It's
a new school year: new
faces, new classes and collegues, new workloads, new challenges, … and
negotiations! It's also a time
for looking back to review the last year, the exams and the results while
planning the present based on the successes and an understanding of the
failures. I wish you all, a great new school year and I am looking forward
to working with you.
Up
and coming events:
The
1999 SPEAQ Convention will be held at the Hôtel
Sheraton Laval
28,
29, 30 octobre / October 28, 29, 30
Perspectives
de perfectionnement professionnel
Perspectives
of professional development
Internet
address:
http://station05.qc.ca/Partenaires/speaq/
SOCIÉTÉ
POUR LA PROMOTION DE L'ENSEIGNEMENT DE L'ANGLAIS, LANGUE SECONDE, AU QUÉBEC
7400, boul. Saint-Laurent, #530, Montréal, Qc H2R 2Y1
Telephone: (514) 271-3700
Fax
(514) 271-4587
SEVEC
The SEVEC summer exchange came
to an end at the beginning of August. Mostly Magog students participated
but there was also one courageous Asbestos student (parents) who braved
the distance to spend a month
improving English skills.
New Teacher`s Kit
The
will be sent out soon with
the information and resources that teachers
suggested last year.
-
Evaluation grids
-
Activities
-
Bim guide
-
OMEGA guide
-
Matériel Didactique Approuvé (MEQ)
-
Programme resources
Last
year the MEQ introduced a new evaluation grid for written production in
secondary 4 and 5 which was also used in the CS exam in secondary 3. This
year, a new oral production guide was promised.
As
soon as I can meet with the DSE and plan the year’s activities, I will
be meeting with you both in your areas and together (primary – secondary).
This
mailing includes material from Sylvie Duquette and Bob Williams of Asbestos:
suggested sites for secondary 3 and a game from Bob`s famous Match &
Master adaptation on proverbs.
There
are examples of exercise quickies from the Internet. It's as easy as typing
in the address:
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/quizzes/
choosing
a quiz and then printing the page.
Also,
there is a list of Free Instant Lessons available for intermediate, pre-
and
REACH-OUT
The
Internet edition of the REACH-OUT Newsletter
Ron
Mastine
845-7111
Ice Breakers and Games
"Find
Someone Who. 8
Get
Your Students To Know Your Name 8
Fortune
cookies 8
Getting
to Know You: Activities for the First Day of School 8
Games 9
Bingo 10
Virus 10
Pictionary 10
Tic
Tac Toe 10
Vocab
dash (primary) 11
Happy
and you Know it 11
Mr.
Monster 12
GESTURE
GAME 12
WHAT
AM I? 12
CRAZY
STORY(Internediate to advanced levels) 12
Ice Breakers
'Getting
to know you'
AIM:
'Getting to know you' questions for a first lesson.
The following is similar to
that of Rosamund, but takes the form of a Bingo game.
METHOD: As the students enter
a new classroom and find a new face, they will be inevitably curious. As
they begin to mutter or fire random questions, write the answers on the
board. Write 16 answers then stop. Give them a quick moment to digest this.
You can include things like 'I am a teacher.' 'Yes I do.' 'No I can't.'
This gives them something to think about past closed questions.
First language offered is.
'I am a new teacher. You have many questions. Here are the answers. Please
ask me the questions. You begin by going through the questions and answers
so the students are familiar with it all. You then ask them all to draw
up a grid 4x4. All the anwers are written onto the grid in random order.
ADDITIONAL RULES:
So that the games are not
over too quickly, I set only 3 or 4 lines as the 'Bingo'. Anything not
matching those lines are not
winning Bingos. (ie, the top line is not indicated, so it is not a
winning Bingo.) The students then call out the questions and the whole
class marks off the answer on the sheet.
I play in groups as the classes
are quite large, so each group must write exactly the same cards out. The
groups can then score points according to which Bingo they have actually
scored.
Name: Lalla Stewart
Email: lallaaust@hotmail.com
Location: Bangsaen, Chonburi Thailand
Learning
names
This
is an idea for the beginning of school especially helpful for new for teachers
who may have trouble learning new names. Put each student's name on a separate
index card. Add info such as phonetic pronunciation, gender, preferred
nicknames. Use when calling on students. Shuffle the cards after each round
so students can't anticipate their names. Ask questions first, then say
the name so all students listen to the question. This is also very helpful
in assuring that you call on all students equally, not just the "stars."
It also cuts down on the students who always want to be the one ones to
answer first. You can use it as a way of taking attendance without taking
time for that task. Just eliminate the cards of those absent and log it
after class.
