Topic: poverty, misery, power, oppression, SDGs 1, 2, 6, 8, 10
Level: B2+, C1
Objectives:
- to raise awareness to an important issue
- to expand students’ knowledge about poverty
- to develop students’ critical thinking
- to develop student’s listening skills
- to develop students’ autonomy, presentations skills, research skills and cooperation
- to develop students’ empathy
- to encourage students to take some action
Equipment/materials needed: video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytIfSuy_mOA ), Kahoot! https://play.kahoot.it/v2/lobby?quizId=8a337f4e-1cf2-4c44-8455-2f2fe602ed4e
The sequence of activities
1. Warmer
Ask your students to observe the cover of the single and brainstorm some adjectives that come to their mind as they look at the picture.
Then, ask them to try to guess the genre of the song they will listen to.
2. First listening & watching
Play the video for the first time, then ask your students the following questions:
What's the ambiance of the video like?
Where was the video shot?
Could you recall some scenes?
3. Second listening & watching
Ask your students to answer the following questions about the song:
1. Why is the singer desperate?
a. She doesn’t have friends.
b. Nobody believes her.
c. Her boyfriend left her.
d. She doesn’t have money.
2. What does she compare her life to?
a. Falling from a rock.
b. Wading through deep water.
c. Being stuck in mud.
d. Watching sunrise.
3. Who caused her sufferings?
a. her boyfriend
b. her friends
c. the government
d. her parents
4. What gives her comfort in her sufferings?
a. they will elect a new government
b. she has dreams
c. she has a boat
d. knowing that she’s not alone
4. Vocabulary
Ask them to collect all the words and expressions from the lyrics that refer to the singer's misery. Then, they will have to try to find synonyms and antonyms for the collected words.
"Get Free" (feat. Amber of Dirty Projectors)
Never got love from a government man
Heading downstream till the levee gives in
What can I do to get the money
We ain't got the money,
we ain't gettin' out
Heading downstream till the levee gives in
And my dreams are wearin' thin
All I need's relief I need,
I need some sympathy
Look at me
I just can't believe
What they've done to me
We could never get free
I just wanna be, I just wanna be
Look at me I just can't believe
What they've done to me
We could never get free
I just wanna be,
I just wanna dream
All of my life been wadin' in
Water so deep now we got to swim
Wonder will it ever end
How long, how long till we have a friend
Comin' down, feelin' like a battery hen
Waves won't break till the tide comes in
What will I do in the sunrise
What will I do without my dreams
Look at me
I just can't believe
What they've done to me
We could never get free
I just wanna be, I just wanna be
Look at me I just can't believe
What they've done to me
We could never get free
I just wanna be
I just wanna dream
I know you, you know me
Baby, you know me
We're all together in the same boat
I know you, you know me
Baby, you know me
We're all together in the same boat I
know you, you know me
Baby, you know me
I just wanna dream...
Baby, you know me
Ask your students to group the words into meaningful units, add some more expressions and draw a mind-map.
After drawing their mind-maps, students can compare them, and add more expressions.
ONLINE TIP: You can ask the students to create their mind-maps using these applications - https://www.mindmup.com/, http://www.wisemapping.com/, https://www.mindomo.com/hu/, https://www.canva.com/graphs/mind-maps/
5. Discussion - Ask them to discuss the following questions and then have a full-class discussion on the most interesting ones.
1. Can you find any connections between the following concepts? Please explain.
MONEY FREEDOM OPPRESSION GOVERNMENT
2. What does freedom mean to the singer of the song?
3. What does poverty mean? What does extreme poverty mean?
4. What kind of problems do poor people have to face?
5. Do people have any interests in maintaining poverty in a country? If so, please explain.
6. How could people fight against poverty?
7. What could you, as an individual do to help?
6. Poverty quiz: How much do you know about poverty? Take the quiz and find it out!
You can ask students to either guess the answers or to look them up. You can also make them do it on Kahoot (ask them to type in 215956 on kahoot.it) either first to guess the answers or to check the answers they’ve looked up.
7. Infographic - Ask your students to have a look at the infographic and fill it in with the labels. Here’s the complete image. Then, ask them to discuss the questions under the labels and ask for feedback if you feel it’s necessary.
8. Project - To round up the topic, ask your students to do this little project
They should work in groups. With the help of the links below, ask them to discover some organisations helping people living in extreme poverty. Ask them to choose an issue poor people have to face around the world and in 10 minutes, present what the different organisations do in order to facilitate their lives.
https://www.livebelowtheline.com.au
http://www.oxfam.org/en
http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/projects
http://outreach-international.org/5-ways-to-fight-poverty/
https://www.one.org/us/about/
Are there any similar organisations in the country where they live? Ask them to brainstorm the different measures their government or these organisations could take in order to improve the life standards of those living in extreme poverty. Ask them to inquire into the ongoing activities of these organisations and then, give a presentation on their activities.