Richard Gresswell (@inglishteacher) has been running a minimal resources blog challenge over on his ELTbites blog. Here are his rules:
“Describe an activity that requires no more than the teacher, students, and possibly making use of the board, pens, and paper. Describe the activity aims and procedure concisely in no more than 200 words.”
So here’s my entry, a simple vocabulary revision activity I did last week with a class of two business students...
In the previous lesson, one of the language needs that emerged was how to express an opinion. In the next class I wanted to revise the vocabulary that we had worked on.
- I gave each student a pad of post it notes and asked them to write something that someone could have an opinion about, serious or light, on the sticky side up, without letting their partner see. I had written an example on each pad to help them (the book you’re reading, your boss).
I’m assuming post-it notes are allowed in the challenge. It seems pretty minimal to me, but I could have easily used torn up paper and shuffled them like playing cards.
- As they wrote each note, they gave it to me and I stuck it to a small whiteboard I have.
 |
| Post it notes stuck to the board. |
- After they had written 6 notes each, I asked them to choose a note from the board. Because they had written on the sticky side up, they couldn’t see what they were choosing.
- They then asked their partner a question based on this subject.
This was a little twist that they weren’t expecting. I like to include these kinds of twists as it keeps them on their toes, and also revealed that they need some help in formulating these kinds of questions, something I’ll come back to in the next class.
- They took turns in answering the partner’s questions, expressing their opinion each time with the new vocabulary.
To read more entries in the challenge, head over to Richard’s blog:
It appears some people are having problems leaving comments. If that happens to you, please email your comment to theteacherjames@gmail.com and I'll post it for you. I'd hate to miss out on your feedback! Thanks.
I like this James
ReplyDeleteHere's my own two penny's worth to share
One material light activity I do is with groups on opinions can lead to furthe discussion.
You just write on the board
A. Give an Opinion
B. Agree or Disagree and say why
B Give a new opinion
Then you ask the group to follow the sequence.
The first person (A) must give an opinion about anything. The next student (B) must then agree/disagree and justify why. Then give a new opinion and so B then becomes A and the next student sitting next to them carries out B's role and so on.
If the group are interested this can start a full blown discussion
Classroom management: Sitting students ina circle is a sure fire way to got this to work.
This can work at almost any level too
Nice idea Shaun. Very simple and a good springboard to further activities. You should send it to Richard and add it to the blog challenge!
ReplyDeleteLearning new words have always been challenging for students of all age groups due to its abstract nature. Infinite ways are searched by students to grasp new words and retain in the memory forever. The solution to this issue is only resolved by www.vocabmonk.com. To understand how? Be connected on it.
ReplyDelete