Part 1
Slumdog Millionaire
Overview
The unit is based on the film “Slumdog Millionaire”. In the previous units,
students talked about poverty, inequality, population migration, geographical
regions and changes in different parts of the world. This film involves all these
topics; but most importantly, it also develops the idea of life-long learning and
ways beyond formal education people may get knowledge about the world.
Lesson 1
Learning Objectives
Developing listening, writing, internet research skills; motivate students to
develop independent learning opportunities and learn outside the school
Instructions
Ask students the meaning of the word slum. Ask them if there is a similar concept
in their countries, when and how huge urban conclaves of poverty were formed in
many countries (previous lecture material). Ask what they know about India
(geography, population, rural, urban, economic development, religion, famous
people, etc.).
Take students to the computer lab and ask them to use the internet to find
information and answer the questions on the first handout. Most of these
questions are asked to the main character during the game “Do You Want to Be a
Millionaire?” Students can work in pairs or small groups (pairing students with
weaker and stronger computer skills); this assignment can be done as a prewatching activity, or after the students finish watching the movie.
Tell students they are going to watch the film Slumdog Millionaire, and ask what
the title may mean. Show the film. Pause to clarify vocabulary, help with the
background information and point out the events important for the
understanding of the main idea, for example: “Where did Jamal learn that? How
was he able to answer this question?” Give students the second handout and ask
them to write their responses to the film.
1
1. Who invented the game “Do You Want to Be a Millionaire?” Where?
Who was the first winner?
2. What is Big Ben? Why is it famous?
3. What is Loch Ness? Why is it famous?
4. What is Bollywood?
5. Where are the biggest slums in the world?
6. What is a Call Center?
7. What is “globalization”?
8. Who built the Taj Mahal? Why?
9. What is Silicon Valley?
10.
Is Mumbai in California?
11.
Why do they say that Mumbai is the Silicon Valley of India?
2
 What is the name of the film? Where was it made? When did you watch it?
What is it about?
 Make a summary of the film.
 What is the main idea of the film?
 Would you like to work in a call center?
 How do you feel about the film? Did you learn anything new – language,
vocabulary, ideas, general knowledge?
Lesson 2
Learning Objectives
Developing independent learning skills; internet search for information skills;
reading; vocabulary expansion
Materials
Handouts; internet sites
Vocabulary
ray, International Date Line, VIP, abbreviation, assassination, names of oceans,
jealous, guilty, neglected, prove, deduce, natural disaster, caregiver, survival,
prospects, essential, ancestral, natural selection, explainable, flood, death toll,
range, drought, famine, cyclone, personification, ration
Instructions for Activity
Tell students that they are going to have a general knowledge team competition.
The team that finishes the General Knowledge Quiz first, and with most correct
answers, will be the winner. Help students to make teams; give them the handout
with the quiz. When they are done, project internet pages on a big screen/wall
and go through the process of finding on-line information to answer the questions
on the quiz, while discussing which sites can be considered as more reliable
sources. You can ask stronger students/volunteers to do that.
Remind students that although we can find a lot of information on the web, the
best and the most reliable way may be going to a library and working with books.
Give students the second handout with questions. Ask them to work individually
(to see who still needs help with internet search for information). Tell them to
write down the websites where they get their answers. Ask stronger students if
they finish fast to help weaker students who work slower or don’t feel confident.
Give students the handout with the correct answers. Ask them to check on their
own the answers that they have provided. Ask who answered all the questions on
the worksheet correctly. If there were many incorrect answers, ask volunteers who
were able to find he correct answers, to show the sites they got them from.
GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
QUIZ
1. When did the modern Olympic Games Start?
a. 1806
b. 1896
c. 1922
2. How long does it take for the sun rays to reach the Earth?
a. 8 minutes
b. 8 hours
c. 8 days
3. What was Neil Armstrong doing when he said in 1969, “That’s on small step for
a man, one giant leap for mankind”?
a.
b.
c.
4. What doesn’t a vegetarian eat?
5. If you are flying over the International Date Line, which ocean is below you?
a. the Atlantic Ocean
b. the Pacific Ocean
c. the Indian Ocean
6. What does VIP stand for?
7. Which language is spoken by the most people in the world?
a. Spanish
b. Chinese
c. English
8. Where were glasses invented?
a. Mexico
b. Italy
c. China
9. How many times has Brazil won the World Cup?
10. Why didn’t Nelson Mandela become president of South Africa until he was 76
years old?
11. What was Abraham Lincoln doing when he was assassinated?
a. Giving a speech
b. Watching a play
c. Playing cards
12. When did women get the right to vote in the United States?
a. 1829
b. 1920
c. 1863
2
Answer the following questions. You can use the Internet to look for answers.
1. Do animals have feelings?
2. What man-made things on Earth can be seen from the space?
3. Why do women live longer than men?
4. What is the worst natural disaster in recent history?
5. Was Uncle Sam a real person?
ANSWERS:
1. All the pet owners will say “Yes”, their dogs and cats can feel angry, depressed, guilty,
jealous and happy. Many scientist, however are skeptical about giving the animals the
full range of emotions that humans can feel. It is impossible to prove that even a human
being is happy or sad. It is because we can observe body language that we can deduce
it. And humans can express emotions with language. However, most researchers agree
that many creatures have fear. Some scientists define it as a primary emotion.
