As Pakem teachers,
we always try to develop engaging learning activities. However, we sometimes run out of ideas. We need ideas from other sources that can help us develop enjoyable and effective learning activities. In this section, we share with you some practical ideas, most of which have been implemented in our own classes. Consider this as a potpourri of teaching ideas, ranging from ideas for teaching language components, such as grammar, vocabulary, etc. to the development of the four language skills. However, when you are interested in any of the following ideas, don’t forget to modify it to suit the uniqueness of your own class.
Preparation for comunication
Students cannot be expected to do communication activities successfully without very careful preparation. For example, before we ask our students to practice using WH questions to ask for and give self identity, we should present that first and the students should be given sufficient controlled practice. This builds the foundations for the activity that is to follow.
Consider the following things for the preparation:
Teaching of vocabulary
Before involving students in information-gap activities, teach beforehand the vocabulary needed that students might not be familiar with. This is to ensure that the flow of the activity will not be interrupted.
Clear instruction
Instructions need to be very clear to make sure that all students know what to do. This is especially important when the communication activities chosen are a little bit complicated and students are not used to doing group / pair work. So, in our class, the instructions can be given in Indonesian.
Modelling
To provide a clear model, it is good to demonstrate a part of the activity, especially with the class that is unfamiliar with this type of activity. The teacher can play A and a good student B, and the first part of the task can be demonstrated. This can help students understand how to do an activity in their groups or pairs.
Mixed ability
Most teachers have large groups of students with different levels of ability. There is no easy solution to these problems. To create a cooperative atmosphere and more dynamic interactions among students, competent students can be paired up or grouped with less competent ones.
Use of Mother tongue
In our classes, it is natural for the students to break into their Indonesian, either during an activity, (e.g. when they face a difficulty) or especially when they have finished an activity before other students. It is helpful if the teacher always encourages the students keep on using English over a period of time and provides a silent extension activity, e.g. a follow-up writing task. This is to ensure that students who finish first have something else to do and do not disturb the others.
Teacher rule
The teacher needs to circulate to check that all students are actively involved and doing the activity well. The teacher can also collect data of recurring errors and discuss them after the activity. Direct correction given in the middle of an activity should be minimized as it that may interrupt the flow of the activity
Information Gap activities
Language point : any
Skill : any
Lexical areas : any
This activity involves a gap of information between two students or more. For instance, A knows something but B does not know that. Or, A knows X while B knows Y. To get the information that the other student has, the two students have to communicate to exchange information
Take a word
Language point : grammar / vocabulary
Skill : reading/speaking / writing
Lexical area : any
Write words on folded slips of paper and put them in a box. Words can be classified into two categories: simple words for novices and hard words for experts. Students take turns taking a word from the box and making a complete sentence using the word. Hard words used correctly are given doubled score. To make the activity more interesting, students can help write words of their own on colored paper, using different colors for different parts of speech and they can compete to make the longest sentence.
Scramble passages
Language point : cohesion / coherence devices
Skill : reading / listening
Lexical area : any
Scramble sentences or paragraphs of a text and ask students to arrange them in order. This activity can help students focus on features of coherence and cohesion. To add interest to this activity, write the sentences or paragraphs on slips of paper. Form groups consisting of five to seven students and distribute the slips. Ask them to stand up and position themselves in a line according to the right order of the sentences or paragraphs. Because the number of the members of each group is not more than seven, so the number of the sentences or paragraphs should not be more than seven.
Adaptation: Read aloud a text, distribute slips of paper containing parts of the text, then ask the students to arrange the slips to form a coherent text. Do this in pairs or groups to allow interaction among the students.
Who am I
Language point : yes no questions
Skill : speaking / writing
Lexical area : personal identities
Prepare cards and write names of famous people, like Habibi, George W Bush, Krisdayanti, on them. Stick a card to the back of each player. Players may not see the cards stuck on their back. To know who they are, they should move about asking their classmates using yes no questions, like: Am I alive?, Am I a politician?, Did I live in Indonesia? Players may not ask the same person more than one question at a time. They can only come back to the same person after they ask someone else. If they think they have discovered who they are they can go to a student assigned to check. Players who make correct guess win. If players make wrong guess they should ask more questions to their classmates.
Do you still remember
Language point : vocabulary practice
Skill : speaking / writing
Lexical areas : things around us
Put 10 familiar items on a tray, for examples: erasers, spoons, pencils, ballpoints, watches, coins, etc. Cover the tray with a handkerchief so that nothing can be seen. Each player or student needs a pencil and a piece of paper. Uncover the tray and let students see the objects for three minutes and try to memorize everything they see. No one may write anything during this period. When the three minutes is up, the tray is removed and the students now have three more minutes to write down the names of the objects they remember. Items to put on the tray can based on the topic being discussed, e.g. things around us.
I Went to Restaurant
Language point : pronunciation / grammar / vocabulary
Skill : listening / speaking
Lexical area : any
This activity can develop students’ listening skill as they should listen attentively to their classmates to repeat what their classmates have said. To be understood by classmates, sentences should be pronounced correctly. One student begins: Yesterday I went to a restaurant and ate ice cream. The next student repeats the sentence and add it with another word: Yesterday I went to a restaurant and ate ice cream, and pineapple. As the game continues, the list of items gets longer and longer. The items added can be as realistic or as nonsensical as the players wish to make it. The next player, for instance, can say: Yesterday I went to a restaurant and ate ice cream, pineapple and drank gasoline. The nonsensical response can create humor and make the activity more enjoyable. For group competition, award one point for each item correctly remembered and pronounced. Many adaptations of this format are possible- for example, "We went on a picnic and took..:" "Happiness is ..." "If I had a million dollars I would..." "To be happy in life one must...". To make this activity more fruitful, include certain language points just learned, e.g.: past tense, future tense, etc.
Hang man
Language point : vocabulary / spelling
Skill : speaking
Lexical area : any
Write a word and hide it so that students can’t see it. Then, make dashes as many as the number of the letters of the word. Write one letter of the word on one dash. The position of the letter should represent its real position in the word. Then, ask a student in one group to mention next letter which suits to the first (or second, third, etc) of the word. Next, ask anyone to fill the other dashes.
If a student or a member of a group mentions a letter which is not in the word, the student or the group should draw a pole first, for another mistake a bar, one more mistake a string, next mistake a head, etc. If the members make many mistakes, they will perhaps come to a picture of a hanged man. The group that comes to this picture first is the looser. This activity can also be done in pairs.
Odd man out
Language point : vocabulary / grammar
Skill : speaking
Lexical area : any
Students can focus on word usage with this activity. Interaction among them can also be encouraged when the activity is done in pairs or in groups. First, prepare groups of words. Each group of words contains an "odd man out," for example:
• horse, cow, mouse, eat, fish
• bicycle, bus, Cat, motorcycle, truck
• green, big, orange, brown, red
• run, sit, go, tired, think
• happy, ugly, expensive, beauty
• etc.
Students should find the word which does not belong to the same category as the other words in the same group. The chosen word can be crossed out or circled. For example, eat, cat, big, tired, beauty are the ‘odd man’. Students should also give reason for their choice. When students are already good at doing this activity, the teacher can ask them to prepare the words themselves. Published By Lalu Afifudin, English Teacher MTsN Model Selong
