Warmers, coolers and lesson-planning for teenagers

This was the title of a presentation given by Dave Spencer as part of the recent Macmillan Online Conference.  What follows is a summary of what he had to say.

Typical qualities of a warmer

• Short - 'against the clock'
• Interactive (pairs, small groups)
• Competitive
• Fun
• Gets students thinking in English
• Recycles/revises vocabulary
• Gets students speaking - noisy!
• Raises energy levels

Warmer - the 3-letter game

Put 3 letters on the board and tell students they have two minutes to think of as many words as they can which contain those letters (in any order).  Encourage students to think about word formation in order to increase the number of words they get.  For example,

R        T         N

train       return      north     present      presentation      presenter    presented

turn       ration       restrain  rating        nature               natural, etc.

 

This is a very simple warmer which can be done with every level.

 

Warmer - alphabet cards

 

Have a series of A4 size cards with the letters of the alphabet on them available for a range of activities such as these two:

 

1.  Class spelling - give each student a letter.  Dictate words to the class.  Students have to come to the front of the class and arrange themselves in the correct order to spell out the word.  This is physical and a good way to get students moving.

 

2.  Category scramble - put the cards on the floor in any order.  Shout out a category.  Students grab a card and must be ready to give a word in the category that starts with that letter. The last student to grab a letter, or a student who can't think of a word, loses a life.  This is an 'extreme warmer' with lots of movement and lots of noise!

 

Warmer - running dictation

 

The classic activity where students are in pairs.  One of them is inside the classroom, writing.  The other runs outside to read a text.  They have to remember as much of it as possible and run back to their partner who writes it down.  The first pair to reproduce the text correctly, wins.

 

Typical qualities of a cooler

• Individual work
• Involves concentration
• Gets students thinking in English
• Practises listening and/or writing
• Is quiet, or even silent
• Is slow - has a calming effect on students

Cooler - opposites dictation

 

Students have to write down the opposite of what you dictate.  It is up to them what they write, as long as the sentences are grammatically correct.  For example, you say:

 

'There was a young woman.'

 

The students write:

 

'There was an old woman.'

'There was a young man.'

'There is a young woman.'

 

This is a quiet activity which involves students concentrating.  When they've finished, they compare their texts - they'll be similar, but different.  You could then ask students to re-convert their text so that it matches the original.  You could use a text from the coursebook.

 

Cooler - DIY word search or crossword

 

Give students an empty word search or crossword grid and a topic and ask them to make their own puzzle.  They could just list the hidden words, give definitions, or draw picture clues.  Students can swap with a partner or they can be copied for the whole class.  Empty grids can be found online.  These are great activities as the students are doing all the work!

 

Some considerations in lesson-planning for teens

1. The topics need to be relevant, but not so relevant that they'll discuss them in their L1!  Students need to be interested and focussed.
2. There should be a variety of skills work.
3. There needs to be a variety of interaction.
4. You need to consider pace and timing.
5. Include warmers and coolers.
6. Balance - this is the key to everything!



 

What makes a lesson great?

This was the subject of an interesting #eltchat, which I summarised, back in January.  During that chat, reference was made to a webinar with the same title given by Anthony Gaughan.  I knew I had attended the said webinar and just yesterday I came across my notes, so I've decided to write them up.  What follows is a summary of Anthony's presentation.

A lesson should be built around five characteristics or elements which are primary to a GREAT lesson:

• Group dynamic
• Relevance to learners' lives and needs
• Emergent language and ideas focus
• Attentiveness
• Thoughtfulness

Group dynamic

 

Some questions to ask ourselves:

• Can dynamic be generated?
• How do we promote rapport?
• Are we blocking rapport?
• Can (and should) teachers manage the group dynamic?
• How well-prepared are teachers in various educational settings to work sensitively with the group dynamic?

Relevance

 

Students have to be convinced that they are working towards mastering the language.  Telling them that something is relevant is not enough.  The activity has to be seen to be relevant.

 

A needs analysis is usually only done at the beginning of a course.  Inevitably, needs change over time, so a course becomes decreasingly relevant.  You can overcome this by exploiting learner journals.  In this way, it is easier for the teacher to keep pace with student needs and students also become more conscious of their own needs.  You can read Adam Beale's blog for more on learner diaries.

 

The lesson content has to have a recognisable profile, but it has to adaptable. It has to change and it has to clearly relate to the students' needs and interests.

