A Potpourri of Activities

Sezgi Yalin, North Cyprus

Sezgi Yalin earned her M.A. in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She holds a B.A. in Journalism and English Literature. She worked as an English teacher and teacher trainer in the USA and Poland, and gained additional experience in the field in various countries such as UK, Spain, Egypt, China, Nepal, Tibet, Vietnam and Turkey. A CELTA and Pilgrims trainer based in North Cyprus, Sezgi’s research interests are teacher training, integrating technology into teaching and creative writing.
e-mail: sezgiriza@yahoo.com

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Background
How these activities work
Extension

Background

The following activities were created with the idea that learners need some time off the course book to break the monotony in class and to get away from the so-called ‘canned language’ they sometimes encounter in the course books. The activities are also intended to encourage students to creatively experiment with and personalize the target language. Some of the shorter activities focusing on pronunciation and asking/answering questions can be used at different stages of the lesson to energize the students. The others, however, including an activity for group dynamics and ice-breaking, can take longer and focus mainly on academic and creative writing.

How these activities work

Activity 1 – Time for Group Dynamics and Ice-breaking

1. Learners in groups are asked to brainstorm information they usually give when introducing themselves to someone for the first time.
2. Each learner is then given a funny mask with some blank space below it. The mask is to represent her/himself. Each is asked to sit apart from the others and to not show their mask. In the space below the mask, they write information about themselves in sentences, except for their name, age and nationality. Learners are monitored and assisted in self-correcting the sentences.
3. When learners finish writing, the teacher collects and mixes up the masks. All the masks are then put up on the walls.
4. Learners are asked to go around and read all the information below each mask and try to guess who it belongs to.
5. Then, each learner is asked to stand next to a mask and read the information. Others listen and try to guess who the mask belongs to and say why. The owner of the mask then confirms the guess or not.

Activity 2 - Fill-in-the blanks – Spice it up!

1. Teacher sets the context by eliciting words for different jobs.
2. Learners are given an exercise similar to the one below and asked to fill in the gaps.
3. Learners are asked to copy sentences from the gap-fill onto the blackboard.
4. On the blackboard, teacher changes the sentences for herself e.g. #2 “Filiz (another teacher students know) and I aren’t friends. She’s my colleague.” Teacher elicits whether the information in the sentence is true or false.
5. Learners are asked to write similar sentences about themselves. Some should be true and some false. In groups, they read their sentences and other members of the group guess whether they are correct and amend them as necessary.

Complete the sentences with the correct words.

1. His __________ aren’t teachers. They’re __________. (engineers/sisters)
2. Ken and I aren’t __________. He’s my __________. (colleagues/cousin)
3. Her __________ is a teacher but her brothers are __________ (politicians/sister)
4. My boyfriend is a __________ and my sisters are __________ (teachers/musician)
5. Your __________ are teachers but their fathers are __________. (architects/friends)

Activity 3 - Poem Activity

1. Teacher initiates a discussion with students about each other’s personality, e.g., “Y, how would you describe X?” Teacher elicits sentences, e.g., “X is helpful.”
2. Learners are asked to work in groups of four and write a poem about members of another group.
3. Each line of the poem has to start with the capital letter of a member’s name, and the line should describe that person’s character. It can also describe other kinds of impressions or observations about that person. It might also be something that is shared only between the writer and the person described, e.g., the person describing knows how that person loves chocolate and calls her/him 'chocoholic'. The lines can, of course, also be humorous.
   
   For example:
   
   Huseyin – Humble and high above!
   Bilge – Big boss!
   Hilmiye – How can someone be so sweet?
   Sertel – Something else he is!
   Mustafa – My God! He is so hard-working!
   
Eryil – Eh fena degil! Beep! ? (Turkish phrase: And he is not bad either!)
   Inanc - Incredible energy she gives to all!
   Dilem – Diligent woman she is!
   Tijen – Tang she adds to the team.
   Fikri – Far out of my league in database programmes and politics!
   Ercan – En professional! (‘En” – Turkish word: the most)
   Filiz K. – Friendliness and fashion rule student affairs.
   Sevilay – Super motivated - for life!
   Ebru – Elegance she carries in all she does.
   Kader – Kashmir of my mornings.
   
