Creating Opportunity Worldwide
Lots and lots and lots and lots of really, really, really,
really good ideas for your primary classroom.
The Eyes!
As you all know, it’s important to be able to ‘gather your
students in’ to give instructions and explain activities. If you
can’t talk to your class then you’ve lost them to start with! At a
school I worked at it was standard practice with the primary levels
that when the teacher touched their nose with one hand and put the
other in the air, all the students stopped talking and did the
same. This worked because all the teachers insisted on it all of
the time.
The eyes are a variation on this – I chose eyes as they are the
most attention grabbing feature we have. There are some excellent
eyes on Google images. I enlarged a selection of them and ran them
through a laminator. You’ll find the links to the eyes I used for
this session below, but you may enjoy popping onto the web and
choosing your own..
Viral texts
Once you have the texts on the board, tell the students that a
rather nasty virus has got into it. The virus can not be
eliminated, only assimilated. When a virus card appears in a
sentence on the board, students must decide what word they can turn
it into that will both be compatible with the text grammatically
and preserve the original meaning. If you’re reading this and you
didn’t see it done, then try asking someone who was there to
explain the mechanisms of the activity! Not only does this activity
rework the meaning of the text, but also practises language form
and meaning at a detailed level.
Teacher:Fridge
Together:Blue, green, orange and red,
Is the word still in your head?
Class:Fridge
Colour Virus Template
Flashcard Flip
Traditional method:
· Teacher holds a flashcard up.
· Teacher wants class to name object.
· Class capitulate.
A few years I saw Bruce Javes, a British Council teacher trainer
in Syria at the time, spinning the cards round in a relaxed manner
to ‘reel the learners in’. Using this simple technique:
· Teacher flips card round.
· Students want to be able to name object.
· Teacher capitulates.
Functional Flashcards
At first glance, the set of flashcards I brought to the session
might look like any other but in fact I chose the objects (from
Google images again!) rather carefully.
1. They’re all objects that the students should be familiar with
in the class.
2. They’re all implements that can be used to do something
with.
What I’m trying to do here is to show how we can maximise the
amount of language even at very low levels. We don’t have to stop
with:
T:What is it?
S:It’s a ruler.
We can go on with:
T:What’s it used for?
S:It’s used for drawing lines.
Here we have the added language involving passive construction
and –ing form.
We don’t have to stop there. We can build it up throughout the
course. A typical sequence might be:
It’s a ruler.
(Object)
It’s used for drawing lines.
(Function)
It’s made out of plastic.
(Material)
It costs about €2
(Price)
And we can produce all that language from the same single visual
cue as before.
Pocket Loci
The ‘method of loci’ is an old memory devise (you can look it up
on Wikipedia). My version doesn’t bear much resemblance to the
original. If you have a list of new words on the board:
Light switch
Folders
Felt-tipped pens
Coat pegs
Plasters
Board rubber
Then, having drilled the words, wipe off ‘light switch’ and
pretend to put it up your left sleeve. Work your way around your
own person, putting the next word in your left side trouser/skirt
pocket, the next word in your left shoe, the next in your right
shoe, the next in your right pocket and the last one up your right
sleeve.
You (and your students) can then have fun seeing if they can
remember where the various words are, and you can use gesture as a
cue for traditional drilling.
Vocab Loci with class participants
Instead of ‘hiding’ the words about your own person, ask 6
children to come out to the front and pretend to give them each a
word to put in their pockets. You can then see if the class
remember who’s got who. Once they have, ask the line of volunteers
at the front to change order. Can the class still remember?
Shifting Grid Game
You start with a numbered grid on the board with flashcards in
it and two/three/four teams:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Team 1 (
Team 2 (
Team 3 (
Team 4♥
As teams take it in turn to nominate a square and name the
object/s within it, the objects are then ‘displaced’ to new
squares.
T: Sun team! Which square?
S: Four!
T:What are they?
S: Felt-tipped pens!
T:Correct. There’s a sun in box four and we move the felt-tipped
pens to… box 3!
1
2
3
( 4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
T: Moon Team! Which box?
M: Five!
T: What are they?
M: Door handles!
T: Good! There’s a moon in box 5! And the handles go to…box
1!
1
2
3
( 4
(
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
T: Flower Team!
F: Box three!
T: Okay. What’s in the box?