 

Emergent language and ideas focus

 

Language develops over time and relates to the point of need.  Instant and constructive feedback is required at the moment the language emerges. Teachers should be language 'snipers' - marksmen!  They should hear the emergent language and pick up on it immediately.

 

As a teacher, when you hear something new, capture it and do something with it.  Ask yourself:

• Have I heard this from this learner and this class before?
• Is this highly relevant to the conversation?
• Have others asked the speaker to clarify the meaning?
• Was there a pause for thought?  Was it hesitantly delivered?
• Was it used to get around some lack of lexis or grammar?

Attentiveness

 

Attention is limited to a relatively short period of time, so it is important to use the lesson dynamic.  Be aware of getting, and then holding onto, your learners' attention.  Try pausing for three seconds after every instruction or chunk of language.  It helps the students to focus their attention.  It really works!!  It gives them processing time.

 

Consider the flock of birds/buckshot analogy.  If you want to gather birds rather than scatter them, don't use a shotgun, use food.  How do you know what kind of 'food' to use for your learners?  What will get their attention?  Gather data. Take notes.  Eavesdrop on their conversations.  Snoop.  Listen for language students want clarification on.  Listen and note the topics they talk about.

 

Play loud music and force students to talk over it.  Not only does this get their attention, it helps with their confidence and their voice projection.

 

Thoughtfulness

 

How thoughtful are you towards yourself and towards your students in class? How thoughtful are your students towards each other in class?

 

Use silence - thinking pauses.  See Scott Thornbury's blogpost on this.

How compatible are busy classroom environments with true thoughtfulness?  Ask yourself:

• How often during a lesson am I thoughtful about:

1. how I am feeling?
2. how the learners are feeling?
3. how appropriate to the moment is what I've planned?

• How can I calm (but not subdue!) the environment to allow for more thoughtfulness?

Allow white space in your lesson plan.  In other words, leave some unplanned time.  Gain focus in your lesson through interest, not time pressure.  

Take a 15-second vacation:  go to the window and focus on a tree or a bird, for example, for a full 15 seconds.  You'll be energised and so will the class.
 

Here's to lots of great lessons!

What makes a lesson great? - an #eltchat summary

This is a summary of the first #eltchat of 2013 which took place at 12 noon on 9th January.  It felt good to be back after the Christmas break and exchanging ideas again with colleagues old and new from around the world.  The full title of the chat was:

What makes a lesson great?  Favourite lessons - the ones we do over and over again that always work.

This was my favourite kind of chat - a lively and informative conversation between enthusiastic teachers with few links to external sources.  It was expertly moderated by @Shaunwilden and we were pleased to be joined in the closing stages by @Marisa_C.

The hour kicked off with a tweet from @teflrinha which resonated with many of us - 'I find favourite lessons like jokes ... I can never remember more than a vague impression and have to reinvent the wheel ... should keep a note.'

So what does make a lesson great?

Some ideas:

• When I think of the lessons I like to run year after year, they are the ones that allow the students to surprise me - @kevchanwow
• Any lesson when students have that look that says 'I got it and can use it!' - @PaulIhcordoba
• Lessons that are engaging and involve all four skills - @worldteacher
• It flows effortlessly, completely engaging the students and leading to a satisfying outcome. - @teflrinha
• Lessons which are well-planned, engaging, energetic and fun - @TPMcDonald85
• Interesting tasks that bring out lots of language from the students - @eltknowledge
• Lessons in which students collaborate and learn from each other with some help from me - @BrunoELT
• A great lesson has room for us as teachers to really learn and stretch as well - @kevchanwow
• Lessons with games or any kind of competitive element
• Adaptability is a key issue for a successful lesson, both in terms of the lesson being adaptable for different groups and also being able to adapt a lesson as you go along according to circumstances on the day
• Lessons that take advantage of sudents' dynamics - @kevchanwow
• Lessons which are coherent, stand alone, and where the students come out feeling they have learnt something concrete - @jo_cummins
• Tasks pitched at the right level, just by the sense of challenge and chance of success, generate interest - @kevchanwow
• Lessons which include student-generated materials - @teflrinha
• Any lesson involving drama or role-play
• Being creative and having fun while problem solving sounds like a good combination - @AlexandraKouk
• Lessons where students are doing most of the work - @SueAnnan
• A great lesson is a combination of material/students/teacher/planets aligning... - @jo_cummins
• Lessons which give the students something to chew on, which have the shock factor, even - @ColeenMonroe
• The most successful lessons I have seen or designed always had a powerful context/story and great memorability - @Marisa_C
• I know it's a good lesson when students forget to remind me that it's break time! - @worldteacher
• .....or don't notice the bell! - @GemL1
• .....or ask, 'Has the lesson ended?' - @prese1
• .....or if I myself say, 'Is it over already?' and don't notice the time passing! - @eltknowledge

Do teachers and students agree on what makes a great lesson?

