Intermediate -Design is Everywhere- Lesson w- Rationale

Design is
Everywhere
Intermediate (B1+), EC New York
Anna Murray
Auxiliary lesson material for Lesson 7.1 (Design chapter)
Language Leader Intermediate, Pearson Longman

Objectives
Today, you will...
Scan extracts about design for main ideas. (READING)
Use new descriptive adjectives to describe designs and flags.
(VOCABULARY)
Listen to a TED Talk and identify the main ideas. (LISTENING)
Design a flag for New York City and present it using descriptive adjectives.
(SPEAKING)
Write a paragraph using descriptive vocabulary to describe a flag of your
choice. (WRITING)

Lesson rationale
This lesson was created to adapt and supplement lesson 7.1 found in Language Leader Intermediate. Chapter 7 featured a full unit
contextualized in design. The class was classified as Intermediate, which translates to roughly level B1+ on the CEFR scale.
The main objectives of this chapter segment revolved around supplying students with adjective vocabulary necessary for describing objects
and discussing design, which would be necessary for readings, listenings, and discussions later in the chapter.
The class lasted 3 hours total, separated into two 90 minute modules. For the first module, I followed the book more closely but adapted
portions of it to the presentation in order to increase student engagement. (In the interest on time, the activity on word formations and
emphasis would be shifted to a later lesson.)
MODULE 1 (90 minutes):
● Warm-Up and Contextualization: In this lesson, I expanded the warm-up and brainstorming phase and made it more specific to
better stimulate interest and to generate more ideas closer to the students’ experience.
● Reading: For gist reading practice, I incorporated the reading in the book, as it gave students practice in identifying main ideas
through categorization. It also supplied a good definition on design that would be expanded upon later by the TED Talk.
● Vocabulary: For the vocabulary section, students were put into pairs to use words to describe common items. They were instructed
to first help each other out with vocabulary words that their partner didn’t know, since there was a variety of L1s and linguistic

Lesson rationale
For module 2, I chose to deviate from the book and craft the lesson around a TED Talk listening task, as many of the students had expressed
a desire to improve their listening and speaking skills, but were often uninterested in book listening samples. This group of students tended
to be intimidated by words they didn’t know and had a low tolerance for risk in both reading and listening, as well as speaking. They often
wanted to resort to their dictionaries whenever possible.
Roman Mars’ TED Talk, “The Worst Designed Thing You’ve Never Noticed,” was linguistically quite challenging for the students, but thanks to
Mars’ clear pronunciation, effective use of visuals and sound effects, and use of a numbered list, students were a) still generally able to follow
the gist of the talk and b) entertained and interested, distracting them from the stress that they would normally experience when faced with
such a high-level task.
For all of the above reasons, it was very important to direct their focus to the two basic main ideas questions. I did not follow up with a detail-
listening question for fear of frustrating the students and undoing the confidence they gained in successfully completing the gist-listening
activity. Instead, I concluded the lesson with a fun group activity and informal presentation, along with written homework.

Lesson rationale
MODULE 2 (90 minutes):
● Warm-Up and Contextualization: Students are invited to describe their own flags and give an opinion of it using vocabulary they
already possess.
● Vocabulary Pre-Teach: This activity uses vocabulary words that are used in the listening and presented in terms of opposites.
Students were placed into pairs or groups of three and permitted to use their dictionaries only after consulting their partners for
assistance.
● Flag description: Students practice using their new vocabulary by describing the flags that would subsequently be used in the TED
Talk. This also exposes them to the images for the first time, rendering the talk itself more accessible and familiar.
● Listening: Students are introduced to the topic of the talk and are directed to the two main questions. The talk may be segmented
with comprehension checking questions throughout or repeated, depending on time, although I would recommend leaving the list
segment intact.
● Oral Production: Students are directed to work in groups of 3 or 2 to create a flag using the principles of design mentioned in the
talk and informally present their flag to the class.

Warm-up What is
design?
What is the best designed
[...] you can think of?
- Object
- Building
- Airline
- Car
What is the worst designed
[...] you can think of?
- Object
- Building
- Airline
- Car

Reading
↝ On page 70, take 2 minutes to quickly read “WHAT IS DESIGN?”, just
looking for the main ideas.
↝ In which extract does the writer mention…
1. incorrect ideas about design?
2. the essential element in good design?
3. what design is?
4. the restrictions on designers?
5. what designers do?

Reading
↝ Read again. Correct the statements below:
1. Designers are the same as scientists and engineers.
2. Magazines don’t make mistakes when talking about design.
3. Design is all about appearance.
4. The secret of good design is to be new and different.

Describe this design ● elegant
● functional
● futuristic
● handmade
● innovative
● mass-produced
● retro
● simple
● streamlined
● stylish
● traditional
● up to date

Describe this design
● elegant
● functional
● futuristic
● handmade
● innovative
● mass-produced
● retro
● simple
● streamlined
● stylish
● traditional
● up to date

Flags
↝ What does your country’s flag look like? Describe it to a partner.
↝ Do you like your country’s flag design?

Match the opposites
meaningful
simple
refined
tasteful
distinctive
attractive
powerful
crude
complex
ugly
bland
ridiculous
meaningless
tacky

Describe this flag meaningful
simple
crude
distinctive
attractive
powerful
refined
complex
ugly
bland
ridiculous
meaningless
tacky
tasteful

TED Talk
↝ Roman Mars is the host and producer of a podcast and radio show called
“99% Invisible”.
↝ This episode is about vexillology (the study of flags).
↝ First time listening: Don’t worry about things you don’t understand! Listen
for the following main ideas:
❖Does he agree with you about the flags you just saw?
❖What are his 5 rules about designing a good flag?

TED Talk: Roman Mars, 99% Invisbile
➔ Does he agree with
you about the flags
you just saw?
➔ What are his 5 rules
about designing a
good flag?

Design a flag
↝ Think about the 5 rules about designing a good flag and design a new flag
for New York City.
↝ Negotiate with your group over what it should look like.
↝ Present your idea to the class, using at least 5 descriptive adjectives that
we learned today.

Homework
Choose a flag! It can be a country flag, a city flag, or a state flag.
Write a paragraph of 5 sentences about:
Do you like the way it looks?
Does it follow or break the Roman Mars’ five rules of good design?

Intermediate -Design is Everywhere- Lesson w- Rationale

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