ESL Podcast--First Day of School

First Day of School
By Joleen J., Rosario K., and Max T.
Suggested ELL level: intermediate-advanced students, ages high school to adult

Our ESL podcast introduces the typical schedule in a U.S. High
School. We present this information in the format of a one-on-one interview
(talk-show style), with informative or humorous narration throughout.
Rosario, Max, and I filmed this based on the Kidspiration® graphic
organizer and storyboard that Rosario created, shown here. We wanted to
present a mini cultural lesson by talking about how many U.S. high schools
are organized.

The interviewer, Joleen, introduces Rosario and asks her about the
upcoming school year. We find out about “A schedules” and “B
schedules,” where high school students have different classes on
alternating days, as well as some typical classes a high school student may have,
such as Art, Science, Math (Algebra II), and Study Hall. We find out
what Rosario is interested in and what she is looking forward to in her
classes this year.

High School Senior played by: Rosario, Interviewer played by: Joleen, Narrator: Max



Follow-up activities:


1) Using the graphic organizer that supports this interview (above), have students compare and contrast the classes and activities from the interview. Then have students use the graphic organizer and the podcast as a model for them to write and perform their own, similar interviews in pairs or small groups. Students should present them to the whole class in person, or as an audio podcast on http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ (if technology is readily available).

2) Have students research to find more information on some of the cultural icons and references from the "Where are they now?" section at the end of the podcast and throughout the narration of the podcast.

You may even have recognized the immortal words of one of our favorite muses, Homer J. Simpson (created by Matt Groening), when Max said "Mmmmm...Algebra II...Doh!!" "Mmmmm..." is what Homer says when something sounds delicious to him, and "Doh!" is what he says when he makes a mistake. See more on the Simpsons and our other cultural references here, or you might try searching for them on www.google.com:

http://www.thesimpsons.com/characters/home.htm

http://web.mit.edu/aboutmit/

http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml

http://www.history.com/

http://www.lonesailor.org/about.php

And last, but not least: http://www.kraftfoods.com/main.aspx?s=search&m=search/knet_search_main&u1=search&u2=cheese%20whiz%20