TED Talk: Metaphorically speaking by James Geary

     Aphorism enthusiast and author James Geary waxes on a fascinating fixture of human language: the metaphor. Friend of scribes from Aristotle to Elvis, metaphor can subtly influence the decisions we make, Geary says.
     Look at the image created by "Text is Beautiful", and think about the following questions:
     1. What are the key concepts of this talk?
     2. How the words of the same color might be conceptualized together? 

Now, watch the video with or without English subtitle depending on your proficiency level. Think about two questions:

1. According to Geary, what are the functions of metaphor? 

2. What is the mathematics of metaphor? 

Enjoy the video below, you are only required to watch the first 3 minutes in the class, but feel free to watch the whole episode after the class. 

Vocabulary activity: 
1. Watch the video and read the transcript again. Pay attention to unfamiliar words, feel free to mark or circle those words on the handout. 
2. Compile an unfamiliar word list on Google spread sheet  :Pick 5-10 unfamiliar words you think is important and fill out the vocabulary sheet. If you have the same unfamiliar vocabulary with other students, do not form a new vocabulary list, but add your initials on the "By people" blank.  

Ted Talk: The news about the news by Alisa Miller

Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why -- though we want to know more about the world than ever -- the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs.

    
Day 1
Pre-listening
Look at the picture created by Wordle and think about the following questions:

    1. What are the key words of this talk?

    2. Can you predict what the speaker would talk about? 

While listening
1) Watch the video without subtitle and take notes. Think about the questions: what's the talk mainly talk about? what are the key points Alisa is making in this talk?
2) The teacher briefly explain the chart and introduce strategies of global listening. Students then watch the video again with or without subtitle and work in groups to complete the chart in the handout. 
3) Students work within groups to discuss and compile a complete chart. They are encouraged to share their findings with the whole class. 
4) The teacher will lead students watch the video with transcript to check their answers. At the same time, the teacher reviews listening strategies of global listening. 

Post listening
Day 2
Focus on form
1. Students go over the annotated transcript and work in groups to compose an unfamiliar word list. 
2. The teacher lead students to use word map or diagram to acquire new words
3. In class or after class assignment: students compile a collaborative word list on google presentation
4. The teacher would be able to access to each ppt and respond to check students' response for accuracy/appropriateness. The next day, teacher would review the vocabulary based on the collaborative vocabulary list. 

Day 3
Focus on content 
1. The students watch the video again and work in groups to write an outline of the talk (or a graphic organizer). Students are given picture handout which helps them recall the talk. 
     The outline might looks like below: 
     Title of the talk 
     1) key point 1: 
          key details: sample, visual, data, etc. 
     2) key point 2:  
          key details: sample, visual, data, etc. 
2. After completing the outline, students are paired up to retell the talk to one another with the aid of outline. While students are retelling the talk, the teacher walk around to monitor the activity and give suggestions or help if needed. 
3. The teacher call on some students to retell the talk. And then, the teacher model the retelling by himself/herself.  
4. After class assignment: post a short response on the your blog. The assignment requires three parts:
a. summarize the talk (guideline provided)
b. write a short reflection of the talk (prompt:  Do you agree with Miller's argument? Do you like this talk? Why? Does this talk reminds you your observation/experience? Would you recommend this talk to others?) 
c. Each students comment on two classmates' blogs, including a question. Students should then respond to the question on their sites.