The ingredients for this teaching idea are:

1. A controversial TV advertisement for Marmite
2. A controversial TV advert for VW Polo
3. An article from The Times: Giant brown blob is not to children’s taste
4. An article from The Telegraph: Volkswagon defends singing dog advertisement

Make copies of the two articles for you students. Set up a way of displaying the video clips in class.

Lesson plan:

Every teacher has different ideas about how texts should be used in the classroom. Here is one basic format which can be changed in any way that you like:

1. Divide the class into two groups (group A and group B). Show the Marmite advert to group A. Let group B hear the sound but make sure they can’t see the screen.
2. Show the Volkswagon advert to group B. Similarly, allow group A to hear the music but not to see the screen.
3. Tell your students that they are going to be paired up (As with Bs) and that they are going to tell each other each other what they saw. Give them a few minutes to prepare for this (they should make notes). Go between groups and offer help with the vocabulary, language, etc.
4. Pair up As with Bs and let them tell each other what they saw.
5. Conduct a feedback: Get individuals from group A to tell you about group B’s advert and vice versa.
6. Let everyone see both adverts.
7. Tell your students that both adverts were controversial (viewers complained about them). Ask your class to offer reasons for complaints and write these on the board.
8. Give out copies of the articles and ask your students to read them quickly to find out if they predicted correctly the reasons for controversy.
9. Post reading activities could include getting students to write letters of complaints from viewers or responses from the advertising agencies.

Notes

* Encourage discussion of the issues that this activity raises. Also, find out if there are any famous banned adverts from your students’ cultures. If so, perhaps they can be seen on YouTube.

* Take advantage of the video during steps 3, 6 and 8 to teach/elicit vocabulary that is in the texts: Whenever a student asks you the meaning of a word, consider if it is possible to fall back on the video to show the meaning rather than explain it.

For example:

Volkwagon advert

• Shaking and cowering
• A Jack Russell
• In the front seat
  
• Cuts to shots
• Mumbling

Marmite advert

• A large brown amorphous object
• Running away from
• Realising
• Crowd
• Diving into it

Use this image to refer to the film mentioned in the article.

Posted by admin on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 11:32 am.