Aliens vs Humans (lesson plan)
Aliens are awesome, I guess. I haven’t met any real extraterrestrial yet, but then again I’m talking about classroom – and here aliens are alive and breathing. Ever since I read “How to be An Alien” by George Mikes as an EFL student, I realised learning a foreign language is basically learning about alien civilisation and sometimes one feels like Erich von Däniken discovering absolutely unbelievable things.
Anyway, I think teaching is pretty much like discovering aliens, getting familiar with them and trying to communicate with them – and as a bonus, aliens are a really nice topic to talk about in the classroom. After all, there are no good or bad answers, and everyone can share their wildest ideas!
This lesson is about aliens and humans, the way both sides may look at one another – but it may also be an example of introducing the topic of inclusion, prejudice and reminding the simple fact that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder.
Introduction: 10 minutes
Everyone knows something about aliens, so all you need to do is come up with some simple questions, for example:
- What do you know about aliens?
- Do you think aliens are rather friendly or not really?
- What would you do if you met an alien?
Brainstorm: 10 minutes
Divide students into groups and ask them to do some brainstorming and make the following lists:
- 5 questions you would ask an alien
- 5 questions an alien would probably ask you
- 5 positive and 5 negative things an alien would say about humans
Social media time: 10 minutes
This activity needs some help from social media. Some time ago Tumblr user Teaboot shared ‘supporting evidence’ to show us that actually, looking from a more objective point of view, we are an adorable little species:
To tell you the truth, I feel an uncontrollable urge to smile happily whenever I read this post, and I believe your students will also warm up to the idea of creating 5 own “findings” about humanity – ask them to work in groups and prepare their ideas.
Roleplay: 10 minutes
Time for a little roleplay! Ask your students to imagine they’re alien scouts based on Earth and upon returning to their mothership, they are asked by their government officials to share their new exciting intel.
Each group chooses a representative to share their findings collected during previous activity, and the group that had the most original ideas, wins and gets promoted to Humanity Befriending Group.
Close up: 5 minutes
It’s easy to ask your students whether they have learnt something new during this lesson – probably not, as the whole idea revolve around the simplest habits and routines. As a homework, ask your students to look at their most difficult challenges from the perspective of a friendly alien, to see a bigger picture and smile a little bit.
Enjoy!