Category | √ | Activity |
Become fluent | | The curriculum in the textbook builds fluency |
| CD in the back of the book promotes repetition |
| “Let’s look at the list of irregular verbs on page A2. Ask your partner the difficult words. What words do you find difficult to remember? If your partner can describe it, then mark and we’ll discuss it. For example, what does “slide” mean?” |
| The TV activity improves listening |
| Weekly quiz on paper tests the students’ acquisition of new words and grammar structures in four areas (speaking, reading, listening, writing) |
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Learn in a digital environment | | Electronic white boards display the digital content of the book (crosswords, TV listening exercise, review games, listening practice, matching exercises, etc.) |
| | Youtube.com for listening outside the classroom Lyrics from a web site Suggested use of youtube: assign the song as homework, use class time to analyze the words that are not familiar to the students. “But, Teacher, let’s listen to the song!” Teacher: “That was homework. You can use your time to listen to the song. Some people might be annoyed by this song, but we can at least analyze the lyrics the way we analyze a poem.” |
| | Teacher carries a digital camera and catches important pieces of a lesson, puts the pieces on youtube and Facebook for later review The daily quotation on the white board gets photographed and analyzed (or read onto a video) |
| | When the class goes on a field trip, objects are photographed for later review and labeling on Facebook or other photo sharing software |
| | Macmillan English Campus grammar practice |
| | A web page ( |
| | Digital library – a list of links, youtube movies, etc. is organized on a word document or web page – with clickable links. Strangers (potential new students) are encouraged to “walk in” and participate in a free lesson – and pick up a digital sample of lessons (a CD with videos, or transfer those videos to a photo memory stick, a list of links to youtube videos and a series of lessons recommended by the school) |
| | Homework: write five sentences a day |
| | Create a web site with your CV (resume) |
| | Create a web site |
| | “Show and tell” Show your partner something interesting about your country or your city. Search “images” on google and give a tour of your city. Visit www.TeachersToTeachers.com and sign up for the English Visiting Network (become a GELT Guide – Guides for English Language Traveling) Homework to extend the lesson: Find a video on Youtube that shows an interesting tour of your country or city. Show us, tell us about your country. Show us something that we don’t know about your culture. |
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Discover, explore, learn a new skill, bond and connect | | What is your goal? Teacher asks the students to describe how they will use English five years from now. What is your dream?” leads to “What group of words do you need to learn this week to build toward your dream?” If a student wants to own a house in the USA someday, then real estate vocabulary is needed – that’s the goal of the week. This activity encourages the class to listen to each other’s dreams and to |
| | Create a mini-speech to give to a stranger… “Excuse me, I’m a visitor from another country, I’m here in Florida to improve my English and I would like to ….” n get a tour of your organization n learn more about your company n volunteer in your church for the next two afternoons Students “role play” a dialog in class to prepare for an interview at a local charity, organization, business to become a volunteer |
| | “Meet my neighbor” Students are encouraged to write five questions that they could ask an elderly neighbor. After class (optional): meet the class at the neighbor’s house and play with his dogs. |
| | Come in to the school at 8 a.m. and see a list of “web sites for today” – click on the recommended sites and learn something new today! |
| | Let’s create a “Learning Book” for each student. Phil’s exercise: “Bring a new word into class. If you know how to use it, use it in a sentence. If you saw a sign that you don’t understand, take a photo and show it to us.” Building on the theme of the curriculum by using magazines, newspapers, glue, scissors. “Hey, Yuki, here’s an article about Japan’s nuclear program. Who likes sports? Who wants to make money? I have an insert from the Wall Street Journal here.” Cut out an article, find new words, ask the teacher or write the new words on the board. |
| | New students are incorporated into the school’s social networks on Facebook and Orkut. Other social networks are shown in class to promote tolerance and awareness of lesser-known networks, such as vKontakte.ru, hi5.com, hyves.net, tuenti.com. Professional networks (LinkedIn, for example) are also introduced to younger students. |
| | Email students material that the teacher finds interesting (and the students might like to know about) Teacher sends at least one suggested activity via email. Perhaps it’s a new article on PsychologyToday.com “The week’s web site” or “we talked about this information in class – here are three links for you to explore and get more information. Bring one new sentence or word to class tomorrow from one of these articles.” Examples: KnowYourType.com about Briggs-Myers types (intuitive, extravert, introvert, etc.), brain science (“Defending the Caveman” by Rob Becker, The Brain Game by Dr. Nancy Snyderman , etc.) |
| | Learn a new skill: create a dialog and anticipate obstacles, create solutions and role-play the activity of finding a place to learn a new skill. Create an exercise with a list of skills that students can possibly learn in a one-to-three week time period. Scuba diving, snorkeling, dancing, drawing or painting at the local art guild, parachuting, learning to drive a motorcycle (a course operated by AAA in USA), paint a pot (pottery class), simple Spanish (learn Spanish in a US school with other native English speakers). These activities will put the International Student in contact with locals. |
| | Travelers IQ and “play” the difficult “game” called “Find the city on the map.” Older students are slower to act, but know more cities than the typical younger student. The activity builds an understanding of “geography in a language” – where is the Midwest? What are the major regions and rivers in South Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil, USA, England, and Australia? |
| | Cross-pollinate: Learn more about the other people in other classrooms. Ask a student from another class (who is from an “unusual country”) to come in for two minutes and give a mini-tour of their city or country. Siberia, Kazakhstan, Thailand. “Ask a question about this student’s city.” (Every student in the class asks one question to make the activity go quickly.) The student who comes form the other class returns to his/her class and describes the kind of questions that were asked. “It was so funny. Everyone wanted to know if I had ever eaten a dog.” |
| | Where do you want to travel? Visit www.TeachersToTeachers.com and find a guide in a country that you want to visit. Encourage other students in the class to sign up on the English Visiting Network (“Hey, there’s nobody listed in Zurich. Why don’t you become a GELT Guide?” – Guides for English Language Traveling). The teacher sets an example and joins the list. |
| | Telephone skills: call the teacher or a pen pal “Your homework tonight is calling me with a one-minute message. For example, “Hello? This is Jorge. Is this a good time to call you? I hope I’m not bothering you….I’m so sorry, Carol, I will be late to class tomorrow because my car is in the shop.” Pen pal: arrange for a native speaker who can accept short phone calls to practice telephone skills. |
| | Pen pals: connect the students to native speakers who are on Facebook, Orkut, etc. |
| | Bring in local people to perform or to be interviewed (a local politician might want to meet international visitors who are potential speakers to provide testimony about the local bus routes). Example: in Fort Lauderdale, there is a Greenways proposal along the beach. The local officials want to expand public awareness of the project and they need volunteers to take photos of the route and speak about the impact of the route on their experience as pedestrians – how would the Greenway improve their experience on the sidewalk? Visitors can participate in public hearings. |
| | Write a letter to the editor – call the local paper’s editor to ask the procedure for submitting the letter (length, the need for a contact phone number, etc.), write the letter to the editor in class or assign it as homework, then submit it via email. |