Age range: 12 - adult
Theme: Red Nose Day - a bi-annual fundraising event in the UK
Instructions for language assistants in Italics
Introduction:
Comic Relief is a charity that was started in the UK in 1985 by script writer Richard Curtis (Blackadder, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill) as a response to the severe famine in Ethiopia. The main way that Comic Relief raises money is through an annual event known as Red Nose Day which takes place every two years. In 2009 Red Nose Day will take place on Friday 13th March. I'm sure all Language Assistants are very familiar with the event, and you should use any personal experience of Red Nose Day as part of your lesson, but if you want to find out more about it have a look at these two websites.
http://www.rednoseday.com/ and http://www.comicrelief.com/ . There are some excellent teaching materials on the Red Nose Day website. If you're lucky enough to have an IWB or a data projector in your classroom you could really make the most of these resources by showing your students some videos which show how children in Africa and in the UK have benefitted from money raised by Comic Relief.
http://www.rednoseday.com/do_something/school/teach If you dare, wearing a red nose into class would be a memorable start to the lesson!
You could combine tasks in this lesson with some of the tasks in another Essential UK lesson in the archive about fundraising. Here's the link: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/essential-uk/fundraising-uk-style
Task one is a short reading text to introduce Red Nose Day, task two asks students to rank a selection of silly things that people do to raise money. The third task is a simple sentence completion task which asks students to think about some of their favourite funny things. Task four focuses on where the money raised on Red Nose Day goes and you will need to do a little preparation by printing some information from the internet. The fifth task gives you the chance to talk about comic actors your students know and to watch a clip from a comedy programme or sit-com. Finally students are invited to invent their own new fundraising day.
1. Introducing Red Nose Day
If you decide to use the text to introduce the idea of Red Nose Day, make sure you pre-teach some of the difficult vocabulary beforehand. Depending on the level of your class you may select some or all of the following: Charity, to raise money, script writer, famine, event etc. When you have covered the vocabulary give the students the text to read and then discuss the questions as a group. If you have first hand experience of taking part in Red Nose Day your students will obviously be keen to hear about it.
Task 1 Introducing Red Nose Day
Read about Red Nose Day and then discuss the questions below.
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Introducing Red Nose Day Red Nose Day is a well known event in the UK. The aim of the day is to raise money for a charity called ‘Comic Relief' which helps people in need in Africa and in the UK. Comic Relief was started in 1985 by the script writer Richard Curtis. He wrote the series ‘Blackadder' as well as the famous films Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill. Richard's idea to start Comic Relief was as a response to the severe famine in Ethiopia. It's called Red Nose Day as on this day many people buy a plastic red nose to wear! The money made from the sales of red noses goes to the charity. Red Nose Day takes place every other year in the spring and is now so well established that many people consider it to be a type of unofficial national holiday. Money raising events take place all over the country and many schools participate. In the evening of Red Nose Day a ‘telethon' takes place on the BBC channels. This is like a televised marathon that shows a selection of the events of the day, as well as lots of comic sketches and reports of how the money people raised will be spent. This year Red Nose Day will take place on Friday 13th March. The slogan is ‘Do Something Funny for Money' and the money raised will help fund projects in the following areas: malaria, education, maternal health and mental health. So, if you are ever in the UK on Red Nose Day, now you know why you may find normal people wearing red noses and doing silly things! It's all for a good cause! If you want to find out more about the day, have a look at the official website. The address is: http://www.rednoseday.com/ |
- Do you think you would enjoy Red Nose Day?
- Do you think Red Nose Day is a good way to raise money?
- Is there a similar money raising event in your country?
2. Do something funny for money!
Before you do this task you will have to explain the concept of ‘sponsoring'. People in Britain are used to being asked to sponsor somebody for doing something challenging. This means you pledge to give a set amount (the sponsor decides how much) if the person achieves the challenge. Typical events that are sponsored are the London marathon, a sponsored swim, a long walk etc. For this activity go through the events together and make sure your students understand the ideas. Then give them time to rank the ideas from the best to the worst. When everyone has done that put students in pairs to compare their rankings. Then ask students to think of another event for Red Nose Day.
Task 2 Do something funny for money!
On Red Nose Day people raise money for charity by doing funny things. This year their slogan for the campaign is ‘Do Something Funny for Money!'.
Read the examples of strange money raising events things below and then put them in order from the best (6) to the worst (1) idea. Then compare your decisions with another student.
