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Matters in ELT/ESL/EFL

Chain Stories

Nov 21

Posted by Nesrin Eren in Writing | 6 Comments

 

Chain-story is a story that is collectively written by a group of authors. The story is passed along from student to student, each adding a paragraph with the rule that each part should be coherent and follow the plotline of preceding sections. eNotes

 

 

 

 

Chain Stories in Class

  1. Divide the class in groups of 6-7 students, and seat them circles.
  2. Dictate the first sentence, and ask students to continue writing the story by using the target language you have given them (i.e. some of the target vocabulary or a grammar item they have just learned).
  3. Tell them they have five minutes to continue the story.
  4. When the time is over, tell students to pass their stories to the person sitting on their right.
  5. This time they have to read what their peer has written, and then continue the story.
  6.  Repeat the steps until students have created a one-page story.
  7. As a final step, discuss which story is the best and give the winners a prize.

Variation 1: Using an Object

Follow the same steps as above. Instead of dictating a sentence, this time you could ask each member of the groups to pick out one object from their bag. Then have students (in groups) create a story using the object(s) chosen.

Variation 2: Using Wikispaces

  1. First, create a page at Wikispaces which is a free online wiki hosting. It has great features such as ..  It is a fantastic tool that also promotes sharing and building information collaboratively. Please have a look at one of the award-winning educational wikis on Wikispaces created by Arjana Blazic, which can give you a greater idea on how to effectively use a wiki with your class.
  2. So once you have created a wiki on Wikispaces, follow the same steps as above.
  3. Give each student a role and assign each of them with a target language (i.e. a grammar structure, or vocabulary).

As this will require some thinking time, assigning a group assignment on Wikispaces will allow students to use their time more freely and effectively.

Variaiton3: Online Chain stories

If you teach young learners, you may ask students to use online ChainStory instead.

Variaiton 4: 15 Words Rule Chin-Story

  1. First, seat students in a big circle.
  2. Choose a title of the story with your class.
  3. Ask one student to begin the story. Tell students that they have to use minimum 15 words to tell the story.
  4. The next person picks up the story thread and continues it, and so on until the story comes to a resolution. Instead of doing this with the whole class, students could do the same within smaller groups and record it and post it to your class Wikispace. You can also see a sample here.

Variation 5: Text Messaging

  1. Start by text messaging the first part of an if-clause, for example, ‘If I were rich…’ to one of your students.
  2. That student then has to complete the sentence ( If I were rich, I would buy a jet plane),and forward the text message to another student in class. That student then has to use the second part as the first clause and complete it (If I had a jet plane, I would…), and so on.

Also see:

 

 

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Break the Ice and Sprinkle the Seed

Aug 25

Posted by Nesrin Eren in First Day at School, Icebreakers | 6 Comments

I am very happy to take part in the Blog Carnival; mainly for two reasons- it’s my first time I take part in such a carnival, and it’s hosted by Eva Büyüksimkeşyan, a great educator who contributes a lot to her students and to the ELT World. I came across Eva in Blogathon run by the British Council, in February, this year. At that time, I had very little knowledge about blogging and tweeting. It was actually the great friendship I had established with the blog-athletes that got me into the spirit of blogging. My special thanks go to Eva who has instantaneously provided me with help and support at all times. As the new academic year is about to begin, I was thinking of blogging about warmers.  Seeing that Eva was hosting the 24th edition of ESL/EFL/ELL Blog Carnival on 1st of September, I decided to contribute as well. So here we go…

 

 

 [Picture- Courtesy of MarcelGermain]

The first hours of teaching are the most important moments because that is the time when we sprinkle the seed of rapport- “the establishment of common ground of a comfort zone where two or more people can mentally join together ” (Boothman,2005).  No matter how qualified we are as teachers, without rapport, we are unlikely to set up a conductive learning environment. As Boothman (2005) states,” rapport is the lubricant that allows social exchanges to flow smoothly”. Therefore, on the very first day of our classes we need to ‘sprinkle the seeds of rapport’ to ensure that every learner feels comfortable and prepared to learn as part of a group.

