Jak prolomit ledy

Vítám Vás na prvním příspěvku v češtině, který je nejen pro angličtináře, ale i pro učitele jiných jazyků.

Hned pro začátek se podívejte se na tento můj personalizovaný wordle a dozvíte se něco víc o mně. Zkuste vymyslet takové otázky, na která bych mohla odpovědět těmito slovy.

2 - Barcelona - 2000 - Netopýr 

Co takhle třeba: Kde jsi byla na poslední dovolené? Kdy jsi maturovala? Kolik máš domácích mazlíčků? Jaké je tvoje oblíbené zvíře?

Hmmm?!? Limnos, Řecko.   Ehm, v  roce 1995.   Pes přeci!   Žádného.

Tak zkuste hádat dál :)

Jistě, vím, tohle není první icebreaker vašeho života. Jaké aktivity používáte vy se svými studenty? Podělte se s námi!

A proč vlastně téma icebreakers na konci února? Často víme, že je musíme použít na začátku nového kurzu, ale ve skutečnosti bychom je měli použít i opakovaně během kurzu. A to nejen kurzu skupinového, ale i v kurzech s jedním studentem nebo se dvěma kolegy z práce.

Kolikrát se vám už stalo, že studenti ani v polovině kurzu neznají jména ostatních, jako klíště se drží jednoho partnera pro párovou práci a zasedacího pořádku jako ve škole? Kolikrát už jste zjistili, že po několika měsících práce se studentem vidíte úplně jiné cíle a potřeby než po první hodině a první analýze potřeb? Kolikrát už jste zažili, že po vánocích začíná klesat motivace i účast v hodinách?

Nezapomeňte tedy použít tyto aktivity a …

• Prolomíte ledy (a jen tak budete úspěšní při první hodině a uděláte dobrý první dojem)
• Poznáte své studenty (a jen tak můžete personalizovat cíle/ látku/ učebnici/ metody i feedback studentům)
• Dovolíte studentům skupinového kurzu, aby mohli poznat navzájem jeden druhého (a jen tak můžete navodit příjemnou atmosféru a naplno využívat komunikativní materiály a výhody párové a skupinové práce)
• Umožníte studentům, aby se dozvěděli spoustu věcí o vás (jen tak můžete navázat a zapracovat na vztahu/rapport se studenty)
• Rozhýbete dynamiku skupiny
• Zapracujete na rozvoji interpersonální inteligence své i vašich studentů (viz Gardner) 

Proč používáte icebreakers vy? Jakou roli hrají ve vašich hodinách.

Podělíte se s námi s aktivitami, které používáte vy? Tady je mých deset vyzkoušených aktivit.

1. Já jsem Katka, ty jsi Katka

Variací na aktivitu, kterou jsem představila na začátku postu je aktivita, při které vybídnete studenty k tomu, aby sepsali pět otázek, které se vás chtějí zeptat. Osobní otázky dovoleny! Připravte si jmenovku na stůl se svým jménem. Potom vyberte jednoho studenta, dejte před něj jmenovku, představte ho svým jménem. Jeho úkolem je odpovídat na všechny otázky, tak, jako by byl vy, tedy učitel. Na konci můžete shrnout některé informace a uvést je na pravou míru, nebo taky ne … ale hlavně, užijte si to a nebojte se zasmát sami sobě J

2. Lež jako věž

Studenti pracují individuálně a připraví si 5 ano/ne otázek, které by se chtěli zeptat ostatních (nebo 5 otázek, které by chtěli, aby se jich zeptali jiní). Pak pracují v párech a ptají se a odpovídají na otázky. Pozor, na každou otázku musí odpovědět „Ano“, ať je pravda jakákoli a doplnit /smyšlené/ detaily.

Ptáte se, proč využívat aktivity, ve kterých se nedozvíte pravdu? Naučte studenty, že je vítané, aby používali cílový jazyk, aniž by nutně prezentovali sami sebe, svoje znalosti fakt a názory. Naučte je, že je v pořádku používat fantazii a užít si hodinu - spíš než se nervovat tím, jestli jejich názor na Evropskou unii je správný nebo ne.

3. 2 + 1

Studenti si připraví tři věty o sobě, dvě jsou správné, jedna je chybná. Přečtou je ostatním, ti hádají, které tvrzení je nepravdivé.

