This post suggests a novel way of extending a running dictation exercise in class:
English: classroom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
http://martinabex.com/2013/04/18/running-dictation-extension/
Running Dictation Extension | The Comprehensible Classroom
Resources
Armstrong and Miller, RAF Pilots
This activity is one of those I described in my post ‘How to … exploit video in class’.
The objective is to get the students to produce a possible alternative script for this video clip. Play the video with the sound turned off, and ask the students to describe the situation which they see. If necessary play the video twice. Ask them where the men are, what their job is, and why the film is in black and white. Fill in cultural details as you consider necessary.
In pairs, the students should discuss what the men might be talking about, and what they have just heard on the radio. After sharing this in class, the students work in their pairs to write a possible dialogue which fits in with the changes of speaker on the video as closely as possible. Be prepared to play the video several times while they work so that they can check how well their script synchronises with the film.
Once the students have prepared and rehearsed their scripts, they perform them in time with the film in turn. I usually give them two attempts at this. It can be a nice touch to record them as they speak, then play back the recording in time with the film, so they can see how their words fit more clearly.
When all of the pairs have performed their scripts, the class watches the original version of the video with sound.
Margaret Thatcher ESOL / Critical Thinking Activity: Lesson plan
LEVEL: Upper-Intermediate – Advanced (B2 – C2)
TYPES OF ACTIVITY: Speaking; Debate; Compare and Contrast; Essay writing.
OBJECTIVES: The principal objective of this lesson is to help students to develop critical thinking skills while comparing and contrasting two important world leaders. The activity models a structured approach to developing ideas for a writing task or for a class debate
To begin the class, write the following statement on the board:
‘For a leader, it is more important to be strong than to be liked’
Allow the students a couple of minutes’ thinking time, then have them discuss this statement in pairs, focusing on the personal qualities which they consider a leader should have. Once they have done this, join the pairs into groups of four and have them share their ideas. Then each group should report to the class, and an opportunity given to respond and comment. Possible lines of discussion to explore could be the difference between totalitarian and elected leaders, or the difference between being admired and being liked.
Tell the students they are going to read a short biography of a famous leader, and they have to make notes on the main points of the person’s life and decide what qualities they had as a leader. Give half of the class Worksheet A: Margaret Thatcher, and the other half of the class Worksheet B: Mahatma Gandhi. (Here is a link to the worksheets.)
Allow the students to compare their notes with another student working on the same worksheet. Then place the students in pairs with someone who worked on the other worksheet.
First, each student explains the main points of the biography of their leader, and suggests which personal qualities that leader had. Then the students work together to find differences and similarities between the two leaders, recording their answers on a graphic organizer such as a Venn diagram. They should focus on the personal qualities that make each leader different and which personal qualities they have in common, as well as the differences and similarities in their political and social situations.
Once the differences and similarities have been identified, each pair of students must decide which of these can be considered significant in the development of the leader, and draw conclusions about leadership from these significant similarities and differences.
There are different possibilities for a final task to this activity. One possibility would be to ask the students to write an opinion essay with the title ‘What makes a leader great?’ The students would use their notes and ideas from the discussion phase to illustrate their ideas, and to inform their analysis of different leadership styles.
Another possibility is for each pair of students to prepare an oral presentation on the two leaders, focusing on the similarities and differences in their personal qualities. For the presentations, the students should be encouraged to find further information about the personalities and political and social contexts of the two leaders, including recordings of them speaking about their ideas and policies.
Make It Count | Film English
Here’s a lesson plan from Kieran Donaghy that demonstrates a useful way of using video to stimulate discussion in class.
http://film-english.com/2013/04/15/make-it-count/
For more ideas on how to use video in class, click here.
Computers Language Writing – Newsletter
Here’s another link to an online newsletter with lots of useful information:
Breaking News English ESL Lesson Plan on Margaret Thatcher
Another great set of lesson ideas based on news stories from Sean Banville.
http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1304/130410-margaret_thatcher.html
Upcoming event: 14th CETA Conference
The 14th CETA Conference will be held at the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras of the Universidad de Córdoba on 20th April. (Conference programme)
I will be giving two 45 minute sessions of my workshop ‘Getting Them Speaking‘, from 15:30 to 17:00. I look forward to seeing you there.