@yitzha_sarwono began this thread of the chat by making the comment that her favourite lessons to teach are sometimes very different to her students' favourite lessons, adding that, whilst she favours pronunciation classes, her young students prefer learning grammar!  There is clearly a danger of teachers teaching lessons they love, but which don't teach much of use, as talked about in this article by @hughdellar.  However, most participants agreed that if students enjoy a lesson, the teacher does, too and vice-versa.

Examples of favourite lessons

Most of the contributors' favourite lessons seemed to involve an element of collaboration and teamwork and many were project or task based.

1. 'How to murder your teacher' - students hotseat the teacher, then plan the perfect murder (via @eltknowledge).
2. 'Teacher Disappears, Students Suspected' - a news story based lesson which uses all four skills (via @worldteacher).  (I'll write this activity up as a separate blogpost now that I've been reminded of it!)
3. 'Create an alien' - great for reviewing/expanding parts of the body vocabulary (I can write this one up, too, if there's sufficient demand!).
4. 'Describe your house' - pairwork activity where student 1 describes where he lives and his partner has to draw it (via @chiasuan).
5. 'Show and tell' (via @yitzha_sarwono).
6. 'Redesign a house' - a group task which can be simplified by providing lexis or shifted to different conversation topics (via @kevchanwow).
7. Student presentations - allow students to present on topics they've chosen - a totally student-centred activity (via @eltknowledge).

Consensus

Great lessons are not necessarily the ones which have been meticulously planned - sometimes they just happen, but they are the ones which are relevant, engaging and varied with a clear learning outcome.  We also acknowledge that a lesson that works incredibly well with one group could just as easily fall flat on its face with another!  The most important thing, therefore, is to know our students and tailor our lessons for them.  We cannot control what our students learn, but, by keeping them engaged, we can provide the potential for learning.

Links

• An article by @thornburyscott on Flow - one of the keys to a great lesson via @SimonGreenall.
• A collection of gripping stories via @Marisa_C.

Quotation-Based Conversation Classes

As we come to the end of the academic year, I've been reflecting on what's worked well in the classroom this year and what hasn't been so successful.  One of my better ideas was a series of conversation classes, each of which was based on a famous quotation.

The classes were extra to the students' regular courses and were open to those at intermediate level and above.  They were held weekly and lasted for 90 minutes.  Each week, I posted the quotation, along with who said it, on the notice board in advance of the class, giving students the opportunity to collect their thoughts about the subject to be discussed.  Quite often, students came to class having also researched the speaker, which added an extra dimension to the discussion.

Some of the quotations which led to the liveliest, most interesting conversations this year were:

• ‘The limits of my language are the limits of my world.’                        Ludwig Wittgenstein, Austrian philosopher  

     

• ‘I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, & then going away & doing the exact opposite.’                  G.K. Chesterton

• ‘A true friend is someone who is there for you when he/she would prefer to be somewhere else.’                        Len Wein, American comic book writer

• ‘Happiness is when what you think, what you say, & what you do are all in harmony.’                                                                    Mahatma Gandhi

• ‘The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.’      St. Augustine

• ‘I want to be the white man’s brother, not his brother-in-law.’             Martin Luther King

• ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’        Albert Einstein

• ‘A room without books is like a body without a soul.’                          Cicero, Roman orator & philosopher

• ‘A life without love is like a year without summer.’     Swedish proverb

• ‘Dance like nobody's watching; love like you've never been hurt; sing like nobody's listening; live like it's heaven on earth.’               Mark Twain

Those of you who use 'New English File' may well recognise some of these quotes from the pages of the student workbooks - this is where the original idea for the classes came from!

The pictures in this post came from this site, which is a great resource and which provided the posters to advertise this series of classes.

Obviously, the topic potential for this kind of lesson is limitless, and it's certainly an idea I'll be returning to when I move to my new school in the autumn.