F: Folders and felt-tipped pens!
T: Okay! The folders go to…box 1 and the felt-tipped pens to box
2.
1
2
(
3
( 4
(
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Front/back hand minimal pairs
Again, this is using gesture as a cue for drilling. The teacher
associates one word of two with the back of his/her hand and the
other with the palm. You can then use the back/front of your hand
as a visual cue. This is a variant on the red finger, blue finger
activity we did at Apac earlier this year – a write up of which you
can find in their magazine.
Shoe Referendum
Not all teachers will want to have their children take their
shoes off, as it:
· May take a long time for them to get their shoes back on
again.
· There’s always the fun game of grabbing your neighbour’s shoe
and throwing it across the class.
· If someone has trodden in dog dirt there will be some
commotion.
Anyway, if you are brave enough to go there, have your children
take off their shoes and hold them in their hands. To answer NO,
they hold one shoe up. To answer YES they hold them both up. You
then issue a series of statements such as:
“The ruler is made of plastic.”
“The calculator is used for opening doors.”
“The ruler costs about €200.”
You can measure the students comprehension by the amount of
matching/non-matching pairs of shoes in front of you!
Some children, as perhaps some people at the session, will be
reticent to take off their shoes. This is fine. If someone doesn’t
want to take off their shoes, then we don’t make them. How can we
get around this? Simple! We ask them to pretend they have taken off
their shoes.
Twin Silhouettes
The teacher asks the questions and the students answer. By using
these silhouettes, the students can come up to the board, stand in
front of the outlines, and play both roles – doubling the amount of
language they produce!
Whole alphabet dictation
This is a dictation for children beginning to write and read in
English. It teaches spelling rather than tests it. Put all the
letters of the alphabet on the board then tap out simple words,
letter by letter.
Method 1 – Tap the letters on the board in silence, the students
write down the letters then shout out the word (at a given signal –
otherwise you get the fastest ones shouting out before the others
have written the full word).
Method 2 – As you indicate the letters, the class names the
letters and then everyone calls out the word together immediately
after (no writing).
On top of you letters
One of the golden rules of writing is that you don’t write on
top of your own letters. I decided to break this rule to have a bit
of fun.
then… and then… what word is it?
and this? What’s it going to be?...(I’ll leave that one with
you!)
Can I have your...
In pairs, the children take turns in asking for an item of
clothing: “Can I have your…”
Their partner mimes taking off the item and the person who asked
mimes putting it on. (Rule: You can not ask for something back that
you have just given!). After three exchanges, the children report
to the class what they each now have.
A- Can I have your jacket please?
B- Yes. Here you are. (A puts it on) Can I have your shoes
please?
A- Yes. Here you are. (B mimes putting them on). Can I have your
glasses?
B- Yes. Can I have your T-shirt?
A- Yes okay. Here you are. Can I have your boots?
B- Yes. Here you are. Can I have your jeans please.?
A- Okay. Here.
B- I’ve got A’s shoes and A’s T-shirt and A’s jeans!
A- I’ve got B’s jacket, her boots and her glasses!
This is, I hope, a slightly more interesting variant on simply
asking the children to list the clothes they are wearing. It
involves interaction and additionally practises “Can I have?”,
“Here you are.”, genitive ‘s and “his/her”.
Kick out the Romeo
I found out the other day that this idea has existed since 1965
when it was called ‘The Intrusive Word Technique’! I’ve given it a
theme. Tell your students that as you were typing up the text, you
had one eye on the TV and there was a very romantic scene so you
ended up typing some of what you heard! The students must go
through the text and cross out the love scene words.
Text
Sauron is a bad wizard, darling, who wants the ring. Oh it’s
such a beautiful ring, with diamonds too! He searches for it day
and night I’ve been searching for you day and night using ‘the
eye’. First, I love you, a hobbit called Bilbo finds the ring but
he loses it. I love you too. Then a river person called Smeagol
baby finds the ring. Slowly, you are wonderful, it turns him into a
monster. Finally, we can be together for ever, Frodo, another
hobbit, yes, it’s our destiny, finds the ring and goes to Mordor to
throw it into the River of Fire muuuaach!
Fat lion
Fat…
Open your mouth! Inside the lion there’s a…
Fat dog, open your mouth! Inside the dog there’s a…
Fat cat, open your mouth! Inside the cat there’s a…
Fat rat, open your mouth! Inside the rat there’s a…
Green catapillar!!!!