Nezapomeňte procvičit takové gramatické věty, které potřebujete, např. 1 věta o minulosti, 1 věta o přítomnosti, 1 věta o budoucnosti. Nebo připravte začátky vět, např. v angličtině by to mohly být následující věty pro procvičení gerundia/infinitivu: I hate …., I would like …., I am keen on …

4. Šťastné číslo

Poproste studenty, aby si zapsali na papír svoje oblíbené číslo (nebo číslo, které je první napadne). Až potom oznamte, že se studenti musí představit skupině a říci tolik vět o sobě, kolik ukazuje číslo, které si poznamenali.

Nezapomeňte si připravit nějaké nápovědy (témata, klíčová slova), která pomohou těm nešťastníkům, jejichž číslo je opravdu vysoké.

Varianta: Obvykle hraji tuhle hru jinak. Připravím si roli toaletního papíru a s vážnou tváří poprosím studenty, aby si vzali tolik ústřižků, kolik budou dnes potřebovat. Prodejte situaci! Potom se musí student představit tolika větami, kolik ústřižků si vzal. Pište si, že alespoň jeden si bude chtít utrhnout opravdu dlouhý kus papíru! U této aktivity pouze zvažte, nakolik se hodí pro konkrétní skupinu a jak dobře se s ní cítíte vy sami J

5. Najdu tě?

Rozdejte papírky studentům. Jejich úkolem je doplnit tvrzení „Chci najít někoho, kdo …“, např. Chci najít někoho, kdo nikdy neviděl Eiffelovku na vlastní oči. Studenti se potom prochází po třídě a pomocí otázek hledají jednoho studenta, který odpovídá jejich tvrzení. 

6. Krátké odpovědi

V angličtině ráda používám aktivitu, kdy napíšu na tabuli pouze krátké odpovědí (Yes, I am. No, I´m not. Yes, I have. No, I haven´t. Yes, I do. No, I don´t….) Studenti musí klást otázky tak, abych mohla odpovědět některou z krátkých odpovědí. Ty postupně odmazávám z tabule. Když použijeme všechny odpovědi, studenti pracují v párech a ptají se jeden druhého. Kdo z nich rychleji vyčerpá všechny krátké odpovědi?

Tato aktivita se ale skvěle hodí i pro kurzy s jedním studentem a hlavně – pomocí této aktivity snadno zjistíte i to, jaké gramatické struktury zvládají a které je potřeba zařadit do plánu kurzu. Skvěle tedy propojuje icebreaker a analýzu potřeb studentů.

Jak byste tuto aktivitu mohli použít pro jiné jazyky než angličtinu?

7. Vítej mezi námi

Studenti stojí uprostřed učebny. Řekněte dvě možnosti, např. káva a čaj, a ukažte postupně do dvou rohů učebny, např. káva napravo, čaj nalevo. Studenti si vyberou jednu možnost a rozmístí se po učebně podle preferencí. Pak mají 30 vteřin, aby se ve skupině bavili na dané téma, např. Piješ kávu s mlékem nebo bez? Je lepší kapučíno nebo latte? Pak oznamte další téma, např. film nebo kniha…

Nezapomeňte zařadit i otázky spojené se studiem jazyka, např. poslech nebo čtení? gramatika nebo mluvení? Filmy v angličtině nebo s českými titulky? 

Jaká jiná témata jste zařadili?

8. Vennův diagram

Že jste o něm ještě neslyšeli? Tak se podívejte sem. Nakreslete ho na tabuli. Rozdělte studenty do párů a dejte jim 3 minuty na to, aby našli alespoň 3 věci, které mají shodné. Fyzický popis a oblečení jsou zakázané!

9. A teď tu bude ticho

Studenti pracují ve dvojicích. Ptají se navzájem otázky, ale nemohou mluvit, pouze psát a vyměňovat si papír. Po chvíli změňte páry.

10. Testík na začátek

Pokud už v kurzu nějakou chvíli učíte nebo pokud s vámi pokračují studenti z minulého kurzu, nezapomeňte je řádně otestovat J Uveďte je do situace. Nyní je čeká první test semestru. Potřebují papír a tužku, pracují samostatně. Test je ale o vás. Ptejte se otázky na sebe, např. Kde jsem se narodila? Jaká je moje oblíbená barva? Určitě jste jim za předchozí týdny a měsíce o sobě řekli spoustu věcí. A nezapomeňte test vyhodnotit. Co třeba fidorka pro vítěze?

