Rare occurrences almost
invariably hold the attention of learners -- both children and adults.
What would offer a couple
of hours of fun and suspense is the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin
followed by the video The town that nearly danced itself to death available
on BBC, which is about the dance epidemic which led to a shocking number of
deaths. A similar outbreak of dancing mania in Germany is thought to have been the
basis of the tale of The Pied Piper.
The level of English
required is B2 or post B2.
The original story is
available online, plus there are several video versions available on YouTube.
But I prefer to stick to the original so I can introduce new vocabulary and
provide more practice on it.
Here is where you can read the original story:
A key concept you could
start with is “plague”. An explanation in
the students’ mother tongue would be appropriate -- accompanied by some images.
It is a great opportunity to present relevant words such as “infest”, and “infestation”.
The story of the Pied
Piper is an enchanting one: man’s powerlessness to deal
with nature’s strange ways, the power of music to tame, human greed,
vengefulness. You could explore one or all of these themes depending
on your students’ eagerness. The students could be even asked to think of or
bring to class other stories revolving round those themes.
The video on the other
hand about the outbreak of dancing in Strasbourg in 1518 contains more
sophisticated information about the way the incident manifested itself and the
possible explanations for people literally dancing themselves to death: from
purely physiological (typhus or epilepsy) to socio-cultural ones (mass
hysteria).
Here is the link for the video about Strasbourg:
Mature students,
especially those who specialise in Medicine or Psychology would find some food
for thought in the video. It could serve as the springboard for an oral session
on what motivates people to become self-destructive.
