ETJ Oita Workshop

The next workshop will be on Sunday November 14th at Compal Hall, Oita City. The workshop will be from 18:30 – 20:30.

Details

Presentation: Checking Comprehension / Checking Understanding
(Simon Goddard Weedon)
This short presentation will look at different ways to make sure students are understanding the language the see, hear and say.

Discussion:
It’s the end of the year as we know it! Please bring one idea or story from your 2010 classes. In small groups, we will share ideas, stories and challenges.

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Junior High School Activities

These activities were presented at a training seminar for Junior High English teachers in Miyazaki. Hope they’re useful!!    Simon

Activities

1. Bingo – use flashcards, get students to make wordcards for clues. Use different grammar forms, questions, negatives, 2 line conversations.
2. Taboo – students receive a flashcard but can’t say the thing on the card. They have to describe it and the other students guess what it is. Can be used for vocabulary and grammar practice. E.g. a students ahs a picture of a supermarket and says “I’m buying some milk and eggs. I’m standing in a line. I’m paying money. I’m putting the food in a bag”
3. Survey – use a blank survey grid to give structure to students’ questions and answers
4. Word Puzzles – Confuse your students!! Get them thinking about the puzzle and using English to solve it e.g. What’s the connection between: a snake, a man, a tripod, a chair, a spider and a squid?
5. Riddles – very good for practicing present simple and building vocabulary on a topic. E.g. I’m fragile. People don’t look at me, they look through me. You use me with juice. I’m stained in churches. (GLASS)
6. Pictionary – one student draws a picture to represent a word or action. The other students guess what it is. Can be made more challenging by setting rules for guessing. E.g. You have to say “Is it a….?” or “Does it start with the letter…?”
7. 7.    Do you…..? – In pairs or groups student ask questions like “Do you watch TV?. There are three answers – No, never (0 points), Yes, sometimes (1 point) and Yes, every day (3 points). The first person to 20 points wins.

Following this, the students look at the full grammatical answer, Yes I do / No I don’t. They then have the same conversation using the following model:

“Do you watch TV?.

Yes, sometimes. I like Sports and drama. How about you?

1. 8.    True Lies – write 3 statements about yourself, but make one of them untrue. The other people listen to the 3 statements and then try and guess which one is false.

Practices simple discussion language: e.g.

Student 1     I think she doesn’t live in Nobeoka

Student 2    Me too.

Student 3    Really? I think she doesn’t have a pet dog

1. Alibi – split the class into 2 groups. One half are bank-robbers. They have to make a story about what they did yesterday to prove they didn’t rob the local bank. All the group must keep the same story.

The other half are police officers. They make a list of questions to ask in a police interview.

The police conduct their interview then compare the stories and try to find differences. If there are too many differences the bank-robbers go to jail!!

10. Last week I went to Bon Belta and…… – students complete the sentence in alphabetical order. The team with the longest sentence wins. E.g. Last week I went to Bon Belta and bought an apple, a banana, some candy, a dress, some eggs, some fruit, some glasses, a hat………..

11. Describe and Draw – put students in pairs and get them to sit back to back so they can’t see each other. One student has a pen and paper and must draw a picture of the other student’s house. To get the information the student has to ask questions. E.g. how many windows are there? Are they big or small?

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