My favorite activity was fortunately/unfortunately. I liked it for several reasons. First, it allows for creative responses and student choice not just for the response, but for the direction that the next response must take. This is a really student centered activity. Secondly, the students also 'control' who speaks next, but in a random manner so everyone needs to pay attention in order to respond but does not know when their turn will be so they can't get total stage fright. Third, this game really breaks down affective filters as the responses can be totally silly BUT ACCEPTABLE, and I think that is a really important point. There is no right or wrong answer in this game, only fun with the end result of practicing listening and speaking (comprehension and production).
I really liked the "Who am I?" activity, especially as an ice-breaker, but also for so many other purposes. I think it is a fun structure that can be adapted to nearly any topic, like book characters, etc. It's a great way to share a little about yourself with students and allows them to share as little or as much as they feel comfortable sharing about themselves. I also really liked the "Vocabulary by Chance" activity as it seemed like a lot of fun and would be a good way to energize a class while focusing on various aspects of the language.
I liked a lot of those activities, but my favorite one was the elimination activity (where we all stood up and got eliminated according to the sentence that was chosen). I think that’s a fun, quick, and simple activity to do when you have extra time, or when the class seems too tired and needs to wake up a bit. Also, since it doesn’t really require the students to say or know a lot in advance, it’s a good first-day activity. It doesn’t really focus a lot on learning anything specific though, so the other one that I liked was the story telling activity. I remember she said that students got really creative during this one (background music, singing, etc..), so I think this might help the students get to know each other more, be creative, and also have the chance to be prepared before they present (but you can still have some spontaneous language production here- for example I forgot the exact way I was supposed to say something, but I had the idea, and so I made up my own sentence, etc).
I liked a lot of the activities. Kathy's already discussed one of my favorites. Another one I particularly liked was "Telling a Story with Objects". That was the one where we had a bag of funky things and had to make a group story using the items. I liked this one because it got us to work together, and thinking creatively. Both our group and the group we shared with had entertaining stories. Not only is that fun, but a person also gets a sense of accomplishment having created something like a story. I can see this activity being useful when studying narration. The only drawback I see is that the less outgoing, less creative students may not participate as much. But perhaps there could be a way around that by having each person provide a minimum (though not maximum) amount of storyline ideas, or something.
I loved “telling a story” activity. It was very communicative and energetic. Teachers could use very simple stuff to make the student practice a combination of several skills. Students are not clueless, but they are inspired by the things they have which would guide them. Students are sharing their idea with each other and evaluating the best plot by linking their thoughts together which is a very creative and useful because this helps the student improve their critical thinking and brain storming skills. Students are enjoying making up the scenario of the story and they are taking one step far by adding some imagination to the story. At the end, students are listening to each other’s story and giving feedbacks that most of the time would be encouraging. This activity integrated listening, speaking and writing along with vocabulary and grammar practice. Teacher, can also use pictures instead of tangible things which would cost them nothing but will greatly lighten their classrooms.
My favorite activity was the activity involving telling a story with objects. This is a very good activity for a variety of subjects because it uses all the language skills as well as creativity. This activity could be useful for a class where vocabulary is learned or reviewed. The objects in the bag could correlate with a certain vocabulary word. I just like this activity because everyone was having fun and by associating an object with a word rather than a word with a translated word, I think it's a more communicative approach. I think this is also a great activity where students can open up and get to know one another. This is the kind of activity where I think it should be done more than once because the first time the students might be confused or feel hindered but when they hear their fellow groups' stories will want to become more and more creative and that creativity is key to being productive with a language rather than mere regurgitation.
I liked "Fortunately, Unfortunately" a lot. Even as a native speaker or a teacher, it's fun! The good thing about using a ball and not just going in a circle is that it forces students to think on their feet. They can't spend the whole time carefully crafting what they're going to say. It has to be spontaneously. And even if they TRY to plan what they would say next, they don't know if the person before them is going to say fortunately or unfortunately! They have to be ready at all times. Likely they are thinking so much of the plot line and where it's going the they won't be spending too much time overanalyzing their speech.
I like the “telling a story with objects” activity, which successfully combines many abilities together. When you have some objects, related or nonrelated, you can think of many interesting stories, reasonable or not. Students can develop their imagination and creativity. Since it’s a team work, so students need to cooperate with other group members in order to get the ultimate result. And it requires students present their own part in front of the class, which needs students do the job independently. In the whole process, students use English to negotiate and to make up a story. Students can learn the new ideas from classmates and practice their own oral English in a fun and enjoyable way.