 Vyzkoušíte některé aktivity? Jak jste aktivitu konkrétně připravili? Jaké informace jste zahrnuli o sobě/ o studentech? Jak se aktivita podařila? Dejte nám vědět.

Využijte tento blog proto, abyste mohli sdílet co nejvíce aktivit, které se vám osvědčily a které určitě dokážeme přenášet do různých cizích jazyků.

On the same wavelength

What makes us feel really good in one course and rather uncomfortable in another (very similar) class? Why are you an excellent teacher (the best teacher ever even) for students in course A but a mediocre teacher in course B?  

I believe that one of the skills which you should develop once you have mastered basic teaching techniques and principles is the skill of building rapport with your students.

http://openclipart.org/detail/50485/hotel-icon-allows-pets-by-gerald_g

What do you associate with the word “rapport”? How good are you at establishing relationship with your students? What techniques do you use to build the rapport? 

Take the word R.A.P.P.O.R.T. and try to find one key word for each letter of the word, e.g. R for respect. Would you like to share it with us?

If you ask what rapport means for me, I believe it is the skill to create a positive T-S(s) relationship. However, it is not only important to break the ice, make positive first impression and start the relationship in the first lesson. It is more vital to know how to keep and “maintain” the relationship during the course. Often we are masters of first lessons but then our energy and effort levels decrease and we gradually lose touch with the students.

For me, rapport is about the willingness and ability to create links between you and the student(s).  Simply tune into your class and what they tell you about themselves. Be there. Be on the same wavelength. At the same time you must work hard on creating the link between the student and the language itself. Rapport means motivating students to study hard, to love the language, to work toward the aims of the course. If you manage to create positive rapport with your students, your students will enjoy playing games, listening to difficult recordings and do homework even though they tend to believe translation and drills are a must. As well, you will enjoy teaching in a similar class more and as a result, you will be willing to invest more into the class … more energy, more time, and creativity. Am I being too optimistic here?

What about you and the ability to build rapport with your students? Take our quiz. Look at the areas below and add a smiley or a frowny to see which areas you are really good at and which areas you should focus on in your next lessons.

• I enjoy teaching.
• I am dynamic and energetic in the classroom.
• I always learn my students´ names in the first two sessions.
• I always plan my first lessons to make good first impression.
• I get students close to each other.
• I smile a lot.
• I make eye-contact with my students.
• I always learn something about my students, remember things and ,use the information“ later to personalize my teaching.
• I teach language my students need.
• I respect my students.
• I make sure all learners in a group participate.
• I reward and praise students´ contributions.
• I give positive feedback frequently.
• I avoid negative correction if possible and cater to lower students´ fear of making mistakes.
• I use humour in the class. I can make fun of myself.
• I switch off my autopilot and prepare elements of surprise and variety.
• I use email, blogs to be accessible to my students.
• I arrive to the class earlier to talk to my students and socialize.
• I make my lessons learner-centred.
• I can admit I also make mistakes and do not know all the answers.
• I always plan my lessons.
• I am good at starting each lesson in an interesting and challenging way (warmer, lead-in).
• I am willing to talk about myself and share my own personal stories.
• I rearrange the classroom seating according to the specifics of the class.
• I move a lot around the classroom.
• I can use the technique of mirroring if necessary (e.g. one-to-one classes). 

Would you like to add more rapport-related tips?

How do you establish rapport with your students?

What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Short, Shorter, Shortest

I have decided to prepare a short post on very short activities that I have used (and recycled) recently in my classes.

You can use these activities …

… to warm your students

… as a cooler

… if you have only 5 minutes left at the end of the lesson and do not want to start any new textbook material

… to recycle specific language areas and topics

…  to activate your students

… to show your students English is fun!

… and for many other reasons.

Call my bluff

Students (or e.g. fast finishers) look up a word in a monolingual /English only/ dictionary. It should be a word they think the other students won´t know. They prepare three definitions of the word, only one of which is true. Then they present all the definitions to the class and others decide which is the correct defnition. It is a good way to make your students like monolingual dictionaries J

• Which words have your students learned this way?

Things, People, Topics …

Quickly prepare cards with different categories or topics, e.g. things which are bigger than an elephant, people who wear uniforms, things people usually dislike, animals which have four legs …

Distribute one card to each student. They cannot show the card to their partner. Their first task is to write about five words that match the category/the topic. Then they read the list of things to their partner.  B has to guess the name of the category or topic. E.g. snake, cactus, camel, sun – desert.

