Splat

- Activity: Videotelling
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Topic: YouTube entrepreneurialism
Age group: Teens and adults
Jaime
- Time: 30 minutes
- Video genre: High speed video
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Language level: B1 +
Language point: Prepositional phrases
keddie
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Materials and preparation

3. You will need to teach the word watermelon. In order to do this, use an image site
to find a picture of one and prepare a way of displaying it in the classroom.

Story text
Two young men are at work. Theyre sitting at a small round table: Gavins on the left
and Daniels on the right. Theyre sitting opposite each other and they have their arms
out in front of them. They have their eyes tightly shut.
There is a good reason why they have their eyes tightly shut: above the table, in the
space between them, there are thousands of pieces of red flesh, green shell and drops
of juice. This is the exact moment at which the watermelon exploded!
Gavin and Daniel used 500 identical, everyday objects to cause the watermelon
to explode.

The video
This activity is based on video titled Rubber bands versus watermelon. It was uploaded
on YouTube in July 2012 and has been viewed over 12 million times to date.
Video here: http://youtu.be/PK8dsAeMmPk
The video was created by Gavin Free and Daniel Gruchy, better known as the Slow Mo Guys.
They use high-speed cameras to film events in extreme slow motion. These include bubbles
bursting, a gun firing underwater, popcorn popping and a football-face collision.

Activity outline
For a demonstration of this activity, go to: http://lessonstream.org/2015/07/20/splat/

1. Give out paper and colour pencils and say: I want you to draw a picture. But dont
draw anything now. First I want to describe a situation.
2. Read aloud the first part of the story text two or three times. Speak clearly and slowly.
When possible, use gesture to reinforce comprehension. You do not have to mention that
you are describing a video at this stage.
Two young men are at work. They are sitting at a small round table: Gavin is on the left
and Daniel is on the right. They are sitting opposite each other and they have their
arms out in front of them. They have their eyes tightly shut.
3. Say: OK, now you can draw your pictures.

Jamie
Splat! - Jamie Keddie 2015 - Lessonstream.org

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4. When students have finished drawing, ask: Why do you think they have their eyes
tightly shut? What do they do for a living? In other words, what is their job? Can
you guess?
Possible answers include: Gavin and Daniel are wine tasters; they are trying to contact the
dead; they work in an office and have fallen asleep at their desks. Correct or reformulate
students language as necessary. In cases when they make use of their first language to
express ideas, translate their words into English if possible and make use of bilingual
dictionaries if not.
5. Read aloud the second part of the story text two or three times. Stop before
you mention the watermelon.
There is a good reason why they have their eyes tightly shut: above the table, in the
space between them, there are thousands of pieces of red flesh, green shell and drops
of juice.
6. Ask: Can you explain? Something has just exploded. [You can mime an explosion
here.] Can you guess what?
Note: The success of this will depend on students understanding of the words flesh and
shell. Flesh is usually connected with meat while shell is usually connected with sea
creatures. Perhaps for this reason, one student of mine guessed that a turtle had
exploded! Write the words red flesh, green shell and drops of juice on the board. Invite
students to use monolingual dictionaries to explore these key words in an attempt to
guess what has exploded.
7. Tell students that the mystery object is a watermelon. Show them a picture to ensure
comprehension.
8. Say: Please add the red flesh, green shell and drops of juice to your drawings.

9. Ask: OK, so why did the watermelon explode? What did Gavin and Daniel do?
Can anyone guess? You can ask me questions if you like.
Note: You can give students a limited number of questions (12, for example). Try to
encourage students to create and challenge theories. For example, if they say that Gavin
and Daniel used explosives or dropped the watermelon from a height, ask if that would be
safe or dangerous. When necessary, correct, reformulate or translate the language that
students use.
10. If and when students run out of ideas, offer the following clues:
- To make the watermelon explode, Gavin and Daniel used 500 identical everyday objects.
- This is a scene from a video on YouTube.

Jamie
Splat! - Jamie Keddie 2015 - Lessonstream.org

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11. Before you let students see the video, write the following acronyms on the board:
2YMAW
SAASRT
Gavin OTL
Daniel OTR
SOEO
AOIFOT
ETS ATT

ITSBT
PORF
GS
DOJ
12. Say: These are all phrases that I used in my description. For example, 2YMAW is
Two young men at work. Can you remember the other phrases? Can you write all of
them on your drawings.

Note: This is a potentially difficult exercise. You can help students by reading aloud the
text one more time before they proceed. Students should listen with their pens on their
desks, not in their hands. In addition / alternatively you could write some of the individual
words in a jumbled box on the board.

Jamie
Splat! - Jamie Keddie 2015 - Lessonstream.org

keddie
13. Go over the answers.

Answers: 2YMAW = two young men at work; SAASRT = sitting at a small round table; Gavin
OTL = Gavin on the left; Daniel OTR = Daniel on the right; SOEO = sitting opposite each
other; AOIFOT = arms out in front of them; ETS = eyes tightly shut; ATT = above the
table; ITSBT = in the space between them; PORF = pieces of red flesh; GS = green shell;
DOJ = drops of juice
Note: Since these phrases are intended as labels, some of the language in the text has
been altered to make it more natural. For example, Two young men are at work becomes
Two young men at work; Gavin is on the left becomes, Gavin on the left.
14. Show students the video. You can stop it at 01:45.

15. Explain the concept of the Slow Mo guys to your students if they have never heard of
them before.

Variations
- Some students especially older ones may be reluctant to draw. If this is the case, give
out copies of the image on the next page and ask them to add labels accordingly.
- Rather than describing the scene from the video, give students the following list of
isolated items: one watermelon; two young men in white lab coats; an open space; 500
elastic bands; a slow motion camera. Ask students to work in small groups to theorise
about what happens in the video. Alternatively, invite them to work out what happens
by asking student-to-teacher questions.

Follow up
Gavin Free and Daniel Gruchy are examples of successful YouTube entrepreneurs. As of July
2015, their YouTube channel has over 5 million subscribers and over 500 million views. By
entering into the YouTube partnership programme, The Slow Mo Guys are able to share
revenue with YouTube that is generated from advertising on their videos.
As a follow up to this activity, students should choose another YouTube entrepreneur or
entrepreneurial team, investigate them and present their ideas to the rest of the class.
Alternatively, they could investigate the technical principles that the Slow Mo Guys use to
create their videos (see High-speed photography at Wikipedia for more information).

Credit
The illustration used in this activity was created by Jack Keddie.

Jamie
Splat! - Jamie Keddie 2015 - Lessonstream.org

keddie
 Jamie
Splat! - Jamie Keddie 2015 - Lessonstream.org

keddie
 REFERENCIAS:

(KEDDYE, 2012)
http://lessonstream.org/learner-type/clil/

MY OPINION ABOUT THIS CLASS

This class is important because there is much