4.3.1.1.1 The Worksheet. The worksheet centring around Prince EA’s spoken poem, Dear Future Generations, was piloted in most groups (n = 7). The activity sequence starts with a warmer in which students have to imagine that they are living 50 years in the future, and they have to say what life is like then. In the second exercise, to activate their schemata of global issues, they need to identify some, based on six images. Then, they are asked to predict the genre of the text they are to deal with based on the title. Afterwards, the students get to work with the video: first, they only listen to the first part, and they are asked to reorder the screen captures taken from the video. While listening to the second part, they have to fill in the text first with some words and then with full sentences. They only have to watch the last, most impactful, part of the video. The follow-up activities consist of speaking tasks in pairs and groups and little projects. First, they are asked to express their feelings in connection with the video, then, they have to express their thoughts on some quotations from the poem. The next task is a time capsule activity, where in small groups, they have to decide what they would save for future generations from the year they live in. In the creative writing activity, they are asked to write a letter or poem to future generations. Finally, the activity sequence closes with a project, in which they have to create an infographic on one of the issues presented in the video (the worksheet can be found in Appendix I). The aims of the sequence are to raise awareness, to expand students’ knowledge about some current events, to develop their creative and critical thinking, their researching and presentation skills alongside their vocabulary and their four language skills.

 

4.3.1.1.2 Results from the Reflective Journal. Even though the first activity was usually successful judged by the students’ engagement, it is worth mentioning that the outcomes of this activity were reasonably varied. In the case of some groups, they had mostly positive prospects, but in most of the groups, those students were more vocal in sharing insights from their discussions that envisaged a darker future. The students did not have any problems identifying the global issues in the images in any of the groups; however, they did not manage to get the genre of the material they were to deal with based on the title. The students experienced few problems filling in the texts (only students with low English levels struggled); however, the activity where they had to rearrange the screen captures was difficult for many students who were working from printed handouts. Some students had strong reactions to the video: some really liked it and felt that it was powerful, others felt it was cheesy and sensationalist. In those groups where the negative voices were louder, I tried to engage them by encouraging them to also state their negative opinion, as one does not need to like a video to be able to talk about the topic. In these cases, I also asked them to share why they did not like the video and why such controversial videos could still go viral (similar to Ritch, 2020). The activity where they had to react to different quotes had mixed success: while some students engaged in the activity by sharing personal stories, examples, and their insights, in some groups, however hard I tried, they did not want to delve deep into the topic (this was usually the case with Group G and H, where dynamics of the group were not positive and supportive enough).

4.3.1.1.3 Student Feedback. Even though the activity sequence was brought into seven groups, only 18 students filled in the student questionnaire (given that no time was left for it in class and the online questionnaire did not encourage them to give feedback on the classes). Nevertheless, the comments they left were diverse and provided sufficient data for analysis. Some students (n = 5) remarked that they felt the topic was interesting, as it was approached from a different direction, and they also appreciated that it was serious, up-to-date, and relevant. Even if one student explicitly claimed that he did not like the topic, he still asserted that he “found parts that interest [him]” (#1). Respondent 14 added that not only were the activities interesting, they were also fun and she “didn’t even realize that it was a university lesson”. Some students (n = 6) remarked that they found the sequence useful because it raised their awareness about current issues and even if they had already known about these topics, the activities served as reminders. Respondent 17, for example, reported that the “sense of urgency” he felt about these issues after the classes helped him “put things into perspective about how each of us has to start dealing with these issues on an individual level”. Other students (n = 8) praised the sequence because it enabled them to learn from each other. For instance, Respondent 12 felt she “learned a lot about current problems from [her] classmates’ presentations” and Respondent 10 thought the sequence “expanded [his] knowledge about people around [him] and he got to know their thoughts”. Respondent 17 wrote about this experience in more detail:

 

Some students were highly appreciative of the infographics presentations they had to make at the end of the sequence: they liked the fact they had to do some research, because it helped them get a deeper understanding of the topic they chose (“looking up information by yourself is the best way of learning” – #7) and because it developed their presentation skills (“personally I think most students need to learn how to sell themselves in our society” – #5). The students appreciated that the sequence helped them develop their cooperation (n = 3), their critical and creative thinking (n = 3) and also their language skills, i.e., their vocabulary (n = 4) and speaking skills (n = 4).