Working from circles
With very young learners, I used to start every lesson in a
circle. I hand the first student something and say “Here you are.”
(this item hardly ever gets taught in the books). They reply “Thank
you.” And turn to actually look at the next student, saying “Here
you are.” And so it goes on till the object travels right round the
circle. This works equally with:
Hello/Hello.
What is it?/It’s a ….
Wh? Questions (How are you? What’s your name etc.)
Circular Roleplay
Each student in the circle is given a number. The teacher writes
up a short roleplay dialogue between two people on the board and
calls out two of the numbers at random. The students with those
numbers stand up, go to the middle of the circle and act out the
dialogue. They then sit down again but swapping places in the
circle.
It’s a good idea if the teacher writes down all the numbers
(i.e. 1 to 30) and puts a tick next to each. It’s also a good idea
if the teacher makes it clear that the first number called out is
the first speaker in the dialogue. Finally, it’s also a good idea
if the teacher changes the dialogue occasionally. One I’ve used
recently is:
Hi mum.
Hi son. Did you have a good day?
Mmm. I don't really want to talk about it.
Why not?
I don't want to talk about it.
What happened?
I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
Okay...
Colour Thumbprints
Colour prints give the students the chance to REACT to a
reading, using their imagination. Sure, you need to word process
the reading, inserting the brackets, but it’ll be worth your while.
I’ve included an example page on this handout. Ask the children to
decide, for each sentence, which colour best represents that
sentence for them. And remember, there are no correct or incorrect
answers. When they’ve decided, they can write, colour or paint
their answers in.
To do this, they have to have a) read the text b) have
understood in at least in some way and c) reflected on it.
The second follow up activity is to get the students to explain
why they have chosen their respective colours for the sentences.
This could be done in open class, with the teacher going through
sentence by sentence and inviting comments or the teacher could ask
students to pick one sentence only - their favourite sentence – and
to prepare a few lines explaining why they chose that colour.
Obviously that will take the student outside of their linguistic
comfort zone and they will need your help – great, that’s what
we’re there for – to help the students say things they couldn’t
before.
Next step – explain to each child that they are going to paint a
picture representing their favourite sentence. However, they can
ONLY use the colour they originally chose for that sentence, mixed
with white, to create various tones. They must also include the
original sentence as title to their work.
When your class have finished their pastel masterpieces, why not
have them present their pictures, to the class, another class, to
the school in assembly or as part of parents evening, with each
child explaining – in English, why they chose the colour they did
to draw their picture.
Sauron is a bad wizard who wants the ring [ ].He searches for it
day and night using ‘the eye’ [ ]. First, a hobbit called Bilbo
finds the ring but he loses it [ ]. Then a river person called
Smeagol finds the ring [ ]. Slowly, it turns him into a monster [
]. Finally, Frodo, another hobbit, finds the ring and goes to
Mordor to throw it into the River of Fire [ ]. Frodo goes with his
friend Sam and is guided by a good wizard called Gandalf [ ]. It’s
a dangerous and exciting journey through Middle Earth [ ].
Student Illustrated Text
This is something I recently did with a group of 6th Primary/1
ESO, over two classes.
· I gave them the text.
· I told them that they had to word process the text (they
couldn’t cut it out from their books!)
· I told them that they had to look for images which would
illustrate the text in some way (either by representing individual
words or entire phrases).
· I took them down to the computer room and asked them to work
in groups.
· I told them to send the images and files all to me so that I
could print them off and bring them to the second class for cutting
and pasting.
· Finally, I told them that they were allowed to change the
stories a little bit if they wished by introducing new characters
or making the stories about themselves.
Rationale
· The students had to READ the text in order to illustrate
it.
· They read it much more quickly and asked ME if there were any
language items obstructing meaning, rather than me having to ask
them.
· At the computers, one child was dictating the text, another
typing and another checking they had typed the words correctly
(these were roles the children took upon themselves – I didn’t
actually delegate them).
· There could be any number of follow up activities, including
children talking the class through their story and introducing mime
in place of the images.
I’ve included two examples of the texts here – in black and
white I’m afraid. I can send you full sized colour scans of these
if you wish.