 

 

Seeds of rapport:

  • Possessing a positive body language,
  • Speaking in a friendly tone and using positive language,
  • Smiling,
  • Genuinely listening and back-channeling,
  • Having eye-contact,
  • Sharing information about ourselves,
  • Showing genuine interest and empathy,
  • Being flexible,
  • and so on…

I also think that the seating arrangement is as equally important as the elements listed above. I have observed and experienced that placing the chairs in a U-shape form so that everybody can see each other can increase interaction, which subsequently can  influence the classroom atmosphere.

 

Picking the seeds of rapport… putting them in my basket, I  start walking down the corridor with excitement, and my heart starts beating as fast as it did on the very first day of my teaching. This is it! It has been eighteen years now, and the feeling is just the same! This is why I so much love the first days of my classes!
 
I open the door, and greet my students gently…There I am…standing in front of my students… I welcome them by sprinkling a little bit of the seed I have… bit by bit… I, then briefly introduce myself and the course…And now is their turn… I put on some soft music and  go on with some ice-breakers.

 

 

Book of My Life is an ice-breaker I have used a lot.  I first came across this activity  two years ago in BusinessTrainingWorks, which I have adapted  according to our setting. Depending on the age and level of English of the students as well as the content of the course, this activity can be modifed accordingly. I have used this activity with some variations both in my classes and in my training sessions, and both groups have equally enjoyed it a lot.

 

Materials Needed: paper/markers/ pegs/cotton string/ 4-page booklets

First, I prepare the booklets by folding two A4 papers. I, then, staple the sheets in order to form a booklet. (You can also hand out the sheets and instruct students to have them prepare their own booklets in class).

 

I then prepare my own book using colorful markers so that I can share mine with my students as well (*see pictures below).

 

When in class, I show my book of life to the students and tell them that they are going to prepare a similar one by following the instructions I give. I also tell them that they will be asked to introduce their books to the class and that they will hang up their books on the strings with the pegs provided.

The books on the strings really add some nice color to the classroom. I wish I had a picture to share how it looked, but unfortunately, I don’t have it for now. However, I will share it with you once I do it with my new class , I promise:)

All right, let’s now move on to how I do it in class.

I first put on some nice instrumental music. Any piece by Yann Tiersen works pretty well; however, my favorite is “J’y suis jamais allé”, which stimulates plenty of good feelings.  It is also good in that it can act as a stopwatch timer as it only lasts 1:37 minutes, which is a good amount of time  for each page, though more time may be required for page 4 and 7. There, I would suggest using “Comptine D’un Autre Ete L’apres Midi” which lasts 2:35 minutes.

I then hand out a blank booklet and 3-4 markers to each student.  I read out the instructions one by one, each time by referring to the page of my own ‘book of life’. I remind them of the time left and try to make sure that nobody falls behind. There might be some students that finish writing or drawing early; then I ask those students to keep on coloring their page, which they love doing anyway.

The instructions for each page are as following;

  • Choose a title of a song you like the most to name your book. On the front cover of your book, write your name and the name of the song.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • On page 1, write your place of birth and your star sign.

 

 

 

  • On page 2, write the name of the high school you graduated from (for students)/write a short description of your first job (for teachers).
  • On page 3, write how old you are (for students)/write the number of years you have been working as a teacher (for teachers)
  • On page 4, draw a picture of your family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • On page 5, write three most important qualities a student should have/ a teacher should have.
  •  On page 6, write three most important principles you follow in your life.
  • On the back cover of the book, draw a picture of what you plan to do when you retire.  Where you will be, who  you will be with, etc.

When all books are complete, I have students tell their stories referring to their books. Depending on the size of the group, I may ask them to get into groups of 4/5 and have them introduce their books to their peers/colleagues.  Then, I elicit what they found most interesting about their peers/colleagues so that everybody in class can get to know about others as well.  When we are done, I tell them to hold their books on the strings with the pegs and ask them walk around to see what others have done.

Variations: Depending on the age and the course content, can change the prompts.  For instance, we can ask them to draw/describe their most exciting moment, favorite food, most exciting vacation, etc.

 

I hope you will like this activity as much as I and my students do.

Make sure that you have a look at Eva Büyüksimkeşyan’s Blog to get some other ideas.

Cheers!

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Intelligo Me Intelligere: A Lesson for Multiple Intelligences

Jun 8

Posted by Nesrin Eren in Multiple Intelligences | 1 Comment

intelligence test

[IQ Tests]

Question 1: What is the definition of intelligence?

