Майстер- клас на тему"Brainstorming"

Майстер-клас на тему:

«Brainstorming is an ideal warm-up activity to develop students' thinking skills»

Вчитель: Цвєткова Галина Борисівна

Ліцей №4 міста Звягеля

Житомирської області

Англійська мова

Інтегроване (лекційно-практичне) заняття

The beginning of the lesson is very important as it can ensure a successful course of the entire lesson. Today I would like to share my experience and show how I use the brainstorming techniques to begin the lesson. So, what are the advantages of brainstorming?

And now I would like to draw your attention to practical aspects of brainstorming.

There are many types of brainstorming and I would like to stop on some of them.

• Simple Word Lists can be used in learning different topics. Here are some examples:

1. List words to describe people’s appearance;

2. List all the items you need for a party;

3. Make a list of house furniture;

4. Make a shopping list

• Lists based on a principle. Examples:

1. Write down a food that begins with each letter of the alphabet;

2. Make a list of animals starting with the smallest animal and getting bigger.

• Finding alternative for a blank in a sentence.

These sentences can refer to your classmates. Some examples:

1. I don’t like her because she is­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________ (too talkative, boring, the teacher’s pet)2

2. Peter lives in a__________ (house, apartment, and cabin)

• Brainstorming on a picture.

Pictures are a rich source of inspiration for brainstorming. You can use pictures from the textbook, magazines or other sources. For example:

1. What are these people doing?

2. List the objects in the picture.

3. What is this man thinking about?

4. Write four words to describe this person.

• Brainstorming using a song or video film. Examples:

1. What do you think the singer looks like?

2. Suggest titles for this song.

3. When do you think this song was written?  Or

1. What is this video film is about?

2. Who are the main characters?

3. What do you think about the place of the film?

• Word mapping or phrase mapping around a central theme

Write a word or a phrase in the center of a page. All other words or phrases should link all this in a logical manner. Phrase mapping can be used for developing topics or functions.

• Changing one word in a sentence each time.

It can be a fun activity to do on the blackboard. For example:                 

1. Peter played flute in the orchestra.

2. Peter played flute in the park.

3. John played flute in the park.

4. John played soccer in the park.

5. John watched soccer in the park. Etc.

• Free association.

This is best done orally and can be a lot of fun (up to 10 associations).

For example:

      apple;

      red;

      dress;

      nice (and so on).

• Group storytelling.

Students work in groups and take turn adding to the story,,either spoken or written. Some examples: John was late to school because

1. Student A: he missed the train
2. Student B: and there wasn’t another for 20 minutes
3. Student C: so he went to a  game center
4. Student D: but he lost his wallet etc.

If the students are writing it is interesting to write several stories at the same time.

• Prediction. For example:

Guess what the speaker will say next. This can be used in conjunction with dialogues in textbooks.

It was a theory and now with the help of my students I’ll show you how I do it in practice. I am   going to use 3 types of brainstorming.

The first one. Brainstorming using a video film.

So, dear students, the topic of the lesson is «Travelling» At the beginning of our work I suggest you to watch a short video. It will be nice because you will also listen to a beautiful song. “Travelling around India”(through our eyes)

Students watch the video and answer the questions.

         The second  tipe of brainstorming, I would like to stop on, is brainstorming on a picture.The topic is «Holidays and Special days».

So dear students, let’s work again.You see some beautiful pictures on the screen. Look at them and be ready to answer my questions.

By the way what great Ukrainian holidays are absent on these pictures? ( Independence Day, Victory Day). And we are going to continue our work on the topic. There is a nice dialogue in your textbooks. The work with textbooks.

        And the last type of brainstorming I’d like to present is word-mapping or phrase-mapping around a central theme. This can be used practically by any teacher at any lesson because we can do   without any technical means, all we need is a board and a piece of chalk.

My dear assistants, I need your help again. On the board you can see a question:

                                           Can you do me a favour?

What associations appear in your minds? The students go to the blackboard and write down their phrases around the key phrase. Four example:

      Give a lift;

      Let me cheat;

      Can I borrow;

      Can you buy me;

      Can you lend me.  Etc.

And now I want you to work in pairs. Make up short dialogues using these phrases.

Thank you for your work. You worked really well, my dear assistants.

And in conclusion I’d like to say that brainstorming is worth trying out because it really  takes   little time and can be used with any chosen topic.