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ESL materials & ideas developed in China
"Famous Writer's Assistant & Companion" lesson plan
(thanks to Howard Tebble for the idea behind this exercise)a) Scenario
1. You are a very famous writer & researcher. Your work brings worldwide recognition and a very good income. However you do pay a heavy price for success.
a) You must lead an extremely disciplined life. Everyone expects you to constantly produce original ideas. Critics will immediately use any errors to destroy your reputation.
b) Research for your writing forces you to travel around the world constantly. Thus, in spite of your fame, you are forced to spend much of your life in hotels, amongst people whom you do not know. You are sometimes lonely, but above all there is often no one you trust to discuss your ideas with. It is also a nuisance having to arrange all the small routines of living, from washing clothes to booking tickets, when you could be using the time for more important matters.
2. You decide that you need someone to act as your companion and assistant. You don't care about their age or sex, but they must be compatible with your personality, have very active minds, but also be willing to do all the tasks expected of a good secretary. They must be free to travel. You will pay them extremely well..
b) Scenario II : The Companion/ Assistant
1. You come across an advertisement for an assistant to a famous writer / researcher. It is a very unusual advertisement, but you decide to apply. You do realize that creative people are often difficult companions. You don't want to ruin your own life. You therefore decide that you will have to interview the writer carefully, as well as be interviewed.
2. You sit down and write out exactly what you will be prepared to do, and exactly what you will need to know about the writer before you agree to work for him.
c) Project Plan
1. The class is divided into two groups: a) writers, and b) assistants. It is normally convenient to arrange this by self-chosen pairs of students. For preparation, the writers and assistants might be temporarily moved to opposite sides of the room.
2. Individuals in each group must
a) prepare the questions they want to ask;
b) prepare the answers to the questions they expect to be asked.
There should be at least ten detailed questions in each part, a) and b). Remember, this is not an ordinary job with regular hours. You will have to ask very searching questions.
3. People in the "companion" part of the class can consult other "companions", and "writers" can consult other "writers" when they are preparing for interview.
4. After the first interview, the initial partners should break up. Each writer/researcher will need to interview about three possible companion/assistants in depth. Each companion/assistant should be interviewed at least three times. To make this swapping work, the teacher will have to keep everyone's interview to about the same time limit.
5. Every participant needs to keep short notes on each interview, so a choice can be made fairly at the end.
d) Types of Questions
1. Yes/No Questions : these need only a short "yes" or "no" answer.
2. WH-Questions: these usually need a detailed answer of one or more sentences.
3. Hypothetical Questions: These are "what-if" questions, where the answerer must explain what they would do in some imaginary situation.
"Famous Writer's Assistant & Companion lesson plan" copyrighted to Thor May 1999; all rights reservedback to Last Message index