CHOCO-INTRODUCTIONS

1. An excellent prompter that can serve as a warm-up, an ice breaker activity or as a preparation for any
Speaking exam.

Procedure:
Students are divided into groups of four or five. Each group receives a small bowl containing M&M's
chocolates. The teacher invites the students to help themselves to a chocolate. According to the colour
of the chocolate that they have extracted, they are supposed to talk about:

RED = favourite hobbies

GREEN = favourite place on earth
BROWN= favourite book
BLUE = favourite memory
YELLOW= favourite dream job
ORANGE= the “wild card”

The other students in the group listen carefully and put down interesting facts about their colleagues
that are to be finally shared with the whole class.

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE
2. An engaging technique that develops critical thinking and problem solving skills in which one student
does his/her best to draw a peer into temptation. The peer should “fight” all the devil’s temptations by
giving reasons why he or she would not “surrender”.

Procedure:
The teacher asks the students to work in groups of three. They are encouraged to think about the
temptations which they face in their lives (playing on the computer, skipping classes, smoking). One
student pretends to be a bad friend (“the devil”) who is trying to make the other give into temptation.
Another student (“the adviser”/”the counsellor”) does his/her best to convince the third one not to be
tempted by the devil’s pressure, avoid risky behaviour and choose the right way.
When the students have finished, the teacher draws the conclusion with the whole class and highlights
the reasons against giving into the temptation. 
DISCOVER THE SECRET MESSAGE
3. A useful and challenging technique that can be used to encourage students to discover by themselves
the title of a new lesson or any other important pieces of information/ words of advice that the teacher
would like to transmit.

Procedure:
The teacher asks students to work in pairs; he/she hands each pair a sheet of paper containing jumbled
words. The teacher explains that there is a “coded” message and challenges them to discover it. Each
important word in the message comes after an item describing a key concept (for instance, an item
describing a moral quality or a word naming a bird):

Example:
Here is a secret message for you. Each important word in the message comes after 
a word describing a moral quality:

climax honesty Participatory under malnutrition

pamphlet source perseverance teaching unconscious 
dignity and hexagon overcoat property sky red
bachelor achievement endanger self-reliance learning

Key: Participatory Teaching and Learning (”participatory” comes after the word ”honesty”- 
which describes a moral quality, ”teaching” comes after the word ”perseverance”, ”and” after 
”dignity” and ”learning” after ”self-reliance”). 

GRAMMAR AUCTIONS
4. A valuable teaching tool that can be used to revise/consolidate grammar structures, to correct
common mistakes and improve accuracy by engaging the students into a funny simulation of a real
auction.

Procedure:
The teacher draws up a set of correct and incorrect sentences on the grammatical structure/structures
he/she would like to revise, asks the students to work in small groups and allocates each group a sheet
of sentences and their money limit. (The teacher can create fake money or he/she can find monopoly or
fake money from any other popular game). The teacher explains that all the sentences are for sale but
they will win money only if they buy the correct ones.
In their groups, the students are asked to discuss which sentences they think are correct and to decide
which sentences they are going to bid for.
The teacher does his/her best to take on the role of a real auctioneer and sells each correct sentence to
the team that offers the most money.
When all the sentences have been sold, the teacher goes through them one at a time and elicits which
sentences are correct. The teacher confirms the answers and asks the students to add up their money.
The teacher congratulates the winners and offers prizes.
The teacher asks the groups to evaluate their work and encourages them to find why the wrong
sentences are not correct and to provide the correct form. Where necessary, the teacher provides help.

Auction card-suggested example:

Decide if the following sentences are correct or incorrect. If correct make a bid! You can spend 1000
pounds. Correct or incorrect?
√ X Max. Bid
Won/Lost
?
1. Sheila is learning English since she was a child. 
2. Have you ever eaten sushi? 
3. Peter hasn’t went to China yet. 
4. Nobody in my family has practised extreme sports so far. 
5. How long are you living here? 
6. I haven’t talked to my grandparents since a long time. 
7. Christine and Gabriel has seen each other almost every day last summer. 
8. When was your sister born? 
9. She has been born in 1993. 
10. My best friend’s lived in Brighton for 15 years now.

5. THE PYRAMID OF VALUES 

This is another learner-centered technique that enhances the process of students’ values development
and character building by strategically challenging them to identify and critically reflect on their values,
attitudes, beliefs, convictions, assumptions and opinions on different issues such as cultural practices,
religion and spirituality, human rights, early pregnancy, substance abuse and recovery, loss, career,
money, aging etc. 
Procedure:
The teacher draws up 5 cardboards labelled Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly disagree
and places them at different points in the classroom. The teacher selects challenging statements about a
moral dilemma and explains to the students that as he/she reads each statement they should go to the
area which best reflects their views. 
When the students have chosen their particular position, the teacher asks some of them to volunteer to
motivate their choices. The other students are allowed to change their position if they are convinced by
their peers’ explanations. The teacher should avoid expressing his/her opinion. Even if the discussion
turns into a heated debate, his /her role is to create a climate of kindness, tolerance and a sense of how
broad the spectrum of ideas can be.