What do you think of the Rolling Stones?
Who is your favourite band or singer?
Why do you like them?
Are they very popular? Why? / Why not?
6) Presentation / Speaking / Research / Writng (note taking)
Choose a band or singer you like and make a (powerpoint) presentation about them. Tell their story.
Look on the internet for some photos to illustrate your presentation.
Look for information but NEVER copy and paste. Just take notes. Select the important information.
Play some short clips of their music during your presentation.
Plan
Introduce them - Who are they?
Career - Give a short outline of their career
Conclusion - Why are they popular / important / interesting / good..?
Advice
This is a speaking activity so don't put too much written information in the presentation.
Never read text from the presentation. You should explain what your audience can already see.
You can use notes to speak but the presentation should be mostly visual.
watch a short film about a famous criminal and do some listening comprehension exercises
practise some crime vocabulary
practise modal verbs for past deduction (may / might/ could / can't / must have + participle)
write a report / a biography
1) Intro - Crime vocabulary
How many different kinds of criminals are there?
Match some criminals with the definitions in the exercise below.
2) Discuss
What famous criminals or crimes have you heard of?
How many criminals get away with their crimes?
Do you know of any criminals who have become "heroes"?
3) Video - Before you watch
Have you ever heard of DB Cooper?
He was a criminal who committed a famous crime and got away with it.
Look at the film poster below carefully
What crime do you think he could he have committed?
How coud he have got away?
Read the gap-fill exercise below quickly and find out if your guesses were right (don't worry about the gaps yet)
What was DB Cooper's crime?
How much money did he get away with?
How did he get away?
4) Video - Watch the first 2 minutes and pause
Watch the first 2 minutes of the film (0:00 - 01:53)
After you have watched fill in the gaps in the exercise above.
5) Video - Watch the rest of the film
(01:53 - End)
Why has DB Cooper become a hero to so many people?
6) After you watch
How much did you understand?
Do the quiz below.
7) Deductions
What do you think happened to DB Cooper?
Detectives make deductions to help solve crimes.
What language do we use to make deductions?
See the presentation below. Then make sentences about what you think happened to DB Cooper.
Can you make sentences / deductions about what happened to DB Cooper?
What happened after he parachuted from the plane?
Is he alive?
Where is he?
What's he doing now?
What happened to the money?
Use May / Might / Could / Must / Can't+ Be (+ing) to make sentences / deductions about the present
Use May / Might / Could / Must / Can't(have + Past Participle) to make sentences / deductions about the past
Further infomation
In the autumn of 1978 a placard containing instructions for lowering the aft stairs of a 727, later verified to be from the hijacked airliner, was found by a deer hunter about 13 miles east of Castle Rock, Washington.
In February 1980 an eight-year-old boy named Brian Ingram, vacationing with his family on the Columbia River, uncovered three packets of the ransom cash, significantly disintegrated but still bundled in rubber bands. FBI technicians confirmed that the money was part of the ransom, two packets of 100 bills each and a third packet of 90, all arranged in the same order as when given to Cooper.
To date, none of the approximately 9,700 remaining bills has turned up anywhere in the world. Their serial numbers remain available online for public search.
In 1981 a human skull was unearthed along the same riverbank during excavations in search of additional evidence. Forensic pathologists eventually decided that it belonged to a woman, possibly of Native American ancestry.
In 1988 a portion of a parachute was raised from the bottom of the Columbia River, but FBI experts determined that it could not have been Cooper's.In 2008, children found another parachute near Amboy, Washington, which proved to be of World War II-era military origin.
8) Write
A) Write a report about the DB Cooper case (100 words)
You are a detective. Write a report about the case.
Give a summary of the main points of the case
Give your opinion of what might have happened to DB Cooper. Give reasons. Use your powers of deduction!
B) Write an article about a famous criminal in your country.
Introduce the criminal - what crime did they commit? When? Where? How?
Give some biography information about the criminal - Where were they born? What kind of family did they come from? What kind of area did they come from?
Describe the crime they committed
Say why the crime became famous
Disuss the motives. Why did they commit the crime? (Can you use any past modals of deduction here?)
Conclusion - What happened to the criminal? Where is he or she now? Were they caught by the police? Was the sentence they received fair?
Read and listen for information about two celebrities
Compare and contrast them
Write a biography of someone famous
Note; This post was updated 30/12/2011 due to the Shakira biography clip being removed from Youtube. I replaced it with another clip and altered the comprehension questions.
1) Discuss
Look at these people.
Do you know who they are?
What are they famous for?
