Programme 3

Activities

Suggestions for using the programme in the classroom

Before viewing
Play the soundtrack of the 'To Be or Not To Be' feature. Ask pupils to rate the people whose voices they hear on a scale ranging from 'very intelligent' to 'very unintelligent', and from 'very friendly' to 'very unfriendly'. Ask them to imagine and describe the speaker's appearance. The activity should reveal how easy it is to make stereotypical assumptions based simply on accent and dialect. It teaches pupils to disregard the language and to concentrate solely on voice and personality.

After viewing
1. Ask pupils to choose a well-known song, poem, fable or fairytale and rewrite it in a familiar local dialect. Ask them to read both versions to the class and consider how changes in the language affect the meaning and reactions of the audience.

2. Ask pupils to rewrite one or more stories from a local newspaper using local dialect. Discuss what advantages or disadvantages might there be in publishing a local paper in non-standard English.