Big Heart
This is a variation on personal shields/coats of arms. I’m not
sure where the idea originally came from but I do know I’ve run
into it several times – once when I was being trained as an
operator for a telecommunications company and again when I was
translating a talk for a university lecturer of
sociology/anthropology!
There’s an example overleaf of my own Big Heart (the boys in the
class can do a shield if they want!)
The essence of the idea is that:
· The children draw a large heart/shield.
· They divide it up into 5 sections – 4 quarters and one central
shape.
· They use each section to represent an aspect of their
lives.
· They personalise the heart/shield by drawing those
representations in the sections and by writing a commentary on the
outside.
The sections are:
1. 3 things that are important to me
2. 3 ambitions I would like to achieve
3. 3 things I enjoy
4. 3 powerful memories
5. My own personal symbol (in the centre – invented)
I’ve done this with the 5th and 6th of primary (and also all the
ESO levels) and it has worked well in each case. There are always
some students that need a bit of help to get ideas going. The
students will tend to spend quite a lot of time on the
illustrations (just drawing the outline seems to take some of them
ages) so I insist that they write at least 50 words commentary to
each section (which will need to be redrafted). It’s an activity
that allows for a high level of personalisation of language. You
may want to have some spare heart outlines for those children who
try but are just not able to get the initial outline satisfactory.
When I’ve done this, I’ve noticed the ‘natural’ artists in the
class have often ended up helping their classmates, which in itself
is quite a rewarding thing to see.
I get the children to do a rough sketch on White A4 or A3 paper
first, then I give them the A3 card. For the second lesson, they
are allowed to bring in photos (not valuable ones!) and add
magazine cuttings, tin foil etc. One final piece of advice – set a
clear time limit at the start: 2 lessons (2 and a half at the most)
and be sure to display the hearts in a prominent position when
they’re done!
Eye references (in order)
http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r281/Janicealmenas/eye.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k69/FearTheDarkness_01/Eyes/121449235b566d5016cza7.jpg
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/405/prettythings6le.jpg
http://www.testriffic.com/resultfiles/1987vetton_ru_208.jpg
http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:CsfDQctDdBZ30M:http://www.testriffic.com/resultfiles/11298eyes4.jpg
http://tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:4BG_Ip4FeIK4tM:http://www.testriffic.com/resultfiles/11298eyes5.jpg
Elbows and Wrists
We’ve all played ‘Touch your nose! Touch your ears!’ etc. We
don’t often specify what with however. We can squeeze a bit more
out of this game by introducing some of the trickier body words
that children are slower to learn like so:
‘Touch your forehead with your finger.’
‘Touch your forehead with eight fingers.’
‘Touch your forehead with the backs of your wrists.’
‘Touch your knee with your elbow.’
‘Touch your knees with your elbows.’
‘Touch your ankles with the insides of your wrists.’
Disappearing vocabulary
This is a novel way to get the children to remember a short list
of words. Start with four. Drill the words then get the children
chanting them as you point to each in turn. Then, with a
mischievous smile, begin to wipe the words off the board one by
one, but encourage the children to go on chanting as you point to
them or to the part of the board where the rubbed out words
were.
Dog
Dog
Dog
Dog
Cat
Cat
Cat
Mouse
Mouse
Farm
You will find that the children still remember the order of the
now ‘invisible’ words even at the end of the lesson. This activity
is a way to transfer words magically from the board to the
students’ heads!
I normally do two lists of four words, one on the right side of
the board and one on the left. Any more than that will overload the
students.
Red Finger/Blue Finger
Of all the activities I’ve presented at workshops, this one
seems to have been the most popular – at least amongst teachers –
and all it involves is the teacher colouring two of their fingers
and pointing at the children!
Put two words or phrases on the board. Use red ink/chalk for one
and blue ink/chalk for the other. Then colour one of your index
fingers with a blue pen and the other index finger with a red pen.
If you point at a child with the red finger, they have to repeat
the red word. If you point at them with the blue finger, then they
have to repeat the blue word! If you point at the same student with
alternating fingers in rapid succession then it really tests them!
You could also point at two different students so that one has to
say the red word and the other the blue word, both at the same
time. You could also slowly move your pointing finger across an
entire row so that the children have to say the word one after
another.
