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Home & Belonging

CEFR: A2, B1 11 slides 47 min Whole class

In the slide deck

A comparison

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Home & belonging — Preview: the first 3 slides, as your students see them on the board.

Preview: the first 3 slides, as your students see them on the board.

Objective & content

What makes a place home, and how do you start again somewhere new? This 45-minute discussion lesson follows one path: the pupils first, then a story, then a real life, then what the class thinks. The story is Tiago, 14, who leaves noisy São Paulo for a quiet town in California and a new family (Golden Bay). The real life is Annie Moore, 17, the first person to arrive at Ellis Island in New York in 1892, with her two little brothers. By the end, pupils can talk about home, moving and belonging, compare two experiences, defend an opinion and write a short welcome message.

Documents to download (2)

Pupil sheet In your teacher account
Colour version In your teacher account

Pedagogical guide

Every slide asks the class to do something: choose two picture cards, read four characters' words and say who they agree with, pick three feeling words, compare Annie and Tiago in three boxes, choose three things for one small bag, stand on a line from 1 to 5, write a postcard. The words come before the talking, and each question has an A2 version for everyone and a B1 one for stronger pupils. The pupil sheet follows the slides, so every pupil leaves with something written. No question asks a pupil to tell their own family story: they can always talk about Tiago or Annie instead.

Suggested procedure47 min

2 min
Show the cover and read the big question: "What makes a place home?" No answers yet.
9 min
Home is ...: pairs choose two cards each and say why. Then read the eight words and their examples together.
10 min
Tiago's story and the four voices: read the bubbles aloud; pairs choose the voice they agree with most.
13 min
Annie Moore: read the short text, choose three feeling words, then compare Annie and Tiago on the pupil sheet.
9 min
One small bag, then "Where do you stand?": pupils choose alone, explain to a partner, then stand on the line from 1 to 5.
4 min
Welcome!: pupils start the postcard to a new pupil; finish it as homework.

Adaptations

SupportKeep the word slide on screen during the voices and the bag, and accept one-sentence answers built on the useful language. Pupils can draw their three things in the bag instead of writing them.
ExtensionAsk stronger pairs the B1 question on the voices slide ("Which voice would help Tiago most?"), and have them argue the side they do not hold on the line from 1 to 5.

Materials & prerequisitesA projector or screen for the slides (one PDF page per slide, turned with the arrow keys) and one pupil sheet (two A4 pages) per pupil. The last slide is the teacher's notes, with the timed plan, to read before the lesson rather than project. Nothing to install. It goes further after the Golden Bay episodes Room for One More and Back Home, and the Look Closer episode on Ellis Island.

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