The series of the activities for students

The series of the activities

 

The Yes/No Game

Different students are to be asked questions. They must avoid sayingthe words "YES" or "NO" for a given period of time E.g. 1_2 minutes.

This is done by using expressions like: "I do", "I am", "that's true", "that isn't true", "that's not correct", "exactly", "precisely", "that's right", "that's correct", "I think so", "probably", "possibly", "usually".

The questioners can try to trap them through deliberate misunder standing and echo questions: "Did you say usually? So you said you live in Stuttgart? Perhaps?

 

Questions

Do you come from Australia? Are you sure you don't?

Do you like English food? So you LOVE English food. You think it's the best in the world?

Have you been to Florence? So you haven't been to Italy?

Which is more important – health or money? You said "health"?

How many brothers and sisters do you have? Fifteen?

Would you like a million pounds? So you're not interested in money?

Are you more intelligent than your parents? So you're less intelligent?

Did you say you were stupid?

Do you like your teacher? Is he / she the best teacher you've ever had?

The best in the world?

What are your hobbies? So you like listening to folk music?

Can you use a computer / play the piano? You can?

 

Guessing games

Simple guessing games which require lots of repetition of the target language are ideal for practising language items at low levels and are in fact a form of drill.

After you have used pictures to introduce vocabulary or phrases stick the pictures on the board back to front so they can't be seen. Students try to guess pictures.

Pick out one picture and don't show it. Students guess which one it is.

 

If you're using real objects you can use the same principle by hiding the objects under a cloth or in a bag and getting them to guess which object you're holding.

For practising 'Is it..?' questions, classroom objects and describing location with children, hide an object somewhere in the room and get the children to guess where it is. 'Is it under the teacher's desk?', 'Is it behind Jose's chair?'

 

Disappearing text

This can be done with a list of vocabulary items or phrases, a short text or a dialogue at any level.

Write the text on the board. Read the text and drill.

Rub off a small part of it. Students have to say the whole text again.

Gradually rub off more and more in bits and each time get the students to say the whole text.

This provides intensive drilling practice as the students have to repeat it many times. However, the game factor also increases motivation to get it right and that gets more challenging as the activity continues.

 

Dialogue building

This is useful particularly for low level students to build confidence in speaking and to learn useful chunks of language. Use pictures to set a scene and elicit a dialogue.

Example:

Have you got a pet?

Yes, I've got a cat.

Oh, what's its name?

It's called Fred.

Drill each line as you elicit the dialogue.

Rather than writing the whole dialogue on the board as you go, you can just write one or two words to help them remember each line.

Example:

Have   /  pet?

Yes   /

/  name?

/   Fred

Then let the students choose different pets and make up similar dia_

logues in pairs. Aim for not more than eight lines or it may become diffi_

cult to memorize.

 

Mingle activities

With smaller classes, mingle activities work well and provide opportunities for lots of repetition of target language. A simple example of this for low level learners is 'Say and swap'.

Learners are given flashcards or small pictures of target vocabulary items or phrases.

They mingle and swap their pictures but as they swap they have to say the word on the picture they have.

Alternatively this can be done as a more stationary chain drill: students pass the flashcards or pictures around the whole class and again say the word each time they pass it on.

Another example is 'Find Someone Who' which can be adapted to any level. Students have a list of people to find.

Example:   Find someone who gets up before 7.00

                  watches TV in the morning

                  eats toasts for breakfast etc.

Students go around asking the questions. In this example the language practiced is 'Do you…?' and the topic daily routines. This activity generates lots of repetition of this pattern as well as provides opportunities for freer responses if the learners develop the conversation. In larger classes it can be done as a stationary group work activity.

 

Information gaps

Information gap activities are often designed to provide highly controlled practice of particular structures. By swapping information which requires the use of a particular language pattern, the students have to solve a problem. This problem solving provides a communicative purpose to what is essentially a drill.

Example:

The students have a shopping list of fruit they need to buy (6 oranges, 1 kilo of apples etc.)