Name: Lesley
Email: eflworld@crocker.com
Location: Northampton, MA USA
"Find
Someone Who.
This
is an idea I got from one of Mario Rinvolucri's books. It's an alternative
to the typical "Find Someone Who. . ." game.
Instead of giving the students
a list, they have to write a list (you can choose the number; I find that
5 works well) which begins with "I want to find someone in this class who.
. ." You can either have the students mill around like they do in the original
version of the game, but I find with small classes it is very interesting
as a whole-group activity. You learn a lot about your students, both from
who they want to find and how they answer. One warning: I had one class
of university students where some of the guys used this as a sort of personals
column, but it was pretty funny.
Name: Teresa Williams
Email: teresa.williams@mailcity.com
Location: Cheongju, Korea
Get Your
Students To Know Your Name
One
way to get your students know your name may be this one, which they find
challenging and funny:
1. Draw on the board as many objects as the letters that make up your name.
2. The name of each object should begin with one of the letters of
your name.
3. Then, ask your students to tell you the names of the objects you
have drawn and you write them next to each object.
4. Then, tell them to put the first letters of each object in the correct
order so as to form your name.
5. Finally, students may do the same working in pairs.
Ex. I draw a ring, an apple,
a car, an elephant, a glove, an island, a lemon and an ant. If you put
in the correct order the first letter of the name of each object, you get
my name Graciela.
Fortune
cookies
Take
a few small pieces of paper and write on them short simple messages like
"You will go to the cinema." "You will meet a famous person." "You will
get 3 CDs for your birthday." Fold them so that the messages remain secret.
Put all the scraps of paper in a box, shake them well and pass the box
around for the students to take one and read it out and aloud. Make sure
that they say "O-E, O-E ...what will my fortune be?" first! Provided you
choose your messages wisely, you will provide the class with some interesting
conversation topics and will find out a lot about your students and their
interests (fave films, heroes, fave music etc.,) which should help you
plan the course ahead accordingly!
Joan
M. Diez Cliville
Amposta, Spain
jdiez123@pie.xtec.es
Getting
to Know You: Activities for the First Day of School
A
FEW GETTING-TO-KNOW-YOU ACTIVITIES
My
favorite first-day-of-school activities aren't particularly unique or creative.
They are only intended to be fun, and to be helpful to me as I get to know
my new students. Let's jump right into our first circle activity.
My
name is _____, and if I were an animal I'd be a _____ because....
I demonstrate for
my students: "My name is Mr. H., and if I were an animal I'd be a turtle,"
I say, "because I'm always rushing around. Sometimes I wish I could slow
down."
Then
I give the students a little time to think about what animals they might
like to be --- and why. I encourage them to be creative, to be different
and unique. The first student to one side of me in the circle starts out.
After the first student finishes, I say, paraphrasing, "My name is Mr.
H., and if I were an animal I'd be a turtle because I'd like to be able
to slow down. And this is Emily, and if she were an animal she'd be a hyena
because she likes to laugh a lot." Then it's on to the next child. After
each child speaks, I try to repeat all the other kids' name-and-animal
combinations in order. (That's always good for a laugh or two. Shows the
kids right from the start that the teacher isn't perfect!)
Next,
I ask the kids to draw themselves as their animal, leaving space at the
bottom of the drawing for their first writing assignment. I ask them to
write at the bottom of the page a complete sentence following the form
"If I were an animal, I would be a(n) ____ because…" When we're all done
with the activity, I know all the kids' names and a little something about
them.
As
I call on students during the day, I'll always repeat their names-and their
animals! But I learn a lot more about my new students from this little
activity. I find out who is able to follow simple directions. I learn about
their writing abilities and their creativity. And I have a hint about which
students might be independent workers.
We
are all unique!
Each day throughout
the school year, I introduce a "Word of the Day." The first day's word
is UNIQUE. I write the word on the board and ask students to read the word.
(I don't recall any of my third graders ever identifying the word without
a few clues. My last clue, using proper emphasis, is usually "This word
is a very unique word!")
Then
I use the word in several statements, the last of which is "Each of us
is unique." We talk about ways in which we're each unique. I'm the only
one over 6 feet tall. Mia is the only one who's wearing a pink shirt. Sam
is the only one of us who has a pet ferret. (I learned this from the previous
activity.) And so it goes.
Next
step: Out comes the roll of white mural paper. I tear off a sheet about
ten feet long. Sometime during the day, each child goes out into the hallway
and uses markers to draw his or her name on the mural paper. "Make it unique!"
is my only direction.
