{"id":543,"date":"2015-04-26T16:17:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-26T09:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/humorous-knowledge.flywheelsites.com\/?p=543"},"modified":"2020-02-05T09:52:31","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T09:52:31","slug":"ted-talks-english-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ieltsadvantage.com\/2015\/04\/26\/ted-talks-english-students\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ted Talks Every English Student Should Watch"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article shows you how to use TED Talks to improve your English, how they can be used in the classroom and suggests 10 great talks to use in the English classroom.<\/p>\n

TED is a series of informative, educational, inspiring and sometimes jaw-dropping talks that present \u2018Ideas Worth Spreading\u2019. Ted has attracted many of the world\u2019s most important thinkers such as Larry Page, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Ken Robinson, and a few winners of the Nobel Prize.<\/p>\n

There is an emphasis on informing, educating and opening people\u2019s eyes to new ideas, making them perfect for the classroom. Students love these talks and really appreciate it when you take the time to make a lesson out of them. Teenagers, being the \u2018YouTube generation\u2019, also find them highly engaging and motivating. They come with transcriptions in most common languages, allowing students to read what they have listened to in English or their native tongue.<\/p>\n

This post will list 10 TED talks I have found work particularly well in the classroom. I will also outline how students could use TED to improve their English at home and how teachers can use them in class.<\/p>\n

How Students\u00a0Can Use TED at Home<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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TED Talks for students provide an engaging context from which they\u00a0can autonomously improve their English at home. There are thousands of videos to choose from, so there should always be something of interest. They can help students improve, not only their listening skills but also improve their pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and writing.<\/p>\n

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  1. Listening<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This is the obvious one, but students should be encouraged to listen \u2018actively\u2019. Ask students to look at the title before they listen and try to predict what they are going to hear. They can also pause at different points and try to guess what they will hear next. Another useful exercise is \u2018micro-listening\u2019 where they rewind and listen again and again to any sentences they didn\u2019t quite get until they fully understand, thereby getting used to connected speech and any other barriers that might prevent comprehension.<\/p>\n

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    1. Pronunciation<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      \u2018Micro-listening\u2019 can also be used to help students produce sentences. Identify a few sentences that caused the listener trouble and identify elements of connected speech, weak sounds and or difficult phonemes. A comparison with the transcripts should highlight important differences between written and spoken English. Students can then practice reproducing these features at home.<\/p>\n

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      1. Vocabulary<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Learners listen for unfamiliar words and then try to guess the meaning from context. They can also look at the transcripts for extra help. Students can then note down their new words together with definitions, synonyms, antonyms and example sentences.<\/p>\n

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        1. Grammar<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Students could be encouraged to think about the grammar used. What verb tenses were used and why? How did the speaking use sequencing words? How did they use discourse markers? What phrases did they use to make their points or persuade the audience?<\/p>\n

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          1. Writing<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Below every TED video is a comments section where people discuss the video and the issues that came up in the video. Students can enter these debates and practice their writing at the same time.<\/p>\n

            How Teachers Can Use TED Talks in Class<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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            Every TED Talk is different and they can, therefore, be exploited in a variety of different ways. Below are a few suggestions:<\/p>\n

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            1. Pre-Listening Task<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Ask some questions about the title. What do you think the speaker is going to say?<\/p>\n

              Example<\/em>: Ken Robinson- How Schools Kill Creativity.<\/p>\n

              Do schools teach creativity?<\/p>\n

              Which subjects are creative and which are not?<\/p>\n

              How do schools kill creativity?<\/p>\n

              Is it the teacher’s fault?<\/p>\n

              Alternatively, you could give them some key vocabulary from the talk and ask them to predict what is going to be said based on the keywords.<\/p>\n

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              1. First Listen<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                Ask students to listen and check if their ideas match those in the video. If not, how are they different?<\/p>\n

                You could also give them the transcript with the keywords missing and ask them to insert them as they listen.<\/p>\n

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                1. Focus on Lexis, Grammar or Functional Language<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  I normally ask students to note down any words or phrases they don\u2019t understand and then either watch again or read the transcript to try to guess the meaning from context. Students should then discuss their unknown words and expressions with other students to see if anyone can help them and the teacher clarifies at the end.<\/p>\n

                  This approach can also be used for verb tenses or functional language. For example, how did the speaker use sequencing language? What phrases did they use to try and prove their point? How many times was the present perfect used and why?<\/p>\n

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                  1. Post Listening Task<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    Give students a task that encourages them to use the language you focused on in the previous stage. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n