English materials for
​Secondary school in México

Second Grade

Unit 1

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Project
 Public service announcement (PSA).

Download the guidelines and ​format for the project. 

STEP 1 - Choose a everyday problem

1. Depression is a  serious medical illness that negatively affects how you feel, the way you think and how you act. 
2. Distracted driving is any activity that diverts attention from driving, including talking to people, texting on your phone, eating or anything that takes your attention away from safe driving. 
3. Bullying is the use of force, coercion, or threat, to abuse, aggressively dominate or intimidate. The behavior is often repeated and habitual among school aged children or teens. 
4. Domestic violence  is abuse by one person against another in a domestic setting to maintain power and control. 
5. Robbery is the action of taking property unlawfully from a person or place by force or threat of force.
6. Low grades make students feel inferior and depressed. 
7. Littering is the bad habit of thoughtlessly throwing away or leaving trash or garbage lying around in public places.
8. Obesity is a medical condition that occurs when a person carries excess weight or body fat that might affect their health. 
9. Cell phone addiction is a disorder involving compulsive overuse of mobile devices.
10. Parental pressure is behavior exhibited by parents that is perceived by their children as indicating high, unlikely or possible even unattainable expectations.
11. Flood is a common natural disaster, and also very common in many, when water inundates land that is normally dry. 
12. Body image reflects how comfortable people feel in their body. It can be positive, negative or both. 

STEP 2 - Disccuss the following questions and answer

1. Who are involved in this problem?
2. Who may contribute to solve the problem?
3. Why is it important to help?

Possible answers:
1. Women, men, children, babies,  classmates, friends, a community, etc.
2. Teachers, parents, friends, family members, police, social workers, etc.
3. It's good to do good deeds for others, to build a better society for everyone, to save lives, etc. 

STEP 3 - Get information about the problem

Find causes, effects and statistics of the problem. Also, include treatment, tips or advices. For example:

Causes:

• Life changes such as a move or the death of loved one. (Depression)
• Eating too much and inactivity. (Obesity)
• Jealousy, envy, disagreements, anger and financial issues (Domestic violence)

Effects:

• Suicidal tendency, relationships conflict,  constant pessimism, insomnia, fatigue, etc. (Depression)
• High blood pressure, diabetes, kidney disease, amputations, etc. (Obesity)
• Bruises, involuntary shaking, depression, low self-esteem, drug abuse, etc. (Domestic violence)

Facts or statistics:

• 7.5% of women in the world have depression. (Depression)
• In U.S. the 30% of women are considered seriously overweight. (Obesity)
• 1 in 5 women in México have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime. (Domestic violence)​

Treatment, tips or advices:

• ​Talk to someone you trust and who you think will understand. (Depression)
• ​Reduce calories and practice healthier eating habits. (Obesity)
• Call the police and find a longer term safe place. (Domestic violence)

STEP 4 - Write sentences to influence your audience to solve the problem

Write actions to resolve the problem using these grammar structures:

• You should + verb
• Let’s + verb
• How about + verb +ing
• Why don´t you/we + verb

For example:

• You should talk to her.
• Let’s delete the addictive apps of your phone. 
• How about eating salad instead of hamburgers?
• Why don’t we call the police?

STEP 5 - Decide how you will use prosodic resources and body language to make your message more effective.

Follow these tips:

• Use appropriate volume of voice.
• Combine fluency and pauses to add drama.
• Pronounce correctly.
• Use appropriate gestures and body language to communicate emotions.
• Establish eye contact. 

STEP 6 - Decide the setting, characters and actions for the Public Service Announcement (PSA)

Before writing the script, brainstorm ideas for:
1. Place and time for the PSA.
2. The characters.
3. Situation or action lines.
4. Sounds, noises and special effects.

For example:
1. In the school in the morning.
2. Three girls and one boy.
3. The girls are bothering and laughing at the boy.
4. Sad background music.

STEP 7 - Get ideas watching PSA related to your topic or problem

STEP 8 - Write the script

Parts of the script

Introduction

• ​Grab your audience's attention.
• Define the problem and its characteristics. 

Main body

• Include causes, effect, facts and statistics. 

Conclusion
Include:

• Treatment, tips and solutions. 
• Call to an action.
• Contact information.

Tips for writing a PSA:

• Avoid clichés like "This is an announcement..."
• Avoid long lists.
• Avoid unfamiliar and complex words.
• Use a conversational style.
• Vary sentence length to give rhythm. 

STEP 8 - Present your project

If possible, record the announcement with a cell phone to make it more real.
Decide the place and time of the presentation.