Intelligence is…

This is an easy question to answer, you may think. However, when it comes to writing down a definition, it may not be as easy as it appears.

Question 2: What is that makes you think X student is more intelligent than Y student?

Because X student always gets the highest grades in tests.

What about the student who interacts actively with his peers; thus, contributes to a better learning environment? And, what about the student who is a musical virtuoso? Are they really ‘less’ intelligent compared to the student who scores high in math tests?

Question 3: How intelligent are you?

Uhhh!!! This is even more difficult to answer, isn’t it?

Intelligo me intelligere- I understand that I understand      (St. Augustine)

Although there is no single definition of intelligence, Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligence has been acknowledged by many educators. “[MI] has been embraced by a range of educational theorists and, significantly, applied by teachers and policymakers to the problems of schooling” (Smith, 2008).

Every single individual has a unique intellectual make-up; therefore learns, thinks, processes, and produce differently (Gardner, 1983). Multiple Intelligence theory suggests that we all possess at least nine intelligences: Linguistic, Logical-Mathematical, Visual-Spatial, Bodily Kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Musical, Naturalist and Existential intelligence. It is proposed that Multiple Intelligence instruction (Hereafter MI) should be employed primarily for the following reasons; (1) it acknowledges each child as a unique individual with different potentials, (2) it provides teachers with a wider scope on effective lesson execution, (3) it supports cooperation among all teachers in schools, and (4) it increases students awareness on the way they learn, think, process, and produce (Saban, 2009).

The exam system and the curriculum in Turkey have heavily been based on logical-mathematical and linguistic intelligence, leading the ones who have strong mathematical and linguistic intelligences shine out in the class, and even be identified as the “intelligent” ones. What about the others? Does it mean that they are they less intelligent?

As teachers, it is our responsibility to implement activities that cater for different learners and allow every single individual to shine in the classroom, which could be possible through MI teaching strategy (Gardner, 1983). Research indicates that MI instruction can make students better acquire and retain knowledge (Özdemir et al., 2006). The good news is that there has been a significant increase in the number of MI studies in Turkey influencing teachers’ and curriculum designers’ view to learning (Saban, 2009).

[Eclipsing Expectations]

eclipsing2011

Last Saturday, I gave a workshop at Eclipsing Expectations- the conference of Sabancı University, School of Languages. The purpose of my workshop was to share and get some ideas on various activities we could do to cater for students with different intelligences. We first talked a little bit about MI. I then had my audience to imagine they had a class of students of famous people with different intelligences. I then had them add two other students (of their choice) to their imaginary class and think of possible activities that could cater for as ‘many’ intelligences as possible. I then went on by sharing two different activities we could do; one for a grammar and one for a reading class. I had promised to share (to my audience) the activities and ideas on my blog, so here we go…

ACTIVITY 1: “Go Fishing”

The first activity I shared is called “Go Fishing” which I came across on ELT Classroom (posted by Victor Mejia). Upon reading the post, with some modifications and additions, I prepared a lesson based on ‘passive voice’. The song I choose to use for ‘Passive Voice’ was “I can’t be tamed” by Miley Cyrus. (Please feel free to adapt this activity with any other songs to present vocabulary or other grammar items. I can also send you the materials if you drop me a few linesJ ).

Procedure:

LEAD-IN:

1. I first display some parts of a picture of the singer, in this case, Miley Cyrus. I start by displaying her eyes and ask students who they think it is (or what it is) (the purpose here is to generate some interest to the topic/lesson). By showing some more cues, I go on eliciting until they get the whole picture of the singer.

2. Once they find who it is, I then ask them whether they know any songs of her. (Young learners would know Miley Cyrus from the TV series Hannah Montana while very few teenagers would know about her. Therefore, if you teach young learners, it wouldn’t be a good idea to do this song with them as they would already know the song by heart; thus, would not create any need to do the activity).

PRE-LISTENING

Discussion to generate some background knowledge

3. I play the first part of the video, and stop at “…lady and gentlemen, in captivity….”, and ask students in pairs/groups to discuss what animals and birds are kept in captivity; the reasons why they are kept in captivity; and their ideas about it. Then I elicit their ideas. (This stage would most probably cater for visual, linguistic, interpersonal and naturalist intelligences.) Once some ideas are collected, I play the video to have them see who it is (Miley Cyrus in a bird costume). I then give them the title of the song- I Can’t be tamed, and ask them to predict what meaning it could have.

