Production stage: work on Malala's speech

Here are some activities to exploit Malala’s speech at the Youth Takeover of the United Nations on 12th July 2013. The whole speech can be found here. The written text for reading comprehension begins with "Honourable Secretary General, peace is necessary for education" (min. 10:30 on the video) and finishes with "let us empower ourselves with the weapon of knowledge and let us shield ourselves with unity and togetherness" (15:43).

Age: 16 years old (4º ESO in Spain)
Time: two and a half days

DAY 1

A) Comprehension questions

We begin the reading comprehension questions by dealing with the general idea of the text (1-2). Then we move on to more specific questions where students have to look up more specific information (3-4). Finally, we ask them to look beyond the text and understand the goals of the speaker.

1. You have read and listened to Malala's speech. With a partner, reread this fragment and agree on which concepts are the most important. Hint: Malala repeats them. For example: "education".
Each pair will select different words/expressions. Some of them could be: education, children, school(s), child labour, (women/children’s) rights, terrorism, violence... Finally get feedback from different pairs. (7 min)

2. Now make a wordle (www.wordle.net) Do you get the same words? Why?
Each pair compares the words/expressions they first noted as the most important concepts with the ones in the wordle. Then, ask some random pairs to explain the differences they had.
Alternative: if you don’t have a computer for each student/pair, you can make the wordle (or have it prepared) and show it to the class. (5 min)

3. Look up the countries on a map. What does she say about each of them?
Bring maps to the classroom so that the students can use them or look them up on the internet. Make sure the students rephrase the reason why each country is mentioned. (5 min)

4. Are these sentences true, false, or the information is not in the text?

1. In India and Afghanistan, many children have to work.
2. Women have to ask men to defend women’s rights.
3. Malala wants the terrorist to be destroyed.
4. Malala asks the developed nations for help.
5. Malala believes the only way to change the world is through power and strength.

Do it in pairs, or individually and then compare. (5 min)
Answers:

1. True: “victims of child labour”, “have to do domestic child labour”.
2. False: “this time, we will do it by ourselves ... women to be independent to fight for themselves”.
3. Doesn’t say.
4. True: “we call upon the developed nations to support the expansion of educational opportunities...”
5. False. We need power and strength to make our voice heard, but what changes the world is education.

5. All in all, what does Malala pursue with her speech? Discuss in a group of three/four people.
Set a time limit to discuss with the group (2-3 min approx.). Then, each group nominates one speaksperson to report their opinion. (7 min)

B) Vocabulary

6a. In pairs, find these words in the text and try to guess their meaning by their context. (10 min)

child labour:
hurdles:
poverty:
deprivation:
fellows:
step away:
peace deals:
compulsory:
cast:
creed:
flourish:
togetherness:

6b. Now look them up on a dictionary. Were you right?
Ask some random students if they were right. This can give you an idea of how good they are at guessing meanings and how dependant on a dictionary they are. (10 min)

DAY 2

C) Making a speech

Now we will reflect on a technique used in speeches: repetition.

7. Had you noticed? Malala repeats some expressions over and over. Underline them. Why do you think she does that?
Repetition is a technique that appears on many speeches and they must be aware of its uses. Some of the expressions that Malala repeat are: Dear + noun, we call upon + noun.
Make them reflect in pairs how repetition could be useful. Then bring the discussion to the whole group. (10 min)

8. Make your own speech (1:30 min) about any of these topics seen in the previous activities. With your team of 4-6 people, imagine the situation: who you are speaking to and what you want to say. (You can use expressions such as we call upon).
Select at random five students, who will be the speakers. Then, at random or by choice, each speaker gets their team. Together they will create the speech. Give them the rest of the lesson to work on it.

• Encourage them to use all the language they have been learning, eg. modal verbs, conditionals or reported speech. Bring dictionaries to the classroom or encourage them to use online ones if there are computers available or if they are willing to use their phones (and you allow it).
• To help them finish, you can set time limits to achieve certain goals, eg.: 5 min to choose who will be the listeners, 5 min to choose the topic... Control that all groups are progressing, help them with ideas (if necessary), vocabulary, planning, or any need they have.

The next day, the speakers deliver their speeches. (Optional: record a video of each of them.) Then, the class has to vote on the most convincing/moving speech (except their own, of course!). The group who did the most voted speech "wins". (Optional: upload the videos to Youtube or to the blog.)

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

D) On-line discussion

9. Terrorism, inequality, education,... What is more shocking to you? What is more important to you? What issue should be solved first? Why? Make a comment on the class blog under the post of Malala's speech.

E) Additional activity

Ask your history teacher about Gandhi and search for similarities between he and Malala.


You can see other activities for the practice stage, created by our classmates, here and here.

Activities created by Noemí Alonso Cid and Álvaro Arrabal Esgueva.