I like this icebreaker because the students enjoy it. On the first day of class, I have students pair up and interview one another for twenty minutes. They really enjoy getting their cell phones out to show the class their photos. The students will pair off and then they have to introduce their partner to the class. I will have a one minute timer on so we stay on pace. After the introductions, I have […]
Author: klengyel
ESL Instructor
The Cultural Iceberg
This always seems to make it into my intermediate/advanced classes at some point! It is helpful for students to have a little understanding of cross-cultural communication since they are studying another language/culture. I will add this activity into a unit that covers food, festivals or fashion. It has been most successful with my advanced classes. The idea is that what is visible in a culture (food, fashion, festivals, games, and music) has deeper roots to […]
Speaking Exam
Trying to give an authentic exam to test speaking skills can be difficult. I have enjoyed this exam and have used it as an additional section to a written exam. The only con is that the other students need to be busy doing something else while I am testing some of them (or have a few students stay after class alternating days). It is quick and I usually will record the students response so I […]
Role Play and Word Emphasis
I picked this up from one of my colleagues at UCD (sorry, I don’t remember who) and have often used these “scenarios” with different activities. In this activity, I have had advanced students change the stress in the sentence to change the meaning of the dialogue – asking them to perform the skit twice. In my lower levels, I may simply have students write out a skit and then the class tries to guess the […]
Grammar Fun with Poetry/Songs
When we are in a “dull” grammar lesson, I try to add some excitement though the arts, poetry, or music. I usually start the lesson off very slowly, then introduce a song or poem. I find that this prompts the students to be more engaged (as they know the alternative is a grammar worksheet). This is a format for a poem that I have used in my intermediate/advanced classes. I have students write their own […]