Getting Them Speaking – Activities for the conversation class
In this workshop, my aim was to demonstrate a series of activities which can be used in class as a way of encouraging our students, particularly teenagers, to develop their speaking skills.
NUMBERS BIOGRAPHY (Full lesson plan)
I use this activity at the beginning of the year, when I want to get to know something about my students, and when they want to get to know me a little. At the start of the class I write five numbers on the board, and explain to the students that each number is linked to something significant in my life. The students have to ask questions to find out what each number represents, to which I can only answer yes / no. When they have guessed my numbers, each student gives the class a number which represents something important for them.
DETECTIVES
This activity is taken from Mario Rinvolucri’s book, Grammar Games. A situation is described to the students, and they have to fill in the details of the story which led to that situation, by asking questions, to which the teacher can only answer yes or no. To help, they are given five clues – GARDEN, LOVER, 30 YEARS, JAIL, VANISH.
A man gets onto a train. He sits in a compartment which is empty except for one woman. The woman takes off her gloves. Two hours later, the man is arrested. The police hold him for 24 hours, and then, logically, are forced to let him go free.
The man and the woman were married, but the woman had a lover, and she decided to run away with him. To ensure that her husband could not follow her, before they left the lover cut off two of her fingers and buried them in the garden. When the husband called the police, they found the fingers and the man was convicted for her murder, serving thirty years in jail. When he got out of jail, he took a train. When the woman in his compartment took off her gloves, he realized that this was his wife, and killed her. However, since he had already served a prison sentence for killing her, the police could not prosecute him again for the same crime, so they had to let him go.
WOULD I LIE TO YOU?
This activity encourages the students to form open questions, focusing on the use of interrogative pronouns and past tense questions. The teacher writes three sentences on the board and explains that they are related to your life, but two of the statements are true and one is false. The students ask questions to try to discover which of the statements is not true. The teacher is allowed to invent things to defend the untrue statement as if it were true. Once the students have guessed which statement is false, they play the game again in groups, using their own statements.
JUST A MINUTE
This game comes from BBC Radio 4. The objective is to speak about a given topic for one minute without hesitation, deviation or repetition. Other students can challenge the speaker if one of these occurs, and if the challenge is correct the challenger wins a point, and continues with the topic for the rest of the minute. For lower level classes, the challenges can be based on grammar or vocabulary mistakes.
TIMED PAIR SHARE
In this activity, the students are given a topic to talk about, and time to prepare. They can make notes, but not write out their answers. Then they are put into pairs and each student has two minutes to talk about the topic, while their partner listens and if necessary supports with questions. Optionally, each student can be asked to report to the class on what their partner has told them.
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE! (Full Lesson plan)
One way of motivating students is to include an element of competition or time pressure into the activity. In this activity, the students are asked to construct a story against the clock. The first student is handed an egg timer (preferably with a loud tick), which represents a bomb, and asked to dictate the first sentence of a story to the teacher, who writes it on the board. Each student in turn dictates a sentence of the story, but they can only dictate when they are holding the ‘bomb’, and they can only pass on the bomb when the sentence is accepted as correct. The student speaking when the time runs out is eliminated.
DESERT ISLAND DISCS
This is a great way to finish a term, based on a BBC Radio 4 programme which has been running for over seventy years. Before the final lesson of the term, ask the students to think of a song / piece of music which is special to them in some way, and prepare an oral presentation giving their reasons. In the final lesson, the students take turns to present their music choice, speaking for two or three minutes (depending on the level of the class). Once they have given their presentation, the class listen to the music they have chosen.
OTHER SPEAKING ACTIVITIES (LINKS)
Presentation – ‘Getting them speaking’ (TESOL Greece, 2013)
Here’s the link to the PDF of the talk I gave yesterday at TESOL Greece. Many thanks to all those who attended – I hope you came away with some useful ideas.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BwvhQiYtN7sRRUtTeUhqNHpCRjA/edit?usp=sharing
IELTS listening for directionsDominic Cole’s IELTS and Beyond
A useful listening lesson from Dominic Cole, especially for those of you out and about over the Easter holidays.
http://www.dcielts.com/ielts-listening/ielts-listening-for-directions/
David's ESOL Blog 