English Language&Culture: "Kayleigh Haywood"

As to the Subject "English Language and Culture" in the traditional Liceo Scientifico Curriculum or "English as a Second Language" in the Cambridge IGCSE Curriculum over the first 2 years of Biennio, students have to focus on the study of grammar and communicative functions. The Teaching Unit I am going to present will be based on some news, facts/events/crimes that actually occurred or were committed. I usually exploit video reports, articles, radio announcements, Internet warnings, official statements so that students will have to read, write, listen to and then finally talk about these cases and report on their implications, practising and developing their skills and communicative competence.

One of these cases took place in Leicestershire last November 2015. It was about the disappearance of a teenage girl, Kayleigh Haywood, 15 years old, who went missing after being dropped off outside her school by her father. I will use all the authentic material Police investigators, Town Council officers and TV and Press media released and published in the aftermath of the disappearance.

This case seemed to me particularly significant for being so closely related to the typical lifestyle of teenagers, the same age of my students at their 2nd year, and also because it deals with the burning issue of social media and the dangerous use teenagers too often make of it.

Every Teaching Unit I have devised within the Erasmus Plus Project 2016-1-IT02-KA101-023229 "On the Horizon", including this one, was analysed, checked and discussed withthe teachers from the Stafford House London, where my training in English Language and C.L.I.L. methodology took place in July and September 2017.

Each Unit begins with a brief overview of the topics and Use of English areas that students will listen to, read, talk and write about. In this Unit the topics are the risks and dangers of online grooming related to the use of the Internet. The Use of English areas are Prepositional verbs, Past simple, Past perfect, Conditionals, direct and reported speech.


Introduction

Kayleigh Haywood was a lively and fun-loving girl in her final GCSE year. She had started Year 11 with a real determination to be successful, but her efforts were cut short. In fact, on November 13, 2015, her dad Martin dropped her off outside her school, falsely believing she was staying with her best friend, and was the last person to see her alive. Almost 2 weeks earlier, a young man, aged 28, had contacted her with flirty messages using his Facebook account, and persuading her to lie to her parents and stay the night at his home a few days later. When she went to his flat in Ibstock, Leicestershire, he plied her with alcohol and sexually assaulted her, killing her with the help of a friend of his. Kayleigh had texted the word "help" to her friend hours before she died. The one man was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape, false imprisonment and murder of the teenager, while the other was given a 12-year jail term for false imprisonment and grooming. Later on, the investigators from Leicestershire Police made a film about the last two weeks of Kayleigh's life, a five-minute clip that looked at aspects of the fortnight before her death and warns parents and children of the dangers of online grooming. Since last year, the film has been shown to more than 50,000 schoolchildren in a series of controlled screenings conducted by a team of specially-trained Police Community Support Officers.

Police reports, witness statements, friends' and neighbours' accounts, newspapers' articles, video clips, documentaries, public appeals, police updating, all these authentic and meaningful material will be used to stimulate my students' eagerness to know about Kayleigh and her sad story, and to perceive and finally understand the risks and dangers of the Internet, social media and online activities. As to the latter, infamous cyberbullying will also be considered, with all its implications with daily school activity, and the Blue Whale game.


Class Specification

This unit is designed for a 2nd class of Liceo Scientifico, both of traditional or Cambridge IGCSE Syllabuses. In such grade, Reading and Listening skills must be developed and enhanced, so as to enable students to read and understand autonomously the English Language, written or spoken, and to then acquire a correct and fluent use of the language, both oral and written.

Students are generally interested in current affairs involving teenagers and young people. At this time of their school career, they need lots of exposure to written and spoken language in order to achieve good communicative competences in English. The opportunity to view and read about such a horrendous crime in class will also allow students to engage in productive class discussion and sharing of ideas. 

The Power Point Presentation of this Teaching Unit is here