Reality TV

Introduction

This lesson uses the topic of reality TV as a springboard for producing a piece of drama. Students do a series of activities to get ready to perform with confidence. They prepare language for drama by exploring dialogues typical of reality TV, and they prepare their minds and bodies for drama by expressing and miming different emotions. Finally, they write and perform a dialogue from a reality TV programme of their choice. 

Learning outcomes

• Explain the meanings of a range of words to describe emotions
• Write a dialogue conveying at least one emotion and typical of a reality TV show
• Perform a dialogue and use expression and body language to convey emotion 

Age and level

13-17, Adults (B1+)

Time

Approximately 55-70 minutes

Materials

The materials can be downloaded in PDF format below. 

• Lesson plan
• Student worksheet

Lead-in (5-10 minutes)

• Write ‘Reality TV’ on the board. Ask students to say what it means (television programmes about people who are not actors, and how they behave in everyday life, or in situations created by the programme makers).
• Students discuss the following questions as a whole class or in pairs / small groups. If they discuss in pairs / groups, invite some to share their answers with the whole class. 
  o    Why do you think reality TV is popular?
  o    Do you watch reality TV? Why? Why not?

Focus on language: reality TV dialogues (10 minutes)

• Ask students to name some popular reality TV programmes and write the names on the board. 
• Choose one of the programmes listed on the board (e.g. Masterchef) and ask students to think of some typical quotes from the show. For example:
  ‘This dish is a tribute to my grandmother who taught me everything I know about cooking. If I can get this right, I’ll have done her proud.’
  ‘I’m heartbroken. I knew this dish wasn’t the best, but I didn’t expect to go home today. I really thought I had what it takes to win.’
• In pairs, students choose one of the reality TV programmes listed on the board and write one or two typical quotes. Give a short time limit for this.
• Ask pairs to read out their quotes to the rest of the class. The class should guess which programme the quote represents. 
• If you have a large class, put pairs into larger groups, so that they can read the quotes to each other and guess. Then choose a few to read out their quotes to the class. 

Focus on language: vocabulary of emotions (10 minutes)

• Ask learners to think about the quotes they created and to say what emotions they showed (if any).
• Option 1: Hand out copies of the student worksheet. In pairs, students draw circles around adjectives that they understand the meaning of and a line under adjectives they don’t know. As they work, write all the adjectives from the worksheet on the board. 
• Option 2 (no-printing): Display the student worksheet or write the adjectives from the worksheet on the board. In pairs, students note down the adjectives that they don’t understand the meaning of. 
• When pairs are ready, read out definitions of the adjectives in a random order. Students say which adjective you are defining. With a smaller class, you could do this as a team game. The team to call out the correct adjective first wins a point. The team with the most points at the end wins. 
  Example definitions:
  curious: interested in other people and things
  cynical: distrustful; believing the worst of others
  delighted: very pleased
  embarrassed: feeling shy, ashamed, guilty
  excited: very happy and enthusiastic
  exhausted: very tired
  fed up: unhappy, bored, tired of something that you have been experiencing for a long time
  furious: very angry
  homesick: unhappy because you are away from home / family
  lonely: sad because you have no company
  nervous: worried and afraid about what might happen
  rebellious: refusing to obey rules or authority
  scared: afraid / frightened
  shocked: unpleasantly surprised
  smug: too pleased or satisfied about something you have done or know
  stressed: feeling worry and anxiety because of difficulties in your life
• If students are confused by some of the words, give / ask for situations when we might feel these emotions. 

Focus on drama: expressing and miming emotions (10 minutes)

• Choose one of the adjectives from the worksheet – don’t say which one! Now say a neutral sentence e.g. ‘I’m watching TV’ with that emotion. Students should guess. 
• In groups of three or four, students take turns to choose an adjective from the worksheet and to say the sentence with that emotion. The group guesses the emotion.  
• Choose one of the adjectives from the worksheet – don’t say which one! Now mime the adjective. Students guess the emotion. 
• In their same groups of three or four, students take turns to mime the adjectives from the worksheet. The group guesses the adjective. 

Writing a dialogue (10-15 minutes)

• In their groups of three or four, students choose a reality TV programme. Explain that they should write a dialogue that could take place in the programme. The dialogue should show at least one of the emotions from the student worksheet. 
• Give groups some time to write the dialogue. Walk around and help where necessary. Depending on the level of students, the dialogue could be extended into a scene. 
• Explain that students will need to perform the dialogue, so they should spend some time rehearsing it, and thinking about how to show the chosen emotions using their voice and bodies. 

Performing a dialogue (10-15 minutes)

• If you have a small class, ask groups to perform their dialogues in front of the class. Students watching can say which emotions are conveyed. 
• If you have a large class, put two or three groups together to perform in front of each other. You could ask one or two confident groups to perform their dialogues in front of the whole class at the end.