Do Something Different Today

The aim of this session is to explore ways of challenging teachers and students to leave theircomfort zone and to question their ‘habitweb’ of behaviour, whilst acknowledging the value of rules, routine, rights, responsibilities and respect, which learners need in order to developand teachers need in order to survive. All teachers have a stock of techniques or procedures which they do not have to think about,such as starting and ending classes, writing new language on the board, arranging pairwork,correcting spoken errors and so on. These quickly become habits/rituals which can be donewithout conscious thought, so that the strain of teaching is reduced and teachers can focuson other things in a lesson. However, by staying in our comfort zone, reluctant to try out newideas, we might be preventing ourselves from being as effective as we can be.Students too, become dependent on certain rituals, such as approaching written exercises ina certain way, working with the same partner or going straight to a bi-lingual dictionary tocheck a new word. This can inhibit learning rather than encourage it.

Here are some ways of doing something different;even tiny changes to our ‘habitwebs’ can make aHUGE difference!

STATEMENT SWOP SHOP

Level

: Pre-Intermediate and above

Aim of the activity

To practise giving opinions

Preparation

Prepare a list of about 10 statements which your students can agree and disagree with,maybe from a particular topic area in your coursebook.

For example

Maths is more interesting than History.Learning English is fun.There’s not enough Sport on our timetable.Girls like playing with dolls.Boys are good at climbing trees.Real Madrid have better players than Barcelona FC.Being a goalkeeper is the worst position to play in. An iPOD is easier to use than an MP3 player.Internet chatrooms are a good way to make new friends.

Or . . .

Teachers talk students listen.Teachers decide what goes into the lesson.Teachers are in charge of students’ progress.Teachers praise students.Teachers correct students.Teachers create class rules.Teachers do the classroom jobs.Teachers assess students.Teachers create the activities.Teachers set goals/targets for students to work towardsTeachers teach, students study.

Procedure

Give every student a blank piece of paper. Dictate the statements to students, one by one

. Or ask a student to!

Tell the students to write the statements at the top of the page if they agree, at the bottomof the page if they disagree and in the middle of the page if they are undecided. Ask students to compare their opinions in pairs, and give reasons why. Ask students to feedback to the rest of the group.

ROLE CALL

Level

: all levels

Aim of the activity

To revise recently learnt vocabulary, within a lexical set or topic area

Preparation

Decide on lexical sets/topic areas that you would like to revise

For example

Items of furniture (sofa, bookshelf, TV unit, bed . . . )Things you might find in a car (sweet wrapper, steering wheel, CD . . . )Ways of moving about (run, jog, fly . . .)Things to do when you are bored (do a crossword, phone a friend, make a coffee . . . )

Procedure

Ask one of the students to read the register/ call the roll.Tell the students that instead of answering by giving their name they must say one item fromthe set/topic area to be revised.Students must listen carefully because no item should be repeated. If necessary change theset/area after every 10 students or so.If necessary, ask the student reading the register to do it in a different order.

CLASS SCRIBE

Level

: elementary and above

Aim of the activity

To keep a record, for all the students in the class of the incidental or taught language thatcomes up during a lesson.

Preparation

Choose one student in the class to make a note of any new words and phrases which comeup during a lesson. You can simply give the student a blank piece of paper, but to make thisactivity more formal, it’s a good idea to prepare a worksheet. You should choose a differentstudent for each lesson. Younger students will benefit from strict turn-taking and rewards.For instance, it may be a good idea to draw students’ names from a hat and to put a marbleinto a jar for every correct item which is noted down.

Procedure

Tell the student that s/he must make a note of any new language which is extra to thelesson. Tell the student that there will be an area on the board where you will record it, butthe ‘Class Scribe’ must keep a record for the whole class, which will then be photocopied atthe end of the day/week for each student. At the end of a month/term, students can vote for the best Class Scribe.

A NEW YOU

Level

: Intermediate and above

Aim of the activity

To provide fluency/conversation/dialogue practice by accepting different roles and beingsomeone different!