Have you ever dreamed of being famous?
Would you like to be famous?
What do you think it takes to achieve fame or success?
Do you think any of them have changed the world we live in or made our lives better?
Highlight here for answers;
Leo Di Caprio, Bob Marley, Martin Luther king, The Beatles, David Beckham
Che Guevara, Mother Teresa, Shakira, Elvis Presley, Beyonce
2) Read and watch Clip 1
You are going to watch a clip about Shakira
What do you know about Shakira?
Where is she from?
How old is she?
What does she do?
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll (born February 2, 1977), known professionally as Shakira is a Colombian singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, dancer, and philanthropist who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira revealed many of her talents in school as a live performer, demonstrating her vocal ability with rock and roll, Latin and Middle Eastern influences with her own original twist on belly dancing. Shakira is a native Spanish speaker and also speaks fluent English and Portuguese as well as some Italian, French and Arabic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakira
Answer these questions;
What was her dream when she was growing up?
What did she know at 18 months old?
What could she do at 3?
How old was she when she started writing songs?
When did she get a record deal?
What does her foundation do?
What awards has she won?
How succesful is she now?
Highlight below for answers
To become a famous performer
She knew the entire alphabet
Read
8
13
It provides high quality school facilities, nutritious meals and homework assistance and counselling
Various Grammy music awards
She sells millions of records and is one of the top earning women in music
Clip 2
You are going to watch a clip about Beyoncé
What do you know about Beyoncé?
Where is she from?
How old is she?
What does she do?
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981), often known simply as Beyoncé, is an American R&B recording artist, actress and fashion designer. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she enrolled in various performing arts schools and was first exposed to singing and dancing competitions as a child. Knowles rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyonce_Knowles
Answer these questions;
What did her parents do?
What did her parents realise early on?
How old was she when she entered her first talent competition?
How old was she when she was chosen for "Girls Time"?
Why did her father give up his job?
When did she make her 1st solo album?
What was the name of her first film?
What kind of charities does she support?
Highlight below for answers
Her father was record manager and her mother was a costume designer
They had a star on their hands
7
11
To represent her group
2003
Dream Girls
Childrens charities
Add the information below with what you know from the texts and clips
Shakira
Beyonce
1) Date of Birth
February 2nd 1977
September 4th 1981
2) Nationality
Colombian
American
3) Early life
Started performing at an early age
Entered singing and dancing competitions as a child
4) Career
Has won several Grammy awards and has sold millions of discs
Rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. Now has a solo career and makes films
5) Other interests outside performing
Philanthropist; her foundation provides high quality school facilities, nutritious meals and homework assistance and counselling
Fashion designer, supports childrens' charities.
Highlight the spaces above for the answers
3) Compare and contrast
Look at the information
What do Shakira and Beyonce have in common?
What differences are there?
Can you compare and contrast them (say what the similarities and differences are)?
useboth, also, as well, too to express similarities
use but, however, whereas, on the other hand to express differences.
eg Both of them are singers. Beyonce is from the USA whereas Shakira is from Colombia.
Write 5 more sentences
Highlight below for suggested answers
Beyonce was born in 1981 but Shakira was born in 1977
Beyonce started performing as a child and Shakira did as well / too
Shakira has always been a solo artist, on the other hand Beyonce started in a group
Beyonce has made films however Shakira has remained a singer
Beyonce and Shakira both help children
Look at the people in the photos (above or below)
Can you make similar sentences to compare or contrast them?
Now listen to both of them in this clip. What do you think of the song?
4) Writing
A) Watch this clip and discuss the questions below
How many of these people do you know?
Why are they famous?
Did they change the world?
How did they think differently?
Text
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify and vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as crazy, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
Look at the words from the text in the left column below.
Can you match the words from the text on the left to the definitions on the right. Drag and drop the words to the correct place.
B) Write about someone famous.
Think of a famous person. Take a few minutes to find any information on the internet about him / her. Only look for important information.
Use this plan to help you. Write your biography with 4 paragraphs. If you are writing about someone who is dead. Talk about why you think they are important today in paragraph 3
If anyone wants to write about someone and post it in the comments below please go ahead :)
Armando created a Sliderocket presentation of this post which is here
2) Find some more worksheets about famous people here
Famous People Lessons.com http://www.famouspeoplelessons.com/index.html
EFL / ESL Lesson Plans Using Biographies And Profiles - From Sean Banville
3) Choose some people from the website and make sentences to compare and contrast them.
or
choose some people you know and compare and contrast them.
1) Introduction