I
start out by writing "Mr. H" in big bubble letters inside an explosion
design like you see declaring NEW! or IMPROVED on product packaging in
the grocery store. I draw colorful polka dots inside the bubble letters.
When completed, this colorful mural makes a great (and an easy) hallway
bulletin board under the cutout-letter headline "We Are All Unique!" Also,
I can see from this activity who some of the truly unique characters will
be in my new class!
Let's
play detective.
I hand out a "Clue
Sheet" to each student. We go over the statements on the sheet and then
I ask the students to find a quiet spot where they can fill in the blanks
in statements such as
-
"My favorite
hobby is ________ ."
-
"When I grow
up, I want to have a job as a _________."
-
"The most
fun thing I did all summer was __________."
I
preface this activity by telling the students that this will be one of
the few times this year that I don't want them to put their names
on their papers. As the students finish filling out their Clue Sheets,
each picks up the sheet and a book and joins me on the rug for a class
meeting. They hand the sheets to me and read quietly while the rest of
the class finishes the task. Then I introduce the activity. I hand an anonymous
Clue Sheet to each student. (If a student ends up with his or her own sheet,
we make some switches.)
"I
want to see if you're good detectives," I tell the students. Then I invite
them to move around, asking questions of their classmates, narrowing down
the list of "suspects" until they find the one person who matches all the
clues they hold.
Games
Find
more at http://www.eslcafe.com/ideas/sefer.cgi?Games
Bingo
Give
students a 5x5 bingo sheet with questions that can be answered either "yes"
or "no". ex. Can you ski? Have you been to Tokyo Disneyland? etc. Any questions
will do. After reading/repeating the questions together once with the teacher,
the students stand up and
interview their classmates. If their classmate says yes that classmate
signs the bingo sheet. The object is to get bingo (five classmates signatures
in a row). The center square is a "free question" (students may ask any
questions they wish. To get students to talk to as many students as possible
I select questions like , "Are you in the volleyball club?" etc. When students
get bingo they go to the teacher. I put Snoopy stamps on their completed
sheets. This game is a proven winner in Japanese junior high schools. I've
been using it 4 years with all three grade levels and it has never failed.
Give it a try.
Michael
Lindley
mlindley@gol.com
Virus
This
is a game I thought of While I was watching the Dustin Hoffman movie "OUTBREAK."
You choose a question pattern such as "Do you like
the apple?" "Yes, I like the apple." No, I do not like the apple." You
begin the game by assigning the Virus secretly to a few students in the
class.(I like using heads up seven up.) If you have a class of twenty four
students you should "give" the virus to 4 or 5. After you give the virus
to the students, you tell the class that they need to get eight yes answers
from their classmates to win the game. The students with the virus answer
No. The other students answer yes.
The play:
The students circulate around
the room whispering in to each other's ears, "Do you like the apple?" If
the student answers them Yes, then they move on to the next student. If
the student answers "NO, I don't like the apple," the asker now has the
virus and must answer "NO" for they have lost and now have the virus. Their
job now is to give as many students as they possibly can the virus. (Note:
Tell the students if they get the virus, they should not make a big deal
about it like jump around the room exclaiming, "NO!!!," because that will
let the other students know to stay away from that student.
This is a very fun game because
the students desperately want to "survive" and win the game.
You can use this game with
any sentence pattern or if you are a health teacher this is an excellent
introduction to a Virus unit.
Pictionary
Try
playing team Pictionary! Divide the class into three or four teams. In
turn, a member from each team comes to the board. Give the student a vocabulary
word either in writing, or for students that can't read, just whisper it
in their ear. Then the student has 1 minute to draw the word you gave them
(it doesn't have to be a 'thing', it can be whatever you want). That persons
team shouts out guesses. You have to make sure that the kids don't cheat
and tell their teammates the word in their native language! Then, if after
1 minute the team can't guess the word, the person stops drawing, and the
other teams, each get one guess. Warning!!! This game is known to get loud
(but fun!) so be prepared!
Name: Dean Comeau
Email: elcwsfli@soback.kornet.nm.kr
Location: Youngju, South Korea
Tic Tac
Toe
Here's
a great game to review just about anything- vocabulary, grammar, etc. I
teach the ESL literacy class at the Fremont Adult School in Fremont, California.
Let's say after working on a certain life skill such as medical ailments,
you want to review Y/N questions with "do and don't"- you draw a large
tic tac toe grid on the board. In each box, hang up a large visual-such
as a picture of a person with a headache, stomachache, fever, etc. You'll
need 9 visuals in all. Divide the class into 2 teams "X" and "O". Number
each box 1-9. Go over the pictures first. Then flip a coin to see which
team goes first. In order for the team to receive the "X" or the "O" for
the box they have chosen, they must answer your question correctly. So
let's say a student chooses box 5; it has a visual of a person with a fever.
