Session 5 · about 55 minutes plus project · B1 / B2 / C1

Speak, write and final projectCareers made visible

Katherine Johnson at NASA Langley in 1966. — Katherine Johnson at NASA Langley, 1966. NASA. Public domain.

Thème: Oral continuous speech, interaction, written production at B1 / B2 / C1, and an exhibition on invisible work.
Niveau: One sequence, three paths: B1 · B2 · C1 (advanced students: terminale, post-bac, BTS). Same documents; tasks and written outputs graded by level.
Problématique: How can we make invisible scientific work visible in clear English for classmates and for a public display?
Objectifs: Deliver a timed oral; write at the chosen level; build a sourced poster with a public-domain image.
Ancrage culturel: Première générale: Axe 2 Diversité et inclusion; Axe 4 Innovations scientifiques et responsabilité. Vocational angle: the job of a human computer, an engineer, a supervisor; workplace discrimination and promotion. NASA public-domain photographs. Film: Theodore Melfi, 2016, after Margot Lee Shetterly.

Oral task

Continuous speech 1 min 30. Present the three women: jobs, one date each, one film warning.

Continuous speech 2 min. Add workplace hierarchy and one quotation source (NASA).

Continuous speech 3 min. Analytical talk: careers, discrimination, promotion, film versus history; end with a nuanced conclusion.

Interaction (all levels, 3 min). A asks to attend the briefing; B refuses. Switch roles. C1 pairs must include one concessive turn (I see your point, yet…).

Written task

150 to 180 words. Journalist in February 1962: short article on Friendship 7 and the women who checked the numbers. Past narrative.

220 to 250 words. “Progress in science always depends on progress in justice.” Discuss with Hidden Figures and NASA documents. Use although / yet / however.

350 to 400 words · C1 report or essay. Title suggestion: Skill, status and the right to the briefing room. Analyse the jobs of human computer, supervisor and engineer at Langley; weigh individual merit against institutional barriers; evaluate how far the 2016 film serves or distorts public memory of these careers. Register: formal. At least one NASA-sourced fact and one clear film-versus-fact distinction.

Show answers · checklist

Title and paragraphs; sourced fact; no long copyrighted film dialogue
Length and linkers match the chosen level

Final project · exhibition wall

Groups of three or four: poster or three slides on a scientist whose work stayed out of the spotlight (Johnson, Vaughan, Jackson, or another NASA pioneer with a public-domain photograph).

Must include: dates; achievements; one real quotation with source; one public-domain image with credit; one sentence separating film memory from documented fact.

Present in two minutes (C1 groups: 2 min 30, with one analytical comment on recognition at work).

Homework

Finish the written task at your level. Bring the exhibition draft. Revise the Recap checklist.

Go to Recap