Sonay – SSS - super support & saver!
   Sevdiye – Someone I can’t do without at Table d’Hote, the restaurant, & to bring me 
 down from my dreamy world.
   Timur – The kind of assistant I have always dreamt of harassing!
   Filiz B. – Fills me with more determination to impact the world.
   Nevin – Never can survive without her!
4. Another way of approaching the task is asking the learners to write a poem about themselves as if it were written by someone else, thus forcing them to really look at themselves from someone else’s point of view. Below is an example of how I think my students/colleagues perceive me:
   
   Sezgi tries everything to improve herself
   Everyone thinks she tries harder than necessary
   Zany she sometimes is
   Goal-driven most of the time
   Incredible energy she possesses

Activity 4 - One Idea a Day (inspired by http://www.idea-a-day.co.uk/)

1. For about a week or so, at the beginning of each lesson, learners are asked to note one idea (any idea – fun, interesting, odd) in one or two sentences. Teacher collects them to be recorded on paper, e.g., “We should paint the walls of our classroom.”
2. Once enough ideas have been collected, teacher mixes them up, forms groups of four and gives each group an equal number of ideas.
3. Learners are asked to edit the content and language in the ideas and turn them into an idea book. This might be a project done outside of class to be later introduced to other students in the school.
4. Teacher might even ask the learners to implement those ideas that are easy to implement.

Activity 5 – Chocolate Me: Creative Writing

1. Learners are asked to stand up, close their eyes and visualize their favorite chocolate. They are also asked to imagine the smell and the taste of the chocolate.
2. Learners are then asked to brainstorm what they would talk about during a conversation with their favorite chocolate.
3. Learners are then asked to write down the conversation. This could be done in pairs, too.
4. Learners are asked to perform their dialogues, giving their favorite chocolate its own voice. They are instructed to stand in different places for each role , i. e., self on the left and the chocolate on the right, or vice versa.
5. Learners are then instructed to visualize what shape they would be if they themselves were chocolate.
6. Teacher elicits different answers.
7. Teacher shows photos of chocolate in different shapes.
8. At the end of the photo show, learners are asked if they would like to take the shape of any of the chocolates they have seen.
9. Learners are then are asked to imagine that they are trying to sell themselves as chocolate to passers-by but there is a lot of competition as all the other stores on the same street have very attractive and interesting shapes.
10. Learners are allowed to write a short speech on why a passer-by should buy chocolate in their chosen shape. This can be done in groups, too.
11. The speeches are then delivered. Finally, each group votes on the best speech and explain why they would buy that particular chocolate.
12. The teacher ends the lesson by presenting each student with a piece of chocolate.

Activity 6 - Introduce Me to Paragraph Writing

1. Teacher shows learners a photo of a personal friend.
2. Teacher elicits guesses on the friend’s age, job, marital status, etc. All guesses are written on the blackboard in note form.
3. Learners are then given adjectives and asked to guess whether the teacher’s friend can be described by them: loyal, fun to be with, intelligent, beautiful, kind, adventurous, etc. These are also noted on black board.
4. Learners are encouraged to ask more questions about the teacher’s friend and to find out more interesting facts.
5. Ideas about the teacher’s friend are pointed at on the blackboard. The learners’ attention is drawn to the process of how all these ideas originated and ‘brainstorming about a topic: my best friend’ is elicited.
6. Learners are asked what can be done with this information to elicit that a paragraph can be written using it.
7. With the learners' help, the first sentence (topic sentence) (e.g. Firdez is my best friend) is written in a paragraph format drawn on the blackboard.
8. What needs to be discussed in the rest of the paragraph is elicited and learners’ attention is drawn to the ideas on the blackboard and they are labeled under ‘brainstorming.’
9. The concluding sentence is also elicited and written as the last sentence in the paragraph format on the blackboard.
10. Learners are asked to form groups and write the supporting sentences.
11. Learners are encouraged to write their supporting sentences in the paragraph format on the blackboard.
12. Learners read the paragraph on the blackboard. In groups, and using a checklist, they check the content and language, discuss problems and correct them.
13. Some learners are asked to come to the blackboard and make changes. The teacher and the other learners assist/guide them as necessary.
14. Learners are asked to brainstorm about their best friend and then write a paragraph.
15. Learners are then instructed to exchange their paragraph with a peer, check their partner's paragraph using the checklist and give feedback.

