Tag Archives: Speaking

Using an iPhone to make a PSA

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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

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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.

Hot Seat: Present Perfect

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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

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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.

Jigsaw Reading

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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).

Three Truths, One Lie

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A classic activity which can be used to target a wide range of grammar structures, vocabulary, etc.

Students are told that they need to write four sentences, three are true and one is false.  The teacher can specify what the sentences must be about, for example: “write four sentences about yourself using the present perfect” or “write four sentences about San Francisco that use the vocabulary words we learned yesterday.”

Once all of the students have written their sentences, put them into small groups to exchange their sentences.  After a student reads his/her sentences, the other students must guess which one is not true.  Once all of the students have read to their group, the students who managed to stump their group can read their sentences to the class.

Opinion Gap

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A basic activity which involves students, in pairs or small groups, reading or listening to the same information.  This can be a story form the news, a fictional story, etc., that will elicit a range of opinions from students.  For example, Justin Bieber’s new tattoo.  The goal is to inspire conversation and the exchange of information (opinions) using the target language.

From my experience, it’s generally best to use fictional situations or news related to pop culture since some students are adverse to discussing topics that might be considered politically sensitive.