Predicting the verbs to set a purpose for listening

4. I distribute the lyrics from which some active and passive words are blanked out, and tell them to individually think of possible words that would be appropriate to use in the blanks (Without any prior idea, it is very difficult to understand a listening text. Some sort of prediction always helps as they are to compare their predictions, which subsequently gives them a sense of a purpose for listening). This would most probably cater for learners with strong intrapersonal, mathematical and linguistic intelligences.

LISTENING

5. Put students in groups of 3 or 4. Then, I give each group the pieces of paper on which the ‘active and passive verbs’ are written. Play the video or the song, and the students “go fishing”!. The student who has the most pieces of verbs is the winner! Here, would the bodily-kinesthetic ones shine out.

DISCOVERING THE GRAMMAR

6. Once the winners are applauded, students work in groups to put the verbs in two different categories (as students have verbs like ‘be tamed’, ‘be jagged’, ‘understand’ they will easily put the verbs into two categories). Mathematical and interpersonal ones would probably be more active here, and would help out the others in the group.

7. I then ask the students some grammar related questions. For example, I ask them to find the doer of each verb, how the verb is formed when the doer of the action is obvious/stated, and so on.

8. Once the students have discovered the use and meaning of the language, I go on with some controlled and freer practice from the available materials I have (course book and supplements).

The intelligence left out with this particular activity would be the existential one; however, if we happen to have a student whose existential intelligence is strong, I am sure we could find a way to make them shine out as well. We could just ask them some ‘big questions, such as  “Do you think keeping animals in captivity would give bad  karma?”

Having shared this activity with the participants in my workshop, I also asked them to get into groups of three/pairs to think of for further ideas we could use. And they came up with lovely ideas, which you can see below. I would like to thank them all for the lovely ideas :) However, it’s pity that I can’t provide any reference as there were no names indicated on the post-its.

A note to my audience in my workshop: If you happen to read this post, and you would like to add your name, please let me know which one is yours so that I can make the necessary additions.

And the lovely ideas they came up with were as such:

  • Before giving the lyrics, show the video in silence. Then ask students to write up a story about it.
  • Ask students to stand up when they hear a passive structure.
  • As a speaking activity, students can assume themselves as one member of the audience and share their opinions.
  • Write a different ending.
  • Tick things you see in the video from a (brainstormed) list
  • Watch a video without the music and they try to write the lyrics.
  • Silent movies- understanding and deriving meaning (for productive skills lessons)

I then went on with a second video activity…

ACTIVITY 2: Video-dictation for pre-reading

We can use videos as a pre-reading activity. I love the videos of Mr Bean which is good to use especially for dictation activities. The topic of the reading is about the dangers of swimming pools; therefore, I chose to use the video of Mr Bean at the swimming pool.

Here is how I do it:

1. Assign A and B students.

2. Turn off the sound and play the video. While one student watches the video and describes the action, the other one listens. (In grammar classes, this could also be used as a production activity in which students are asked to use present continuous- see my blog post here).

3. After a while, I have pairs switch roles so that they can take turn.

4. I then stop the tape at a point and ask students to come up to the board and write the possible dangers of swimming pools.

5. I give the text and ask students to compare if any of the things they mentioned are in the text. The purpose of this activity is to set a purpose for reading so that students get involved with the text. After that, I go on with the comprehension questions, and the tasks that follow it.

And that was it:)

I would like to thank you all for your active and positive contributions, which I really really appreciate:)

References

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. New York: Basic Books.

Korkut, I. (2008). Implementing multiple intelligences theory in foreign language teaching. Ekev Academic Review, Vol. 12(35). Retrieved May 26, 2011 from EBSCOhost

Özdemir, P., Güneysu, S., & Tekkaya, C. (2006). Enhancing learning through Multiple Intelligences. Journal of Biological Education, 40(2). Retrieved May 20, 2011 from EBSCOhost

Saban, A. (2009). Content Analysis of Turkish Studies about the Multiple Intelligences Theory. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 9(2). Retrieved May 19, 2011 from EBSCOhost.

