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Repertoire of Classroom Activities
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Using an iPhone to make a PSA
The fact that everyone these days has a smartphone means that every classroom has multiple cameras. This is a tremendous opportunity for teachers since acting out a role-play on camera is usually more exciting for students than acting one out in the classroom.
I’ve always found public service announcements to be a great place to start when making movies in class. You can really fit any type of topic into a PSA.
When making a PSA in class, there are a few things to keep in mind:
– Editing is usually not possible. This means students have to get creative and think about how they can shoot a PSA in one take.
– Phones have different formats. Make sure you know how you’ll get the videos on the OHP. I find youtube the best source for this. Having everyone upload their videos to youtube averts any need to download.
– Examples! Youtube has a ton of PSAs. Explain that you can go for shock value, humor, seriousness, etc. Again, the idea is to be creative and have fun.
Here’s an example from my students. It’s pretty good considering they did it in 45mins. We were working with tag questions this week so they developed an script based on this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4o6kQ9bNMyg&feature=youtu.be
The Newly Wed Game
For this activity, the teacher first arranges the class into two parallel lines so that students are sitting face-to-face.
Using a list of “would you rather” questions, the teacher asks each student in one line to guess what answer their partner in the other line would chose. Examples of these questions include:
– Would you rather have $1 million but you could never leave California or an all-expenses paid trip around Europe?
– Would you rather have a boyfriend/girlfriend who is: loyal, funny, intelligent or good looking?
– Would you rather __________________________
Depending on the level, you could have students draft the questions as well.
Writing Activity: How Does It End?
“How Does It End?” is a great activity to engage language learners in the writing process. The activity consists of the teacher reading the majority of a story but leaving the ending for the students to predict and construct on their own.
In a follow-up class, students form groups and read each other’s endings as well as write an ending together.
To wrap-up, the teacher reads the author’s ending to compare how close students’ endings were.
History in Post-It Note Format
Students are divided into groups of three. Each student is given three post-it notes each.
The teacher instructs the students to write an important event in their life along with the month and year it happened on each post-it. Once everyone has completed writing their events, the groups are told to arrange the events in a line according to when they happened.
Using a small trinket as a marker and a six-sided die or coin to move (heads = one move; tails = two), each group member takes turn rolling and moving their token. Whichever post-it the token lands on, the person who wrote that event must explain it to the group.
After all of the events have been explained, the group can then practice explaining the events using a target grammar structure. For example, if there is an event such as “moved to France (08/2002)” and “bought my first car (05/2005)” the group can say or write, “Matt moved to France three years before Joan bought her first car.”
Reassembling an Essay
The goal is to take apart an essay then have the students put it back together using their knowledge of transitions, main ideas, etc.
The first step to setting up this activity is to take a sample TOEFL essay from any online source and import it into MS Word. As you read through the essay, break it apart into fragments based on the use of signpost words or idea groups. Don’t break it up so much that it’s difficult to spot the logical transition between ideas.
Once you’ve got the essay broken down, print out as many copies as you need. I usually have students work in groups of three. Cut up the essays one-by-one and mix the strips together.
In class, distribute the cut up essays and explain the task to students. The goal is for them to visualize the logic and structure of a TOEFL essay.
Definition/Chart Matching
This activity requires a pool of vocabulary or grammar concepts and three notecards for each word in the pool (x2). The aim is to have students create their own definitions of ket terms then draw a picture to represent each term.
To start, the pool of a vocabulary words or grammar concepts is written on a note cards. With the class broken into small groups, the cards are distributed to evenly among the groups along with a stack of blank cards. Each group much then take a blank card and write a definition of the term they’ve been given. Using a second blank card, the group then thinks of a way to express this idea in picture or chart form. So, for each card with a term on it, there will be two other cards with than correspond to this term.
Once the groups are done with their words, the cards are mixed up. The groups all then change places and attempt to match the terms with their definition and visual representation.
Hot Seat: Present Perfect
First arrange all of the chairs in a circle, there should be one less chair than there are students. One student then stands in the center of the circle while all of the others are sitting around him or her.
The goal for the student standing in the center is to free up a seat so he or she can sit. In order to do this, he or she makes a sentence using never + the present perfect (“I have never smoked a cigarette.”) Any student that has done this action must stand up and explain how many times or for how long they have done it (“I have smoke cigarettes for many years.”)
Ideally, multiple people will stand up. After the last person has stated how long or how many times they have done something, everyone must take a new seat (you cannot sit in your original seat). The student left without a seat then makes their own sentence and the process is repeated.
Concentric Circles
This activity involves students forming two circles, one inside the other. The students on the inside should be paired (looking eye-to-eye) with a student from the outside circle.
Once students are arranged correctly, the teacher can introduce the task (questions, practice a dialogue, etc.). After the students have completed talking, the inside circle shifts one-person to the left while the outer circle stays in the same place. With the partner, the speaking continues.
I’ve found this activity helpful when teaching TOEFL speaking. First, I think of a question such as: who is the most important person from your country’s history? I give the student 3mins to talk to their outer circle partner about this. They are not allowed to stop talking, the goal is three minutes of sustained talking. Once this is finished, the inner circle rotates. Using the same question, I only allow the students 1.5mins to try and give the same information to their new partner. Finally, students rotate once more and have to answer the same question with only 45 seconds.
Back to the Board
Similar to Taboo, this is a vocabulary game in which students must elicit a specific word from a partner using clues.
To set up, two chairs are placed in front of the whiteboard. I prefer to make this a competitive game so I divide the class into two teams who then crowd around the chair in front of the board. One member from each team then sits in the chair.
Next, I’ll write a word or concept on the whiteboard which the two teams will try to elicit from the team member in the chair. Teams are allowed to use whatever means necessary (acting, defining, using synonyms) to get their teammate to say the word. Once someone gets the word, the two people in the chair join their group and a new person gets in the chair.
Jigsaw Reading
For this activity, two texts about the same subject are required. After the topic of the texts has been introduced, one half of the class gets one of the two texts while the other half gets the other text.
Each group of students is instructed to read their text for main ideas and important details. After the students have finished reading, the groups get together and verify the information they found. Once both groups are comfortable with their text, they are then paired with a student from the other group. The two students exchange the information they read.
I personally conclude this activity with a short group quiz about the texts in which students who didn’t read the particular article are the only ones who can answer (if I read text A, I cannot answer questions about this text. Only my partner can).