"I Know English" - An Exercise to be Put into Practice the Very First Day

Graciela Adriana Lamas - Orán, Salta, Argentina

Graciela Adriana Lamas is a teacher of English as a foreign language and of English for Academic Purposes at the Universidad Nacional de Salta. She has taught there for 5 years teaching students how to read academic texts in English. She has also been working as a teacher at the teacher training school "Dr Alfredo Loutaif" in the career "Profesorado de Inglés" where she has taught English Language (CAE) to students attending 3dr year. She is now doing her Licenciatura de Inglés at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, in the province of Santa Fé, Argentina. She is interested in the humanistic school of thought, language and cognition, and metaphors in academic texts. E-mail: yoecheniqueyahoo.com.ar

This is an activity I always put into practice the very fist day of a reading for academic purposes course, on which students usually feel a bit down because they think they know nothing of English. So, the aim of this activity is to:

• Activate their previous general knowledge of English
• Feel confident
• Let them have a feeling of "I know something of English"

To start with, you will ask your students how they feel about their English in order break the ice (expect negative answers and ugly faces!) and to start a warm feedback. Be sure to keep a positive atmosphere and a low affective filter. Tell students you are sure they know a lot of English (though they will look at you in a weird way!) Then:

• Ask them to think about things they know in English
• Ask them to start writing on the blackboard while they start to remember
• Students will start to write one or two words and as they become more confident you will have all your students by the board waiting for their turn to write the very many things they may remember.
• At the end of the activity you will find highly stimulated students ready to start learning as they have proved themselves they know more than they really have expected.

Among all the words they may remember I can mention:

• writing materials (pencil, pen, etc)
• eating stuff (sandwiches, hot dogs, etc)
• words and phrases they have found in ads (Nike's "Just do it")
• Slogans
• Graffiti (though some of them with an extra -'s included)
• Words they may remember from high school
• Some lyrics (or parts of them, though they may sing them phonetically)
• And so on.

This is a very stimulating activity through which you make your students feel at easy and confident. When the first class finishes you have students ready to start a new class with high spirits.

Suggestions: Although this activity works for my students at the start of a reading comprehension course, I think it would also work for any class for beginners, either teens or adults.

Please check the Secondary Teaching course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Creative Methodology for the Classroom course at Pilgrims website.