Goodnight Already!

Using a Children's Book Trailer to Spark Curiosity

I'm a big fan of many of the recent dry humoured & quirky children's picture books being published these days, so I was delighted to find this trailer while perusing the wonderful blog Children's Illustration.

The trailer introduces a simple story. Bear is extremely tired and just tucking himself in for the night. However, his neighbour Duck seems intent on keeping him awake.

The trailer (and accompanying picture book) struck me as good authentic materials for an English lesson for young learners. You can see the lesson and download it below.

GOODNIGHT ALREADY!

Learner Type: Young Learners         

Language Level: A2 - B1 (Mover - Flyers)

Estimated Time: 45 - 60 Minutes

Activity: Playing a guessing game, predicting a story, watching a short film, speaking and listening  

Topic: animals, bedtime, things we want

Language: want + to infinitive, want + some

Materials: short film, animal images                                                                                                          

Downloadable Lesson plan: Goodnight Already! Lesson plan pdf

Part 1

Warmer: “Hot Seat” vocabulary guessing game

Put students into small groups. Have each group select a “hot seat” participant who sits at the front of the class with his/her back to the board so that they cannot see the image being displayed. So if you have 4 groups, there will be four students (one from each group) sitting at the front facing their teammates. The students in the “hot seats” have to guess the word behind them while their teammates give physical clues, like acting out the animal’s behavior. The teammates are not allowed to speak! You can use the images below or choose your own based on animals you've studied in class.

Part 2

Ask the class “Which of the animals you named sleeps for the longest time?” (This is a chance to elicit or teach a difficult word, “hibernate”, which will appear later in the video.)

The answer, of course, is bears!

Part 3

Tell the class that you would like to show them a short film about a bear who really needs to get some sleep.

Play the video until 0:17 (pause it after the narrator says “There’s just one problem”). Have the students work together in their small groups - each group should agree on an answer for what Bear’s problem is likely to be. You walk around, supporting and helping with language. Then have the groups share their answers with the class and put their ideas on the board.

Part 4

Play the rest of the video. Tell the students to listen carefully to what Duck wants.

Part 5

Watch the video a second time. 

Part 6

Ask students, “What does Duck want?” Elicit answers. Then use the chart below to help students make complete sentences. 

Drill the two forms (want + some / want + to infinitive) with the whole class. 

Ex: Duck wants some company. 

      Bear wants some peace and quiet.

      Duck wants to stay awake.

      Bear wants to go to sleep. 

      Duck wants to start a band, or make smoothies, or read books out loud.

Part 7

Draw or project the chart below and tell your students to draw the same thing in their notebooks.

Tell the class that each student must ask three members from  other groups these two questions: 

“What do you want?” or “What do you want to do?”

Students should write down their classmate’s reply in the chart.

You walk around, helping and supporting with language.

Part 8

Feedback

When everyone’s finished, get feedback from the class. 

If you have an energetic group you could have students share answers by acting out the verb or object in the answer column and having other groups guess the word.

Put some answers up on the board and highlight how the word ‘some’ is used for words we can’t count, like milk or money.

Example: Yumi wants some tea and she wants to play tennis.

Part 9

Homework

Tell students that this video only shows the beginning of the story. Ask them to finish the story for homework. They should try to write a short paragraph (4-5 sentences) about what they think happens next. 

In the next class, students can share their ideas and groups can vote on which is the most likely to happen. 

Part 10

Follow-Up.

If your class enjoys the video then you can also consider reading the book out loud in class. It is available as an e-book at Amazon or iTunes, or you can buy a physical copy at your local bookstore.

There are also Youtube videos of people reading the story out loud if you can’t get your own copy.

I hope you and your students enjoy this lesson!