Solutions

3 Elementary 21st Century Skills Project

Video: life hacks
21st Century Skills Collaboration: getting involved in projects
Key Competences 1 Digital competence, 4 Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, 6 Maths, science and technology
Useful language 7A computing nouns, computing verbs, technology collocations, 7C computer instructions, sequencing
from the units words, 7E phrasal verbs, 7G features of gadgets, 8D will, 9A furniture and household items, parts of a home,
9B and 9D present perfect (affirmative, negative and interrogative)

STEP 1: UNDERSTAND THE TASK   Work in pairs. Read the task. What are you going to do?

K
TAS  
life hack (n) a piece of advice or a good solution to a problem

Here are three of our favourite life hacks for sports:

At any important moment in

Put a teabag in
each Top athletes drink a lot of water, a sports match, like when you’re
of yo ur tr ai ne rs after but most of us don’t drink going to shoot a basketball,
ainers
sport and yo ur tr
cause
enough. Use a pen to mark times make your left hand into a fist.
sm el ly be
won’t be of the day on your water bottle This activates your brain to focus
away
the teabag takes so that you remember to drink
the smell. better. Lots of famous sports stars
enough water through the day.
do this.

Do you like our life hacks? We want you to share yours! Think of your favourite tricks and advice, and
then record a short video about them. We’ll upload them to our site where our viewers can vote for
their favourite tips. The winners will get prizes! What are you waiting for?

STEP 2: ANALYSE   Look at the photos. How can these items help you with technology problems?
Discuss in a small group.
Read the scripts of four videos. Match each video with the correct photo.
Which life hack is most useful? Order them 1–4 (4 is the most useful). Does your partner agree?
Read the scripts again. Which words do they use to sequence their advice? Underline them.

A
C

B
D

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3 Elementary 21st Century Skills Project

Video: life hacks

Video 1 Video 2
Oh no! Your mum was right – the back pocket of your jeans is Your phone is almost out of charge! Quick, where’s the cable?
a stupid place to keep your mobile. But it’s too late, and your It’s fallen on the floor – isn’t that annoying? Take our advice
phone has just splashed into the toilet! What are you going and save time with a Lego figure. That’s crazy! Oh no, it isn’t.
to do? Well, you have to be quick. To start off with, get it out You stick the figure to your desk and then you’ll see that the
of the water fast. Don’t press any buttons! Then remove the figure’s hand is the perfect size to hold your cable for you. It
case. After that, take a bag of rice from the cupboard and will never fall on the floor again.
fill a bowl or cup. Put your phone in it so the rice covers it.
Then you wait. The dry rice will slowly take the water out of
your phone. Just don’t turn your phone on until you know it’s Video 3
totally dry. And remember – you should never put your phone You’ve found a lot of old batteries and you need some for
in your back pocket! a game. How do you know if they’re good or bad? Here’s
a quick way to know if they are ‘dead’ or not. Hold a battery
vertically about 20 cm above a table. Now, just drop it. If it
gives one small bounce and falls over, it is good to use. If it
bounces a lot more, it is dead or not very good. Easy, isn’t it?

Video 4
My friends have all got better phones than me, but I have
a great trick for when you want to listen to music and your
speaker isn’t very good. First of all, go to the kitchen and
find the biggest glass you can. Then you simply put on your
favourite song, turn up the volume and put your phone in the
glass. You’ll find your music is much louder than usual. But
just remember – the glass must be empty!

STEP 3: PREPARE   Life hacks give you advice about common STEP 4: CREATE   Work with your partner to create your
problems, how to make your life better or easier and quick video script. Use the key phrases to sequence your advice.
ways to do things so you can save time. Work in a group Practise for your video, and when you are ready, record it.
and write a list of good ideas you have for life hacks. These Remember your discussion in Step 3 so you can make it
topics may help your planning: good quality.
• hobbies and sport • studying and homework
• clothes and appearance • your school bag / equipment KEY PHRASES
• health and lifestyle • your room
• technology • travelling around
• your school day
Choose one of the life hacks in the list. This will be your
video. In pairs, discuss these questions:
• What items do you need to demonstrate your life hack?
• Do you need a surface (table, floor)?
• Whose phone are you going to use? Does it have enough
free memory? Will you need a cable to transfer your video
to the teacher’s computer?
• Who is going to be the director? Who is going to be the
speaker?
STEP 5: PRESENT AND DECIDE   Present your video to the
• Do you need another person to help you with filming? class. Watch and listen to the other life hack videos.
• How are you going to make it good quality? Think about Choose your favourite idea and tell the class why you
background, sound, lighting, keeping the phone straight,
like it.
using effects.