The game “Fortunately/Unfortunately” was a fun, cooperative game that motivates students to speak communicatively and creatively because they have to listen to the previous speaker to know the context and then build on the story themselves. Even though only one person is speaking at a time, all the students must pay attention and consider what they will say if the beanbag is tossed to them. This creates the unique advantage of a teacher being able to hear students’ language (as opposed to group work) but engaging all students. It also encourages students to communicate their knowledge and language in sentences that everyone in the group can understand. This game is easy to learn, as my group was able to catch on quickly and begin to become more creative with their sentences. I think this game would be a great exercise to help students understand the elements of plot and could be used in tandem with a literature lesson on narrative elements and flow.
My favorite activity is "Fortunately, Unfortunately" because this allows students to be creative and it helps them focus on the story being told so they have to pay attention. When I played this game with my conversation group we had fun and I also got to see different cultural aspects take place within the story! Another activity I like is "Impromptu Speaking" because this lets students speak and giving them topics lets not have to worry about thinking of something to say off hand. I would use this activity for my more advanced and talkative students and this activity can be turned into an impromptu debate as well.
My favorite activity was "puzzle mania". This was such a simple activity, but I feel like it was really successful. I can understand why she uses this as an ice-breaker or an introduction to a new topic. It's just such a fun, relaxed, and simple activity that anyone can do regardless of language skill level. When we played this in class, I didn't know a single person in my group and yet we were all leaned in close to one another, helping each other, talking to each other, and laughing with each other. The awakwardness of not knowing the people in your group immediately disappeared because we all had an agenda: finish the puzzle as quickly as possible. I feel like students could easily use their L2 casually and without thinking about it too hard during this activity. It's also not as intimidating if a student makes a mistake because everyone is looking down at the puzzle and distracted. No one is going to be staring in their face confused if they don't understand. I really enjoyed this activity and I feel like it could work in any classroom.
I think my favorite activity, like a few others, was the story telling one. It’s just seemed so natural to dump the objects on the desk and start formulating some fanciful tale. And it seemed to accomplish so much in such a small amount of time. It was such fun you wouldn’t realize that you were actually doing work. What I most liked about it is that you weren’t nervous telling the story. I can see how this activity would serve to curve the fears of public speaking. Doing this activity would make any student more comfortable and more likely to communicate openly in a classroom. It’s a nice activity.
Even though we didn't actually fully do this activity in class, I love the idea behind Pennies for Practice. It not only requires creative and meaningful production, but I think this kind of activity really can help foster community and connection in the classroom. I like the idea that the teacher would begin by demonstrating using a personal example and then divide the students into small groups or pairs to share stories with each other. I think if you are fairly familiar with your students and know that they would be comfortable with it, you could make this more specific, such as - choose a penny and tell a story about a holiday you celebrated that year, a happy event with your family, the job you held that year, etc.
I think that my favorite activity was creating the stories with the bag of random objects because its always interesting to see what people will come up with. It also allowed us to work together as a whole group and each person had the opportunity to come up with a part. I also see this being a good game to play in an ESL classroom because as they are constructing their stories they will probably run across some vocabulary that they realize they need to learn or need to review. Also, they can learn new names of things by some of the random things in their bag.
I liked the "Who am I" actiivity, it is incredibly adaptable and appropriate for all ages and it allows all students to be communicative. It is a great icebreaker, and would be an ideal activity for the early part of the semester and it integrates 3 of the 4 skills as well (writing, speaking, and listening).
I really liked the fortunately/unfortunately activity. It allowed students to be creative as much as they are comfortable with, it required them to listen for a very small negation marker, and this game is adaptable! You can use it for students to talk about different (specific) topics, tenses, or anything else. Great activity.
I liked the “fortunately/unfortunately” activity best. It had us doing multiple tasks at once that were very fun! First, we had to think about what fortunately and unfortunately was to begin with. Then, we had to relay that meaning in our portion of the story itself. Also, we had to listen inventively to our classmates and think of ways in which we can add to their portions of the story in case we were called upon. It was spontaneous, therefore inspiring automatic answers. Lastly, we can say anything as long as it somewhat tied into the story. We could be silly, laugh, and be creative. Many communicative goals were being met.
There were several activities I thought were great so it is difficult to pick just one, but if I were forced to do so I might pick the “Fortunately, Unfortunately” one. I like this one because it can be played at almost all levels. Further, it could be used in many contexts. I may even be able to implement it into my class. The only limitation would be that early beginners might not have the vocabulary or the ability to process English fast enough to be able to follow along. This would be a great free-form activity that would allow the students to express creativity but also practice English. It would be particularly useful for students learning the past tense.
