is a unit that offers ample choice of activities. While opening activities are suggested,teachers certainly have the freedom to choose an alternative set of activities, either among the ones presented here or of their own making. Accordingly, teachers should see the suggestions as advice they may decide to take or leave.
This unit makes extensive use of ready-made activities taken from the Internet (sources are mentioned and linked) as well as activities that I have either created or adaptrd from others.
I suggest starting work on the unit with the following whole-class activity:
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Material needed: board, questions printed on a worksheet.
Time: Approximately 30 minutes
Part 1:
Write the word Generation on the board.
Ask students to provide words or phrases that they associate with this word. Write what students say on the board.
Have a class discussion on what you have got.
You may also want to add the word Gap to discuss the phrase Generation Gap
Part 2:
Divide your class into groups of four students.
Ask each group to name a speaker who will later report to the class.
Provide them with the following questions (either printed on a page or on separate cards) (Source – Conversation questions…)
Ask them to answer and discuss the questions.
- What is a generation gap?
- Have you ever felt a generation gap with your friends?
- How do you over come the generation gap?
- When do you feel the generation gap the most?
- Is it possible to overcome a generation gap?
- At what point in life does the generation gap seem to be the largest?
- Do you think you can be a better parent than your own parents in future
Ask speakers to report to the class.
Note: The contents of this activity are based on the following sites:
- Conversation Questions for the ESL/EFL Classroom
- The British Council Kazakhstan
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At this point, I stongly recommend using a computer connected to a large screen on the wall so as to show the class the Introduction page.
As a follow up activity, teachers using the unit may want to bring to class one of the articles that appear on the Articles page, or else simply ask their students to do to the Opening Task at home.
The Opening Task page is, in fact, the first computer-based activity of the unit. Teachers and students working on this unit do not need to depend on the availability of a Computer Lab at school . In Israel, for example, most students have access to Internet at home, and those who do not can work on the computers available at school. The use of a Computer Lab is, indeed, a bonus. Although it is a good idea to show on a large screen some pages of the unit (especially, as has been noted, the Introduction ), this is not a must.
There is no liniarity beyond what I have just suggested. By nature, the Internet is not liniar in that there is the possibility of "jumping" from page to page and / or from site to site. This is what may happen with this unit: both teachers and students may choose those pages and activities that appeal to the the most.
Having carried out the opening task, the sequence that I favor while working on this unit is the following:
Students have been asked to use the Blog to post comments as instructed on the different pages.
I favor asking students to carry out at least TWO tasks offered on the Evaluation page. Checklists and rubrics are offered, too.
Finally, students be asked to reflect on their work (see suggested activitiy ). A discussion in class may follow this reflection.
Of course, there are many reasons why using this unit is not easy. I could come up with some here, but there is at leat one reason why it is worth using it: this is the 21st century and avoiding the use of New Technologies of Information and Communication in our teaching work is anachronistic. Here is another reason: using Web 2.0 tools (a blog, for example) may bring us closer to the world of our adolescent students. "May", I write, because I am not sure. I may know a bit more when I try.
This is class and Internet work, so there is not a final version of the unit. The Generation Gap Didactic Unit can (and will) be updated as time goes by and feedback is received. "Sharing is growing ", so the unit will grow as a result of such feedback.
I have enjoyed preparing the unit. I hope those of us using the unit will enjoy it just as much.
Eduardo Lina (eduardolina1@gmail.com)
The following is an alternative way to work to what I have suggested
i) Teacher Page suggested activity one
ii) Teacher Page Two (suggested activity)
iii) Teacher Page Three (suggested activity)
Follow up: Generatioon Gap text 2 (download)
Generatioon Gap text 3 (download)
Generatioon Gap text 4 (download)
Generatioon Gap text 5 (download)
Generatioon Gap text 6 (download)
Download Diagram
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