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Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Some help with my high school students
Some help with my high school students
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general_laton
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Some help with my high school students
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Hi,
I have a small conversation group composed of high school students and I need help to be creative with the activities. What kind of activites can I use to encourage my teenager students to speak in English? The group is pretty heterogeneous as I have some advanced students and others that are in the elementary level.... What do you say? What activities should I use to teach them every week?
Thanks a lot!
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8 Aug 2013
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MoodyMoody
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One thing you will have to be very careful with a mixed-level group like this is making sure that the lower level students have the opportunity to try to talk. They may be embarrassed, or the higher level students may get frustrated or bored with the attempts to speak. Even so, you will need to enforce the use of English instead of Spanish.
Now let �s get to the fun stuff. Pick a variety of topics that your students are interested in. Examples: favorite pop music act, favorite movie, place they �d like to visit, job they �d like to have when they join the work force, etc. Throw in an occasional controversial topic, such as same-sex marriage, but remind students that there should be no personal attacks.
You might also ask the students to create a neighborhood or town map with street names and places, in English, of course. Give them some scenarios such as a doctor �s visit or cashing a check at the bank, and then ask them to act them out. You may need to provide an example for your lower level students. Another idea is to look at this site and find song lyrics and activities. Singing can work very well.
I �m sure that the other members of the site will have other ideas, so keep looking. I hope your group does a great job!
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8 Aug 2013
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colibrita
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Hi, oh mixed level groups are hard work, I feel for you!
One activity I �ve used through the years and that students have always had a lot of fun with (mostly I guess because most people love to be creative) is a writing activity: Cut out a load of pictures from magazines, include pictures of all kinds of people (young, old, different nationalities, different professions, glamorous, scruffy), all kinds of places and scenery, and also pictures of objects.
Pre-teach or elicit vocabulary to do with romance (positive and negative) (eg. date, go out with, engaged, honeymoon, break up, settle down, etc)
Divide the students up into groups of four and ask the first group to go up to the pile and choose five pictures (they should take at least one of a person/group of people, a location and an object (obviously the sillier some of the objects you cut out the more interesting the stories could be, although do include standard fare like cars or rings or watches (I say those coz they �re not hard to find in magazines!!)
When everybody has their pix tell them they �re going to write a love story (happy/sad/dramatic - it �s up to them) and to incorporate their five photos and some of the vocab. Give them a time limit of about 30 minutes or so. When they �re finished, they then present their stories. One of the group reads while one of them holds up the appropriate picture at the appropriate time. It can get pretty silly but you know over the years I �ve done a lot of stuff that �s gone down like a lead balloon. This one so far has always been a roaring success. And it �s so simple to put together. And of course you can you use all kinds of story themes. People do love love though!
Good luck.
Right, I �m now off to annihilate that bloomin mosquito who has managed to bite me about ten times while writing this.
Adieu!
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9 Aug 2013
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maceman
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Hi I think you may find some useful ideas at this site: http://www.englishclub.com/english-clubs/english-club.htm All the best! |
9 Aug 2013
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