The Other Pair

Language level: Pre-intermediate (A2) –

Intermediate (B1)

Learner type: All ages

Time: 60 minutes

Activity: Watching a short film, writing

a story, and speaking about a story

Topic: Empathy and altruism

Language: Vocabulary related to shoes,

narrative tenses

Materials: Short film

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The Other Pair

Overview

This ELT lesson plan is designed around a short

film by Farda Shemal titled The Other Pair and the

themes of altruism and empathy. Students watch a

short film, write a story, and speak about a

story.

Step 1

Ask your students to come up with as many

different types of shoes as they can in 2 minutes.

Step 2

Elicit boots, trainers, slippers, flip-flops, etc.

Step 3

Tell your students they are going to watch the

first part of a short film about a pair of shoes.

As they watch they should try to answer the

following questions:

What’s the time? – 11.55

What type of shoes is the poor boy wearing? –

Flip-flops

What is the boy trying to do with his shoes? –

to repair them

Why does he stare at the other boy? – because

the other boy’s shoes are beautiful

How is the poor boy feeling? – perhaps he’s

envious of the other boy’s shoes

What happens to the other boy’s shoe? – it

falls off as he gets on the train

Show the film until 03:05.

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The Other Pair

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGh0iduZOJQ

Step 4

Get your students to compare their answers, and

then hold a plenary session based on their

answers.

Step 5

Put your students into small groups. Ask them to

predict the rest of the story. Give them 10

minutes to come up with their stories. Help them

with vocabulary as necessary.

Step 6

Get a member of each group to read out their story

and then discuss them.

Step 7

Tell your students they are going to watch the

rest of the film. As they watch they should

compare their narratives with the story the film

tells. Show the rest of the film.

Step 8

Ask your students to discuss the following

questions in pairs:

How does the film make you feel?

Can you think of any adjectives to describe

the two boys?

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The Other Pair

Does the film have a message?

Step 9

Hold a plenary discussion based on the questions.

Step 10

Tell your students that the film is based on an

event in the life of Mahatma Gandhi. Read out the

story.

“As Gandhi was stepping aboard a train one day,

one of his shoes slipped off and landed on the

track. He was unable to retrieve it as the train

started moving. To the amazement of the other

passengers, Gandhi took off his other shoe and

threw it back along the track to land close to the

first shoe. Later a fellow passenger asked him,

‘Why did you do that?’ Gandhi replied, 'The poor

man who finds the shoe lying on the track will now

have a pair he can use.’”

Step 11

Ask your students to discuss the story and its

meaning.

I hope you enjoy the lesson.

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The Other Pair

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