Two weeks ago, we posted a set of lessons titled “The Language of Nutrition.”  You can find it here.  This week, we are continuing to post on the same topic.  Most likely, these resources will be used near the end of Year 2, after the IO and the HLE are complete. 

Subscribers can find the lesson here.

But that’s not the only time you can use them!  Perhaps you want to introduce to your class how language is used on a website to “sell” you something.  In this case, the websites are “selling” a weight loss or nutritional program (either for a fee or as a lifestyle choice).  After exploring this, you might then move into a targeted non-literary body of work dealing with advertisements from one specific company.  We have non-literary bodies of work from Dove, the US Army, and Nike on the site.

In this way, not everything you do has to be a non-literary body of work and by starting here, you have “primed” your students for how to think about analyzing texts before transferring that way of thinking from websites to actual advertisements.   

Because we all spend an inordinate amount of time online, critically deconstructing what we read on the web is vital.  This isn’t a research unit, asking students if a particular website should be used as a reputable source in an essay.  Instead, we are trying to imbed a way of thinking, of looking at and reflecting on what they read online. 

If you don’t want to work with nutrition or weight loss programs, choose four different websites around a similar “topic.”  Maybe you want to look at fashion websites (shoes and/or clothes).  Perhaps a phone company or a technology company website will be of more interest to you.  Cars?  Credit cards?  While the materials we have produced do not exactly mesh with every single website, the lessons plan are very easily transferable with minimal work needed on your end if you want to use something else. 

Finally, if you don’t like the order or flow of the lesson, change it up to suit you and your needs in your context.  Delete or don't use whatever doesn't work for you and your students!

Best,

Tim and David