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Introduction:
In this lesson, students will learn about the history of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement by watching a video From Conflict to Peace by The National Archives UK, and how the Peace Process was achieved.
Learning Outcomes:
- Practise new vocabulary to help understand the content of the video
- listen/watch for specific information
- Summarise learning about the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in a speaking activity.
Age and level:
Aged 13-17 with CEFR A2 level
Time:
Approximately 60 minutes
Materials:
- Lesson plan
- Class presentation
- student worksheet
- Access to the video
- Task 1: Aims (5 mins)
- Slide 2 - Read out the aims of the lesson and get the student to share which lesson aim they are particularly interested in, and why.
- It’s useful to get students to engage with the learning aims of the lesson to then refer back to at the end of class as feedback/reflection.
- Task 2: Lead-in (5 mins)
- Slide 3 - Show the pictures of Northern Ireland and ask students to discuss in pairs what they see, and how they would describe it.
- Useful adjectives: green, natural, stunning, historical, coastal, etc.
- In feedback, ask students if they’d like to visit.
- Task 3: Pre-teach vocabulary (10 mins)
- Slide 4 - Tell the students that they are going to watch a video on the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement which took place in Northern Ireland. These words will give them a clue as to what happened there.
- Give the worksheet with the matching vocabulary task to do in pairs.
- In feedback, have a focus on pronunciation and elicit word stress. Use Slide 4 to highlight the word stress for the students.
- Ask the students if these words relate to the previous pictures of Northern Ireland. They don’t, and so we’re going to watch to see what happened.
- Task 5: Discussion / Watch 1 (10 mins)
- Slide 5 - Tell the students that they hear these words in the video to talk about the Troubles.
- Play the video until [1.30]
- They discuss in pairs to summarise the Troubles using the vocabulary.
- In feedback, write some sentences that come from the students using the vocabulary. This will expose students to how the language is used in sentences.
- Using new vocabulary in a listening task is a great way to summarise what they listen to, and to practise using the vocabulary.
- Task 6: Listen / Watch 2 (5 mins) OPTIONAL
- Slide 6 - Tell the students that we’re now going to learn about the 2 groups: the Irish Republican Army (IRA) & the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF). The sentences need to be completed but they are mixed up (reveal on slide)
- Student A (IRA): they listen and complete their sentences.
- Student B (UVF): they listen and complete their sentences. Play video [from 1.30 until 2.09]
- Feedback: they share their answers. Reveal the answers on the slide 7.
- Task 7: Listen / Watch 3 (5 mins)
- Slide 8 - Tell the students that they are going to learn more facts about the situation. They all are related to these numbers (show slide)
- Set up the matching task on the slide (and Worksheet).
- Play video [from 2.09 until 3.17]
- Students check their answers. Reveal on the slide.
- Task 8: Reading / Predicting (5 mins)
- Slide 10 - Tell the students that they are going to learn about the Peace Process. They read the information on the slide (and Worksheet) and find 5 pieces of information that they think is incorrect.
- There may be some vocabulary that you need to pre-teach depending on the level of your students e.g. influence, cooperate, law, vote
- Elicit answers. Underline some suggestions if possible.
- Task 9: Listen / Watch 4 (5 - 10 mins)
- Play video [3.17 until the end]
- You may need to play this section of the video again.
- Before pair check, input some useful language to help them give the answers. Highlight the levels of certainty - Slide 11
- Reveal the answers - Slide 12.
- In feedback, there is an opportunity to have a class discussion about what they think about the video, what they found interesting and/or if it relates to conflict they know about in the world/their country. This would act as a follow-on task to finish the lesson if choosing to complete the infographic in the next lesson.
- Task 10: Designing an infographic (10 - 15 mins) OPTIONAL
- Slide 13 - Tell the students that they are going to design an infographic to help other students in the school understand the history and importance of The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement.
- An infographic: a visual representation of facts (a mix of visuals and text); like a poster.
- Reveal the 4 topics they need to include (on the slide). Tell them that it’s important they work together and discuss their answers to number 4.
- Students work in groups of 4. Each student could take one topic to work on OR they work together on all of them. They have to collaborate and decide.
- Optional: Give out roles to your students:
- 1. Designer: in charge of the layout & design of the infographic
- 2. Editor: in charge of the English text
- 3. Illustrator: in charge of the visuals and how they look
- 4. Leader: in charge of final product and also make sure that everyone is communicating and collaborating.
- Extension: the infographics can be presented to another group of students or to the class in the following lesson. The infographics can be displayed for other students to see in school infographics can be displayed for other students to see in school.
The resources in this series were developed by Sea Steele and Sarah Smith at eltonix
Further information
If you would like to know more about the Northern Ireland Peace Process before you teach and to help inform your lesson, you can go here:
- Year ’98: The Making of the Good Friday Agreement A five-part podcast series from the BBC exploring the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement
- What is the Good Friday Agreement? Information about the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (source: BBC)
Other resources in the series
Click or tap on the title below to access the resources
- Belfast (Good Friday) Peace Agreement – visual literacy
- Belfast (Good Friday) Peace Agreement – upper-intermediate video lesson
- From conflict to peace in Northern Ireland
Downloads