My favorite activity was fortunately/unfortunately. I liked it for several reasons. First, it allows for creative responses and student choice not just for the response, but for the direction that the next response must take. This is a really student centered activity. Secondly, the students also 'control' who speaks next, but in a random manner so everyone needs to pay attention in order to respond but does not know when their turn will be so they can't get total stage fright. Third, this game really breaks down affective filters as the responses can be totally silly BUT ACCEPTABLE, and I think that is a really important point. There is no right or wrong answer in this game, only fun with the end result of practicing listening and speaking (comprehension and production).
ReplyDeleteI really liked the "Who am I?" activity, especially as an ice-breaker, but also for so many other purposes. I think it is a fun structure that can be adapted to nearly any topic, like book characters, etc. It's a great way to share a little about yourself with students and allows them to share as little or as much as they feel comfortable sharing about themselves. I also really liked the "Vocabulary by Chance" activity as it seemed like a lot of fun and would be a good way to energize a class while focusing on various aspects of the language.
ReplyDeleteI liked a lot of those activities, but my favorite one was the elimination activity (where we all stood up and got eliminated according to the sentence that was chosen). I think that’s a fun, quick, and simple activity to do when you have extra time, or when the class seems too tired and needs to wake up a bit. Also, since it doesn’t really require the students to say or know a lot in advance, it’s a good first-day activity. It doesn’t really focus a lot on learning anything specific though, so the other one that I liked was the story telling activity. I remember she said that students got really creative during this one (background music, singing, etc..), so I think this might help the students get to know each other more, be creative, and also have the chance to be prepared before they present (but you can still have some spontaneous language production here- for example I forgot the exact way I was supposed to say something, but I had the idea, and so I made up my own sentence, etc).
ReplyDeleteI liked a lot of the activities. Kathy's already discussed one of my favorites. Another one I particularly liked was "Telling a Story with Objects". That was the one where we had a bag of funky things and had to make a group story using the items. I liked this one because it got us to work together, and thinking creatively. Both our group and the group we shared with had entertaining stories. Not only is that fun, but a person also gets a sense of accomplishment having created something like a story. I can see this activity being useful when studying narration. The only drawback I see is that the less outgoing, less creative students may not participate as much. But perhaps there could be a way around that by having each person provide a minimum (though not maximum) amount of storyline ideas, or something.
ReplyDeleteI loved “telling a story” activity. It was very communicative and energetic. Teachers could use very simple stuff to make the student practice a combination of several skills. Students are not clueless, but they are inspired by the things they have which would guide them. Students are sharing their idea with each other and evaluating the best plot by linking their thoughts together which is a very creative and useful because this helps the student improve their critical thinking and brain storming skills. Students are enjoying making up the scenario of the story and they are taking one step far by adding some imagination to the story. At the end, students are listening to each other’s story and giving feedbacks that most of the time would be encouraging. This activity integrated listening, speaking and writing along with vocabulary and grammar practice. Teacher, can also use pictures instead of tangible things which would cost them nothing but will greatly lighten their classrooms.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite activity was the activity involving telling a story with objects. This is a very good activity for a variety of subjects because it uses all the language skills as well as creativity. This activity could be useful for a class where vocabulary is learned or reviewed. The objects in the bag could correlate with a certain vocabulary word. I just like this activity because everyone was having fun and by associating an object with a word rather than a word with a translated word, I think it's a more communicative approach. I think this is also a great activity where students can open up and get to know one another. This is the kind of activity where I think it should be done more than once because the first time the students might be confused or feel hindered but when they hear their fellow groups' stories will want to become more and more creative and that creativity is key to being productive with a language rather than mere regurgitation.
ReplyDeleteI liked "Fortunately, Unfortunately" a lot. Even as a native speaker or a teacher, it's fun! The good thing about using a ball and not just going in a circle is that it forces students to think on their feet. They can't spend the whole time carefully crafting what they're going to say. It has to be spontaneously. And even if they TRY to plan what they would say next, they don't know if the person before them is going to say fortunately or unfortunately! They have to be ready at all times. Likely they are thinking so much of the plot line and where it's going the they won't be spending too much time overanalyzing their speech.
ReplyDeleteI like the “telling a story with objects” activity, which successfully combines many abilities together. When you have some objects, related or nonrelated, you can think of many interesting stories, reasonable or not. Students can develop their imagination and creativity. Since it’s a team work, so students need to cooperate with other group members in order to get the ultimate result. And it requires students present their own part in front of the class, which needs students do the job independently. In the whole process, students use English to negotiate and to make up a story. Students can learn the new ideas from classmates and practice their own oral English in a fun and enjoyable way.