• Can you share some other topic areas with us?

Rhymes

Each students is given a word card and asked to think of a word that rhymes with the word on it. E.g. your card reads “mess”. You say: “The word on my card rhymes with /guess/”. Other students in the group have to discover what the original word is, but they have to ask questions only, e.g. “Is it something women wear?” “No, it isn´t a dress”. “Is it something people who work as managers feel?” “No, it isn´t stress.” …

• By the way, which words are good starters?

Changing sentences

Choose one sentence from a text you have read or for example a grammar exercise you have done. Write the sentence on the board.

Ss come to the board one by one. They can change one word at a time, but the grammatical structure must be correct.

• Can you share the original and the final sentence with us? Was it difficult for your students?

Write down as many words as you can

Students have 1 or 2 minutes to write down as many words as they can which melt/which are green/which people collect, which are dangerous …

• Which categories based on your coursework have you come up with?

Personal Bingo

Prepare a bingo sheet (3 x 3 grid). Add personal questions or prompts or let students fill it in themselves. You can make them use certain structures, e.g. If .. If you found a wallet, would you return it to the police? Or present perfect: Have you drunk three cups of coffee today?

 Ss mingle and ask questions. When someone answers yes, they write down their name. When they get 3 acroos, diagonally or down, they shout bingo.

• Can you share your bingo sheets with us?

Mime an action

We all know the activity based on miming words, collocations, phrasal verbs, verbs. Have you ever asked your students to mime full sentences e.g. from a grammarbank or a serious gapfill exercise?

E.g. I wish I was taller. I wish you had told me the truth. I wish I hadn´t bought those shoes.

It is an interesting way to recycle the target language and since the students have just done the sentences in a series of controlled grammar exercises, the task is both fun and manageable.

• Which exercises/sentences have you selected to challenge your students?

Hidden sentence

Two students come and sit at the front of the class. Each student is given a sentence on a card. They do not show their sentences to each other. They start a conversation (you can give them a topic if you wish). They have to guide the conversation in such a way that they can use the sentence on their card. Other students listen and try to guess the hidden setnences.

I use functional language phrases or phrases from the listening material (tapescript), e.g. I´m sorry to hear that. What was it like? Is there anything you´d like to try? And did you? That´s amazing.

• Have your students managed to use it? What about the rest of the class? Were they listening “actively”?

Things in common

Students work in pairs. They talk to one another. They have only 3 minutes to find out 10 things they have in common. They cannot include things which are “visible”. The list must be based on questioning. You can of course play the game in 1-2-1 class as well.

•  What was the most interesting thing you learned about your student this way?

Liar, liar

Students prepare a list of questions, e.g. practising a given structure. They work in pairs and ask each other the questions. The partner has to answer YES whatever the truth is and develop the answers including more detail.

• What was the funniest question you heard? Have you taught your students it is PERMITTED to lie in their language class?

Picture memory

Choose a picture from a book. Students have one minute to study the picture. Then they close the book and describe it either in speech or writing.

• At what stage of the lesson did you use the activity?

Let´s spread rumour

Each student thinks of a simple tale (Who? When? Where? What? Why?). You can help them with a picture from a book/a newspaper. They tell it to their neighbour who adds new details and then retells it to another student, and so on.

• What about the final story? Was it fun? Did you “record” it? Did you write it down and display in the classroom?
• How did you prompt your students?

Two true, one false

You all know an icebreaker based on preparing three personal sentences about yourself; one lie, two true sentences. What about personalizing grammar? Students must use specific grammatical structure you want them to revise. E.g. verbs + ing forms. I am good at mathematics. I am mad about blogging. I like ironing.

• Which three sentences have you prepared about yourself to explain the activity to your students.

Let me know which activities you have tried and how you have modified them.

Have a nice “short activity” week.

Katka

I Can´t Write a Poem

Tempting or off-putting?

Occasional or a must?

Popular among students or a nightmare?

A nuisance or a superb teacher love?

I believe that teachers are generally attracted by the topic of creative writing. It is one of the things they claim they would like to learn or do more in the class. On the other hand, we tend to avoid it in adult classes because we think our students are not interested in it or not capable of writing creatively in English.

To unlock your or your students´ creativity J make a list of at least five excuses why you think you can´t write a poem. Then add the ideas to Bruce Lansky´s “I can´t write a poem“ poem grid (in italics).

Here´s my poem:

I can´t write a poem.