Activity 7 - Add Letters: Pronunciation Work

1. Learners are asked to sit in groups of three and each group is given a blank sheet of paper.
2. Learners copy four rows of words with missing letters from the blackboard. One of these four words contains a different sound. e.g. fa_ _ion spe_ _ al sta_ _ ion _appiness
3. Groups are timed and compete to complete the words. Teacher checks and notes on the blackboard points for each group’s correctly completed words.
4. A learner is then asked to complete the same words on the blackboard.
5. Teacher reads each word and the learners are asked to circle the word containing a different sound paying special attention to how the newly added letters sound.
6. Groups are asked to come up with their own four words. Three of the words containing the same sound and the fourth a different one. The letters for the target sounds are left out.
7. Each group quizzes one group to check their words.
8. After the words are approved by the original writer groups, their four words are read to the rest of class who tries to identify the word containing a different sound.

Activity 8 - Whisper Before Writing

1. Learners are given a drawing of, for example, a family sitting in one of the rooms of a house (e.g., dining room).
2. Teacher gives learners at least six sets of instructions to draw something on the drawing, e.g., “Draw a salt shaker on the small table behind the little girl.”
3. Teacher then displays the original drawing for students to check if their additions have been correctly drawn.
4. Teacher arranges the seating as follows (can be adapted according to student number), those in the middle sitting very close to each other.:
   
                   x x
                   x x
           x x x        x x x
                   x x
                   x x
5. These learners in the middle are given the same drawing but with some more additional objects drawn on it.
6. They whisper into the ears of the people behind them what to draw, e.g., “Draw a large basket on the kitchen counter.”
7. The learners behind each of the learners in the middle do the same thing, i.e., they whisper into the ear of the person behind them what to draw.
8. Steps 6 and 7 are repeated until several more objects are added to the drawing.
9. The learners in the middle are then asked to put up their drawing on the wall, and those who worked with each of them place their drawing around the original one. Learners compare their drawing with the original.
10. Learners are asked to take one drawing that is not their own and to write a description paragraph about e.g. the living room of the person who drew objects on the drawing. They are reminded to include a topic sentence, etc.
11. Learners are then asked to give the drawing with the paragraph back to the original owner.
12. The original owner is to edit and rewrite the paragraph below the original one in a different color.
13. The editor and the original writer of the paragraph get together and discuss the changes made and why they are made.
14. At the end of the lesson, teacher might want to collect the paragraphs to give learners feedback on them the next day.

Activity 9 - Stretch Your Yes/No Questions

This activity is a different version of the commonly known yes/no question game.

1. A learner is asked to sit in the middle of the classroom. Other learners ask him/her yes/no questions on any topic but the learner may not use ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the answers. S/he, otherwise, loses the game and goes back to her/his seat.
2. The yes/no questions asked by learners, however, need to be formulated using an increasing number of words, e.g.
   
   1/ Happy?
   2/ You hungry?
   3/ Are you tired?
   4/ Were you ill yesterday?
   5/ Did you play tennis yesterday?
   6/ Could you tell me your name?
   7/ Can you open the window behind you?
   
   etc.
3. As learners ask questions, teacher puts up the relevant number so that learners know to formulate the questions with one additional word. As the number of words increases in questions, the number of words in the answers automatically goes up too.

Extension

The activities focusing mainly on writing as an end product can be extended. The writing produced by learners can be displayed on the classroom walls or kept in a box by the teacher to be recycled in other lessons. For example, a paragraph can be selected or drawn at random from the box after a language clarification lesson, and learners can be asked to add newly learned language into that paragraph where/if possible. It is a matter of reusing the student work already generated to combine it with newly learned language so that it is more memorable and personalized. Learners can also use some particular language, e.g., adjectives, in their written products to create, for example, crossword puzzles/fill-in-the-blank exercises to quiz each other. It is also possible for learners to go through their own written work to pick up ideas to start a discussion or use them as starting points for other writing assignments. Reusing student work in class also makes learners feel proud of themselves and reminds them how the energy and effort they spent on their products are valued by the teacher and their peers.

Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.