I will have the students line up at the back of the classroom by height, or length of hair, or alphabetically, or by birth month, or age.  The point is to get them to think and work together to get in the correct order. ( I check to make sure that they are indeed in the correct order if i can �t simply see this.)  Then i count them off to the number of groups or teams i want then i designate where each group is to sit and then have them go to their areas.

 

After some inital confusion, they will be able to do this procedure fairly quickly.  Its the actual sorting that can take some time, but this process is a learning experience in itself.

 

The reason I do this is four-fold.

 

1. It gets them out of their seats, their blood pumping and moving around.

 

2. It forces them to communicate with one another. (Usually there �s a lot of laughter which makes things more fun.  Lets face it English is kind of a dry and dusty subject and the more fun we have the better.)

 

3. It mixes them up and forces them to work with different people all the time.  I find that language students tend to clump in groups, and whenever possible fall back to their native tongue.  If you have a group of mixed nationalities, they are forced to speak English to communicate and to work together.  I also remind them that chit chatting in their native language and leaving others out is rude... and a no no.  (Granted if someone needs a bit of help because they are confused this is ok.  Especially at the lower levels.)  But if they are forced to try to communicate in English, and gestures, miming or even drawing and this teaches them how to communicate. 

 

4.  They are forced to meet new people, and will make friends of different nationalities. If they have friends who do not speak their native tongue, they will practice their english outside the classroom.  Students who practice outside the classroom, rather than just hang out with their native speaking friends, do better in class. 

 

Games:

 

One game i find they enjoy is Board Races.  Using the method listed earlier, i then number them off by twos, and get two teams.  Then I come up with a catagory.  Lets say "types of fruit".  I say go and the teams run from the back of the room to the board and write a fruit.  Then run back and pass the marker to the next in line.  We do this until everyone has had a go.  Then i go to the board and mark off any answers that have been used.  So if they both put Mango, it �s marked off and doesnt count.  (This discourages copying rather than thinking.)   We count off the answers that are valid and spelled correctly, see which team is in the lead, then i give another catagory... lets say "verbs".  and so on until we are out of time and one team wins.

 

It �s a fun game and can be quite random, and fit to whatever leson you have been teaching.  Also gets them moving, laughing, and working together to come up with a fruit for everyone before they have to run to the board.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Dar