Smith, M. (2008). Howard Gardner, Multiple Intelligences and Education. Retreived May 31, 2011 from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

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Rapport-with and without

May 29

Posted by Nesrin Eren in First Day at School, Ice-breakers, Icebreakers, Rapport | No Comments

Rapport

[Picture- courtsey of  Jonathan Farrington ]

I have observed classes where the students happily interact with their teacher and peers; where they immediately get on task and eagerly contribute to the lesson using the target language. Fortunately, most of the classes I have observed incorporate elements that facilitate learning. However, I have also observed classes where there is almost no interaction with the students and where students peek on their watches. What is missing in these particular lessons is “rapport”. And if rapport is missing, unfortunately, very little learning takes place. Therefore, establishing rapport is the starting point for a positive learning environment.

What is rapport?

“Rapport is the establishment of common ground, of a comfort zone where two or more people can mentally join together. When you have rapport, each of you brings something to the interaction – attentiveness, warmth, a sense of humor, for example – and each brings something back: empathy, sympathy, maybe a couple of great jokes. Rapport is the lubricant that allows social exchanges to flow smoothly” ( Boothman, 2005).

What does good rapport indicate?

Let’s now imagine a class where the students enjoy listening to their teacher as much as the teacher enjoys conducting the lesson. Is this only because the topic is fun, or does this also have to do with the teacher who has the ability to develop and maintain rapport? I would go for the latter. Teachers who have good rapport are listened to. More importantly, they create environments where lots of interaction and learning take place.

“Good rapport signals mutual understanding, trust, and a willingness to engage while a lack of rapport indicates a teacher’s estrangement from his audience” Holleman (2009).

Successful teachers are the ones who  can build on their students’ present knowledge or ability. It doesn’t really matter how knowledgeable a teacher is about the topic/language or how qualified he or she is, unless the teacher has the ability to build rapport.

So how long does it take to establish rapport?

A month, a week, or does it even take less than that? Research indicates that we decide whether we like someone or not within the first three seconds (Flora, 2004), which is just where we start planting the seed of rapport.

Students make assumptions about their teacher and how the lessons will be on the first day of class. Marzano (1992) indicates that in order to facilitate learning, we need to build a positive atmosphere and a positive attitude toward learning. Then, as teachers, we are responsible for establishing a positive learning environment on that very first day of school.

What to do to build and maintain rapport?

Some have great inborn interpersonal skills while some don’t. If we don’t have it, does it mean that it cannot be learned? Surely not! Although it may be difficult to build and maintain rapport for some of us, building rapport can be learned just as with any other skill (Spiegel as cited in Witler & Martin,2004).

Below are some of the main elements of effective teaching that can help establishing rapport.

  1. On the very first day make sure that you do some ice-breakers to get to know about each other. The first day is the time we start building a bond with the students; therefore, it is important to show that we care about them and that we want to know each student both as a learner and as an individual.Get to know about the students as much as possible, and try to make use of these in your lessons (i.e. to honor your students use some of the information about your students in the materials you distribute)
  2. Learn their names. Calling students by their names is a great way to start establishing rapport. Therefore, try to memorize their names on the first day.  You are lucky if you have a class of no more than 15 students. But what if we have more than that?  I use Adjective Name Game  which is an excellent game to remember names. Or make a seating plan and refer to it when you want to call upon someone.
  3. Plan your lessons well; that is, carefully considering the lesson objectives in accordance with your students learning styles, their level of interest to the topic/lesson, level of knowledge/ability, and their needs,
  4. Be congruent with school’s philosophy and curriculum,
  5. Be consistent
  6. Vary your teaching style, techniques, activities according to the students’ needs, learning styles as well as to the motivation they have towards the subject.
  7. Time to time add some element of surprise
  8. Read and flex (modify your lesson according to the their mood or circumstance)

Other than these, we also need to be careful with the following elements that are contagious, which I think are equally important as the aforementioned elements.

Enter the classroom with confidence and enthusiasm so that the students can trust you and feel the positive feeling you have to teaching and to your students.

Show interest and support to the students. Students feel more comfortable when their teachers  when they are approachable and welcome questions.

Believe in what you do. We could get positive results if we believe in what we are doing. If  you think a text is boring or too difficult your students, even if you don’t tell them what you think, you would somehow reflect this to them, which in turn would inflence the whole classroom atmosphere negatively. Instead, adapt the material in a way you think your students would benefit from it.