They say that the ink from the pens isn’t very healthy so if you
don’t want to colour your fingers, a variety of objects can be used
to point, such as a red crayon and a blue one.
I like to hand this over to the students. I put them in
group/tables and appoint one of them as the teacher. I give him/her
a red crayon and a blue crayon and he/she plays the part of the
teacher. You can work many language areas with this –
nationalities, plurals, countables, question forms etc.
(red)
(blue)
French
France
England
English
Woman
Women
Child
Children
There is a lot of milk.
There are a lot of oranges.
It’s sunny.
Is it sunny?
I tend to put a list of the words I want to work through on the
board at the start, but make sure that the students know which two
words you are practising at any given moment, otherwise it becomes
confusing.
The Shark Game
This is a novel and highly visual version of hangman (penjat).
To start out it should look something like this…
Select a ‘representative’ for each half of the class to act as
team leader and draw a picture of them at the top of the steps.
Then, for each time that either team guesses a letter incorrectly,
put the picture of their team leader on one step lower. I tend to
play this towards the end of the lesson as the children can get a
bit excited. You can also decide how graphic you make the pictures
according to the age and sensibility of the class. As the
characters get closer to the shark I normally change the picture
like so…
…and then the ending can be…
In this particular game there was a survivor, and he got to go
home in the bus (and as we know, the wheels on the bus go round and
round♫, round and round round and round, the wheels on the bus go
round and round, all day long♪♪♪ )
I was shown this activity by a teacher called Glen at the
English Language Institute in Seville about five years ago. Thanks
to him!
Sun, Moon, Heart and Flower
Choose a number of words that your children often spell wrongly.
You could take them from their homework or class work, making a
list during the lesson or a series of lessons. Here I’ve chosen to
concentrate on the colours. Divide the class into 4 teams, each
with a symbol. I choose the above mentioned Sun, Moon, Heart and
Flower. I don’t do stars because they take too long to draw and
this game depends, to some extent, on some fairly quick board work
on the part of the teacher. If you have to make six teams it still
works. I use an additional tree and a rainbow symbol and sometimes
a fish.
The starting grid looks like this…
Tell the children that in each box something needs to be changed
to make it perfect. Then give them two minutes to talk to each
other in groups about what needs to be changed. They may or may not
make the best opportunity of this time but it does give them a
chance to look and think about all the words before playing.
Then explain to the children that you will take answers from
each group IN TURN, and that the order of turns will not change so
there’s no need to shout out.
The groups take it in turns to tell you a number and then to
explain what is wrong in the square. If they get it right, you put
their symbol in the square. If not, you tell them that you still
love them and that they will get another go next turn! Make sure
you take the answer from a different child in the group each time
(even if the others have to tell them what to say!).
The aim of the game is for groups to make as many lines of three
as possible. They get one point each time they do this. Halfway
through the game, the board may look something like this…
This game can be used with any level, you can put phrases in the
boxes too and make the activity more grammar orientated or simply
picture flash cards for the younger ones. I have used it with very
young primary children right up to adult advanced levels.
One Question and three ‘Why?’s
This is an easy way of getting much more production from
questions that the students are already highly familiar with. A
simple technique that adds a new spontaneity and promotes real,
communicative answers. There are no right or wrong answers. A
typical sequence might go…
TeacherHow are you?
StudentI’m fine thanks.
T
Why?
S
Er… Because it’s lunchtime after this class.
T
Why?
S
Er… Because we always have lunch at 1 o’clock.
T
Why?
S
I don’t know… Because it’s a good time to eat… in the middle of
the day.
At first students might find it strange to be asked why? The
answers that they give will be a lot more communicative though. It
may take them a while to realise that you are asking them for real
information that they may have to think about. They’ll get it
though, and you may even find out how some of them are really
feeling!
Try this with other questions such as Where do you live? Who is
your favourite footballer? And mark off the ‘Why?’s on your fingers
as you go.
Then get the students to ask you a couple of questions.
You could also pair up the students and get them to try to catch
each other out. Before you do, remind them of the basic principle,
One Question and three ‘Why?’s.
Phoney phone call
Make your mobile ring and pretend you’re on a call in the middle
of the class. You can decide what language to introduce into your
side of the ‘conversation’ and have it tie in with the material you
are studying in class. Afterwards ask the students questions about
the call. When they work out you’ve fooled them it can be fun.
