Author Topic: Alien Invasion Lesson (Read 9873 times)

pjblake · « **on:** June 18, 2014, 09:20:51 AM »

Hello fellow 외국인! Just in time for the post-final exam season, I've created an Alien Invasion lesson, greatly inspired by Leo Fuchigami's Zombie lesson. This presentation follows the story that aliens have come to Earth and taken over in just 3 days. Our students try to escape their city, but the aliens arrive before they can get away. So of course they choose to hide in the school (where else?). They must choose 4 people out of 10 to bring along with them. Each person has their own strengths and weaknesses.

While the story differs from the Zombie lesson, the premise of the lesson is the same. I've changed many of the characters and the rationale behind each one. I've added a few extra combos, and altered the point structure as well. I have plans of making this a 2-part lesson; in Part 2, having survived the initial invasion, the students get a chance to escape their city. In class they design a survival kit out of an assortment of items, and then test it against a choose-your-own adventure style PPT. If I actually go through with this idea, I'll be sure to upload it. But I doubt I'll have the time to complete (or even start it) before the end of the semester.

This presentation has a lot of audio and video elements. I highly recommend downloading all of the attached audio/video .zip files; otherwise the presentation won't be nearly as engaging or...well, just plain cool. Be aware there are personal references and images in the PPT and on the worksheet; these are marked in the comments section. You should change these images to fit your own classes/schools.

As always, unzip the audio/video files and make sure they're placed in the same directory as the PPT. I'd also print the worksheet double-sided to save on paper. Do a test run of the PPT before showing it to your class, to make sure all the audio/video elements work properly. If you have any questions, PM me and I'll see what I can do.

pjblake · « **Reply #1 on:** June 18, 2014, 09:22:09 AM »

Here are the audio files...

lifewith1chopstick · « **Reply #2 on:** June 18, 2014, 09:31:36 AM »

This seems like such a fun idea! I can't wait to see what it all looks/ sounds like together.

welcomebackkotter · « **Reply #3 on:** June 18, 2014, 12:48:47 PM »

Nice work PJ. Probably try this with my afterschool class.

Any chance of uploading a word.doc file for the worksheet? Something we can edit, as I'll have to get your ugly mug outta there ;)

pjblake · « **Reply #4 on:** June 18, 2014, 01:43:10 PM »

Quote from: tfquirk on June 18, 2014, 12:48:47 PM

Nice work PJ. Probably try this with my afterschool class.

Any chance of uploading a word.doc file for the worksheet? Something we can edit, as I'll have to get your ugly mug outta there ;)

Now now, all you had to do was ask nicely ...

It's been added to the original post: Invasion_Worksheet.pptx

emwsu · « **Reply #5 on:** June 18, 2014, 02:02:25 PM »

Thanks! and also thanks for reposting the WS. I was going to ask for the same, as my school computer cannot properly function with pdfs

This looks great!

welcomebackkotter · « **Reply #6 on:** June 18, 2014, 03:12:20 PM »

Quote from: pjblake on June 18, 2014, 01:43:10 PM

Quote from: tfquirk on June 18, 2014, 12:48:47 PM
Nice work PJ. Probably try this with my afterschool class.

Any chance of uploading a word.doc file for the worksheet? Something we can edit, as I'll have to get your ugly mug outta there ;)

Now now, all you had to do was ask nicely...

You're right. I should've said please.

pjblake · « **Reply #7 on:** June 18, 2014, 03:18:40 PM »

Quote from: tfquirk on June 18, 2014, 03:12:20 PM

Quote from: pjblake on June 18, 2014, 01:43:10 PM
Quote from: tfquirk on June 18, 2014, 12:48:47 PM
Nice work PJ. Probably try this with my afterschool class.

Any chance of uploading a word.doc file for the worksheet? Something we can edit, as I'll have to get your ugly mug outta there ;)

Now now, all you had to do was ask nicely...

You're right. I should've said please.

Actually, thanks for the request. It only occurred to me afterwards that I should've uploaded the original worksheet rather than convert it to PDF.

As an aside, I welcome any and all feedback on this lesson. PM me, post it here, whatever. I'm interested in how your students reacted and if the lesson was fun for them. I don't officially unveil this for my students until after final exams next month, so any thoughts or suggestions are welcome. Obviously, constructive criticism is preferred, but any feedback is better than none.

I'm starting to put down some ideas on a possible Part II, and reviews on this lesson's success or failure can help me decide if it'd be worth doing a Part II.

Thanks everyone!

Andyroo · « **Reply #8 on:** June 20, 2014, 01:19:08 PM »

Nothing constructive as I haven't tried it yet.

While looking through it I thought to myself "my students will need the Korean for evacuation".

BAM, very next slide has the translation.

