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This is a conversation lesson plan based around Rita Pierson’s TED talk entitled: Every Kid Needs a Champion it’s suitable for C1+ although high B2s might be able to deal with it if you break the video up a bit. Download the handout below:

TED Rita Every child needs a champion

Have students watch the TED talk for homework or you can show it in class as it’s only 8 mins long. Then give out the handout and have students discuss it in small groups or as a class.

Handout

Discussion

1. What is the talk about?
2. What did you think of the speaker?
3. Was she easy to understand?
4. What is her message?

Look at these quotes from the talk and discuss the questions below:

“And we know why kids drop out. We know why kids don’t learn. It’s either poverty, low attendance, negative peer influences… We know why.”

• Which of these things do you think has the biggest impact on dropout rates?
• What can be done to help?

“James Comer says that no significant learning can occur without a significant relationship.”

“George Washington Carver says all learning is understanding relationships.”

• What is your interpretation of these quotes?
• Do you agree with them?

A colleague said to me one time, “They don’t pay me to like the kids. They pay me to teach a lesson. The kids should learn it. I should teach it, they should learn it, Case closed.”

Well, I said to her, “You know, kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.”

• What do you think of the teacher’s quotes? Do you agree?
• Do students have to like their teacher to learn from them?

“How do I raise the self-esteem of a child and his academic achievement at the same time?”

• How important is it that a teacher raises their students’ self-esteem?
• What methods does Rita mention? What other ways can they do it?

“One year I came up with a bright idea. I told all my students, “You were chosen to be in my class because I am the best teacher and you are the best students, they put us all together so we could show everybody else how to do it.”

“I gave a quiz, 20 questions. A student missed 18. I put a “+2” on his paper and a big smiley face.”

• What do you think of these methods? Do you think they would work?

“Every child deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.”

• What do you think of her message?
• Did you have a “champion” when you were growing up? Who was it?
• How can this message be put into practice?