Forget it.
You must be kidding.
I´m so busy

I have to prepare my Glossa classes every night

I have to do the dishes and the vacuuming and exercise at least twice 

I am so tired of writing on the board in my class

I want to read books and watch blockbusters on the telly

I simply work too hard

I am not paid enough to be creative

My back hurts all night 

Time’s up? Uh oh!
All I have is this dumb list of excuses.
You like it? Really? No kidding.
Thanks a lot.
I might give it a try J

For me, creative writing is a synonym for unlocking imagination. Imagination is a synonym for playing with the language in an interesting unusual unique original way. Playing with the language is about becoming more fluent and flexible using the target language. To become a more advanced user of a language you have to develop self-confidence and positive motivation. To feel more motivated we like to collaborate with other people and share with them.  

Encourage your own creativity first

A teacher plays the key role. If you do not believe creative writing is important, you can´t make a successful use of it in the classroom. If you never write creatively, your students can never succeed.

Do not believe you can teach creativity

Do not teach them to write creatively, try to unlock creative thinking instead. Look up interesting topics, surprise students, vary tasks, discuss and debate things, let them observe each other, provide creative food for thought, prompt them, make them brainstorm, let them ask. And never give up!

Stretch creative writing muscles regularly!

Add creative writing tasks regularly. Proceed from simple tasks to more complicated ones.

I often write poems and stories with students. Not all poems have to rhyme and yet your students can become poets! Not all stories have to contain 500 words for students to become creative writers!

Here are my personal poem tips

Functional poem

I like to ask my students to use some phrases (e.g. for giving your opinion) from the list in coursebook and prepare a poem (e.g. on the topic of studying English, see NEF Advanced, 1C). Then we collaborate on the final version of the poem.

In my view studying English is interesting for you

In my opinion you should know how to spell garlic and onion

If you ask me I´m good at looking things up in a dictionary

Personally speaking you ought to study hard to become a language king

I feel that studying languages is better than to be a stupid spoilt brat

Which other areas of language could you use this type of a poem for?

Actually, the type mentioned above is an example of internal rhyme. To practise more, ask students to complete lines of verse about a specific topic, e.g. food.

Lollipops are better than old socks

Christmas mincepies are a treat for your eyes

Red apples give you healthy lips

Topic poem

Choose a topic (abstract nouns, emotions, activities). Students work individually then in groups trying to finish the sentence (X is …) in as many different ways as possible on separate slips of paper. Then they reorder the slips of paper making a poem out of it.

Loneliness is a telephone that never rings

Loneliness is spending every weekend alone

Loneliness is setting a place at the table for one

Loneliness is nobody remembering your birthday.

Would you like to compose your “creative writing” topic poem? Creative writing is ….

Variation: Write ten lines, beginning with “I believe …” or “I think …” is a good way to generate ideas on a given topic. 

Group Poem

Give your students four words that fit a rhyming scheme (or brainstorm the words from students), e.g. ABAB = writing, story, exciting, glory. The idea is to compose a poem using these words as the last words in each line of a four line poem.

Can you think of a group poem task which would fit your coursebook topic?

Variation: Give them a rhyming structure of about eight to ten lines. They write a list of words that follow the structure. Then they write a poem.

Many ideas come from Wordgames: Activities for Creative Thinking and Writing, Dianne Bates.

Diamond poem

Students create a poem following the structure below.

                                                ______ (one noun, subject 1 of the poem)

     ______ ______ (two adjectives decribing the noun)

_____ _________ ________ (three gerunds related to the noun)

_________ ________ _________ ________ (four nouns, two connected to subejct and two nouns connected to subject 2)

_____ _________ ________ (three gerunds related to the noun 2)

    ______ ______ (two adjectives decribing the noun 2)

                                                ______ (one noun, subject 2 of the poem)

Would you like to write a poem on students and teachers, or men and women?

Looking forward to your poem ideas. I promise I will add one more for each idea you share with us.

 Here are my tips on writing SMS, minisagas, collaborative stories, fairy tales …

 Prompting

 “Scaffold” the process of writing. It is useful to provide students with various and varied (!) types of writing prompts.

Not surprisingly, I use picture prompts a lot. Pictures from course books, Czech magazines, fotosearch clipart pictures, cartoons with Čtyřlístek, crazy Internet pictures, Rory´s story cubes or Flickr five card stories help me spark my students´ imagination. 