STEP 6: SELF-EVALUATION   Copy the statements into your notebook and score yourself from 1–4. 4 very well
a I can think critically about good ideas to help people with their lives. 3 well
b I can give advice and sequence it logically. 2 needs practice
c I can create a video in English to post online. 1 not very well
d I can give a personal response to other people’s ideas.

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3 Elementary 21st Century Skills Project Teaching Notes
Video: life hacks
PROJECT SUMMARY with four different technology problems and put them in
groups to brainstorm ideas. If they have difficulty thinking of
• 21st Century Skills: Collaboration: getting involved in
anything, you can write prompts on the board: cable, speaker,
projects
mobile, battery, wet, loud.
• Key Competences: 1 Digital competence, 4 Sense of
initiative and entrepreneurship, 6 Maths, science and
• After a few minutes, ask them to read the video scripts
and match each to the correct photo. Elicit the answers
technology
and ask if any of them had got the right answers in their
• Useful language from the units: 7A computing nouns,
discussions before.
computing verbs, technology collocations, 7C computer
instructions, sequencing words, 7E phrasal verbs, 7G
• Take time to go through any unknown vocabulary such as
back pocket, out of charge, vertically, bounce, empty.
features of gadgets, 8D will, 9A furniture and household
items, parts of a home, 9B and 9D present perfect
• Ask students to decide individually which life hack is most
useful and order them 1–4 (where 4 is the most useful). Then
(affirmative, negative and interrogative)
put them in pairs to compare and discuss their ranking.
• Finally focus their attention on sequencing and ask them to
WARM-UP EXERCISE find sequencing words in the video scripts. When they have
To help students engage with the topic, write the following finished, direct them to the key phrases in Step 4 to show the
questions on the board for students to talk about. You may kinds of words they should have found. (These are from
need to help them with vocabulary. How often do you waste page 77 of the Student’s Book.)
time looking for your phone, keys, or school books? Do you have
ANSWERS
any good ideas or systems for making your life easier or more
A video 2 B video 4 C video 1 D video 3
organised?
STEP 3  PREPARE
STEP 1  UNDERSTAND THE TASK
• There are two parts to this stage: 1 Thinking about the topic
• Draw students’ attention to the title life hacks and the
and content of their video; 2 Thinking about how to make the
dictionary definition. You could find a suitable translation
video.
into their first language if appropriate. It’s a good idea to also
• Put students in groups. Ask them to read the instruction and
pre-teach the words trick, advice and tip before they read on.
check they know it’s a brainstorm. Monitor carefully and
• Ask students to read the task. Check their understanding of
praise their ideas. Encourage the use of dictionaries, but also
the vocabulary used. There’s some new vocabulary you may
help them with finding the vocabulary they need to explain
need to pre-teach: teabag, trainers, smell(y), athlete, (not)
themselves.
enough, fist, prize.
• If necessary prompt them with ideas. Here are some
• Put students in pairs to discuss what they are going to do.
examples:
Check understanding carefully by asking some questions,
• Pack your school bag the night before so you are totally
e.g. What do you need to make? Who is it for? Can you win
ready when you’re half-asleep in the morning.
a prize?
• Colour the top edge of each school exercise book with
• Encourage them to give their opinions about the three life
a different highlighter so you can find them quickly in your
hacks in the task.
school bag.
• There are many life hack videos on the internet on sites such
• Attach your keys with a long string inside your bag so you
as YouTube. If you have time to look and find a suitable one,
never lose them.
you could show it in class as a good example.
• Hang your clothes in the bathroom while you have
ANSWER a shower so you don’t need to iron them.
We are going to make a short video about life hacks for the • When they have a list of ideas, put students in pairs and
website viewers. We can win a prize. ask them to choose one idea to make a video of. Monitor to
ensure they don’t all choose the same.
STEP 2  ANALYSE • They now move on to thinking about how they are going
• This step is about technology, so with a weaker group to video their life hack. Unless your school has audio-visual
it would be good to brainstorm vocabulary around the equipment, they will need to use mobile phones for Step 4
topic. They could turn to page 74 in the Student’s Book as and it is important that they plan how to use them for best
a reminder, but will also need words about mobile phones effect. This is also when they decide on the objects, props and
(case, cable) which you can elicit from the class. equipment they will need and take responsibility for finding
• Focus students’ attention on the photos. Elicit what they it. Go through the questions together before they start
can see and help with vocabulary: a Lego figure, a glass, some discussing to ensure they understand all the vocabulary.
rice, a table. Tell them that these things can be used to help