Obviously, the issue of mobiles in schools can be a touchy subject,
so make sure that afterwards the students realise that the phoney
mobile call was for their benefit! Bruce Javes, Senior Teacher
Trainer at the British Council in Damascus, gave me this idea.
‘My half’ of the phone call for the Apac conference went
something like this:
“John? Hello!... Yes, well it is a bit difficult… She’s had
it!... Congratulations! [at this point I asked my audience to all
shout congratulations too!] …so I’m an uncle then! So where are you
now?...at the hospital? …You haven’t eaten since last night! Well
go by my place then, there’s food in the fridge…. What? I can’t
hear you, there’s interference on the line… Is there caviar? Where?
...In my fridge? No! There isn’t any caviar!...No, there isn’t any
cava either!...Yes, there is some paté but don’t eat it all. …Yes,
there is some milk and yes there are some bananas…Anyway I’d better
go ‘cos I’m in class and I’m not meant to have my mobile even
on….yep…yep…cheers then, bye.”
In this case I would have been practicing countables and
uncountables with the class, and various activities could be used
to follow this up, such as the children preparing their own
conversations, making their own cardboard phones, drawing their own
fridges and contents or going home that night and making a list of
everything that’s in their fridge ready for a translation the next
day and a follow up questionnaire on class members or on another
class/staff.
Clickety Clack
These are some quick board combinations I’ve recently been using
to revise various grammar structures such as possessive pronouns,
3rd person verbs or negatives and questions. This is just a visual
cue for drilling. The fun lies in how quickly the teacher can tap
on the images and how well the students can keep up!
The teacher taps on a pronoun and then on an object and the
students are meant to produce ‘My house’ ‘Her pen’ etc. Depending
on the level of the class, you could also get them to turn the
nouns into plurals for ‘Our pens’ and ‘Their houses’.
By changing the pictures into actions you could also practise
verbs and by adding a plus or a minus sign and a question mark
between the images and the pronouns, you could also elicit
statements, negatives and question forms.
Cross-Curricular Text/Poem
This activity involves co-operation between the English teacher
of a class and the Art teacher of that class so the first thing to
do is to sit down with the Art teacher (having made them a nice cup
of tea!) and explain the idea of the project to them. If you
yourself take the children for both Art and English then obviously
this is not necessary (but it’s quite good fun if two teachers are
involved in this together).
The way it should work is this:
The English teacher will take a story or a poem that the class
has been working on and print it/write it on large strips of paper.
He/she will stick the strips, in order, on the board or wall
(actually the students can do this as a quick refresher task).
Having done this the teacher puts the students into pairs and
assigns each pair a strip of paper containing a sentence (you can
make a ritual of this, with the pairs coming up to the board in
order and peeling off their own sentences). If a pair doesn’t like
their sentence, you can tell them that they are free to interpret
it in a variety of ways later on.
Now explain to the students that during the next Art class each
pair is going to be responsible for painting a picture that
illustrates their particular sentence. They may wish to think about
what background detail to include as well. Explain to them that the
students will all be given the same size piece of paper and that
when all the pictures are finished they are going to be displayed
on one wall together, like a giant comic strip, with the sentences
displayed beneath each picture. You may want to tell them that they
have to include the words as part of their picture (that they have
to pint them into the actual picture) but whatever guidelines that
you give the students, make sure that the Art teacher is aware of
them too so that the two teachers are consistent with each
other.
Lastly, explain to the children that, in any case, it is the Art
teacher who has the last say regarding the artistic production of
the story and that they will be able to give the children specific
advice about artistic techniques and perspective etc.
If anybody does this activity and gets any impressive
photographs of the end product, I’d be hugely grateful if you would
send me a snap via e-mail so that I could include it on future
handouts.
Eyes up
In a lot of course books you find dialogues between two or three
people. Sometimes additional ones are found in the tape scripts. I
use this technique where the dialogue is between two people. I
haven’t yet used it with three but it could be done. Maybe you
could try it and let me know!
First, study the dialogue in the conventional way – as a
listening, comprehension or drill. When the students are reasonably
familiar with it, put them in pairs and get them to each assume one
of the two characters then read to each other as if they were
reading from a script.
After this ask the students where they were looking whilst they
were reading. Where they looking at their partner or at the book?
Ask them which we do in normal conversation.
