Tattoo - Possibilities (lower Level)

Introduction

This lesson is designed to encourage students to develop their higher-level critical-thinking skills to speak about images. It focuses on a photograph of a tattoo of the word ‘possibilities’ on a man’s arm. In the lesson, students predict what vocabulary and information they will hear as a photographer speaks about her photo, listen to check their answers, and then write and / or perform an interview between the photographer and the person who appears in the photograph.

As long as teachers can show the photo, it is possible to deliver this lesson with no other resources. However, teachers can also use a presentation and / or a student worksheet.
Note: The topic of tattoos may not be appropriate for all students. Check before using this lesson with your class. 

Learning outcomes

• Make predictions about a text based on visual and verbal clues
• Identify gist and specific information in a spoken text 
• Write and / or role play an interview

Age and level

13-17, Adults (A2 / B1)

Time

Approximately 45 minutes + 10-15 minute optional activity

Materials 

Materials can be downloaded below. 

• Lesson plan
• Presentation
• Student worksheet
• Audio file: Tattoo - possibilities

In addition, you will need the following image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eltpics/7257920698/in/set-72157626599491389

Before listening (prediction) (10 mins)

• Show slide 2 of the presentation or display the photograph: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eltpics/7257920698/in/set-72157626599491389
• Explain that students will listen to the photographer talking about the photo in this lesson. 
• Before they listen, ask students to say what information they think the photographer will give (e.g. who the person is; why he has the tattoo). They can do this in pairs, groups or as a whole class. 
• Then ask them to say what words they think the photographer will use (e.g. tattoo; brownie). Write them on the board. 

Listening for gist (5 mins)

• Play the audio file: tattoo – possibilities. Students listen to see a) if any of their ideas are correct; b) if any of the words listed on the board are mentioned. Give students time to talk together in pairs / groups about what they have understood. 

Listening for detail (10 mins)

• Show slide 3 of the presentation or display / refer students to the student worksheet. 
• Explain that the sentences are from the audio file. In pairs, students read the sentences and discuss which word is correct in each sentence. Help with vocabulary if necessary. 
• Play the audio file again. Students listen and check their ideas. If necessary, give them some time to discuss in pairs again.
• Check the answers with the class. Alternatively, students could read the transcript to check their answers (available on slides 4/5 and at the end of this lesson plan). 
  Answers: 1. May, 2. fifteen, 3. pasta, 4. trainer, 5. homelessness, 6. what kind of, 7. always, 8. will never, 9. written 

Option for teachers not using presentation / student worksheet: You could dictate / write sentences 1-9 on the board. Alternatively, you could set a different task. For example, you could ask them to listen for as much information about Adam as they can: where he lives; the jobs he has had; the job he has now; his beliefs.

Writing comprehension questions (optional) (10-15 mins)

• In pairs, students write 3-5 questions about the recording for another pair to answer. Give a time limit. 
• When the time limit is up, pairs join together to ask / answer their questions. Either play the recording again for students to check or show the transcript (available on slides 4/5 and at the end of this lesson plan).  

Role play interviews (20 mins+)

• Ask students to say what they know about Adam and his wife, Lou: they live in Bradford; Adam has been a DJ, a trainer on a youth programme; he now works for a homelessness charity which offers emergency accommodation; Adam and his wife Lou often have strangers staying at their house; Adam is a religious person; he believes that there are always possibilities & always hope for change. 
• Tell students to imagine that they will interview either Adam and Lou. In pairs, students write questions they would like to ask Adam and Lou. Brainstorm some questions with the whole class first e.g. What do you enjoy about your job? How have you seen people change? Do you have any other tattoos?
• Give students a time limit to write questions and walk around the room and help as they write. 
• When students have prepared some questions, put pairs together to make groups of four. One pair asks the questions, the other pair plays the role of Lou and Adam and answers the questions. Alternatively, pairs can swap questions, and they write answers to each other’s questions. 
• Ask some students to perform the role play in front of the class.  

Transcript

Stephanie
Well, I took this picture in May – in May? - yeah, this year at my friend's house in Bradford, in the North of England. There were several of us there, I don't know, maybe twelve or fifteen people, mostly old university friends of my husband's with their husbands, wives, partners, their children and other people, I dunno, friends, people. You know.

So we all had pasta for lunch, and then we had these great home-made brownies for dessert. Um, and you can actually see some of the brownies in the photo, look, on the plate behind Adam's arm. 
Adam is an interesting guy. He's worked as a DJ, ah, and a trainer or monitor on a youth programme, um, a programme for young people – that's where I met him, in fact - and now he works for a ah, homelessness charity, um, a charity which finds emergency um you know, a bed and food for a few days, for, um, for people who would ….who would be on the streets, if nobody helped. And normally, with this charity, they stay in people's houses. 

So if you, if you go to visit them, Adam and his wife Lou, they might have a stranger, someone they've never met before, actually staying in their house, sleeping there, like, as if it was a free hotel or something. 

With a programme or a system like that, in general it's easier to think of the disadvantages rather than the advantages, maybe, the bad more than the good, but, well, I think it says a lot about Adam and Lou. A lot about what kind of people they are. 

Interviewer
Yeah, yeah. I can see that, yeah. And what about the tattoo?

Stephanie
Ah yeah, the tattoo, yeah, sorry. Well, he has it because it expresses something Adam really believes in, I mean really, really believes in, both personally and spiritually as a religious person. He believes that there are always possibilities. Sometimes we look at another person, a homeless person or a person who has been in prison or, you know, and the only thing we can see is a situation with no way out, no solution. We see a person who will never change. But Adam, well, Adam can see something else, something different. He'll see hope and possibilities - always. And he believes this so strongly he has it written on his skin.

See all the lesson plans in this series

• Tiny Cinderella Somewhere (lower level)
• Tiny Cinderella Somewhere (higher level)
• After Lunch (lower level)
• After Lunch (higher level)
• A remote House in the West of Scotland (lower level)
• A remote House in the West of Scotland (higher level)
• Tattoo - Possibilities (lower Level)
• Tattoo - Possibilities (higher level)
• Out of Time (lower Level)
• Out of Time (higher Level)
• Escape 3 (lower level)
• Escape 3 (higher level)
• One nation under CCTV (lower level)
• One nation under CCTV (higher level)
• Stairway to nowhere (lower level)
• Stairway to nowhere (higher level)
• Young market traders (lower level)
• Young market traders (higher level)
• Summer love (lower level)
• Summer love (higher level)