For my tenth session of classes my C1.1 level focused on the theme of Social and Personal Relationships while my B2.2 level focused on Medical Alternatives.
C1.1 - Social Media
While brainstorming activities and ways to create strong discussions in my classes I came to the conclusion that most of our own social and personal relationships are upheld, created, and even ended online. Today, social media has become a large part of our lives...so much so as it has come to the point of addiction. During the first part of class, my students and I discussed the positives and negatives that come with our online presence. Next, we scored ourselves to determine our own level of social media addiction. While the mini-quiz brought with it shaking heads and a couple of laughs, I made sure to drive these two points home:
To determine just how much of their time is spent using these sites.
To realize how the content they see and produce on these sites affect their lives and how they view themselves.
For my final activity of the class, I decided to talk about a true social media phenomenon: memes. With the rise of social media came the rise of memes -- viral images or videos that can be political, satirical, comical, as well as make entertainment and global news more relatable. After explaining what memes are and giving a few examples, I followed the format of a very popular game called What Do You Meme? where students must come up with their own captions to memes shown on the board and then share them with the group. Even thought we never had extra time at the end of our presentation, I had included a few debate questions about social media to finish.
Due to the fact social media is such a well-known topic to all of my students, we were able to have many in-depth and long conversations about how these sites have both improved and seemingly destroyed different aspects of our lives. My meme generator activity was a big hit among all ages and we were able to share many laughs together over the past two weeks!
B2.2 - Let's Debate Medical Alternatives
While alternative medicines are often ridiculed by some and respected by others, I thought what better way to start a discussion between my students than a debate! I began my lesson by first identifying the differences between conventional and alternative medicine before I gave examples of the later. Between explaining the different types of alternatives medicines, I asked my students if they or someone they know had tried these therapies in the past to spark further discussion and stories. Finally, we finished the class with a debate.
As always with my debates, and especially with such a controversial topic as alternative medicine, my students never needed any push to speak. Supporting their arguments with evidence and personal experience, my classes debated right up to the bell...and sometimes even after!
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