A lesson inspired by love

20 Apr 2018 - by Norbert Mongyi

Language teachers often link lessons to celebrations or events taking place on the day of a class. It is a handy way of harnessing a topic learners may already be engaged with that day, while cunningly also expanding their vocabulary and improving their spelling. I teach English and French in a high school in Budapest, in Hungary. Many of my students have been learning English for quite a long time and have heard about Valentine’s Day many times, through crosswords, idioms, date dialogues, love songs etc. So this year, I decided to raise our discussions about love to a different level and came up with a lesson using material in the Stories that Move toolbox.

The Stories that Move website gives access to a wide range of film clips of young people talking about their lives. Even without logging in to the learning paths we can benefit from these rich sources. One of the voices in Learning Path 2, Facing discrimination, is Nick (Ukraine, 18) and his clip is available with subtitles in several languages.

My lesson plan is based on learners analysing Nick’s story. They consider what makes love stories happy, and what might ruin a loving relationship. They reflect on the role social injustice plays in people’s lives. They practise thinking from several different perspectives and develop critical thinking and communication skills. This is a classroom activity on the theme of love, inspired by Valentine’s Day and designed for intermediate level and above students of English aged 15-18.

My students really enjoyed it, particularly discussing the important topic of countering discrimination based on Nick’s clip. The activity served as an appetiser for them to immerse themselves in the STM Learning paths.

Download the lesson plan.