What about “sound“ prompts instead of pictures? Download some sound files/sound effects from the Internet and play them to your students who write a story based on them. E.g. dog barking, opening beer, giggling, a photograph taken, tornado…

Tick the prompts you would like to use in the next week of teaching:

• List of random words
• Picture prompts
• Dialogue prompts
• First lines from a novel
• Last lines from a novel
• Sounds
• Song/music
• A caption from a newspaper
• A real object
• A compelling first line
• A compelling plot
• A character profile
• A youtube clip

Imagining

I think students are more willing to write creatively if the topic mixes familiar and surprising features.

• Write Cinderella from the point of view of one of the ungly sisters (rather than create a brand new fairy tale)
• Explain what Christmas is to a young pine tree is (rather than write a maturita essay on how you celebrate Christmas in the Czech Republic). 

Collaborating

You provide a first part of the sentence. Display it in the class. Then students are asked to add one another part at a time (a sentence, a couple of sentences, a paragraph, a dialogue…) to the story e.g. before the course starts or when they finish a task early.

Variation: Prepare a padlet wall with the beginning of a neverending story. Students keep adding ideas on it.

  

Enjoy your two weeks with creative writing. Unlock your imagination, come up with interesting topics and prompts, collaborate and share!

De-Fossilizing our Teaching

I have said many times that this TTC blog is mainly about switching off our autopilots. Partially, it is about “defossilizing” our teaching, our teaching routines and our stereotypes.

Often we keep doing some things repeatedly in the class even though we know they are wrong.

Possibly, we have done them so many times that they just sound right to us.

It is probable that we simply learnt these things wrong.

We tend to “make our teaching mistakes” again and again despite correction.

We can correct what we do or do it differently when focused or forced (e.g. by an observer).

However, it is high time we changed our teaching for ever!

The same applies to our students´ fossilized mistakes.

  

What do you think makes a mistake become a fossilized mistake? What causes the process of fossilization?

What can an experienced teacher do to avoid them or to help students get rid of them?

Look at this little poem grid and try to complete it. You can adapt it as much as you wish. Looking forward to your ideas :)

Those ugly fossilized mistakes come to their long-lived life

due to __________, ______________  and the lack of ______________.

Those wicked fossilized mistakes reoccur in our class because our poor students

need more ______________, ___________________ and ________________.

Those tiring fossilized mistakes! Why don´t we ______________ or ________________?

Let´s fight them from Monday to Friday to free our class :)

 all-free-download.com 

Well, now you know all the important things about fossilized mistakes. Here are my important rules:

• Prevention is more powerful than defossilization afterwards.
• Teachers must work with fossilized mistakes in a systematic way.
• “An apple a day keeps a doctor away,” says the proverb. Working with fossilized mistakes once a term is not enough!
• Students must be made aware of the mistakes and take an active part in the fight.

What do you do when you decide to rid your student of a fossilized mistake?

It´s Banned

You can draw a “forbidden sign” containing the expression you would like your student not to use any more, e.g. We was. Any time they make the mistake, point to the sign. Lower your TTT!

Nowadays, you can use a personalized word cloud to make the correct version visible to your student. It works great with typical spelling mistakes (e.g. accommodation) or Czenglish expressions (e.g. on the cottage, childrens).

Copy it Thousand Times

Harry Potter had to copy a sentence thousand times using his own blood. Do the same with your students J Ask them to use the key phrase or tense in personalized sentences. E.g. ask them to finish the sentence I have never been to … in at least ten different ways. You will see that you get a nice English poem at the end.

Fossilized Dictionary

I have realized many times that in order to recycle vocabulary, I should make my students note down new words. I should make my ADULT students note down new KEY words. Similarly students must become aware of the mistake they keep making. Make them make a list of mistakes to get rid of. Only then can they really succeed.

Snowball fight

Students write three sentences about themselves using some mistakes from their lists CORRECTLY. Crumple up and have a snowball fight. Pick up the snowballs. Guess who wrote it.

I Want to Make you Make it

Students look at their own lists of mistakes. They try to make their partner make the same mistake by creating sentences using the mistakes. Instead of the mistake, they use the word “banana”. Their partner has to guess the word and say it correctly/avoid the mistake.

E.g. I am (banana) English. (good at).

