Майстер-клас "Icebreakers that work"

Комунальний заклад «Нікопольська спеціалізована школа І- ІІІ ст. № 5»

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Доповідь на тему:

«Розвиток комунікативних здібностей школярів на уроках англійської мови»

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Підготувала:

вчитель англійської мови

Снітка Ю.С.

 

 

 

 

 

2018 р.

Why encourage speaking?  Is conversation frozen in your classroom?

Outside of the “target grammar” structure of the classroom, students are generally unable to carry the most basic conversation. I believe that one reason for this is because they have been taught to rely too heavily on form (accuracy) and not enough on communication (fluency).

Possible Reasons for the Communication Breakdown

1. Teacher-centered classes

Solution

Create student-centered activities.

Students should be doing most of the talking.

Teachers should step back and monitor.

2. Students’ Low Motivation

Solution

Use English everywhere: in the hallway, in the teacher’s room, with other English teachers. Show students that English is real.

3. Real Life situations in class are rare.

Solution

Make English real, not just another textbook to study.

Do role-plays.

Include a cultural context.

4. Students Never Create Language

Solution

Do more free-talking activities.

Begin each class with a conversation topic.

Today we’ll show you such kind of free-talking activities, or icebreakers. 

Ice-breakers are speaking activities used with a new class in order to give the learners an opportunity to meet each other. In order to complete an ice-breaker task learners must talk to each other.

 

Icebreaker activities are a great way to get to know your students on the first day of class. Walking into a room full of new students can be a bit nerve-wracking, especially if you don’t have a lot of teaching experience. It is important for your students to feel comfortable in class because they will be able to learn much better when they are relaxed and focused. When you are working with a new group, it is a good idea to take some time to get to know each other. 

Also, if you have been working very hard with your students and you need a little break, you can use these enjoyable icebreaker activities to relieve some of the pressure! They are fun and easy, and you and your students will feel more comfortable working together after doing them!

Don’t forget that your new students are sure to be a little nervous, too. Whether your students are so energetic that you can barely keep them in their seats, or so shy that getting them to say “Hello” is a challenge, it’s important to find a way to ease their nerves and let them get to know each other and their teacher.

The right ESL icebreaker activities can be the perfect way to do it.

Winning the game

As an icebreaker activity, there is no winning or losing in this game. The objective is to have group members become more familiar with each other, rather than to foster a competitive environment. This game will help people get to know each other better in a fun way!

Here are a few ideas for icebreaker games and activities that you can use next time you’re staring at a classroom full of new faces.

Line Up! is a fun icebreaker that can be useful for larges. Work together as a team to arrange yourselves in a line based on a quality you have that is not obviously apparent.

Materials

To play the Line Up icebreaker, you will need:

A large open space for participants to move around

A list of qualities for the players to line up according to

DESCRIPTION

Call the group to order. Explain the rules of the game and explain the quality that they will line up according to. For example, line up in the order of your birthdays, with January 1 being the furthest to the left and December 31 being the furthest to the right.

Do not help the group or give them hints as to how to organize themselves. Participants may use any objects available in the room to help them if they request them.

When the group believes that the line up is correct, they will start at one end and call off their birthdays. Down the line, every participant will name off their date. The game is won if the line is correct.

Two Truths and a Lie is a classic icebreaker game in which one attempts to identify which of three statements is bogus.

DESCRIPTION

 Have everyone sit in a circle. Each person prepares three statements, two of which are true and one of which is a lie. In any order, the person shares the three statements to the entire group. The object of the game is to figure out which statement a lie. The rest of the group votes on each statement, and the person reveals which one is the lie.

 

Variation: Two Truths and a Dream Wish. As an interesting variation to the classic Two Truths and a Lie icebreaker, people may also play a version called Two Truths and a Dream Wish. Instead of stating a lie, a person says something that is not true — yet something that they wish to be true. For example, someone that has never been to Hawaii might say: “I have visited Hawaii when I was young.” This interesting spin often leads to unexpected, fascinating results, as people often share touching wishes about their lives.

Find Someone Who

Materials

1. A piece of paper listing 15 to 20 characteristics.

2. A copy of the paper for each student.

DESCRIPTION

Students use a checklist as they walk around the room trying to find a person who

has a certain characteristic. When students find “someone who drives a truck” or

“someone who was born at home,” they write that person’s name on their checklist

of paper and move on to the next person with the hope that that person meets one

of the other characteristics on the master list. The goal is to meet and talk to as

many people as possible within the time limit in order to put one name by each of the characteristics

Paper Airplanes

Materials

- At least 1 sheet of paper per person

- 1 pen, pencil, or other writing utensil per person

DESCRIPTION

Make sure every participant has one sheet of paper and a writing utensil. Ask them each to write their names and two questions down on the paper. You may want to specify that questions should not be too personal or uncomfortable, but this is up to your discretion.

