Alicia Hartgrove, a certified EFL teacher from the U.S. currently teaching at International House San Diego, tried a reverse process activity with her students to get them more aware of understanding information on graphs. The IELTS Writing Task 1 tests students ability to write a short report on their comprehension of the data from a graph/ chart. Instead of giving a chart and having students write about it first, the students are given a text and have to create a chart that best shows the image of the information they heard. Here, the teacher reads a paragraph from a 1976 Swine Flu Vaccination Commercial about how easily this disease can spread. While listening, the students draw a graph. They discuss their drawing with a partner, watch a video to reinforce what they heard, and then compare their drawing with a true drawing that depicts the text. An extension activity is to have the students look at someone else's chart and try recreating the text they heard.
This activity/ lesson was adapted by the materials on http://lessonstream.org/2010/02/24/contagious-disease/
with the help from Stephen Mayeux.
*This video was originally created for the application process to a TEFL job that required specific guidelines for the sample lecture video.
