THE HUMAN LIBRARY

BY GUEST WRITER - SILVINA MASCITTI

©PEACHEYPUBLICATIONS LTD 2022

 This lesson is based on video about The Human Library. This is a library
that lends people instead of books. It’s a marvellous way to learn about
THE HUMAN other people from different backgrounds, their culture and their beliefs.
LIBRARY
In the lesson students discuss books and libraries, develop their
understanding of the concept of a human library and share their views and
opinions.
Aims:
• To enable students to understand how a human library works to promote
tolerance and respect for diversity.
Level:
• A2+
Materials:
• Digital presentation: https://bit.ly/3sj15XO
• Video: https://bit.ly/3P1F9KA
• Summary task: https://bit.ly/3LSeJca
• Reflection task: https://bit.ly/3MLK3cC
Additional activities
• Speaking practice: https://bit.ly/3FnTMDr (Requires Google Chrome and
a microphone)

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Task 1
In this stage of the lesson students discuss books and their reading habits.

Slide 1
Procedure
• Show students Slide 1.
• Put students into pairs or small groups to discuss the questions.
• Monitor while they work and make notes of any additional language they
need.
• Get some feedback from the students.
• Share any useful language that the students were struggling with while you
were monitoring.

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Task 2
In this stage of the lesson students talk about the kind of format they prefer to
read from.

Slide 2
Procedure
• Show the students Slide 2.
• Put the students into pairs or small groups to discuss the images.
• Ask them which of these options they prefer when they are reading and get
them to discuss the pros and cons of each one.
• You could also put the students into groups of three and ask one student to
‘champion’ each of the options and try to convince the others why it is
better.
• Monitor and help with any vocabulary they need.
• Have a poll to find out which the students really prefer.
• Get some feedback and feed in any useful vocabulary they needed for the
task.

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Task 3
In this stage of the lesson students work together to brainstorm vocabulary.

Slide 3
Procedure
• Show the students Slide 3.
• Put the students into pairs to work through the questions together.
• They can scan the QR code or give them a link to get a digital notepad to
work on.
• Monitor while they work and make notes of anything they need help with.
• When they have finished ask them to share and compare as a group and
feed in any language they needed.

Notepad: https://cryptpad.fr/pad/

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Task 4
In this stage of the lesson students watch a video about the human library and
see what information they can collect by watching without sound.

Slide 4
• Show the students Slide 4.
• Tell the students the video is about something called a human library.
• Ask the students to watch the video and find out as much as they can about
human libraries and how they work.
• Warn them that there won’t be any sound they just have to watch.
• Play the video and then put the students into pairs or small groups to
discuss what they discovered.

Video: https://bit.ly/3P1F9KA

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Task 5
In this stage of the lesson students watch the video again with the sound and
try to collect more information.

Slide 5
Procedure
• Show the students Slide 5.
• Tell the students they are going to watch the video again and answer the
questions.
• Give the students time to watch again and do the activity.
• Give the students some time to compare their answers then get some
feedback. Clarify the students answers.
• Next, give the students a link to the summary activity: https://bit.ly/3LSeJca
and give them time to work through it. Clarify any problems they may have.
Possible answers:
1. It’s a library where people volunteer to become books and share their
experiences. Other people can go and choose someone to speak to.
2. All kinds of people can volunteer to become books. There is a diverse
range.
3. To find out more about people from different cultures or backgrounds and to
get a broader view.
4. To make people more tolerant, openminded and empathetic and to develop
understanding of others.
5. To help people understand people who are different from themselves rather
than make uninformed judgements about them.

6
Task 6
In this stage of the lesson students discuss and share their views of the
Human Library project.

Slide 6
Procedure
• Put the students into small groups and show them the questions on Slide 6.
• Ask the students to share their views with the other students in their group.
• Monitor while they work and make notes of any additional language they
need.
• Get some feedback from the students.
• Share any useful language that the students were struggling with while you
were monitoring.

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Task 7
In this stage of the lesson students consolidate what they have learned by
using a texting role play and creating a texting conversation.

Slide 7
Procedure
• Show the students Slide 7.
• Ask the students to read the text messages, then put the students into pairs
and think of questions the person may ask.
• Get the students to work together and write the questions and answers.
• Monitor while the students work and encourage them to write as many
questions and answers as they can.
• When they have finished you may want to take a copy of their work for
marking and assessment or you could ask your students to peer correct
each others’ work first.

8
Task 8
In this stage of the lesson, students reflect on what they have learned from
the lesson.

Slide 8
Procedure
• Show the students Slide 8 and ask them to think about the questions.
• Once they have had some time to think put the students into pairs and ask
them to share their reflections.
• You could also ask them to complete the written record of their reflections.
They can save this as a Word document and share it with you.
• Finish the lesson by getting some feedback from students around the class.

Reflection: https://bit.ly/3MLK3cC

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Additional activities

Research

• Give the students a link to the Human Library website at:

https://humanlibrary.org/

• Ask them to go to the website and find out more about the project. Ask them to
prepare a short report or presentation on what the discovered.

Human Library Day

• Organise a human library day for your students. Ask them to prepare a short
presentation about themselves and then ask them to get into pairs or choose
pairs to find out more about each other.

Speaking practice

• In this activity students read sentences about the human library and the
computer evaluates their speaking.
https://bit.ly/3FnTMDr This activity requires Google Chrome and a microphone.

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Copyright Information About the Author
Silvina Mascitti is an enthusiastic, teacher and
Your Rights
materials writer. She has worked in English
Buying this book gives you the right to use it and language teaching for more than 20 years. She
any of the ideas and materials from it with your has taught English both in schools and
students. It does NOT give you the right to companies in Argentina.
copy, share copies with other teachers or She now lives in Spain and teaches adults
store and redistribute it online. online. She also creates and shares lesson plans
and teaching materials on her website:
Copyright Information
https://www.eflcreativeideas.com/
This book is an independent publication and has
been created in my own time and at my own
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and send my daughters to college. When you
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Silvina P. Mascitti
If you don’t have the means to buy it, then read
MA in TEFL
on in peace and I hope that it helps you and your
BA in English Literature and Cinema
students.

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© PeacheyPublications 2022
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