After each person has written down their name and questions, ask them to form their paper into a paper airplane of their choice.

Start a timer and have everyone throw their airplanes around at the same time. While the timer is going, everyone should be picking up airplanes and throwing them again to move them around the room and mix all the papers together.

Stop the timer and ask everyone to pick up one paper airplane that is not their own.

Each group member should end up with a paper airplane in their hands. They must then find the original owner of the plane and ask them the two questions on their plane.

Now that everyone has found the owner of their paper airplane and have asked them the questions, have each person come up individually and introduce the person to the group by reading the name on the plane and telling the group the questions and answers given by that person.

ALIAS

Materials:

Game board

6 playing piece

400 cards

1 timer

ALIAS is a word game that you play in teams.

In ALIAS you have to say things in “other words”. The idea is to explain words using synonyms, opposites or clues so that your team mates guess as many words from the card as possible before the sand in the sand timer runs out. The team moves forward on the board the same amount as words guessed. The team to reach the ‘Finish’ first is the winner.

DESCRIPTION

1. Shuffle the cards turning over the last card in the pack to indicate the need to reshuffle.

2. Each team chooses a coloured playing piece and places it in the Start space.

3. Each team chooses a player who explains on the first round. This player then takes a suitable amount of cards from the pack (15-20). The cards each have eight words on them. The other teams then choose a number from 1 to 8, for example 4. The sand timer is turned over and the player starts to explain the word number 4 (see “How to explain”). When the team guesses the correct answer he puts the card on the table and starts explaining the word number 4 from the next card.

4. When the sand in the sand timer runs out, the other teams yell “stop”. If the player is still explaining, the guessing becomes ‘open’ to all teams. The fastest correct answer wins and allows that team to move one space forward on the board.

5. The amount of cards on the table show how many spaces the team can move forward on the board (see also “Mistakes and skipping”).

6. The turn goes to the next team. Used cards are returned to the bottom of the pack. The unused cards are given to the explaining player in the team, and he also takes some new cards from the pack, so that he has 15-20 cards in his hand. The spaces on the game board have numbers 1-8, and the number for the explained words is now determined by where the team’s playing piece is on the game board. The team members take turns at explaining the words (see also ‘Stealing’).

7. The team that is the first to reach ‘Finish’ space is the winner.

Note! The words are not in any particular order. There are verbs, adjectives, nouns, people, locations and colours. It all depends on luck, whether you get easy or hard words.

FOUR CORNERS

Materials:

- At least 1 sheet of paper per person

- 1 pen, pencil, or other writing utensil per person

DESCRIPTION

This icebreaker is for all ages, and works well with small and medium groups. It usually takes about 15 minutes, depending on how much time you want to allow for sharing the pictures. Do not worry, no artistic skills are required for this icebreaker activity — just have fun and encourage everyone to enjoy being creative while illustrating who they are! Distribute a pen and sheet of paper for each player. Each person divides the sheet into four boxes/squares either by folding the paper in half twice (vertically and horizontally) or simply by drawing a horizontal and vertical line that crosses in the middle. For each square, each person will describe themselves in the form of drawings. Choose these four topics in advance. For example, in the top left square, everyone could draw “favorite hobbies,” while in the top right, people could illustrate “favorite place on earth for vacation,” the bottom left could be something like “if you were an animal, which one would you be?” and the bottom right could be something like “what are the most important things in your life?” Feel free to be as creative, hypothetical, or deep as you like.

Human Domino

 

Materials:

None

DESCRIPTION

Breaking the ice and finding commonalities with the other participants. The challenge is to form a line of ‘human dominos’ linked by what participants have in common.

Participants are spread out in the room facing the middle. The first person says "On my left hand side I am {insert characteristic or likes} and on my right hand side I am {insert characteristic or likes}". These characteristics can be colours, pets, football teams, hobbies or anything you can think of. Next, another person from the group who shares one of the characteristics stands on the side that is relevant. Then the new person repeats the phrase including the characteristic that he/she joined for and a new one for the open side he/she has. Once everyone has joined up, you need to find something in common between the two ends so that everyone in the group has something in common with two other people and the circle can be closed. If nobody joins of either end of the domino line, the person who last joined the line needs to come up with a different characteristic or like for the open side until someone from the groups fills the space.

