OK, time to reinvent the wheel!
Every teacher knows what an activity is within a classroom
setting, and English Language Teachers are all aware that activities are the
bedrock of Communicative Language Teaching. No surprise there. However, though
all of you reading this know how to lead an activity, it always behooves us to
revisit how we do what we do with an eye to improving our teaching and to get
better at helping our students achieve their goals and desires. It is, after
all, what we live for, right? So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at
activities in the ESL/EFL classroom in terms of procedure and, maybe, we can
offer a few new angles.
SETTING CLEAR OBJECTIVES
There are many kinds of ELT activities, often depending on
the learning target, the methodology, the student population and so on. So the
first Step should be knowing why you are doing what you are doing. To simply,
for example, play ‘hangman’ with your class to fill in 10 minutes (something we
have all been guilty of) could be a more powerful activity if it were tied-in
with another objective or used for review of new target vocabulary or even as a
wrap-up or introduction to a grammar point. So, make sure your activity has a
linguistic objective that is functional, grammatical, lexical, content-based or
task-based. My suggestion is to keep that clear focus while also having fun!
GETTING THE STUDENT’S ATTENTION
Once you are about to start the activity, hook your students
and this will result in maximum motivation! Plan what you are going to say or
do or show that will both set schema and pull them into the moment. Simply
scattering dice on the tables or playing a song ‘(We Will Rock You’?) or acting
out a scene might creat the desired effect. “Class please pay attention” is
not, often, very motivating or even very effective. GRAB them. ‘OK class, are
you ready to solve a murder mystery?!’ will do it!
SUCCINCTLY INTRODUCE THE ACTIVITY!
Notice succinctly! I challenge every teacher to use no more
that 3-5 sentences to introduce the activity. All of these sentences should be
at the level of the student. Many of them can and should be questions. For
example: “Who knows what a ‘Find Someone Who’ activity is? Can you tell the class?
Follow with short sentences in imperative or simple present. Ending with ‘NOW
WATCH ME’….
MODELING This is the key to successful ELT in many ways. We can
define it as DOING WHAT YOU WANT THE STUDENTS TO DOTHE EXACTLY THE WAY YOU WANT
THEM TO DO IT. The trick, though, is to ‘BE’ a student when doing it. In this
way we avoid long complex sentences, difficult grammar and/or vocabulary and
meta language of all kinds. Modeling often begins with ‘Watch me. I’m a
student.’ Do you want your students to write a skit? Do it. Write a short skit yourself
on the document camera then act out both parts. Do you want them to come up
with three sentences with gerunds? Do it first. Showing always communicates
more than explaining..
FACILITATE
To me facilitating an activity is a mixture of assessing and
gentle coaching without interfering. Help encourage the students to do the
activity in a relaxed, fun and friendly manner and gently answer questions or,
better, ask leading questions that help them discover the answer. During the
activity, get up! Walk around unobtrusively. Observe, assess student abilities
informally. Give them space, even leave the room for a bit if you can. Grab any
new vocabulary you hear being used and park it on a board for later review.
Encourage but do not engage or add more instructions. Let them do the activity!
Don’t interrupt or correct during the activity! All can be done later. Let the
students have autonomy but do help them to keep on track. Remind class about
time restraints (OK, 3 minutes!) and make sure all students participate in the
presentation or activity. Ok! The skit, game, role-play or whatever activity is
being run is done, now what?
WRAP UP
Students have been creatively and, one hopes, with enjoyment
practicing the target language or structure you have assigned and have
completed the activity! Is it time to go? No! Don’t let all that wonderful
language float away! A wrap up brings the students’ attention back to the
targeted language or structure or content in a relaxed but reinforcing manner.
If the activity resulted in a written text, have the students underline the key
language or structure in the text and tell you what it is, each in turn or
group by group. If it was a game or role play, have students orally tell you
the targeted grammar or functional language. For example: “You did great ‘restaurant
ordering role plays!’ Can you each tell me how you ordered your food? I’m your
waiter! This constant reinforcement within a relaxed, fun and authentic
situation will help students to acquire the targeted language!
And there you have it! A successful, comprehensible,
enjoyable, applicable activity! Well done!
Most importantly, have fun! We learn and acquire what we
find motivating and enjoyable.
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