You ask the student, "Do you have a stomachache?" The student must respond,
"No, I don't." in order to win that box for his of her team. You keep alternating
between the teams until one team has tic tac toe, or it is a draw. After
a team wins a box, remove the visual a put an "X" or and "O" in that box.
The students love it. They become very competitive, especially when someone
on their team chooses the wrong box. You c an play this game to review
just about anything- from vocabulary to prepositions of place, or from
simple Yes/No questions to really anything else you can think of. This
activity works great with illiterate adults, because they don't have to
know how to read in order to play. All they need to know is their numbers.
Most students are already familiar with the ailments, and they have very
little trouble identifying the visuals. Most countries have tic tac toe
or the students are familiar with BINGO, so they catch on to the game quickly.
Have fun!
Name: Rochelle Oral
Email: rh.oral@worldnet.att.net
Location: Fremont, Ca USA
Vocab
dash (primary)
Vocabulary
practice for children taking advantage of kids' natural love of games,
competition and running around...
Prepare flash cards of the vocab.
you wish to practice and place them in a line on the floor. Put the kids
into two teams on each side of the flash cards. Give the kids in team 'A'
a number each and do the same for team 'B' - the same numbers. Then say
a number and a vocab. item. The two kids with the number you said have
a race to get the flash card.
If you only have one copy
of the flash cards, the winner will be the first to touch it, if you have
two copies then they can each pick up their own card and the winner is
the first to give it to you. This can quite easily get out of hand, so
its recommended that you be strict on behaviour....e.g. take off points
for being rowdy ..etc..
alba-ingles
Email: alba-ingles@ctv.es
Location: Spain
Happy
and you Know it
I
find that one of the most terrifying things is when you are completely
done with the lesson and you still have 10 minutes to go, and reviewing
the lesson would go over about as well as giving an inspirational talk
on how marching on the Trail of Tears was great for the Native Americans
quads, calves, and burning unwanted pounds... it wouldn't go well.
So what I've found is, or remembered is the Happy and you Know it song...
and it works great on young kids and self-conscious teenagers.
You remember: If you happy and you know it clap your hands....blah
blah. Well change it around.
I've used:
happy - pat your gut
sad - cry boo hoo
scared - scream in terror
tired - go to sleep (they go crazy when you fall asleep in mid-sentence)
angry - growl out loud
hungry - eat you hand
etc... you get the idea
Start this off with doing variations of the happy faces on the chalk
board to introduce the vocabulary and you'll find those last ten minutes
flying by like a greased up monkey being shot from a cannon (don't TPR
that).
Good Luck
Sean Seidell
Currently of Tainan, Taiwan
Mr. Monster
These
are two games which my EFL primary students like. In the first we draw
a picture of a "person", usually called Mr. Monster and the class decides
if they want long hair or short hair, curly hair or straight and so on.
They decide by a show of hands. We're very democratic here. This bit is
fun which is good for teaching/reinforcing body parts and adjectives. A
good follow-up and the second idea is to ask questions like, "What does
Mr. Monster like to eat?" Students ask a question. If the answer is "Yes"
they get a point and are allowed to take a guess at the item. e.g. Question:
Is it sweet? A: Yes. Guess: Is it candy? A: No. etc. Two points when they
guess correctly.
Name: Chris Murphy
Email: chrismur@ms2.hinet.net
Location: Changhua, Taiwan
GESTURE
GAME
Make
a set of cards, with actions that can be represented in
gestures,
such as Riding a bicycle, Playing basketball, Walking a
dog,
etc. Call a student and show him / her one of the gesture
cards.
The student then gestures, and the rest of the class has to
find
out which gesture the student is performing
WHAT
AM I?
Get
a few blank adhesive tags, and write random nouns on them.
Then
have the students stand up. Paste a tag on the forehead of
each
student. They have to walk around the class asking yes/no
questions
until they find out which noun they have on their
foreheads.
A variation of this game would be using names of
famous
people.
CRAZY
STORY(Internediate to advanced levels)
Give
a sheet of paper to each student. Tell them to start a story .
You
can start it yourself, with "Once upon a time..." and have them
continue.
After a few minutes, tell students to give the sheet to the
student
on the left and continue his/her partner's story. Repeat the
procedure
about four times and ask the students to finish it. You'll
be
surprised with the results