- Buy a red nose and wear it all day.
- Wear fancy dress all day.
- Have a joke telling competition.
- Do a ‘sponsored silence' at school. People pay money for every minute you are silent.
- Shave your head or have a crazy hair cut.
- Give up something you love for a whole day or a week. (Computer games, chocolate, fizzy drinks etc.)
Now think of an event that you would do on Red Nose Day to raise money.
3. The Funniest Things...
This is a simple sentence completion activity to get students thinking about and talking about their funniest things. If you like, you could dictate the sentences to the class rather than making copies. Your students should write them and then complete them with their own answers. Add some more sentences of your own, especially if funny things have happened in the class that you'd like to remember! For example, "The funniest thing that happened in class last week was..."
Task 3 The Funniest Things...
Complete the sentences on your own and then compare yours with a partner's.
- The funniest thing I've ever done was...
- The funniest person I know is...
- The funniest comedian in my country is...
- The funniest TV programme is...
- The funniest thing I've ever seen was...
4. Where the money goes.
This year the money raised by Red Nose Day is going to support four main causes. If you have internet access for your students you could do the activity on-line, if not you need to print out the texts from these four web pages. If you are lucky enough to have a computer and data projector you could also watch some of the videos on these pages.
Malaria - http://www.rednoseday.com/change_lives/issue_spotlights/malaria
Education - http://www.rednoseday.com/change_lives/issue_spotlights/education
Maternal Health - http://www.rednoseday.com/change_lives/issue_spotlights/maternal_health
Mental Health - http://www.rednoseday.com/change_lives/issue_spotlights/mental_health
When you have the four texts make enough copies so each student will have one to read. Then divide the class into four groups. Each group is going to read and find out about one of the causes, so you'll have a ‘malaria group' an ‘education group' etc. Tell students to read the information and be prepared to explain what they've read to other students. They can make notes of statistics or useful information if they want to. Give students time to read the texts together and help each other, then regroup your class so the new groups each have four (or five) members and each student has read about a different cause. In the new groups give students time to tell each other about what they've found out about their cause.
To round off this activity you could have a class discussion to think about which of the causes is the most important. Obviously impossible to decide but it will give higher level students lots to talk about and consider.
Task 4 Where the money goes.
Now you are going to find out more about where the money raised on Red Nose Day goes. Read the information your teacher gives you. Don't worry if you don't understand it all. Select the most important parts to tell your group.
5. Comedy Classics
You will have to adapt this activity depending on where in the world you're teaching and what comedy programmes are shown on the TV where you are. Decide if you want to focus only on British comedy or on comedy from other countries too. First, find some photos of five or six comic actors that you think your students will know. Show them the pictures one by one and ask some simple questions for example if you show a picture of Mr.Bean:
- Who's this character?
- What's the actor's real name?
- Have you ever seen him on TV?
- Is he funny? Why / why not? Etc.
Then choose a clip from a sit com or a comedy series to show your students. Take into consideration the level of your students' English when you choose your programme, and choose something that is going to ‘visually' amusing for lower levels. Show a clip of the programme and discuss it with your students.
Although this task will take a bit of preparation you could get a lot of language work out of it. For more ideas on how to use the video clip have a look at this tip:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/teaching-tips/using-video-2
If you want to extend this activity and focus on sitcoms you may get some ideas from this activity:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/sitcom-information-activity
Task 5 Comedy Classics
Now listen to your teacher and follow their instructions.
6. Invent a new fun fundraiser.
Students may need a lot of support and some ideas to get them going on such an open creative task. Give students some ideas like ‘Silly clothes day' or ‘Pink socks day' to get them going, then encourage them to use their imaginations to think of events to raise money. Students should also consider where the money raised will go. When the groups have gathered their ideas you could ask each group to present their ideas to the whole class. You may even want to vote on the best idea.
Task 6 Invent a new fun fundraiser.
You are going to invent a new special day to raise money for a good cause. Work in groups, you will need to discuss the following:
- How will you raise money?
- What's the name of the special day?
- Who or which organisation will the money help?
Internet links
The BBC's Red Nose Day home page. You'll find lots of information here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/rednoseday/
the official Red Nose Day website. There are loads of teaching materials available here too:
http://www.rednoseday.com/
Great photos here of the launch of Red Nose Day 2009:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7850000/newsid_7858700/7858776.stm
By Jo Budden
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