I'm doing Bucket Lists (a list of things to do before you die) with my high schoolers this week and wanted to share the lesson. The lesson is pretty simple and works well with my students. I only ask them to put five things down because I've run out of time trying to get each student speaking their list.

i did this lesson with my extra class and plan to do it in some of my regular classes. when my co-teacher had to do an open class she asked for some suggestions, and this was one of the lessons i discussed. she actually liked the idea and used it in her open class.

it was quite similar though, she changed it a little bit. we showed the trailer for the 'bucket list' movie, to give them an idea about the themes, then reviewed a few key words and scenes that were shown in the sneak preview.

when we also mentioned an example of someone who kicked the bucket this year, i picked michael jackson. she expanded upon that idea a little bit and played some of the song and had students do dictation. she made a game around the song but we didn't have enough time to do it.

the other change was that instead of having every student present, in groups they picked their favourite items on the list and made a group bucket list and had them present.

most of them were positive items or funny, though a few them were a little dodgy for an open class in front of the principal. one student wrote 'i want to get drunk and out of control', while another one wrote 'i want to sleep with lots of pretty girls'. and another student wrote 'i want to steal everything in the convenience store'. haha, i was a little worried about the principal's reaction, but i guess she knows kids are kids. :p

Great lesson!  I took some tips from one of the previous comments but instead of using music from Michael Jackson, I used John Mayer's song "Say" because the song and music video are connected with the movie.  My students seemed to enjoy it, and it got them talking.  Thanks so much for this lesson!

Nice one. I too would love to go to a Tom Waits concert!

this is a phenomenal concept ... thank you!

OP, by any chance can you send me a step-by-step guide (link) on how to embed the countdown into a powerpoint?  i've been trying to figure this out for the longest time!!!

thanks, and again, great lesson!

I used this lesson with the Simpsons' episode One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish, where Homer gets blowfish poisoning and creates a list. You can stop after each act break and ask questions and check their understanding.

I showed it after going over the Bucket List PPT and before making them write their own lists.

Thanks Anthony Teacher!!!
Your Bucket List PowerPoint is a much more entertaining version, should keep student attention better. But thanks for the idea (original poster of it).

And anyone know how long this lesson is? It seems short, like half hour tops.

Maybe search around on this website: http://qtv.freechal.com/ A wonderful person found the simpsons valentines day episode on here the other day. You may need to type a bit of korean tho

Guess I'll be using this with my open class!  If the materials work well, I'll try to follow up and post them on here afterwards.  Oy, these things are so nerve-wracking.  On my bucket list: survive open class.

I like the idea of using the song "Say" instead of (or in addition to) just the movie trailer.  It seems like my students respond better to songs, and this one's hardly a complicated one. ;)  Probably it'll be a good idea to explain to students beforehand what they're seeing though!

I just did a similar lesson with a group of really strong high school students.  Here's what I used. 
Note: it includes a TED talk with Korean subtitles from Ric Elias who was in the plane that crashed into the Hudson River in 2008.  It helped to set the tone...