Now they read the text again – but the rules have changed. They
may look down at their book as many times as they want but they may
only open their mouths and speak when they are looking into the
eyes of their partner.
They may well begin a sentence and have to stop halfway through
and look back down at the book but that’s fine. They should also
make sure that their partner is actually looking at them before
they begin to speak.
The idea behind this one is that in carrying the information for
a few seconds whilst they transfer their gaze to their partner’s
eyes, it will pass through the language/memory part of their brain
more effectively than if they just read it mechanically from the
book. I’m no brain surgeon but it seems to work. Try it!
In the workshop, we used just a normal text. Obviously with
lower age groups you need to make sure that they have understood
the text and can read it reasonably to begin with.
Books on your head.
This final activity is a quick one for practising scanning a
text. Everyone has their books on their head. The teacher reads out
3 words from any sentence in the text. The students then have to
take their books off their heads, find the sentence and underline
it as quick as they can.
Why curriculum
It's worth remembering that English is a language through which
you can talk about anything. There are academics and researchers
and scientists and theorists who have done work on all aspects of
human life through the medium of English. There are articles and
reports and poems and essays on... everything. But we still
sometimes find ourselves standing in the teachers' room 5 minutes
before a class thinking desperately What am I going to do with
them!?
The answer is that you could do anything, but anything is a very
similar word to nothing and it's easy to get the two of them
confused. The two writers that I mentioned earlier, Postman and
Weingartner (1969), made a list of questions that they thought are
worth exploring with their students. Here are a few of them:
What kind of person would you most like to be?
How might you become that kind of person?
Where do words come from?
What is “progress”?
What are the “dumbest” and most dangerous ideas that are
“popular” today?
Why do you think so? Where did these ideas come from?
What's worth knowing? How do you decide?
Now I will have a copy of their 'Questions Curriculum' at the
British Council stand so if you're interested, you can come and
have a look. But as I said, that book was written in 1969, so I
thought I'd make my own list up in 2008. Here are some questions
from my list:
What is power? Who has it? How did they get it? Who will have it
next?
What's a multinational corporation and do they have anything to
do with us?
How can we manage our sexuality?
What are laws? How are they made and how do they get
changed?
How will what I do in school actually affect my adult life?
Is a man who lives in the countryside and makes baskets less
important or
intelligent than the head of a large company? Why? Why not?
One breath reading
As it sounds – get your students to try to read a text or a list
of words, on the board of from the book, to a partner, in one
breath. If any start to go blue: STOP!
Afterthought
In my experience of teaching, I have found that children want
two things. They want attention and they want entertainment. (The
entertainment serves to distract them from the confusing experience
of being a small being with too much energy!). One way or another,
your students are going to get these two things: positive attention
from you if they are able or negative attention (by being naughty)
if they are not. What matters is that they get attention per se.
Similarly, they will look for entertainment with the teacher when
the activities allow it or entertainment at the teacher’s expense
and frustration if there are too many activities that are dull.
Having fun activities in your classes won’t guarantee that your
students will behave well or learn everything you want them to. It
will however make it easier for them to behave and learn if the
other supporting structures, such as effective classroom
management, clear instructions, a good school policy on discipline
and coherent lesson planning, are in place.
As regards this hand out, I have it on file. It’s a HUGE file,
due to all the photos and so it’s quite difficult to send over the
internet. If you want a copy, please send me a mail at my g-mail
account, (and remember to provide me with an alternative account of
yours to send it to!).
The online copy has the advantage that you can take any of the
minimized photos and enlarge them, to make your own flashcards/eyes
etc.
With regards to referencing, I have the eyes all fully
referenced here and am in the process of completing the references
for the flashcard images, which I shall add to the document.
Best wishes.
[email protected]
If you want any of the other resources you’ve seen today try my
yahoo group site at:
http://es.groups.yahoo.com/group/TEFLafterparty/
You will need to join the group site and then go to the
‘archivos’ section where you will find lots and lots of
materials.
If you want Reg and Lellow or Humphrey Bogin, you will find them
at:
www.regandlellow.com
Finally, there’s my new ELT page:
http://chrisroland.webs.com/
Which doesn’t require membership and which is slowly filling up
with material.
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Chris Roland
H:\Chris for Bonanova.doc
© The British Council, 2007
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