by Doug Endrizzi
I would like to quickly share with you a recent successful lesson that ended up blossoming into more. Originally, I was hoping to familiarize my students with key words in my vocabulary, Babe and Dude, so that they wouldn’t be so baffled by my 口语. After discovering this video, I hoped this would be a good chance to have my students practice inflecting their speech, and to help them use English more creatively. The lesson centers around a 50 second long Bud Light commercial and features “some dude” in various situations using the word “dude” with all sorts of different intonations.
Here’s how I suggest the lesson go:
Prep students by explaining that “Dude” is a universal pronoun: it can mean “some person you don’t know,” or it can express a host of different emotions (shock, frustration, anger, disgust [高一学生 don’t know this word], excitement) [urbandictionary.com is actually helpful to organize your own thoughts on this word]. Continue explaining that this video will show “some dude” using the word “dude” many different ways, and just like 中文, different intonations carry different meanings, so pay close attention to the “way” the dude says “dude.” [Repeated usage of “dude” helps]
Watch the movie once through.
Dude Movie
[Movie Link]
Begin the movie again, but stop at the end of the first scene. Ask students the following questions:
Where is this dude?
What is this dude doing? [Emphasize that you don’t know what exactly is happening, and that students should hypothesize]
What does this dude say? [Then, if their intonation is off, re-ask the next question]
How does he say it?
And what does he mean?
What emotion is that?
You can add/subtract questions, but be consistent in what and how you ask it: if you ask the same questions, your participation will skyrocket.
Once finished, watch the movie once the whole way through again.
Then, count students off into groups of four. Have them prepare skits, the only requirement being that each person in each group must say the word “dude,” and must say it differently.
If you are quick, you can fit this into 45 minutes. If you’re pressed for time, I suggest letting the students present in the next period; don’t rush their creative process.
Exaggerating your own pronunciation will help a lot. Have fun with this. If you’re having fun, the kids certainly will be, too.
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