Words are very important; therefore, we should be careful about the choice of words we use. The video below is an excellent example of how words can have an effect on people:

To get positive results, use positive verbal and non-verbal language. In order to give the right message, avoid negative wordings like; “Don’t be late to my class”. Instead, say  “Make sure that you come to class in time”. Always possess a positive body language (gesture, posture) because we convey a lot through our body language, subsequently influencing others. For example, when listening to our students, we should avoid crossing our arms that signals disinterest. Instead, we could lean forward by showing interest in what they students are saying. Also, make sure your tone of voice and your body language say the same thing. Saying that you will read an interesting text, but indicating a negative emotion through your body language will only cause confusion. Let’s say you are giving one-to-one feedback to your student and you are telling him/her that they have improved a lot in their writing (even though they have shown little improvement); but at the same time  rubbing your nose, can indicate doubt and that you are not telling him/her the truth. Of course,every learner wants to hear something nice about themselves. Instead of making general statements like; “You have done a good job!”, highlight areas you really think have improved and show them where they need to further study on.

Listen to your students. Even on the first day, listen to them. After some ‘getting to know you’ sort of activities, we have to move on with the lesson since we have to achieve our weekly syllabus. Nonetheless, students may keep asking questions about the passing policy of the program. If we just carry on with our lesson plan we have, the rapport will be broken and be difficult to build again. On the contrary, by listening and responding to their questions, they will feel cared about; thus, will feel in control. As a result we could have happy students that would look forward to the next class.

Furthermore, we also have to have “that” smile on our face- the one signaling our enthusiasm and our genuine interest to our students. Smiling always help! If you smile at your students, you will see that they will smile back at you. A smile is relaxing… it is soothing…it is comforting… What else? Smile can also lead to superpowers…to a better well-being. Isn’t our ultimate goal to have some kind of some positive effect on people? If your answer is yes, then smile! Just smile!

See how a simple smile can positively influence the life of people :)

*You can also have a look at my previous blog post on what activities we could do on the very first day of school.

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Games…but what for?

May 11

Posted by Nesrin Eren in Games, Revision, Vocabulary | 2 Comments

 

GAMES FOR  __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __         __ __ __ __ __ __ __ __

CSL2092

 

Can you please unscramble the following words:  ’BORCAYUVLA   EINSORIV’ to complete the title of the blog post this time?

 

 

Please, just think for a while before you move on…

 

 

All right, let me give you some clues… The first letter of each word is V and R.

 

Exactly! It is  ’ Games for Vocabulary Revision’.

 

Revising vocabulary is very important as students tend to forget  if they are not exposed to these words in different contexts. One way to foster their learning  is using games.

“Games help and encourage many learners to sustain their interest and work. If they are amused, angered, intrigued or surprised the content is clearly meaningful to them. Thus the meaning of the language they listen to, read, speak and write will be more vividly experienced and, therefore, better remembered” (Wright et al., 1984).

Yet, a game should not solely be regarded as a ‘warmer’ or ‘filler’ of a lesson; they can be used at any stage of the lesson providing that they are relevant to the lesson objectives (El Bahri, 2008, p. 9). There are numerous vocabulary games; namely, hot-seat, hangman, dice or board games, being a few among the most common ones. Some games/activities I have found useful are as following:

  • Unscrambling letters to form a word:  I make a list of 5-10 words. I scramble the letters of each word and sometimes highlight the first letter of the word. Then I ask students to unscramble the letters to find the word.  Just like you did when you started reading this post.
  • ticktacktoe
  • Tic- Tac-Toe: This is a great game which can be used with any level. Draw a nine square grid (it could be larger depending on the time and number of students you have) on the board and write a word in each box.  Divide the class in half, and allocate one half as ‘X’ and the other half as ‘O’. (If you have a large class, you may prefer doing it in smaller groups). Give students time to use the words in meaningful sentences. Then, each team comes up to the board and writes their sentence.  When they use a word in a correct sentence, mark either ‘X’ or ‘O’ over the word. Three in a row wins! This game is good to review general vocabulary, parts of speech, and verb form, without ever tiring the students.
  • Right -Wrong -Correct it: You need a grid of 6×6 boxes. The boxes are filled with sentences (some right and some wrong). You can use the problem areas of your students and their mistakes for filling the boxes. You also need a dice and counters. The game is played like any other board game. The student throws the dice, moves his counter and then decides whether the sentence is correct or not. If it is not correct, he has to correct it in writing for the teacher to check later. The students can also form groups of three where two students are players and the third is the judge who decides whether the sentence was corrected properly or not.
  • Alphabet-10kghfn-169x300ABC: You can write a letter of the alphabet on an A4 sheet of paper. The sheet is passed around in the classroom, and every student has to add as many words as possible beginning with this letter of the alphabet. The completed sheets could be posted on the walls of the classroom. The students can also make their own ABCs for different topics (food alphabet, clothes alphabet, adjective alphabet, verb alphabet, etc). In this activity they write all the letters of the alphabet one under another on a sheet of paper and then write words starting with the corresponding letter of the alphabet.
  • Categorizing words: This one is one of my favorite activities. I ask students find the odd one out by also providing a reason of it. For example, among the following words, which ones would you leave out and what would your rationale be?

