THIS is called "Press Conference" and it's great for small groups and classes of about six people or more. It stresses listening, speaking, and overall conversation. And it's fun!
Step One
Divide the students into two groups: the "company" and the "press". The "company" should be two to five people. If there are more than five people, some students will invariably dominate the discussion while other students remain silent. The "press" is the rest of the class.
Step Two
Either you or the "company" come up with a faulty product. For example:
(1) blonde hair dye that turns your hair blue;
(2) a car that flips over if it takes a turn at over 40 mph;
(3) a bike that loses its wheel after a week;
(4) an action figure that breaks into little pieces after you take it out of the package.
The "company" explain the product and its defect to the whole class. The goal of the game is for the "company" to keep as much of its profit and reputation in tact, while the "press" tries to get the "company" to admit fault and promise refunds and/or a recall of the product.
This is a fun game, and it could potentially go for an hour or two, depending on how into it the students get. In my experience, they love trying to trip each other up.
Step Three
If the discussion is lagging, you can always step in and ask the "company representatives" a few questions.
Step Four
Another helpful thing to do is writing down words or sentences they've said incorrectly, or words you have taught them that they keep forgetting or keep getting wrong. Go over this at the end of the "press conference".
THIS is a role-play activity in which your students practice asking for and giving personal details and directions.
Step One
Set the context for the role-play. You can do this by describing the situation, telling an anecdote, showing a picture or posing some discussion questions. Once the context is clear, the teacher asks students to brainstorm the type of information the language school will need from the new student and what the new student will need to know before she/he goes to the school. With lower levels, I extend this section by getting the students to prepare the questions they will need to ask to find this information. I get the students to work on question form and pronunciation, with focus on sentence stress and intonation.
Step Two
Put the students in pairs. Explain the role cards. Do a quick demonstration with one or two stronger students. Give out the cards. When doing this type of activity, it helps if you can photocopy the cards onto different color paper: for example, red for the receptionist and yellow for the students. This helps the teacher to quickly see who has which role, and to smoothly reorganize pairings.
Step Three
Stress to the students that this is a telephone conversation. The teacher can extend this section by getting the students to brainstorm the way we start and finish telephone calls in English. For example, in some languages people introduce themselves with "I am...", rather than "This is...". You could also introduce the idea of "register"-the degree of politeness that would be used in this conversation.
Step Four
Put the students in pairs. Ask them to sit back-to-back, so they can't read each other's role cards. If they have trouble hearing their partner, they should ask their partner to repeat, as they would if they were really talking on the telephone.
All role-plays work better with props. Even simple props like cardboard phones will help students "get into the role", and when they do get into it, they invariably perform better.
Step Five
Set a time limit. As the students do the role-play, walk around and listen. Note down some of the problems with language they have and use these for a "correction slot" afterwards. When most of the students have finished, call time. Your students then compare the information they have written down with that on their partner's role card to see how well they have done.
If there is time, ask your students to swap roles. They could also swap partners for more variety. The "new student" card can be used again. Give the receptionists the "receptionist role card, version 2" so that they have new information to give about the school.
THIS lesson is useful for students living in cities with an underground system that is frequented by English-speaking tourists.
Step One
Mime a series of actions. They must guess what you are doing. Explain that today's lesson is about using the metro.
Step Two
Draw a simple metro map on the board. You should include at least one station change. Ask students to tell you how to get to point A from point B. Allow different contributions.
Step Three
Tell students to listen to another set of instructions on how to get from A to B. Write the relevant words and phrases on the board and ask them to copy the words down in the order they hear them in your talk. You can read the instructions again if needed. Allow students to check the answers in pairs.
Step Four
Put students in pairs. Tell them to practice giving the same instructions to each other. They can use the words on the board as prompts. Erase the language from the board and tell the students to put their papers away. Put the students into new pairs. Tell each pair to role-play the same situation. Step Five
Distribute metro maps and useful language sheets. Tell them to incorporate these into their practice. Circulate and monitor, correcting only if students make mistakes with the language you've taught them. Ask different pairs to come up and present their role-play.
