This activity is based on the article that has recently appeared in the media. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-2749306/What-scam-Student-boasts-friends-trekking-Asia-visiting-stunning-beaches-tasting-local-cuisine-meeting-Buddhist-monks-using-FAKE-photos-taken-home-town.html
Background info: Zilla van den Born deceived her loved ones into thinking she was enjoying an exotic five-week holiday across South East Asia as part of a university project. But the 25-year-old was actually still at home in Amsterdam and used Photoshop to create the authentic images before posting them on Facebook. Zilla said, ‘I did this to show people that we filter and manipulate what we show on social media – we create an ideal world online which reality can no longer meet. ‘My goal was to prove how common and easy it is for people to distort reality. Everyone knows that pictures of models are manipulated, but we often overlook the fact that we manipulate reality also in our own lives.’
Step 1. Show the following photos “taken” by Zilla to your learners. Ask them to guess where she could be. If they’re sure of her location (“she must be”), ask what makes them think so.
Step 2. Summarize all the answers. Let students read the article….Surprise!:)
Possible extension:
1) Discussion: Discuss the notion of ‘manipulation of reality’. Think of ways that one can manipulate it. Should we trust what we see?
2) Ask your learners to plot a similar “holiday”. Ask them to write a holiday card. You could also ask them to make a video or pic from their holiday.
ELT-CATION 