Bell Low tech activities for the classroom Here isa reminder of some ofthe activities we saw together, “how to". Hore you'l have found the workshop useful, that itll have sparked off some ideas and will share with your colleagues. Remember, you can always continue sharing out there, while ou are an ‘campus and of course, a6 we all do, inthe staf room. These activites aim to promote communication, should be achlavable by most learners, if otal. They requir ite to no preparation and can be recycledir-used for most contents, ‘They are either studen-generated, studented and as a result should maximise student talking time. Learners are engaged throughout, acve and repetition facitates retention, "So you sak © Pair students off A/S ‘© Tall students A they have to speak for tminute (30 seconds?) tothe partner you give them the topic— © Tell students B they must listen ‘carefuly" and ty to remember what ther partner {old them ~they cannot speak or wtte down anything (| sometime go them to sit on theichand!) ‘© Students A speak for 1 minute (countiowm the last 5 seconds or hava a countdown on IB Ifyou have one) © Tellstudents B they have.to retell what A told them, starting wth *Soyou said". A is not allowed to speak (| usually give them half the timo | gave As to speak) ‘© Repeat the procedure with B students (his time As listen. | gve them another topic, and then get As to retell what B told them. | use this at any time of a lesson (warmer, to activate language, practise language, as a \wrap up, to get students to realy listen to one another, to reflect on things they leamt in the lesson, that week... endless possibilities), ood for delayed feedback on good language, eror correction, to assess some of the students’ speaking “Sticky Labels” "ingredients" sticky labels (3/4/5 per student) ‘©. Tell students to choose 3/4/5 words/expressions they leamed that week (lo not {all your neighbours) © Tall them they must be able to explain what the word/expression means (do a ‘demo using diferent techniques) ©. Hand out labels and give them a few minutes to write ther words (one on each label) ~ they can look through their notebooks — and to tum their lebels over ‘when they are finished, © Get students up, in circle if possible (or can you do this ouside ar in the sports hall, or anywhere where tables and chairs wil not be in the way. ‘©. Toll students to stick their labels on other students’ back without showing them the word (3 labels = 3 different backs for example) — 80 everybody should havo. the same numberof labels on their back,yy < o ell © Do demo with one student - if they guoss the word the sticky label goes on their ‘arm Aim isto get all your labols on your arm, Students do one word with one student (one each) then swop pertner © Time the activity and stop when most labels have been guessed, get students who aro finished to help oer. ‘©. Deal with any “unguessed? words in final feedback (collet remaining labels and ‘lc nal words) | use this activity a the end of the week or when we have finished one of two topic areas to consolidate and recycle lexis. Alternative: “® Take words from vocab box if you keep one (always useful, get stucents to contibute to box at end of each lasson — get 10 of them to contribure one word), You can distribute cards randomly or not sil give them time to check meaning before handing out the sticky labels) ‘© Propare the sticky labels yourself (using the vocab bos) and sill give them time to ‘check meaning before handing out the sticky labels (dont forget to get the cards, back for the box) “Walk and swap" © Select words/expressions you want your students to revise/consoidate (you can select the same word twice or three time and create two or three groups) and write ‘them up on cards © Each student gots a card, They need to check they remember the reaning and think how they wil explain it ‘©. Get students up in one, two or three groups Demo activity with oneftwo students (you have an extra card for yourself to start with), when you and the student have taught” each other the word, swap card and do the same with another student ‘©. Students mingle, taach ther word(s), while you monitor and ident which words yu wil recheck in feedback fo Inplenary feedback deal wth 4/5 words they seemed to have trouble with | use this actiity to practise lexis, recycle, reviow lexis. | also use ito practise the phonemic alphabet (long/short vowels, diphthongs, problem consonants), word stress, “Vioualisation with music” ‘© Choose some music (no lyrics) and decide on some questions (4/5) you want the students to discuss Give students the fist question and play extract (40 seconds to 1 minute) Sludents work in groups of three‘four and tell one another what they visualised Give students the second