Well played :)

D.J.Wallace · « **Reply #9 on:** June 20, 2014, 02:04:11 PM »

This is perfect for a class that I have today. I'll run it through and let you know how it goes.

Really appreciate the effort you went through in making this :)

s.phieros · « **Reply #10 on:** June 20, 2014, 02:43:04 PM »

Thank you so much for this wonderful work PJ!!!

I am at an all boys middle school, they are notorious for the 'roughness' of their boys...haha. They're not that bad, but I do have 3 really tricky classes where there is always a group of boys with a leader, who decided before I even got to the school, that they weren't going to do anything this year - they are the 'cool kids' see.

So, just before the world cup started, I made (if I may say so myself) a pretty awesome game that the kids loved, everyone participated, everyone was speaking English - I was flabbergasted... and impressed and so HAPPY! Then I thought to myself, how the hell am I going to get that to happen ever again????

I tried this lesson this week, and it was absolutely brilliant. They were roped in by the very first slide. They sat, silent, with their mouths open, explaining every now and then in Hangul to their friends who didn't understand- which was great. And they filled the worksheet in from beginning to end. They loved it - they thought at first that it was a movie, and I laughed and told them it was better than a movie.
Thank you so so much for your hard work and effort. It must have taken you forever.

It is a great class for just before the exams and who doesn't love an alien invasion story.

Thanks again, I hope to see more of your posts up here. Would love to try out something similar.

aklimkewicz · « **Reply #11 on:** June 20, 2014, 03:43:46 PM »

PJ! Awesome work man! I'm going to mod this to fit myself and then use it one of my summer camp days. Thanks a bunch!

rondure · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2014, 09:19:59 AM »

Thank you so much :)

toddsqui · « **Reply #13 on:** July 04, 2014, 05:22:04 PM »

I already told PJ this through email, but I thought everyone reading this thread should know that I recently tried this PowerPoint on my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders at an all-boys technical high school in Korea --in a nighttime class, no less--and they all unanimously enjoyed it. My last group of students (I teach three classes in the evening) were less interested in the game (the worksheet in particular), but that's probably because it was really late in the evening and they could hardly spare any more brain cells--notwithstanding the fact that English isn't exactly numero uno in this particular school community.

In any event, I would recommend using this particular PowerPoint in multi-leveled Korean high school classes, especially those with all-boys. Goes without saying that this PowerPoint will get them into the spirit of language acquisition.

Hope this review helps!

bjor0258 · « **Reply #14 on:** July 08, 2014, 10:16:57 AM »

Can you walk me through how you did this in class? When did you have the students start working on the worksheet? When and how did you tell them how many days each person is worth? Did you tell them the rationale for the days assigned to each character or just if someone asked? How did you tell them about the rationale? Did this take you the whole 45 minutes?

toddsqui · « **Reply #15 on:** July 09, 2014, 09:28:21 PM »

How I Played Alien Invasion with My Students (Procedure):

I did a little warm-up activity that was not related to the ppt. The focus was on the word "might," so I gave the students some practice examples. This warm-up itself maybe took about five minutes, and then we went right into the game which took the rest of the class.

When I did this game at the all-boys technical high school, I just started playing the ppt at the beginning. I didn't preface the game. I just announced to the class that it was "game time," and then I just started playing the ppt.

There are some very lengthy videos at the beginning of this powerpoint that will catch the attention/interest of the students. They will watch the videos which contain death, destruction, aliens, etc. etc. and then they will see a picture of their school (I strongly advise, btw, that you replace the original pictures in the ppt with pictures of your own--e.g. your school, any other foreign teachers that you know who can play the part of the damsel in distress, maybe even one of the students to play "The Scientist," etc. etc.).

Once the videos are finished, walk them through the character profiles which should include YOU, a fellow foreign teacher, the Scientist, the blind and deaf farmer lady, Agent X, and some others I can't remember at the moment. You can read the profiles aloud so that the students know how the words are supposed to sound. Once the character profiles are finished, break the students up into groups, making sure that each group has at least one highly proficient English speaker and one not-so-proficient English speaker, and distribute the worksheets. To save paper, I gave each group only one worksheet and declared that all of the students need to write on the paper. The students understood this.

Tell the students to choose only "four people." Reinforce and emphasize this idea so that all students have the objective in the back of their minds. Tell the students you will give them fifteen minutes to figure this shit out among their groups. Don't say the word "shit," but try to keep your voice elevated so that the students feel the weight of the world on their shoulders a bit; they have to save the planet, for Pete's sake.

After fifteen minutes, announce that it is time for everyone to report their decisions. Go around the room and ask each group who they chose. Once you know who everyone chose, reveal the point system and start calculating who gets what. It will be helpful if you can write the choices on the board for each group so that you won't forget and no cheating takes place (for example, "Group 1: scientist, Teacher Todd, Teacher Chantelle, Agent X; Group 2: Agent X, farmer lady, Teacher Todd, Scientist; etc. etc."). Flip through the point system and when you discover that one group chose a particular group of people, add or subtract the points on the board accordingly.