ReplyDeleteThe game “Fortunately/Unfortunately” was a fun, cooperative game that motivates students to speak communicatively and creatively because they have to listen to the previous speaker to know the context and then build on the story themselves. Even though only one person is speaking at a time, all the students must pay attention and consider what they will say if the beanbag is tossed to them. This creates the unique advantage of a teacher being able to hear students’ language (as opposed to group work) but engaging all students. It also encourages students to communicate their knowledge and language in sentences that everyone in the group can understand. This game is easy to learn, as my group was able to catch on quickly and begin to become more creative with their sentences. I think this game would be a great exercise to help students understand the elements of plot and could be used in tandem with a literature lesson on narrative elements and flow.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite activity is "Fortunately, Unfortunately" because this allows students to be creative and it helps them focus on the story being told so they have to pay attention. When I played this game with my conversation group we had fun and I also got to see different cultural aspects take place within the story! Another activity I like is "Impromptu Speaking" because this lets students speak and giving them topics lets not have to worry about thinking of something to say off hand. I would use this activity for my more advanced and talkative students and this activity can be turned into an impromptu debate as well.
ReplyDeleteStefani Goode
My favorite activity was "puzzle mania".
ReplyDeleteThis was such a simple activity, but I feel like it was really successful. I can understand why she uses this as an ice-breaker or an introduction to a new topic. It's just such a fun, relaxed, and simple activity that anyone can do regardless of language skill level. When we played this in class, I didn't know a single person in my group and yet we were all leaned in close to one another, helping each other, talking to each other, and laughing with each other. The awakwardness of not knowing the people in your group immediately disappeared because we all had an agenda: finish the puzzle as quickly as possible. I feel like students could easily use their L2 casually and without thinking about it too hard during this activity. It's also not as intimidating if a student makes a mistake because everyone is looking down at the puzzle and distracted. No one is going to be staring in their face confused if they don't understand. I really enjoyed this activity and I feel like it could work in any classroom.
I think my favorite activity, like a few others, was the story telling one. It’s just seemed so natural to dump the objects on the desk and start formulating some fanciful tale. And it seemed to accomplish so much in such a small amount of time. It was such fun you wouldn’t realize that you were actually doing work. What I most liked about it is that you weren’t nervous telling the story. I can see how this activity would serve to curve the fears of public speaking. Doing this activity would make any student more comfortable and more likely to communicate openly in a classroom. It’s a nice activity.
ReplyDeleteEven though we didn't actually fully do this activity in class, I love the idea behind Pennies for Practice. It not only requires creative and meaningful production, but I think this kind of activity really can help foster community and connection in the classroom. I like the idea that the teacher would begin by demonstrating using a personal example and then divide the students into small groups or pairs to share stories with each other. I think if you are fairly familiar with your students and know that they would be comfortable with it, you could make this more specific, such as - choose a penny and tell a story about a holiday you celebrated that year, a happy event with your family, the job you held that year, etc.
ReplyDeleteI think that my favorite activity was creating the stories with the bag of random objects because its always interesting to see what people will come up with. It also allowed us to work together as a whole group and each person had the opportunity to come up with a part. I also see this being a good game to play in an ESL classroom because as they are constructing their stories they will probably run across some vocabulary that they realize they need to learn or need to review. Also, they can learn new names of things by some of the random things in their bag.
ReplyDeleteJarrod Duarte
ReplyDeleteI liked the "Who am I" actiivity, it is incredibly adaptable and appropriate for all ages and it allows all students to be communicative. It is a great icebreaker, and would be an ideal activity for the early part of the semester and it integrates 3 of the 4 skills as well (writing, speaking, and listening).
Jarrod Duarte
I really liked the fortunately/unfortunately activity. It allowed students to be creative as much as they are comfortable with, it required them to listen for a very small negation marker, and this game is adaptable! You can use it for students to talk about different (specific) topics, tenses, or anything else. Great activity.
ReplyDeleteI liked the “fortunately/unfortunately” activity best. It had us doing multiple tasks at once that were very fun! First, we had to think about what fortunately and unfortunately was to begin with. Then, we had to relay that meaning in our portion of the story itself. Also, we had to listen inventively to our classmates and think of ways in which we can add to their portions of the story in case we were called upon. It was spontaneous, therefore inspiring automatic answers. Lastly, we can say anything as long as it somewhat tied into the story. We could be silly, laugh, and be creative. Many communicative goals were being met.
ReplyDeleteThere were several activities I thought were great so it is difficult to pick just one, but if I were forced to do so I might pick the “Fortunately, Unfortunately” one. I like this one because it can be played at almost all levels. Further, it could be used in many contexts. I may even be able to implement it into my class. The only limitation would be that early beginners might not have the vocabulary or the ability to process English fast enough to be able to follow along. This would be a great free-form activity that would allow the students to express creativity but also practice English. It would be particularly useful for students learning the past tense.
ReplyDelete