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236 Integrating language skills
loves of people of different ethnic communities. Any of the episodes of a sitcom can be used as a resource around which to design classroom activities, since each episode is short and self-contained with a beginning and an end.
10.1.1 Select any currently popular sitcom, one that you think is suitable for your class. Videotape an interesting episode. (If you do not have a videorecorder, your school may have one you can borrow. Some schools may do recordings for teachers, if requested.)
10.1.2 Watch the selected episode again, closely. Jot down questions that you might want to ask your learners before showing the video so that they will know what to anticipate.
10.1.3 Divide the episode into three or four segments and, focusing on each segment, think of listening comprehension questions that you can ask to help your students to understand the episode.
10.1.4 Focus on and prepare questions about conversational fea- tures that you want to highlight in class—such as the informal and col- loquial nature of language used, how participants take turns, and how openings are provided for the listener to speak, etc.
10.1.5 Focus on features other than the lexical items that carry mean- ing so that you can direct your learners’ attention to them. These may include: stress, intonation, rhythm, and body language. Think about what your learners already know and what needs to be highlighted.
10.1.6 Focus also on characterization to help learners identify any strong views or mannerisms or behavior patterns that are unique to a particular character in the episode.
10.1.7 In addition to the above, make sure you address the following questions as you design your microstrategy: Do the learners need any assistance with any of the jokes? What kind of linguistic and cultural prior knowledge is assumed here? Does the episode depict a particular set of attitudes and beliefs that you need to highlight?
10.1.8 Think about the kind of a class project that will help them do some reading and writing around this episode. Would it be possible to ask your students, in small groups, to make a transcript of the episode? To rewrite the script from the point of view of a different belief system? And, enact the revised version in class?
10.1.9 Finally, try to implement your microstrategy in class and monitor how it develops. Reflect, revise, and reuse.