Now, imagine what the first ever interactive 360º documentary could look like…

Hints? Well, it tells 49 stories  from 13 cities in 13 languages (with English subtitles). And all the stories have one thing in common: they revolve around a residential tower block and its residents. To be precise, there are several highrise buidlings scattered around the globe: Prague, Havana, Sao Paulo, Toronto …  Each block has its own residents with their stories.

Close your eyes. Can you picture a single scene from the documentary?

Now, click to have a look round!

So this is my SECRET LESSON INGREDIENT of the week:

• either the cast of “Out my window” characters
• or imaginary inhabitants of the tower block below (my ‘masterpiece’):

A way to present/introduce the new language (grammar or lexis) through stories

Topics: anything you need

My BUDDING LESSON idea: make up/use the stories of the inhabitants of ‘your tower block’ to introduce new grammar and/or vocabulary. In other words, all the examples of the new language your students come across will share the same context: the tower block. Your students can access it looking at the poster on the wall or the screens of their mobile devices.

Every lesson is a visit in a different flat. Soon the characters (real – in the case of the documentary or imaginary  – if you opt for a drawing) will become a familiar gang to your students. This could be fun: a TV series in the classroom!

Once I did a similar experiment: my teenage students became the main characters of the stories I used to explain new grammar points to them. We literally lived the grammar, and if real life wasn’t sufficiently inspiring, we resorted to making up stories and adding imaginary characters. There was ample material for the entire school year of grammar stories.  Highly recommended and memorable :)