We (banana) in the mountains  last weekend. (were)

Many (banana) are badly-behaved nowadays. (children)

Use new technologies to help you with the fossilized mistakes. Launch a wallwisher/padlet wall and your students can post sentences using the “mistakes” correctly. Or, use a fotobabble.com to comment on your student´s writing and highlighting fossilized mistakes.

Above all, play games with mistakes.

Make the mistakes visible and the corrections even more!

Try to use the following prompts and think of an activity which would help you work with FOSSILIZED MISTAKES:

• Dice
• Board game
• Fly swatter
• BluTack or Post-It notes
• Kitchen timer
• Mr.Bean´s Teddy Bear
• Ball
• A sheet of paper
• Mobile phone

Here is your final task for the following two weeks. Focus on the fossilized mistakes in your courses. Which mistakes would you like to help your students get rid of? How? Let us know.

See you soon with the topic of creative writing.

Katka 

It´s Time to Talk Your Teacher Talk Time

Let´s talk about one of the key teaching skills that affects many other things in the lesson, i.e. keeping our teacher talk time low.

Low meaning real low? Low as in as low as possible? Not higher than student talk time? 20:80 low?   

Well, it´s not that simple.

When we train new teachers, we tell them to keep their TTT as low as possible. We observe their lessons and focus on how much they talk. Then later it is time to turn off the autopilot and the more experienced we are, the more often we break the rule because we know it is not (only) the amount and ratio which count. What really matters is how well the teachers spend their time. Our aim is quality TTT.

Look at the following statements. Do you agree with (some of) them? Let us know.

1)      Listening to the teacher for a purpose is always a valid excuse for the teacher to talk.

2)      Beginner classes need a fair bit of TTT ‘to get the ball rolling’/keep it going.

3)      TTT often means that the teacher is “telling” the students things that they could be working out for themselves

4)      If the teacher takes the dominant role in classroom discourse in terms of initiating the topic, allocating turns and evaluating comments, the student’s role is only that of respondent. Opportunities for developing the speaking skill are therefore severely limited.

5)      Silence is important …. not only when students are working individually …

6)      It is about having fewer activities in a lesson, but doing them well.

Think about your own classes. What about you and your TTT?

Where would you put your virtual clothes peg on the line between you (the teacher) and the student(s)?

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TEACHER  ˂ -------------------------------------------------------- ˃ STUDENT(S)

• Who talks, asks questions, debates, takes part in discussions?
• Who answers the questions of the teacher (the teacher, too?)
• Who gives instructions?
• Who checks instructions and understanding?
• Who gives feedback to students?
• Who corrects?
• Who presents new language and gives rules?
• Who explains new words?
• Who works with whom (interaction patterns)?
• Who checks understanding?
• Who demonstrates actvities?
• Who announces the topic of the lesson?
• Who chooses homework?

Are these the stages in which it is the teacher who should do the talking? Definitely not.

Could you share some TTT tricks with us?  What helps you lower your TTT and use it reasonably?

Here are some tricks I use. Ehm, here are some elementary techniques I use to lower my TTT.

Recently I have read a nice quote. “For adult learners, the hunt is more engaging than being fed!” For me, this is the answer to the TTT mystery. The opposite of high teacher talk time is not low teacher talk time. It is a learner-centred/autonomous classroom.

 Enjoy your TTT week with TTC. Record your lessons, get some feedback from your students and pass some roles on them.

P.S: Check the flipped classroom page to flip your TTT :)

Reuse Reduce Recycle - It´s Easy to Do

Dear Agony Aunt,

I really love Spanish. I am crazy about studying Spanish but you know what, my teachers never make me really learn and remember new words. They don´t mind I struggle for the same word again and again (what the hell is the word for Thursday? miércoles, jueves or viernes?). They don´t even care that I keep using the same Spanglish words again and again and that I use gestures for many basic words repeatedly even though I am at least a B1 student! We always cover a topic, practise a list of words in one or two exercises and then we jump to a completely different topic immediately. This is soooo frustrating :( What shall I do with (or to) my teacher?

Cariñosos saludos

Katka

Well, the topic for the next two weeks is obviously how to recycle vocabulary and language. You all know it is not enough to encounter the new word once or twice. It is not even enough to meet the word five times or seven times as we were taught at university :) I have read that students should be exposed to each word s-i-x-t-e-e-n times to activate the word. Wow. How can this be done? The syllabus is tight. Even if the book is good enough to present the words in the context, present topical vocabulary via vocab banks, provide one or two exercises for the more or less controlled practise, ask your students to test each other to help memorization, and encouraging to use the words in real-life production tasks, it is still not enough. The topics change from file to file, from lesson to lesson. We start in the kitchen, jump to the ZOO, talk about the family and heritage and end up talkng about the environment … and recycling.

