 | ||||||||
 | LOGIN | |  |  | | |||
 | ||||||||
 |
| 3/14/2010 |  | |||||
| ||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Superstitions
This unit should take 1-2 hours, depending on time, interest, and extension activities. It is designed for intermediate students age 12 and above. Objectives Students will: Materials to Print Activities Activity I: Superstitions Quiz (15 minutes) Distribute Printout I to students. Have students answer the questions. Brainstorm with students about superstitions, and ask them to share superstitions from their countries (for example, in Spanish-speaking countries, Friday the 13th is Tuesday the 13th; in France and Spain, they say "touch wood" to avoid back luck etc.). After students finish the quiz, have them share their answers. Then ask them to total their scores and let them know which category they fall into: 6-8 "yes" answers: You are a very superstitious person! Make sure that all of your friends know about your beliefs so that they don't get you in trouble. 3-5 "yes" answers: While you might observe many of these superstitious beliefs, you do not let them govern your life. 0-2 "yes" answers: You prefer to live firmly in the world of reality without letting any otherworldly beliefs keep you from living your life. Do students agree with the results of the quiz? Activity II: Vocabulary (15 minutes) Distribute Printout II and ask students to define the words on the page. The words are found in the context in the quiz and in the text in Printout III. Activity III: Reading (25 minutes) Have students read the text on Printout III. Then ask the following comprehension questions. 1. What is one explanation for our beliefs in superstitions? 2. Why were peasants prone to believing in superstitions? 3. What is a possible explanation for the superstition about Friday the 13th? 4. What can you give someone who wants good luck? Activity IV: Grammar (20 minutes) Use printout IV to practice the conditional type with if + present + future. Explain that the first verb is in the present tense then the second verb will be in the future tense. Activity V: The Best Source Competition! (15 minutes) Divide the class into small groups. Ask each group to come up with a plausible explanation for the origin of the superstition which dictates that walking under a ladder is bad luck. Have each group write their "source." Then take all of the explanations, plus the real one below and put them together in a pile without revealing the real one to the students. Read each of the "sources" out loud and at the end have each students vote for the best one. Award one point to every student who chose the correct explanation, and one point to every student whose explanation was chosen by somebody else. Therefore each group has the incentive to write a convincing source. Real Explanation: Walking under a ladder was bad luck because a ladder leaning against a wall formed a triangle and the Egyptians believed very strongly in the power of pyramids and triangles. To break the triangle was considered very dangerous. Activity VI: Superstitions of the 21st century (20-30 minutes) Have each students write a new superstition for the new century. Have them create an origin that is rooted in something happening today. For instance, it might become bad luck to say, "Surfing the web on Sunday, no dates on Monday." |