Chain story

This activity can be used for practising conditionals, though its different variations can serve for reviewing the vocabulary as well. It helps students to link sentences in one text.

I usually use this activity with intermediate students, though it may work with lower-level students. Students enjoy it as it usually results in some funny story which tunes them in a good mood for the rest of the lesson.

Materials:

The pattern “If we have free time, we’ll go to the party”

DESCRIPTION

Put on the board the pattern “If we have free time, we’ll go to the party” and explain that the students are going to make a story one by one using this pattern. The catch is that every student needs to use the second part of the phrase said by a previous student as the first part of his/hers.

Student 1 If we have free time, we’ll go to the party.
Student 2 If we go to the party, we’ll have fun.
Student 3 If we have fun, we’ll come home late.
Student 4 If we come home late, we’ll miss our test tomorrow. etc.

Variation 2

•                               For revising the vocabulary make cards with vocabulary words you need to revise, one word or expression on each card.
•                               Put the cards face down on the desk in the center. A student who starts, draws the first card and says the first sentence, the next student draws the card and says the second sentence etc.
•                               Students are telling a story, using only one sentence each with one word at a time, trying to make a story go smooth. (You may ask them to use a certain pattern, or may let it go free).

 

 Duck-Duck-Goose With Names

This game is similar to duck-duck-goose. Students sit in a circle, while one student is “It.” This student walks around the outside of the circle tapping each student on the head. Instead of saying “duck, duck,” they say the student’s name as they tap them. At some point, the “it” student will tap someone on the head and say the name of the class, or a silly word, instead of that student’s name. Then, just like in duck-duck-goose, the student who was tapped chases the “It” student around the circle. If the “It” student is tagged, he or she is “It” again. If the “It” student makes it back to the empty spot in the circle, then the new student is “It.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Для формування стійкої мотивації до вивчення англійської мови ставлю завдання зробити все, для того, щоб учням було цікаво вчитись. Глибоко усвідомлюю і те, що нова програма викладання іноземних мов кардинально відрізняється від попередніх новим підходом до викладання англійської мови, а саме практичним опануванням мовою на рівні достатньому для здійснення спілкування.

Щоразу заходячи в клас, ставлю перед собою завдання – зацікавити кожну дитину, намагаюсь дати можливість розкрити все краще, закладене в неї природою. Намагаюсь виявляти чуйність, щирість, усіляко підтримувати, стимулювати найменший успіх, заохочувати за кожний правильний крок у навчанні. І це дає можливість учневі відчути себе здібним, потрібним, цікавим для інших.

Але я розумію, що учня треба не тільки спонукати до говоріння, а ще  й створити такі умови, щоб учень не побоювався висловлюватись. Тут доречно використати метод створення ситуації успіху. У разі використання цього методу, на мою думку, треба враховувати аспект подолання мовного барєру;

Для того, щоб подолати мовний барєр, на своїх уроках я намагаюся говорити більше іноземною мовою, вимагаючи учнів робити те саме. Щоразу, коли вчитель розмовляє англійською мовою, учні практикуються в сприйманні на слух. Це є однією з причин того, чому так важливо вести уроки англійською мовою. Слід також намагатися, щоб учні слухали один одного, оскільки таким чином слабші учні зможуть чомусь навчитися, в той час як сильніші учні мають можливість повторити матеріал і перевірити усне мовлення інших.

 

 

Також вважаю, що на уроках для подолання мовного бар’єру  треба створити умови, коли учень не боїться зробити помилку. Криголами - це розмовна активність, що використовується для класу, щоб дати учням можливість краще дізнатися один про одного. Для того, щоб успішно приймати участь у криголамі, учням потрібно поговорити один з одним.

 

Вчителі можуть відчувати себе незручно говорити перед групою нових обличчя, які, схоже, спостерігають досить сумнівним чином. Студенти також відчувають нерви протягом першого класу, оскільки вони можуть не говорити англійською протягом дуже довгого часу. Викладач повинен сприяти створенню позитивного навчального середовища, в якому використання цільової мови, як правильного, так і неправильного, буде розглядатися як корисний для студентів. Викладачі повинні встановити кооперативне навчальне середовище, яке вам легко і зручне для студентів. Ви також повинні використовувати криголамі для оцінки рівня, і це може бути зроблено за допомогою багатьох заходів, які весело, цікаво і, безсумнівно, розвинути за всіма важливими якостями, які встановлюють знак для того, що буде успішним курсом.