This lesson was my ambitious attempt to try and combine something I'm interested in back in Canada (politics, problems in the future) with an English class.
My idea was probably a little too ambitious, even at a High School with fairly High English levels. But its something I was really interested in trying out.
The basic lesson I did usually went like this:
I introduced the lesson and mentioned to students that today we would be talking about the future.
I then discussed examples of what is the past (say 1959, 1987, 2008), the present (2009), and clarify what I mean by the future. Say, sometime not near, like next year, and sometime not too distant like 2100, but a year that will happen in our lifetimes like 2039.
Then I had a quick brainstorming session asking students what they think the future will be like. How will the future be better? How might it be worse?
After that I launched into my powerpoint and explained some good things I think may happen in the future and what each term means.
Once I finished that section I went on to explain some possible bad things that might happen in the future that are often talked about in the media.
I tried to include a few humorous photos every once in a while to try to not make the tone completely serious.
After I finished my slideshow (trying to keep it no more than 15-20 minutes long) I gave students my handout. Giving them some a matching sheet and some questions to write about.
The answers ranged from very thoughtful, to quite humorous. My favourite hilarious good thing about the future I received was 'better cosmetic surgery' while the funniest bad thing about the future was 'gay zombies'. Since my students say everything is gay, why not zombies?
While the lesson did not have as much energy as some of my classes I think some students were interested in thinking about these problems. It might be a good lesson to try in an advanced extra class or a class with a fairly high level.
It could probably be adapted a few different ways then the approach I took as well.
