Graffiti Safety First
Teacher’s Notes
You will need:
Copies of the Banksy images for half the class
Copies of the Roa images for half the class
One copy of the newspaper article for each student
One copy of the “Embrace This” image
1. Write the following names on the board:
 Banksy (English)
 Roa (Belgian)
 Aroe (British)
Ask students if they have heard of any of them / can they guess who they are and
what they do?
2. Tell students that they are all famous street artists/graffitiers. Divide the class into
two groups, A and B, and give each one a different set of pictures – Banksy or Roa.
Ask them to discuss the themes, whether they like them or not, etc.
3. Put students into new groups with at least one student from group A and one from
group B in them. They show each other their photos and exchange opinions. Do
they consider this art? activism? vandalism?
4. Tell students that these street artists are mentioned in an article about how two town
councils deal with graffiti. Students read and highlight five words or chunks that they
want to remember/use in the future. They then compare their choices with a partner
and explain the reasons for these choices.
5. Ask students “If you were the mayor of your hometown/city, which policy would you
adopt - Brighton’s, Hackney’s, or something else?” They discuss in pairs, trying to
use the five words or phrases which they highlighted in the article. Note that since
the article was written, Hackney Council did a U-turn and the rabbit is out of danger.
6. Elicit the name of Brighton’s road safety campaign (Embrace Life), and show the
photograph. Before showing the clip, hype it up eg “Low-budget, local ad achieves
20m hits on internet, international recognition and major awards.”.
7. Put students in groups of three, with two facing the screen and one looking away.
Play the clip with the sound off. The two facing the screen descibe what they see to
their partner.
8. Now everyone looks at the screen. Turn the sound up and play the clip again.
Afterwards, the “blind” student gives the other two feedback on the quality of their
description, and the three say how the clip made them feel. Ask them to remember
the clip and describe it as precisely as possible in their group. Help with vocabulary,
which goes up on the board.
9. Show again to all. How did they do? Did they miss anything?
10. Ask groups to plan part of a road safety campaign. We did this as a fairly short
speaking activity in which students planned an advertisement in groups and then
compared ideas with a partner from another group. It could also be made into a
longer activity eg design a poster, produce a storyboard for an advertisement etc