Lexis, vocabulary, word, collocation

When doing such an activity with my students, I would accept any answer as long as the answer is logical.

  • Adding letters to form a new word: I allocate small groups and give a short list of words such as  “ship”, “man”, “child”. These words could be used with other suffixes or root words. Students are then asked to form new words using the suffixes and root words they know (i.e. relationship, friendship, manhood, manly, childish, childhood, etc.)
  • matchingMatching sentence halves: I find collocation study very useful since knowing what words can occur with other words contributes to the fluency with which language can be used.  I give students sentence halves containing collocations. Here they are asked to match the halves to make sensible complete sentences. Or they could be given lists of words to match. It would be good to add some challenge by making several pairs   with the same words.

 

 

  • Five Favorite Words: (from Learner Based teaching, Campell, C. & Kryszewska, 1992). Ask students to look through their vocabulary journals and select 5 words they particularly like. Group students, and have them negotiate the best 5 words to create a story, or a dialogue using these five words. Students then read out their stories/dialogues by leaving out the words used. The class is to guess which words have been used.

References

Campell, C. & Kryszewska. (1992). Learner Based teaching. Oxford University Press.

El Bahri, M. (2008). Teaching English Vocabulary Using Games. Retrieved May 10, 2011 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/9639825/Teaching-English-Vocabulary-Using-
Games.

Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (1984). Games for Language Learning. Cambridge University Press

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Vocabulary Practice- Sample I

May 10

Posted by Nesrin Eren in Vocabulary | 2 Comments

I Would Like To Buy A Hamburger
Tags: I Would Like To Buy A Hamburger

Every language group has specific problems which may not be experienced by others. This may be because their native tongue may not have that particular sound. For example, Turkish students have difficulty in correctly pronouncing consonant clusters, and /θ / and / ð / sounds as they do not exist in the language.   Another problem they may have is that in some languages, like in Turkish, words are pronounced the way it is written.  “If the English sound is not clearly perceived, the brain of the learner converts it into the closest sound in their own language” Dalton (1997).So, to prevent students from pronouncing the words in the form they are written, it is very important that we teach the spoken form first; that is the pronunciation.

Below is a task I have prepared for my pre-intermediate students. My aim here is to present the following words: retired, loss, fulfill, adjust, inferior, permanently.

PART I. Students listen to the story about my grandfather’s tragic end. I first deliver the text along with some pictures (see text below)which consists of the target vocabulary so as to have students hear the spoken form of the words before they see the written form. I read out the story the second time, but this time I try to elicit the target vocabulary. If they cannot remember the words, which in most cases they don’t, I  have them repeat after me.

PART II. Students  read the text and answer the questions followed. Here the students read the text for understanding by focusing on the contextual clues.


The Text:

The tragic end of my grandfather

My grandfather was a great businessman who he worked until the age of 80. Together with my father, he ran a company which produced fine quality wine. He was a very hardworking man and he never wanted to get retired. He thought taking an early retirement would cause loss of earnings; that he would make less money. He also thought that he wouldn’t be able to fulfill his dream of becoming the best wine company in Turkey. However, he never realized that the company could run without him, and that he could still make much money because it was a company with good reputation. Finally, my father convinced him that he should take a rest and do things he couldn’t do. It was very difficult for him to adjust to his new life style and he was not happy because he couldn’t fulfill himself as a businessman anymore. And what do you think happened next? Did things go the way he wanted?  For some years the company continued its success and made a lot of money, but later in years  things began to change.  Our wine was no more of superior quality, but of inferior quality among the other new wine producers. Our company began losing reputation and my grandfather became very unhappy, so he decided to go back to work.  But nothing changed! Because of the loss of their reputation and their earnings he began feeling worse and worse each and every day. Finally, they decided to permanently close the company.  And just after the closing, we also lost my grandfather, which was a sad loss to all of us in the  family. Now, my father is doing his own business, and is quite successful like his father used to be. I know that one day he will fulfill the hope my grandfather had.