Student A has the prices of various fruit in one shop, student B has the prices in another shop.

They have to ask each other and answer about the prices and complete a grid with the information.

The task is then to decide which shop will be the cheaper one forthem to buy their fruit in.

 

New term new resolutions

At the beginning of each term ask students to make 3 resolutions about learning English. Try to make them realistic, achievable and specific.

For example:

I'm going to have a dictionary beside me when I'm writing.

I'm going to do homework in time.

I'm going to keep vocabulary notebook up to date.

At the end of the term ask the students if they managed to keep theirresolutions.

 

Raising students' awareness

Lesson aims

Write the aims of the lesson on the board at the beginning of each lesson.

When introducing the activity as well as explaining what students have to do, explain the reason of it.

 

 

Reviewing learning

Ask students to remind you of what they did in class today and why they did it, and if it was important for them.

 

 

Learners’ diaries

Get students to keep learners’ diaries and at the end of each class give the

students 5 minutes to compete their diaries with entries under these titles:

Today I studied

Today I learnt

One thing I did well in class today

One mistake I made today

 

Thinking about learning

Ask students to think about the time when they did something very well at school (it doesn't have to be in English) and ask them to tell the class.

Ask questions to know why they were successful in that activity. Try to make a list of points, habits, attitudes that lead to success.

If you think your students would prefer to write about it ask them to do that.

You could create a wall display together called 'Success in learning'.

 

 

Prepare a set of questions for learners to answer.

Questions

Do you revise what you have learnt regularly?

Do you look through your vocabulary notebook?

Do you use a dictionary when you do your homework?

Do you do your homework when watching television?

Do you participate in class?

Are you ready to ask questions if you don't understand?

If you don't understand a word do you forget it or try to learn it?

Students can then discuss these questions in pairs or groups.

 

Correction and assessment

 

Self_correction

Ask the students to keep a "diary" of the mistakes they make in their written work with a corresponding correction.

Check this from time to time and point out mistakes if they are repeating again and again.

 

Self_assessment

Ask the students to write the reports. Compare their reports with the one you have written, any differences can be discussed with the students.

'Can do' statements.

After completing the topic the learners decide whether they can do certain things:

Name five continents.

If the learner can successfully name five continents they might tick the statement or draw a smiling face.

 

 

Organizing learning

Experiment with various learning strategies

Learners may need to be shown different learning strategies. For example, each term has a different way of recording class vocabulary. At the end of the year ask students which way was more successful for them.

 

Portfolios

These are a great way to help students review what they have done over the term or year, organise and assess their work.

The students choose a certain number of pieces of work they want to be included in the portfolios and which then are graded by the teacher.

 

Planning the project

 

Opening

To give learners an idea of what projects are and what they should produce, it is good to have examples of past projects: a photocopy of a previous group newspaper or a photograph of a wall display.

 

Proposing

After explaining the idea of the project tell your students about:

what they can include in the project;

what form it can be;

who will be responsible for each part of the project;

the time it can take to produce each part of the project;

any material or resources they might need.

Then discuss the students' proposals with each group.

The project can be produced at the lesson or the students can be given any time.

 

Space

Show the learners the space they will have for the project, it could be wall space or a corner of the classroom, so they have some idea how much material they should produce and can plan the layout.

 

Materials and resources

Provide the learners with materials they might need: card, scissors glue, paper etc. It is fairly common now for learners to use the Internet to find information for their projects. Encourage students to do this at home!

 

Presentation

Projects need to be seen, read and admired so schedule the last project session as a presentation. Ask the group to prepare a task for the others in the class: it could be a quiz with questions for a wall display, a crossword using vocabulary for the project or comprehension questions for a video that learners have made.

 

Evaluation

As with any piece of work a project needs to be acknowledged and evaluated. It's not enough to say just 'that's great' after all the work learners have put in. It is necessary to evaluate the project and comment on aspects of the project such as content, design, language work and also to evaluate the oral presentation of the project.