This is my version of the "boat is sinking: choose who to save" lesson that worked pretty well (Only 20% or so of students completely ignored the worksheet in my large classes). Start by showing part of the pilot episode of lost (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoGebTIYjPg). I recommend downloading the clip using
www.keepvid.com rather than streaming it (I didn't attach it because it's about 150mb). I stop the clip around 5:45 when Jack says "Jack." It works as a good hook.
Next use the powerpoint to explain that you are Jack and you need to choose who to save based on their occupation and how they can help you on an island. Hand out the worksheets. Go through the 13 people and try to ilicit some ideas about the good and bad things about each person. If the students aren't very talkative give them some ideas. Writer - creative, Construction worker - strong/can build shelter, Musician - can help keep people's spirits up, etc. You can basically ignore the negative traits - it's pretty difficult for most of the students and isn't necessary to complete the exercise.
Give the students some time to think about their choices and pick 6 to save. If you have a smaller class you can take a tally for how many people saved each character to see the 6 that the class would save. With bigger classes I just walked around while they were working and asked about their choices individually.
My students are fairly advanced and it went well but it could probably be improved by explaining the worksheet better and using a little more translation. It seems to work better with smaller groups. It usually runs about 25-30 minutes for me but could be combined with a lesson on adjectives to describe people/personalities/occupations etc. or just tacked onto a class with unrelated book material. Feel free to share/improve etc.
