Age range: 14 - adult
Theme: UK political system
Lexical area: Politics
Instructions for language assistants in Italics
Classroom materials
Introduction
This lesson is about the political system in the UK. I have deliberately kept the tasks as light as possible and I have avoided going into a lot of detail. If your students need more information, have a look at the weblinks at the bottom of the page. This lesson may give you a chance to compare the UK political system with the system in the country where you are working. Students may be able to explain their political system to you, so exploit the natural information gap whenever possible.
Task 1 is a matching task to introduce the topic. Task 2 is a ‘find somebody who..’ activity for students to ask each other some questions related to politics. Task 3 is a sentence completion task and Task 4 is a reading task entitled Politics and Youth. Task 5 offers some follow-up discussion questions based around the previous task. Task 6 gives students the chance to create their own political party and to hold class elections. You may be able to combine some of these tasks with some from this Essential UK lesson plan:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/essential-vote.htm
1. Political people and places
This is a simple matching task to introduce the topic. If you want to make the task more challenging, add more items.
Task 1 Political people and places
- This person is the head of the government.
- This person is the head of state.
- These people are elected to represent their areas (known as constituencies). They are also known as MPs.
- This place is where the Parliament meets.
- This is the name of the main right-wing party.
- This is the name of the main left-wing party.
| Political people and places |
| The Queen / The Conservative Party / The Prime Minister / Members of Parliament / The Houses of Parliament / The Labour Party |
2. Find Somebody Who…
‘Find Somebody Who…’ activities are generally more challenging for students than they appear at first sight. Before letting the students stand up and walk around the class to mingle with their classmates, check they are all able to form the correct sentences from the FSW statements. For example:
‘Do you know the name of the British Prime Minister?’
‘Would you like to be a politician?’ ‘Why / why not?’
Also, students should add two more statements of their own in the blank spaces at the bottom of the chart before they begin.
Task 2 Find someone who
| Find somebody who… |
Find somebody who… |
Extra information |
| … knows the name of the British Prime Minister. | ||
| … would like to be a politician. | ||
| … thinks that voting in elections is very important. | ||
| … thinks there should be more women politicians in their country. | ||
| … believes that most politicians are too old! | ||
| … can name five politicians from their own country. |
3. Politics – sentence completion
This task leaves students completely free to express their own opinions. Think carefully about whether or not your students are mature enough to be able to do this before you offer them this task. With teenagers there is a certain element of risk involved in a completely open ended task like this.
Task 3 Politics – sentence completion
Complete the following sentences to express your own opinion. Then compare your sentences with a partner.
- In my opinion, most politicians …….
- If I were Prime Minister or President of my country I would ……
- The political system in my country is …….
- I wish politicians would …….
- In an ideal world ………
4. Politics and Youth – Reading
The vocabulary in the text could be a little tricky so be sure to pre-teach the words you think your students won’t know. If you don’t pre-teach the challenging vocabulary, encourage students to guess the meaning of unknown words from the context – this is an important skill for language learners. Students could work in pairs or groups to put the headings in the right place. Task 5 offers some follow-up questions from the text.
Answers: 1 – C, 2 – A, 3 – D , 4 - B
Task 4 Politics and Youth – Reading
Read the text about Politics and Youth and put the paragraph headings in the right place.
A – Street politics
B – Green generation
C – Parties and partying
D - Hi-tech politics
| Politics and Youth |
|
Last year the BBC announced that more
young people voted on Big Brother than the election. Does this make UK
youth politically apathetic?
1 -
‘To
be honest I’m not too bothered. I don’t keep up with
developments at Westminster [the site of UK government]. These days my
job, my cash flow and socialising are more important!’
Tom, 28, from Manchester.
‘I
can’t relate to any of the politicians. They all seem fairly
similar and rarely listen to young people. Only one party [the Liberal
Democrats] made student debt an issue, and they are a long way from
coming to power.’
These two examples were typical of many young people’s attitudes to state politics.
2 -
For
many young people politics is not about Westminster. Issues like the
US-UK led Iraq war have sparked debate and action in recent years. In
2003 over a million people marched through London, many of them young
and passionate.
3 -
The British Council’s Café Society
project allows young people from countries across the world to meet in
a relaxed, informal setting and share opinions through video
conferencing.
4 -
Text written by the British Council’s Trend UK team.
|
5. Politics and Youth – Let’s discuss the issues
This task offers some discussion questions which would follow on nicely from the reading task. Students could discuss them in small groups or you could have a whole class discussion. Be prepared to feed-in new language as and when your students need it.
Task 5 Politics and Youth – Let’s discuss the issues
When you have read the text in task four, discuss the following questions in groups.
- What are the main problems facing young people in your country today?
- Do you think politicians understand these problems?
- Were you surprised that more young people in the UK voted in the reality show Big Brother than in the election?
- Are young people in your country generally politically apathetic?
- Would you like to be a politician? Why / why not?
6. Vote for us!
This is a fun task that could lead on to becoming a mini project. Put students into groups or ‘parties’. They will have to think of a name for their new political party and to think up five policies that they will use to try and win the election. When all groups have finished, give them each two minutes to try and persuade the other groups to vote for them. Then hold a class election. If you have time to prepare it, make ballot papers and use a shoe box so students can have a secret vote. Then count up the votes and let the winners celebrate!
Task 6 Vote for us!
You are going to create a new political party! Think of a name for your party and think of five things you will do if you are elected. Then try to persuade your classmates to vote for you.
|
The _________________ Party |
|
If we are elected we will:
Vote for us! |
Internet links
A site for kids about the Parliament.
http://www.explore.parliament.uk/
UK political system explained.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_politics
Advancing debate, knowledge and skills in governance, human rights and social inclusion.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/science-society.htm
Hansard Society’s portal for young people to debate political issues and current affairs.
http://www.headsup.org.uk
Children and young people’s Assembly for Wales.
http://www.funkydragon.org
Scottish Youth Parliament.
http://www.scottishyouthparliament.org.uk
BBC Action Network. Young people discuss everyday democratic issues
that concern them and get help to make changes in their local area.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork
Article from 2005: BBC News. Is Big Brother really more popular than General Election.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/
By Jo Budden
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| political.pdf | 82.39 KB |