  1. Do you think it would have been better for my grandfather if he hadn’t got retired? If yes, why do you think so?
  2. Would it be better if they didn’t close the company permanently?
  3. What do you think is the best age to get retired?
  4. Do you think my fathers’ success was inferior to my grandfather’s success?
  5. What would you have done instead of permanently closing the company?
  6. List the following losses from most important to least important
    • Loss of reputation
    • Loss of money
    • Loss of appetite
    • Loss of interest in life
    • Loss of confidence
    • Loss of memory

Part III.

  1. Choose words from the box that you think can go with the verb ‘fulfill’. (There are 2 words that can’t go with it!)

oneself

a promise

an ambition

a hope

a role

a house

a dream

a need

a company

a potential

an obligation

a duty

2. What 2 synonyms can we use for the word “fulfill”?

(a) _____________

(b) _____________

3. Tick the items you feel can easily adjust to;

to a sudden darkness

to a new class

to a new teacher

to cold weather

I can easily adjust myself

4. Circle the correct form of the word.

  1. The accident left him permanently/permanent disabled.
  2. He gave up his permanently/permanent job to work freelance.
  3. There has been a permanently/permanent change in her eating habits.
  4. The doors were kept permanently/permanent closed.

Find a synonym for the word “permanent”? __________________________

5. Look at the sentences below and find which meaning they refer to;

1 not good, or not as good as someone or something else [≠ superior]:

2 formal lower in rank [≠ superior]:

a. He refused to accept a job of inferior status.                     ________

b. I felt very inferior among all those academics.                   ________

c. I always felt a little inferior to her                                       ________

d. The wine they produced was of inferior quality                 ________

e. Their performance was inferior to that of other teams.   ________

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The four leaf clover: a getting to know you activity

Apr 26

Posted by Nesrin Eren in Icebreakers, Training | 1 Comment

cloverHaven’t we at some point in our lives been in search of finding good luck and fortune, be it through a four leaf clover or a ladybug?

As a kid, I would spend hours searching for a four leaf clover. Finding one, I would scream with happiness… and then would I  keep it between my books believing luck would stay with me if I did so. Is it the magic of the four leaf clovers I had collected, I don’t know… but what I know is that belief makes one see the beauties we are surrounded by. It is believed that each leaf of the clover represents different things; one leaf is for faith, the second for hope, the third for love, and the fourth… for luck!

The first hours of a training program (could be a course/class as well) are the most important moments since that is the time when the basis for the program is established. Therefore, it would be good to start by creating a positive atmosphere and establishing rapport with participants.

With this stimulus, starting a training program with a positive connotation has always been a motto of mine.

Below is an activity I have prepared and found useful. This ice-breaker could be good to use to help break down social barriers as well as to give teachers the opportunity to describe qualities about themselves and to get to know more about each other.

Here is how to proceed with this activity:

You will require copies of four leaf clovers and some colored pens for each teacher.  On each clover have teachers write words such as faith, hope, love, and luck. After teachers have named each clover with previously mentioned nouns, tell them to do the following:

  • For faith, draw something that characterizes a recent peak performance;
  • For hope, sketch out something that you hope to achieve by the end of this program;
  • For love, write or draw something you love doing as a teacher;
  • For luck, write or draw something that describes what luck is in having a good class.

After teachers have filled in the clovers, they mill around (or could be done through the “Concentric Circle” activity) and share what they have done with their colleagues.  Once they are finished, ask the teachers to put everyone’s their cut outs all around a shape of a big four leaf clover. The purpose here is to create a group harmony and to get to know about each other as well as to refer to points mentioned when particular issues are raised.

“One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline – and that’s the important half, for without discipline you would not know what to do with luck”.

Carl Zuckmeyer

Some Other ideas for ice-breakers

I is for icebreaker

Teambuilding and icebreakers

40 Ice Breakers

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