Daniel Barber and Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003

Downloaded from the lesson share in www.onestopenglish.com

Russian Orphan Lesson
A complex talking point guaranteed to promote extended authentic discussion.


Level: Upper Intermediate - Advanced
Time: 1 1.5 hours
Age group: young adults and adults
Speaking practice: discussion offering opinions, agreeing and disagreeing
Lexical aim: adj-noun collocations to do with childrens upbringing
Subsidiary Aims: reading for gist
Why do it? The discussion is a serious and authentic extended task which gets
learners really talking.
Materials Preparation:
Make copies of the worksheets and articles for each student.
Cut out the family info sheets.

This lesson is based on an article which appeared several years ago in The Guardian.
Its been rewritten from memory, and much of the detail has been made up, including
place names and people. However, the newspaper article is not designed as accurate
journalism, but is rather a springboard for discussion.
This lesson would be a perfect free speaking activity after introducing the language of
agreeing and disagreeing, giving opinions, interrupting politely, or negotiation.

Procedure:

Before you read

1) Brainstorm as a class what children need to grow up healthy and happy.

2) In pairs, learners match the adjectives with their noun collocates. The partnerships
are as follows:
clear guidelines
doting parents
a good education
a stable environment
financial security
mental stimulation
a daily routine
a warm, supportive environment
a loving family
a good role model
Write the words on pieces of card or on the worksheet. Then before you give them the
handout, learners play pelmanism, where you turn over two cards, one adjective and
one noun, and try to find a match. The worksheet is then handed out as a consolidation
and written record of the word partnerships found during the game.




Daniel Barber and Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Downloaded from the lesson share in www.onestopenglish.com


3) Learners discuss, in pairs or small groups, which of the above aspects of a good
childhood are most important. Tell them to agree on an order so as to encourage
discussion. Monitor, correcting pronunciation and checking understanding. This stage
gets them thinking about what Ivan needs and therefore what they should be looking for
in a family for him.

4) Learners now get ready to read with some prediction work. The correct order of
events is as follows:
1) Ivan escapes from an orphanage.
2) Ivan is reported missing.
3) Ivan lives rough.
4) Ivan survives the winter.
5) Ivan is captured.
6) Ivan is kept in custody.
7) Ivan is rehabilitated.*
8) Ivan is adopted.
(*Rehabilitation is a complex and fuzzy term which means that in theory it occurs from
the moment he is captured until well into his adoption.)

Allow the learners 4 minutes to read and find out the correct order, then elicit the
answer.

(Optional) After reading once, focus on tricky vocabulary with a synonym search. Write
on the board the following, the synonyms of which the learners then have to find in the
text (written in brackets):
very poor (impoverished)
a homeless child (a street urchin)
homeless, adjective to describe pets
(stray)
famous for being so bad (notorious
and later, infamous)
violent (brutal)
difficult to survive in (hostile)
places where orphans live
(orphanages)
cruel and unkind (inhumane)
adj used to describe a relationship
where both sides help each other
(mutual)
to find by using your nose (sniff out)
to take away quickly (whisk away)

After reading

5) Elicit a description of the perfect family for Ivan and which elements of a healthy
childhood they think he needs most. Now introduce the role-play. Explain that they are
the team of social workers whose job it is to find the most suitable family from a
selection of 5 who have come forward. Each social worker is responsible for presenting
a different family at the meeting, but stress that this is not a competition.

6) Hand out the family information sheets. (If you have less than 5 students, one or
more will have to be responsible for more than one family; 5 is perfect; between 5 and 9
means that some should work in pairs; and 10 or more students in the class means
splitting the activity into two groups. The advantage with this is that the two groups can
compare their choices at the end.) The learners now spend a few minutes absorbing the



Daniel Barber and Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2003
Downloaded from the lesson share in www.onestopenglish.com

information, checking any vocabulary with you, and making notes as to the advantages
and disadvantages of their particular family.

N.B. There is no obvious answer, and all the families exhibit problematic characteristics,
some of which may be unacceptable to your students. This is deliberate, and makes for
a thought-provoking and challenging discussion. Remind them that Ivan is not the kind
of kid who will have hundreds of eager couples queuing up to adopt.

7) Now they hold the meeting. Let them negotiate how to do this; you shouldnt need to
interrupt until the end, other than to remind them if they are running out of time.
Discreetly listen in and make notes: of errors in vocabulary, grammar, or pronunciation,
of the language of discussion (e.g. Who wants to start?, Yeah, but we cant, Do
you really think..?, etc), or of their participation, interruption and performance. If you
have an OHP, why not write any errors on transparency? Then you can present them
with their mistakes quickly and effortlessly and ask them to self-correct.

8) With a few minutes of the lesson left, get them to wrap up the meeting with a
decision, and offer your feedback on the discussion. End of lesson.