Alien Tour Guide
 A lesson I really enjoy is called Alien Tour Guide. The first part is that I will place a photo onto the projector and ask my university level composition students to explain it to me, an Alien visitor who knows absolutely nothing about life on planet Earth. For example, if it is a photograph of me walking my dog in a park, they have to explain everything: ‘what is that line attached to the short creature’s neck?’ ‘what is a leash?’ ‘why does the dog have to be on a leash?’ This is a great conversation class activity. For the next class, I’ll have students bring in photographs of everyday scenes: a baseball game, in a shopping mall, on the subway, at a nightclub, wherever. Then, when they get to class, they pretend they are an alien, and walk around asking their ‘human friends’ to explain what is going on inside their photograph. (This can be quite chaotic as it’s a bit competitive to get to ask the 1st question thereby staking claim in the interview). They have to ask five different humans 3 questions trying to learn as much information as they can about their particular scenario. After class, they need to go home and file a report back to the Alien Leader explaining this strange Earthling activity. When asking my students to write, I tell them they should abide by three basic rules: • The reader has ZERO knowledge. • They should provide as much information that they can in as few words as possible. • Prove the credibility of their information source. The objective of the lesson is for them to clearly explain what is happening in an informative and interesting manner. The other objective is for them to learn to cite sources, and prove their reliability. The human told me, “Baseball is fun.” vs. Chul-su, who watches every home game at Jamshil Stadium, told me, “Baseball is the most important thing in my life.” The students really seem to enjoy the activity part of this lesson, but when it comes down to the actual writing, well. That’s another thing.