I gave candy to the group with the most points. For my last class in the evening, most of the students couldn't find the energy to stick with the game, so I just gave candy to the group that completed the entire sheet. Because the overall purpose of the lesson was on using the word "might," in a sentence, the task was for the students was to use "might," on the worksheets in the context of reasoning why they chose certain characters over others.

For example, "We, Group 1, chose the scientist because he MIGHT discover a way to destroy the aliens."

Honestly? There's enough Hangul in this ppt for the students to be not totally lost, and in my own personal opinion, there's really no excuse for the students not to be engaged in this game. After all, they've got the direct English-Korean translations right in front of them on the slides, and there are also some very highly dramatic videos (with NO words!) to help them retain their focus. Sure, maybe alien invasions won't be of much interest to some students who prefer romantic comedies, but this game sure beats the hell out of any "intensive reading," lesson I could throw together.

Anyway, I hope this reply both clarifies and sheds some slight on the possibilities here. If you have any further questions, feel free to PM me! ^_^

pjblake · « **Reply #16 on:** July 10, 2014, 07:35:01 AM »

Quote from: bjor0258 on July 08, 2014, 10:16:57 AM

Can you walk me through how you did this in class? When did you have the students start working on the worksheet? When and how did you tell them how many days each person is worth? Did you tell them the rationale for the days assigned to each character or just if someone asked? How did you tell them about the rationale? Did this take you the whole 45 minutes?

I think toddsqui's review and explanation sums it up quite nicely. In my classes it went only slightly differently, but there isn't much I can add to todd's explanation.

I started my class explaining that we were not using the textbook, no studying (which was met with thunderous applause), etc. I told the classes to pretend with me, and then I wrote the word "alien" on the board. I asked them what this meant, etc. etc.

That was the only preface I gave to the presentation. I start the PPT, let it run through on its own. For some classes I read the narration aloud, which does seem to help, so I'd recommend it. Then go through the character bios together, again reading them aloud and rephrasing so they understand. I don't use much KT translation at this point, because on the handout there are some translations already.

At this point the class is put into groups and they have to decide who to take. I hand out the sheet then (this is important...don't hand it out at the beginning, or they'll be focused on the paper and not the presentation). I give them around 10-15 minutes, sometimes 20, to finish the first half of the worksheet. Then they complete the second half, which only takes around 5 minutes. We go through the scoring system together, and I take volunteers to read their choices aloud. You can milk this for awhile, and ideally get every group to participate. Go through the combos together, and finally add up the score. I've been doing a small prize of candy (the first time this semester), so they students really enjoy that part. If there's time and you get some interested students, you can explain the rationale to them. I encourage my students to challenge it, and if they can give me a good argument (in English) about why they think a certain character should be worth more or less, I give them extra days of survival.

Depending on the classes level and ability, there may be 5 minutes left to the end of class, which I give them as a break to relax. It's post-final exams, after all.

This is how it's work so far through about 5 classes. Next week it goes into general circulation and all of my classes will have it. If you have any other questions, just ask.

Good luck!

johnny russian · « **Reply #17 on:** July 11, 2014, 02:06:38 PM »

hey PJ, great lesson, did this with my 20 classes of HS students the week before finals and they really enjoyed it!

just some feedback from one of my co-teachers:
he said that the Korean translation for 'evacuation' that's on there is not a very commonly used Korean word, and a better translation would be '대피' because it's more commonly used.

on the worksheet, he suggested changing the weakness for Mei Ling to '그녀는 귀머거리의', which is "she is deaf". i know the Korean that you've got on there says "she is mute," but i think saying "she is deaf" fits better with the combo of her going with the 'other teacher' who can speak sign language.

finally, a lot of my students were confused about the rationale for '[your name] teacher' going with 'the other teacher' on the combo slide, so i just changed it to '[your name] teacher won't go without the other teacher/they always work together', which is the reason most of my students gave themselves.

anyway, once again thanks for a great lesson and all the effort you put into it!

pjblake · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2014, 08:52:05 AM »

Hi johnny:

The rationale for The Teacher/The Other Teacher is difficult to apply to other classes. In my case, "The Other Teacher" is my wife, who the students already know of, so the reference makes sense. However, you could use an image of a co-teacher for a class, and follow the rationale that you laid out i.e. they work together.

Thanks for the feedback, as well.

toddsqui · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2014, 09:21:20 AM »

I just told the class that my co-teacher and I were a duo and that we had to teach together, as per the rules of the game. If you frame it as "these are just the rules of the game," it's easier to digest the logic. Or so my experience has been...

-T