2. The Great Wall of China, the ancient pyramids of Giza, big cities at night.
3. In every society, women do more of the child care than men. According to the
caregiver theory, women live longer than men because they are more essential to the
survival and well-being of children. Because motherless children had poor survival
prospects, natural selection ensured that ancestral women were good at surviving. This
meant avoiding unnecessary risks.
Males are generally more reckless than females and experiments on monkeys find that
the difference is explainable in terms of prenatal exposure of the brain to testosterone.
Evolutionists generally attribute male riskiness to male-male competition over mates.
Analysis of human mortality statistics supports the risky lifestyle theory. Women take
much better care of their own health and men are much more likely to die from
violence, and accidents, and from neglecting their medical care.
4. There have been numerous natural disasters in recent history, ranging from the very
recent January 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti, final death toll still unknown, to
Cyclone Aila, which hit Bangladesh and India in May of 2009, killing approximately 330
people and affecting more than 1 million.
The Yellow River flood of 1931 in China is often thought to be the world’s worst natural
disaster. The flood swept the flatland’s taking with it up to 4 million lives and destroying
farmland, houses -literally everything in its way. The flood itself was not directly
responsible for the estimated number of deaths, as famine, disease and droughts
caused by the flooding contributed to the total.
5. Uncle Sam (initials U.S.) is a common national personification of the American
government that according to legend came into use during the War of 1812 and was
supposedly named for Samuel Wilson. Sam Wilson was a meat packer in New York, who
supplied rations for the soldiers. They had to stamp their contractors name and where
the rations were coming from, onto the food they were sending. On the package, it was
labeled “E. A – US.” When someone asked what that stood for, a coworker joked and
said “Elbert Anderson (the contractor) and Uncle Sam,” referring to Sam Wilson, though
it actually stood for United States.
Part 2
Overview
In this unit students have the opportunity to apply skills they developed or
improved and practiced in the previous units of the course. This is the final project
and it can be used for assessments of skills acquired and of the progress achieved.
Students have to choose a topic for their “lecture”, which will be delivered in the
form of PowerPoint presentation. Students do on-line research, find information,
prepare and do their presentations, while their classmates are taking notes. The
“lecturers” also create mini-quizzes, generally about 6 questions, on the material
they present, give, check and grade the quizzes.
Working on PowerPoint helps students to choose the most important facts and
ideas they want to share. It also presents the opportunity to speak for the audience
on topics beyond the daily life and further develop or learn computer skills, which
is particularly important for those who have not used PowerPoint before, but will
have to use confidently in college.
Learning Objectives
Developing research skills; working with information; developing computer skills;
developing writing and speaking skills; developing listening and note-taking skills
Materials
Handout; internet sites; PowerPoint
Instructions
Explain to the students the goals of the project. Give them the handout with the
description of the project and suggested topics. Brainstorm on other topics and
make a list on the board. Ask students if they have done PowerPoint presentations
before and if they need help in creating their presentations. Assign “tutors” –
stronger students – for those who need help. Guide the students through the
process of choosing a topic, finding information and creating a presentation. You
can use a volunteer-student with stronger skills who would agree to prepare a
presentation at home and demonstrate the process for the classmate. Have students
work on their presentations and show you the questions they prepare for “quizzes”
(ideally, they e-mail you these questions). Students do the presentations and
quizzes. Provide feedback on their work (individual interviews, if time permits, or
written assessments).
What you need for your project:
Choose a topic, do research (internet, books), find information and present it to
other students using PowerPoint. You will need to inform your classmates about
your sources of information (website addresses, book titles, etc.), so don’t forget to
write down all the sources you are using.
You can put your information on slides, but you should choose the most important
points, I can help you with that. The slides will help you to do the presentation,
but you should speak. Your presentation can take about 10 minutes – it’s a lot!
Write 5 questions for the quiz on the topic you are presenting. Your classmates
will take notes and then will have a quiz with your questions. You are going to
check and grade the quiz. E-mail or show me your questions – I can provide
advice, or check the mistakes, as the questions should be clear.
To choose a topic, think about something that is interesting for you, but you don’t
know much about or would like to learn more. It may be something we briefly
touched in class, or something we never mentioned. You can choose a topic,
explore it, change your mind and choose another topic – it is perfectly fine!
Here are some examples of possible topics, although you absolutely don’t have to
choose anything from this list:
Flowers of my Country
The History of the Internet
Creole Languages and Cultures
Bullying
Healthcare system in MA
Taliban
Bonsai Trees
Diabetes
The process of buying a house in the USA
Unemployment Insurance
Identity Theft
Standardized Tests in the U.S.
The Sun
The relations of the United States and Puerto Rico: History and Present
Dyslexia
Or – let’s brainstorm!
Some other topics suggested, chosen, and presented by students:
Northern Lights
Penguins
Heart Disease
American Civil War
History of Law
Identity Theft
Alaska
History of Bread