The Coca-Cola Christmas lesson

Projector lesson: I really wanted to try out some technology, to jazz up the teenage PET class and also for my own professional development. This lesson took me about 18 hours to prepare, but a large part of that was learning how to use PowerPoint. I'm not sure how to add a ppt into the blog. The main thrust of the lesson was to introduce two Coca-Cola Christmas advertising songs, and to make the students aware of how advertising colours our view of Christmas, whether we want it to, or not. 

I began by asking the Ss to work in pairs, making lists of Christmas symbols. 

I then showed them a slide with animation - introducing the most well-known, with vocabulary (Father Christmas/Santa Claus, bells, gifts, nativity scene, Christmas tree, stockings), and then a new slide..."COKE", then Coke = Christmas? I asked them to consider why this might be so. 

Then I adapted  four texts from www.saint-nick.com. There was a worksheet with questions about the texts. (If you want a copy, ask in the comments below). Then we talked about what happened with the advent of TV...and I showed them this youtube clip.  The worksheet had the lyrics with some errors for correction, and the next slide was a copy of the correct lyrics, and clipart to illustrate vocabulary. 

Then I asked them if they thought things were different now...

This slide got a big laugh.

After showing some screen shots of the Coke ads which followed the Hilltop Singers ("Holidays are Coming", "The Greatest Gift" and the one with the polar bears and penguins, we flipped over the worksheet and there was a gap-fill for the full song used in the 2010 NEW Coke ad, which had only just started playing on TV in Italy. Only a couple of the students had seen it. Train have a really cute video and a catchy song, and I was hoping the teens would love it :-) I played it first without the video, so they wouldn't be distracted.

It was hard for them - I scaffolded it the second time by writing the missing words on the board in random order...it made it easier, and then I just underlined the words as they came up the third time around.

To end the listening part of the lesson, I played the advert and had them underline the parts of the song they heard in it. 

And then I showed them the making of the advert, with the words of the director highlighted afterwards on a separate slide, to generate discussion. See it here.

That's it :-) 

I've used the lesson six times so far, with individuals of all levels, as well as with the teen class. It's been a hit every time. The song is quite difficult, so a little scaffolding goes a long way. Also, the discussion will depend on the level of the students. 

Personally, I really enjoyed experimenting with PowerPoint, learning how to download youtube vids, taking screen shots, and am now wondering what else I can use, and where to go next!