1.

PREPARE A LESSON PLAN AND ACTIVITY BASED ON A LITERAY TEXT (ANY

FORMAT OR GENRE)
This funny and motivating consolidation activity, following the Ministry
classification, has been designed for my 4th year students to put into practice their
speaking as well as reading and listening skills using drama, in this case a
RADIOPLAY where a radio advertisement has been included
As earlier stated, I did this activity as a project within the second term. As they
proficiency level of English is quite low, I consider doing this activity as a means of
promoting their self-steem when speaking in the target language since they have been
previously doing some rehearsal in class about how to pronounce their lines and,
consequently, they didn´t feel ashamed of repeating the lines. Besides, as they didn´t
have to be recorded, only their voices did, they felt quite confident in doing this activity.
We have used just one lesson to prepare it and rehearse it. The recording was
made by the students themselves during a break.
It is also fair to say that my group of 4th year is quite small; Therefore, I have
chosen the radio script based on the number of characters and the level of the script
itself. I should also add that some lines had been cut out.

The website where this radio play was found is

https://www.genericradio.com/library.php where there is a range variety of vintage
radio series scripts
This is the web address where you can download the script for our radioplay:
https://www.genericradio.com/show/63564e7c2f57af4a
In terms of Cross-curricular links that can be worked, suffice is to say that the
history of radio plays and their undoubtedly influence on the 20th century social culture
should be taken into account and be revised in class beforehand. It is also advisable to
have a look at the varieties of American English you come across while rehearsing the
script.
When designing this activity I have also taken into consideration Raquel, who
has stage fright. Since only her voice was recorded, she could feel self-confident and
comfortable with her performance.

(I have also attached the radioplay produced by my students; please, don´t post it on
the blogpage since they have a lot of mistakes; Nevertheless, they are quite proud of it
since it is the first time they do an activitity like this; it is also very relevant for me since
I got what the activity was primarily designed to: to practise their speaking skills and to
boost their self-confidence when speaking in a foreign language)
2. Set-texts
Literature is authentic material that makes students become more motivated
since they can directly link to their own real lives or travel to foreign countries and
fantastic worlds. They also improve students´ language learning. Teachers should use
literature as a powerful and useful tool to learn English but it is the teacher the one who
takes responsibility in using different and motivating techniques to integrate literary
work with language teaching. However, not only is it relevant the use of persuasive
methodology but the choice of the right material is essential to keep pupils engaged.

I have chosen the following poem to work in class:

“My papa’s waltz” by Theodore Roethke

The whiskey on your breath

Could make a small boy dizzy;

But I hung on like death;

Such waltzing was not easy.

We romped until the pans

Slid from the kitchen shelf;

My mother’s countenance

Could not unfrown itself.

The hand that held my wrist

Was battered on one knuckle;

At every step you missed

My right ear scraped a buckle.

You beat time on my head

With a palm caked hard by dirt,

Then waltzed me off to bed

 Still clinging to your shirt.

I have used this poem with my first Bachillerato students. This is the procedure I
used:

First, students number off in groups of four. Then, After the poem has been
read aloud in class, I ask my students to make individually two columns on a piece of
paper with the headings “positive” and “negative”; the aim is that they have to fill in the
columns with words from the poem, therefore I give them thinking time to complete the
assigned task. Then, by means of the cooperative learning strategy “Numebered
Heads” designed by Kagan (2004), students stand up and “put their heads together” to
show their answers and discuss. Finally, I call a number and the ones with the number
respond using choral response. The columns are then discussed and should reveal the
ambivalence of words like ‘beat’, ‘battered’. The students consider whether the father in
the poem is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

Another activity that can be related to the poem is to ask our students to
improvise a conversation between the child in the poem and his mother, or between
the father and mother. This usually reveals assumptions about the relationships which
are implicit in the poem.
Webgraphy:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/3586905
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43330/my-papas-waltz
https://youtu.be/3yurYXtkbwU "My Papa's Waltz" Theodore Roethke poem
RECITED BY POET (he uses "waltz" rhythm when reciting!)