I am teaching English in the 9th grade in a class of 21 quite homogenous pupils. As I arrived, their teacher shared with me that the pupils are quite quiet and not easily engaged in talking or interaction. This seemed to be true both in English and other subjects as well.
This blog will focus on how I tried to improve their speaking skills and boldness to speak up by helping them to engage in the classroom setting. I wanted to help them to increase their level of speaking and using the English language as well as helping them mature in taking part in interaction in school settings overall.
COMPETENCE AIMS as articulated after the 10th grade in the English subject curriculum;
- use various situations, work methods and strategies to learn English
- master vocabulary that covers a range of topics
- express himself/herself in writing and orally with some precision, fluency and coherence
ACTIVITIES:
1. THE GAME ‘ALIAS JUNIOR’
- Draw a card
- Explain without using the words on the card
- The class tries to guess the word
- Use an hourglass of two minutes
- Manage as many cards as possible before the time runs out
- I tried to use the competitive element in such a way that they focus less on themselves and feel free to play the game. The boys competed against the girls as a group and we kept the scores during the whole period. I picked out three-four pupils each time.
- As the cards present a big variety of words – both nouns and verbs alike – it may improve the ability to master a wider vocabulary.
- As the cards have both pictures and written words it is not needed to know the exact word in English to be able to explain it.
- If they don’t know what to say, they are free to skip to the next card in the pile
- At first I ended the session with this. Then they were more warmed up and easier to get going. Because it is a game, they didn’t view it the same way as another task I might had given them.
- Later I started the session with it. This made it easier for some to talk more in the session after the game, too.
- It was harder in the first class in the morning than in the sessions later in the day. They are quieter to start with – just as if they haven’t really woken up yet.
2. READING IN PAIRS
- Makes everyone talk.
- I walked around listening as they read and translated each other.
- Not as scary as they are not reading or talking in front of the class.
- Keeps everyone working – no one is just watching the others.
3. TALKING WITH THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU ABOUT A GIVEN TOPIC
- Makes everyone involved.
- I asked them loud afterwards what the other person said. Then they are not to come up with something new themselves but rather repeat what the other person said.
- At first some were uncertain about what to say, but by using this method on a regular basis, it developed and trained them in paying attention to what other pupils actually say.
4. ORAL PRESENTATION
- Have the pupils prepare and present an oral presentation for the class on a topic of their own choice. Makes them talk about something they find interesting that might engage them more.
- By giving them time to prepare in advance this helped them to think through which words they needed and what vocabulary to use.
- Encouraged them not to read from their notes, but to write down some main points that they should talk about.
- We agreed to focus on content, vocabulary, voice and body language, and when the presentations were finished, four pupils and I gave positive feedback.
- I could see how the presentations improved as the weeks went by because they learned from watching each other as well as the feedback we gave to each pupil afterwards.
I like your idea of using Alias as a method of teaching, and the fact that the cards had both pictures and text on it must have saved you from playing the role of a living dictionary. My class was also very silent so I faced the same challenges as you did. Therefore it was quite interesting to read your blogpost as it seems that you have landed on the same solutions as I did. The “talk to the person next to you” works quite well if the pupils actually talk English to each other. I used this method when I had to find something on my computer. Then the pupils talked to each other while I found what I had to find. I did this because I noticed the pupils would start to talk to each other in Norwegian while I was burying my face in the computer screen. I guess you might have noticed the same thing going on in your class? My experience is that it works quite well, and your additional rule, that you would choose someone at random to speak out loud about what the other pupil said, was an interesting twist and seems to work quite well.
I owe you thanks for sharing your experiences with “Alias”. Although I chose a slightly different approach, I think this is a game that pupils find motivating and fun. I have had a discussion with my practice teachers about the use of glossary tests as a method for acquisition of new vocabulary. I wanted to try out some oral methods, so inspired by you, I invented “Glose-Alias”. In contrary to how you do it, I do not make them explain the words in front of the class, instead I organize the pupils in pairs, then I put two pairs together, so that every pair is a “team” competing with another team. Then I distribute all the words, that they have practised at home, on small pieces of paper. The pupils then take turns in picking a piece of paper and explaining the word to the other “team-member”. Each team gets one point for every word they guess, but the point gets annulled if they speak Norwegian. Teenagers are usually very competitive so they correct the other teams very quickly if any Norwegian is spoken. Also, it is easier to speak in pairs rather than in front of the whole class.
I look forward to see you again, and to hear all about your experiences with teaching in Asia!