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3 Elementary 21st Century Skills Project Teaching Notes

Video: life hacks

• Monitor their discussions and make sure they are STEP 5  PRESENT AND DECIDE
planning these practical aspects well by discussing the
• Students can work in groups or as a whole class. Each
questions thoroughly.
pair plays their video. With a weaker group, the students
This is a highly creative project, and the extent depends
may benefit from seeing the videos more than once. You
largely on time available. Students could include drawings
could also have an ‘any questions’ stage after each video
or animation, use filters and other effects, transfer their
where the other students can ask the video-makers for any
videos to computer to edit, embed images from the
necessary clarification.
internet, or add pop-up script if they have the knowledge
• As they watch and listen to each other’s life hacks, they could
and if you can give them sufficient time and access to IT
make notes or just remember which ones they like and why.
resources.
For extra guidance, you could draw two columns on the
board for them to copy into their books, with the titles life
STEP 4  CREATE
hack and video quality.
• In their pairs, students write the script for the video. • Conduct feedback from the class about their favourite life
Encourage them to sequence their hack well using the
hack videos in terms of content and in terms of video quality,
key phrases.
including the English used, paying particular attention
• Students can write the script to be delivered by both of them to sequencers.
together as a pair or separately, dividing lines between them.
• You could also elicit discussion about what problems they
To write a good script, remind them that they need to think
encountered doing this project and how they overcame them.
about the sequence of actions, how the video will look and
Critical thinking about this can help with future projects
how they’re going to film it.
which use the same kinds of skills.
• Students should practise several times before recording. Help • As an optional extra task, ask students to try out one of the
them with any pronunciation problems. Tell them to speak
life hacks in their daily life and report back on it in a later
slowly and clearly.
lesson.
• Before they record, make sure there is enough memory on the
mobile phone and that the light source is behind the camera. STEP 6  SELF-EVALUATION
Allow time for several ‘takes’ as students will probably
• Ask students to copy statements a–d. Then they decide
make mistakes, start laughing, etc. Keep the class working individually how well they can do each thing. Point out that
together by giving time limits – it needs to be fun, but number 4 is very positive and number 1 is the least positive.
also productive.
• You can also use the key competences evaluation rubric
• When the videos are finished, back them up to your to evaluate how well students have done in the key
computer. You can do Step 5 by projecting the videos onto the competences associated with this project.
IWB, or if this is not available, students can show each other • You could then conduct a class discussion on what
on their phones (but it is a good idea to have another backup the students found easy and difficult about doing the
in any case). project, and what they might do differently if they did the
project again.

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3 Elementary 21 Century Skills Project Video: life hacks

st

Key Competences Evaluation Rubric Student’s name: Class:

KEY COMPETENCE 4  EXCELLENT 3  GOOD 2  ADEQUATE 1  NEEDS IMPROVEMENT

1 Digital competence
In step 3, the student demonstrates
digital awareness in the discussion of
video content, planning the video and in
the actual filming. In step 4, the student
demonstrates a confident use of digital
devices in the recording and creation of
the video. In step 5, the student shows
competency and confidence when giving
the presentation to the rest of the class.

4 Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship

In step 2, the student participates in the
ranking activity by offering opinions
about which life hack is the most useful.
In step 3, the student is proactive in
suggesting creative ideas for life hacks
and in developing ideas for the video.
In step 4, the student demonstrates
decision-making and negotiation skills
and an ability to manage the time
allocated in order to be prepared for the
presentation in step 5.

6 Mathematics, science and technology

In step 1, the student shows an interest
in, and understanding of, the scientific
basis of the life hacks. In step 2, the
student is able to reflect on the use of
items and the relationship between the
photos and the video scripts. In steps 3
and 4, the student demonstrates further
understanding of mathematics, science
and technology in the development of
the life hacks, and in the creation of the
accompanying script which supports the
concept with factual explanations.

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