question and play extract Students share their visualisation in their group Do the same forthe other questions ‘When the istening/sharing is over, put the questions up onthe boar and give them5 minutes to write a paragraph or two Good for reviewing narrative tenses, descriptive language... Instead of groaps of three, | offen use a dyadic circle to maximis interaction, The writing atthe end provides me with \iten evidence for those who are not so koon on handing in writing homework! “Dyadic circle” © Ifyou have more than 20 stidents, divide the clas into two groups © Inner cto: get 10 studens inthe middle and tell thom to form acre facing out © Outer circle: get 10 students inthe middle and tl them to form acl around the Inner cele facing in «Each student shoud have a pariner facing thom (odd number, student rom the inner crcl has two parinors) ©. Tell students you wil give them something fo discuss and that when they see you putyourhand up they must stop talking, Check ©. Give students frst"queston” 9. Putyourhand up aftr 1 or 2 minutes ©. Tell the outer cle students to move one up clockwise (the Inner cle does not move) «© They now al have a new partner, give them a second “question” to dscss © And 0 on and so forth This activity can be used for fuency, production, semi-controlled practice of language, ‘vocabulary ete, It's energising, ensures maximum interaction, gets them to speak with people they may not usually speak o, Shyer students feel safe to speak given the noise level “Strangers chatting” ‘© Write up a minimal conversation between two strangers (on the train, in a cafe, in a park...) ~ one to three words maximum for each line Demo frst tworfour lines on board to highlight rising/aling intonation Elicivestablish who is talking, where they are. ‘Students workin pairs (one handout fortwo) an fl in remaining arrows Monitor and do feedback on board fo ensure they all have correc intonation pattern Dill and practise whole class ‘Students practise minimal conversation in pals Got a few pairs to act out Get studonts to build full sontences/dialogue Get students to practise ful dlalogue, keeping intonation Minimal conversation allows students to focus on intonation better (tends to be fat with full sentences) and highlights the importance of it for carrying meaning. Can alsc be used to ocus on linkinglinking sounds, chunking, tricky sounds. ‘Waling up ful dialogue also allows to focus on accuracy of courseTP MP>OP>FRrarwarmoarmayrea> Hello Hello Seat free Seat free ‘Thomas. You Jane German. You French. Teacher, you . Teacher. Primary, you Secondary. English, you . Science . 9 o'clock \. 9 o'clock Drink / Afternoon Ok / Flying pig . Flying pig / 4.30 Ok / See you . See youCG “collocation tablesiwalts” ‘9 Select collacations be practised (e.g. playlgoldo, makeldo, havettake) © Propare a list of words that callocate with words selected (lennisigo punting!yoga) (© Have key words an large cards and place them on separate tables or walls) ‘© Students stand in the middle and run to tablefwall when teacher calls words (punting: studonts run to tablofwall with "go" on for example) Kinaosthetic, energising, sing orto let steam off acivty as well as of course! “instant boardgamo” Coloured squares of paper (5/8 per student, groups of 46 students ~ s0 4/5 different colours) ~ Dice (4 per group) Each student gets a pack of one colour (blanks) © Ghooge Sf ferent tpl wich wi generat 0 second speeches minute speachos ‘or example: write down the name of your favourite dish, or, write down a date ‘whieh fs very specal in your country. Students only write 1 or2 words on each square When all squares have been used, ask students form a snake allerating colours of paper © Decide where StartFinish are Play the game: frst student throws the dice (a 4 for example), they count 4. They ‘wil not necessarily fal on thee square ~ ifs ok ~ but the person whose square tis has to spoak for 30 secs! minute on the tope (their favourite dish, important date in their county). Then the second person throws the dice and so on and so forth ‘©. Ato 10 minutes, stop the game and if someone hasn't had a chance to speak in their group, get the otter people intholr group to select one of thar topes. « voryboty has had. go, askin stidents to choose on emaing tp for sch student ‘9 TIP: take out the "used" square so thay are not counted in again. ‘This fs student generated, elows for racycting topics, language, lexis they have studied in the last week, few weeks, and provides the toachor with the opportunity to assess how ‘well the leamore can woo the language or how much thay have eetalned, In tarms of ‘Speaking It also stretches the studonts into doing a “long-urn. Usefil fo collect evidence of good language use, erors to address in fesdback.