Source: www.flickr.com

Help me! How can I explain to my former and current teachers what recycling vocabulary or language means? Why don´t you take some notes and then create a nice mind map using the text2mindmap machine. Or, would you like to make a simple list of vocabulary activities to illustrate the point? 

How can one describe the process of recycling vocabulary?
Is it similar to the vocabulary practise and revision and practise?

When do you recycle vocabulary? At the beginning of the lesson? At the very end? Every lesson? Before a test? Once in a blue moon?

Let us know using Padlet/Wallwisher. Read the comments and then add yours by a double clic. You can upload web links, pictures, videos, etc.

I´m sure you can list and use dozens of activities to recycle vocabulary. First, could you tick each activity from my list below that you have used in (one of) your courses since the beginning of the school year? Make sure to google activities which you do not know. 

Bingo

Pictionary

Memory Game/Pelmanism

Taboo/ Hot Seat

Call my bluff

Scattergories

Jeopardy

Charades

By the way, most of these games are based on popular card/board games and TV shows. Could you think of a good game you play with your kids or friends and bring it to your classroom? Let us know :)

Verunka received a board game yesterday from her friend. You just need a dice, a board with all the letters of the alphabet and counters. Players roll their dice and as they move to a certain letter of the alphabet, they have to say as many words beginning with the given letter as the die indicates. Too simple? Give it a try in Czech ...

Here are some vocabulary activities I like using or would like to use next week: 

Lucky eights

Announce a category (e.g. sports or phrases to express your opinion). Prepare your own list of eight words. Students work individually or in groups/pairs and make their own list of words that belong to the category. They get a point for each match.

‘Beep’ sentences
Read a sentence using the word you would like to recycle. Instead of saying the word, say ‘beep’ or ´banana´. Students guess the missing word. When students get the idea, pass them the word bag, so they can create their own sentences. Do not worry to recycle sentences from the book, etc.

Word of the day

Have a 'word of the day' for students/each student to use in class (or even a 'chunk of the day') as many times as possible. It works great for the functional language as well, e.g. phrases to express agreement/disagreement but even random words from your students´ vocab list can do the trick.

Draw and Roll: Split class into 2 teams. T says Draw a ______ and Ss should draw that vocabulary word. If the drawing is correct then the student rolls a dice for points.

Role-play conversations

Two students are given roles of a host and an interviewee on a talk show, for example. Put some vocabulary slips in front of them. They talk but the listening students are asked to call out „new word“ anytime they want a change. Then the person who is speaking has to pick up a slip of paper and use the word or phrase in their next sentence.

Use the same with prompts including speaking strategies, e.g. express hesitation, ask for repetition, disagree politely, be an active listener, etc.

Slap the board - A vocabulary revision activity

Put the vocabulary items on the board in any order. Form groups. Give a mother tongue translation or an English definition for one of the words on the board. The students have to recognise the word. They then run to the board and slap the correct word (with a fly swatter J) or circle the word or erase the word from the board using their sleeves…. The first person in each group to slap the right word gets a point.

What are some activities you like using? Could you share at least one with the rest of the group?

To sum up, I really like activities which involve students and their multiple intelligences. Make your students select and prepare the sentences, draw the pictures, sing the definitions, create their own picture dictionary using the google clipart pictures, etc.

I like flexible and easy-to-vary-and-adapt-and-recycle activities :) Surprise your students. Maybe you and your students are tired of drawing a Hangman. Then draw a crocodile eating a man or simply a smiley/frownie face. Or would a smiling crocodile eating the frowning Miloš Zeman or a poor teacher make your day?

Challenge your students by coming up with some surprising topics/less obvious categories/unusual instructions, e.g. apart from recycling Colours, Food, and Drinks, include a category such as „adjectives describing how an insect can move“.

Instead of drawing/miming/defining words, let students lip read the words you whisper which fit for example the category of sports.

Basically,

• do a little bit every lesson
• put students in charge
• keep it fun
• change the context from the original lesson and “exploit” your textbook

Your final task:  imagine the list of unrelated words your students have in their vocabulary notebooks. What activities based on this list could you do with the students in the class? What could be their task for homework?

Looking forward to your great activities and inspiring tips.

Katka