How do I love lists? Let me count the ways…

Lindsay Clandfield

Lindsay Clandfield is a teacher, trainer and author based in Spain. He is co-editor of the magazine iTs for teachers and has written coursebook materials for Macmillan and OUP.
E- mail: lclandfield@yahoo.ca

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Background

I love lists. I'm one of those people who like to make lists of things to do. I derive great pleasure in crossing things off my to-do lists (I've even been known to put things on my to-do list that I've already done, so that I can cross them off immediately). I'm also drawn to lists. Lists in newspapers like Top ten countries in internet use or Twenty-five reasons NOT to go to war in Iraq will usually get me to pick up a copy to browse through it. Lists of top songs, top movies, top sports teams… I find myself reading them, even if I'm not really keen on the subject matter. The other day I was reading a list of the greatest World Cup matches and I don't even like football that much.

I don't think I'm alone in my penchant for lists. Lists are everywhere, and people seem to like them. Nilanjana Roy, writing in the Business Standard says that if there's "one attribute that distinguishes the human race from other species, it has to be our fascination with lists". The Book of Lists, a compendium of curious lists (examples include 10 men who cried in public, 9 drinks named after people, 27 things that fell from the sky) was originally published in 1977 and has sold more than 8 million copies. It has spawned many imitations. We now have lists of lists, imaginary lists, fantasy lists and anti-list lists. Some of the first books ever written were like lists: books that classified medicinal plants, body parts, stars and constellations.

Faced with so many lists, what is a teacher to do? In the examples above of course, there were exercises, activities and teaching suggestions to go with them. But with a little imagination, you can take any list and use it in class. One of the useful things about a list is that it naturally breaks up a text into manageable chunks. This makes lists great for language study, as well as skills work. So, if you're like me and just can't get enough of lists here are some generic suggestions on how you can exploit your own lists with your classes. That's right, it's another list.

Top six ways of using a list

Dictation

Introduce your list, and simply dictate the items to the students, who write them down. Ask students to check their dictations in pairs afterwards and have one pair come and write it on the board.
A variation would be to dictate the items first and ask students to guess what they think the list is about.

Try it with…

This basic technique works best with lists of short items (no more than three or four words) and words that the students recognise - don't use it with names of people for instance.

What's the list?

Write up some key words from the list randomly on the board (these could be numbers, or names of people or places). Introduce your list and explain that you are going to read out the items on it. Tell the students that they have to number the words on the board in order that they hear them.
Read out your list. Check the answers to the order of items. Then ask students to work in pairs and retell as much of the information as they can remember, using the words as a prompt.

Try it with…

This works well with lists of facts about something, somebody or somewhere.

Mixed up list(s)

Give students items from a list in a mixed up order. This could mean putting each item on a different slip of paper or, if all that cutting up seems to onerous, simply jumbling the order of items on a piece of paper.
Ask the students to try and put the items from the list in the correct order.

Try it with…

This works only with lists which are a ranking of some kind (for example, most popular leisure activities, top ranking movies of all time etc). It's best too if the items are not too long.

The students' list

Introduce the subject of the list (e.g. 10 top things to do in your city) but without saying what the items are. Ask students to work in pairs and brainstorm 10 different things for the list. Ask each pair to work with another pair and combine their lists into a new list of 10 things. Then do feedback on the final lists as a whole class.

At the end of the discussion, read out (or distribute) the original list for students to compare with. Do they agree with the author of the list?

Try it with…

This activity works well with lists that are based on opinion (the best things to do in X city, the most newsworthy items of the year etc).

Work on intonation

Lists can also be used to practice pronunciation. One characteristic of lists is that the intonation usually rises on each item of the list (as if indicating "I'm not finished yet") and falls on the last item (as if indicating "I've finished now").

You can raise students' awareness of this by asking to listen to you read the list with this intonation and mark their own arrows. Then ask them to create their own (more common, or useful) lists and read them to each other with the correct intonation.

Try it with…

Almost any list of short items - even a shopping list. Read out the items on the list, paying attention to the intonation. Then ask students to do the same, in pairs. Finally, ask students to make their own lists. For example:
Today I have XY, Z and English class.
I'd like to visit X, Y, Z and ZZ.
Etc

As a springboard for discussion

Of course, many lists can be great as a springboard for discussion and conversation. Some ways you could do this would be: to ask students to underline the items they found most interesting/unusual/typical and compare with a partner; discuss what items are missing (in their opinion) from the list; discuss a different order to the list or simply talk about the topic that the list brought up.

Try it with…

Any list that you think will spark interest!

Editorial: Lindsay Clandfield wrote an article on the same subject for iTs.

Please check the English for Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Humanising Large Classes course at Pilgrims website.