Amity Teacher's Toolkit 2003

Part III: Talking About Culture > Module 4: Our Nation

Famous People


Pair/Small Group Task: "How many famous people can you think of?"
Goals: Practice talking about famous people; learn English names of famous people.
Estimated Time/Difficulty: Short-Medium/Easy-Medium.
Activity Notes:
1. Have students quickly list -- in English -- the names of as many famous people from your country as they can think of. Tell them this is a race, and they will only have a few minutes.
2. When time is up, have groups count the number of names on their list and announce how many they have.
3. Pick one group -- probably the one who claims to have the most -- and have them call out the names on the list one by one as you write them on the board. As each name is called out, you ask the rest of the class to say whether they got the name right or not (pronounced properly, actually from the right country, etc.)
4. Decide if this group should be festively declared the winner, or if another group should be given a chance.
5. Closure suggestion: Go over the list on the board and see if everyone knows who these people are and why they are famous. Explain as necessary.

Talk: "Our most famous"
Goals: Practice listening; learn about your history.
Estimated Time/Difficulty: Medium/Medium.
Activity Notes:
1. Give a talk on your nation's most famous person (leader, thinker, etc.). Tell the story of this person's life, why s/he is famous, and what impact s/he had on your country.
2. Closure suggestion: Comprehension check.

Teacher Interview: "A famous person"
Goals: Practice listening, asking questions, learn about your history.
Estimated Time/Difficulty: Medium/Medium.
Preparation Notes:
1. Read up on a famous person from your country so that you would be able to play that person for an interview. If possible, also come up with a bit of a costume.
Activity Notes:
1. Tell students they have been asked to interview Abraham Lincoln (Winston Churchill, Audrey Hepburn, Michael Jordan, one of the Spice Girls, whatever) for their local newspaper. In pairs or groups have them prepare questions.
2. With you playing the role of the famous person, conduct the interviews.
3. Closure suggestion: Ask students what they discovered during the interviews that surprised them most. (If you were forced to improvise answers to some of the questions, you might also let students know which answers were "real" and which ones you just made up.)

Pair/Small Group Task: "China's most famous"
Goals: Practice talking about famous Chinese people in English.
Estimated Time/Difficulty: Medium-Long/Medium.
Activity Notes:
1. Ask students to make a list -- in order of importance -- of the ten Chinese people that they think foreigners should know about. They should be ready to explain to a foreigner (you) why each of these people is important in Chinese history. (To avoid political issues and make the task more interesting, restrict the list to people born before 1900, or even 1850.)
2. Go around, having each group add one person to the list and introduce that person. Keep going around until groups run out of candidates. (This should result in a list of more than ten on the board.)
3. Closure suggestion: Have the group discuss until they come to consensus as to which should be on the top ten (or top five) list.

Other Activity Ideas
Talk: Give a talk about a lesser-known but interesting person from your country you think students should know about.
Survey: Would you want to be famous? If so, for what?

Other Topic Ideas
-- Who are the most important famous people of the past? Of the present?
-- What is the best/easiest way to become famous?
-- Who are China's most famous women (leaders, scientists, soldiers, etc.)?
-- How many of my country's presidents (kings, etc.) can you name?