Archived from Englipedia.
Originally submitted by Ryan Urie on Oct 21, 2011.
DETAILED EXPLANATION:
- Hand out the worksheet and explain to the students that they have been given $1,000,000, but they only have one week to try and spend it all. They must choose where they are going to go, where they are going to stay, what they are going to eat, and what they are going to buy, and write it out in complete English sentences.
- Once they have completed the first four sentences, they add up how much they've spent and find out how much they have left. Then they get to use their imaginations and come up with three or four more sentences on their own about what they might do on their vacation. If they spent over the $1,000,000 in the first section (my prices are intentionally ridiculous just to add to the fun!) they must say what they are going to do to make more money (I provide a few options verbally, like getting a job, borrowing from friends, robbing a conbini, etc...).
- In the last five or ten minutes, have all the students present their plan in small groups, or have a few present to the entire class.
VARIATIONS:
- The prices and choice of places to go, things to buy, etc... are extremely flexible. The kids seem to get a kick out of my ridiculous choices, but if anyone out there doesn't appreciate my sense of humor (and you'd be in good company) you can change them in a snap to better suit your own students.
- I priced all items in the second section the same at $100,000. You might consider using categories to give them more flexibility in spending (e.g. $50,000 to meet a celebrity, $10,000 for food, etc...), but I wanted to leave their options as wide open as possible and not feed them options like in the first half.
TIPS/CAUTIONS:
- The hardest part of this exercise for the students was thinking of what they want! While this can slow down the activity quite a bit, I feel like getting the students to use their imaginations is still time well spent.
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