“This is a terrible mistake, because I used up all of my English!”

~ Roberto Benigni, accepting his Academy Award for Best Actor in “Life is Beautiful” (2010)

Did your students watch the Oscars this week? What was their favorite part? Did they enjoy watching the stars on the red carpet, or the live musical performances? Maybe they got a kick out of Ellen’s selfie that broke Twitter, or the pizza man who brought Brad Pitt and his friends pizza!

I often let my daughter stay up late to watch awards shows like the Oscars or Grammys. She’s a dreamer with big aspirations, and I think it’s important for kids to see people achieving their dreams. While my daughter’s favorite part of awards shows is seeing the pretty dresses (her dolls were all dressed up for the occasion this year), my favorite part is always listening to the acceptance speeches. Who are the winners going to thank, and why? What secrets do they have for dreamers who are still trying to achieve their goals?

This year Jared Leto, winner of Best Supporting Actor, gave the best speech! Here is the transcript of Leto’s speech. His speech told a story, and it came from the heart. It captured the audience’s attention, and he didn’t rely on a crumpled up piece of paper.

An Inspiring Video

One of the most memorable speeches in the history of the Academy Awards was delivered by Robert Benigni in 2010.

My Acceptance Speech: A Writing Activity

If you tried Sprout English’s featured Movies lesson plan this week, here is a follow-up writing activity to try with your students or kids. This activity can be fun for learners of all ages. Try it in the classroom, or as an extra activity at home.

1. Watch
First watch (or read transcripts of) some good acceptance speeches. To really inspire your students, you may want to show acceptance speeches of people whose first language is not English, such as the one above. This Top 20 Academy Award Speeches post may also be useful for finding a suitable speech to show your students. And, here is an example of a creative acceptance speech by this year’s winners for Best Original Song: “Let it Go”.

2. Discuss
Talk about what makes a good acceptance speech. What do award winners usually include in their acceptance speeches? They only have a short time to fit everything in before the dreaded music begins!

3. Brainstorm
Ask your students what dreams they have for the future. Maybe they want to write books, direct movies, play professional golf. Tell them that no dream is too big! In fact, for this activity, their dreams should be as big as possible!

4. Write
Challenge your students to write an acceptance speech using the following prompts in this FREE PDF.

5. Present (Optional)
Invite your students to use the second page of the handout to write their speeches in a single paragraph. Check out Tanya’s post on How To Write a Paragraph. Give them time to practice their speeches at school or at home. Then invite them to deliver their acceptance speeches in a Classroom Awards show. If you have a mobile device or camera, videotape the acceptance speeches and watch them together. Can you find a way to show the parents? I was really impressed when my daughter’s teacher sent his tablet home with each student this month so that we could view the commercials our kids had performed at school!

Find this week’s lesson on “Movies” in the Project Depot – Writing.

     

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PS

Did you hear the exciting news? ESL Library (Sprout English’s sister site for teachers of teen & adult learners) is up for an award! We’ve been nominated for a Shorty (a social media award) in the field of #education. We even had to submit an acceptance speech (140 characters only). Keep your fingers crossed for us on April 7! The event takes place in New York City. You can watch the Shorty Awards show in a live webcast. ~ Cheers, Tara