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Competition - Best outfit / My favourite clothing

 

Level: Elementary / Pre-int. 

Type: GE 

Skill: Speaking (Listening) - (writing)

Systems: Clothing vocab (names of clothing items + casual, basic, formal, eccentric... / useful phrases?? 

Tools: Picture board or presentatin screen 

Material: Slides (some clothing item pics + their names + casual/formal... / notecards with vocab) / wiki? 

Location: Maybe a shop (less pics/slides would be needed - less preparation)

  

Disadvantage of competition: students would have to have money and pay for new clothing in order to participate if they do not already have sth interesting. this would put them at a disadvantage. There could be some inappropriate clothing, too)

To overcome the disadvantage you can ask students to go to 'freebies' and collect clothes for free  The idea could be to give them at least 3/4 different places for them to visit so they do not wear the same clothes or ask them to share LMs of Freebies they have been to (i.e. at the beginning of the course)- alicia

 

Alternatively: My favourite clothing items: Ss put on their clothing they want to show and tell why they like to wear it.

 

Stages:

1. Warmer/Lead in: Show some pics with outfit and ask for reactions (ugly, fashionable, boring, ..). Alternatively, go to a shop and walk around to do the same. 

2. Pre-teach clothing vocab + words like "casual, classic, basic, formal, eccentric, etc. ---> presentation screen + pics/words)

3. Ss. put on their favourite clothing and tell why they like it, when and where they wear it, etc. Or: Ss. could also be asked to walk around and choose their favourite clothing item or outfit in a shop (good for those who don't have fancy outfits. The other ss ask follow-up qus.

3. Set different situations to the ss where they will have to choose the appropriate type of clothes they need to wear. Ask them to describe what they are wearing and if possible why (P.Continuous practice) alicia. Good idea with setting different situations. Grammar: contrast Present Simple and Continuous: I usually wear casual clothes / I'm wearing a formal outfit because .... (according to situation).

Or: Students choose different situations and wear appropriate clothes, and the other students guess what that situations is (Language: I think, it could be, in my opinion this is too formal/informal, etc. (Nergiz)

4. ???

There should be some vocab practise and revision at some point.

 

This could be extended to a discussion: How important is clothing in Sl/RL? Why?  Is it the same? How much if at all do/did you spend on clothing in SL?  (pair work than whole class?) - remember the level Nergiz, it will depend on their level. A pre-intermediate can or can't have the level to 'discuss' openly. alicia

 

5. Round up (quick feedback "How did you like the lesson? Why/Why not?, quick feedback + recap (ask: what did we do today (research suggests that students usually only remember the beginning and end of a lesson. So this will remind them of what they learned. Also, gives them a sense of accomplishment and feeling they've really learned a lot in this lesson 

 

Homework (optional): Students can write about this or another outfit+ add pics. This could be a notecard handed to the teacher or even better written in the wiki on a new page with this topic, so there would be a collection of ss texts. (no teacher feedback or correction) / If there is a class blog, students could also write it there which would have the added advantage of allowing others to comment.

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Bring your favourite object

 

Level: Elementary / Pre-int. 

Type: GE

Skill: Speaking (Listening)

Systems: Question formation (review), vocab that comes up, ??

Tools: none

Material: T's and Students own objects / Collect some freebies to give away to those students who say they have nothing to show?

Location: a sandbox / launchroom or other place where you are allowed to rez objects 

  

Students rez their favourite objects and show it to the class. (At the end there could be a stage where ss vote for the best object.)

 

Stages:

1. Warmer/Lead in: Teacher (T) rezzes an objects and either waits for reactions or tells about it. Or even better: T invites students to ask questions and collects these on a notecard (Where did you get it from? Did you buy it or was it for free? What do you do with it? Why do you like it? How often do you use it?). Help ss with forming questions. Replies and makes sure she says more than just one sentence as a reply (should be natural). I guess students should get a notecard first where question structure should be revised.(alicia)

2. Students (ss) take turns and rez their object and the others ask questions. T encourages students to say more than just one sentence or yes/know. With a larger group, this can be done in small groups. T walks around, monitors and helps. Then encourage them to choose the most interesting one in their group and they tell about it to the whole class or T selects some students randomly and asks what they found most interesting and what they have found out about this object. 

3. Students will  be encourage to make questions using all question words: when, what, who, where, how, why, how often, how many, how much.

Question formation is fundamental and they need a lot of practice. (alicia)

4. Game: give them all question words to pairs. Give them 3 mins to build up different questions than before. The ones who can complete them faster wins.(alicia)

5. Students should make a '20 question game' to ask their pairs. They must mix 'yes/no questions'  with Open questions. (alicia)

Last stage: Review vocab that came up (ask students which they remember). Round up (quick feedback "How did you like the lesson? Why/Why not?, quick feedback + recap (ask: what did we do today (research suggests that students usually only remember the beginning and end of a lesson. So this will remind them of what they learned. Also, gives them a sense of accomplishment and feeling they've really learned a lot in this lesson 

 

Homework (optional): ??

 

 

 

Do what  I say! 

 

Level: Elementary / Pre-int. 

Type: GE

Skill: Speaking (Listening)

Systems: Imperative / Giving instructions / vocab that comes up (pre-teach some??) / adverbs of location

Tools: none

Material: Objects / blocks of different length and colour - used a bit like cuisenaire rods / Collect some freebies to give away to those students who say they have nothing to show?

Location: a sandbox / launchroom or other place where you are allowed to rez objects. (I don't know however, if students can move other students objects - > clarify/try out). Alternatively, go to Howard Gardner's MI SIM (will move to Edunation soon).

Learner type/MI: kineasthetic

 

One person gives instructions, the others follow.

 

Stages:

1. Warmer/Lead in: If working with the blocks, T shows how to move them around and elicits (the large green block is under the small yellow one, ....)

2. Teacher gives some instructions (Place the blue block next to the red one / walk over to the second chair from the left and sit on it...). and ss do it.. Instructions could also be T or a ss teaching an SL skill to the others (more advanced students).

Advantage: Immediate feedback without teacher needing to correct because everybody can see whether they followed correctly. Peer feedback: You placed it under not on top, that's the wrong chair, etc. Can even generate discussion and ss can ask to here the instruction again.

Can be done in groups if the class is large.

 

3. 

...

...

  

Last stage: Review vocab that came up (ask students which they remember). Round up (quick feedback "How did you like the lesson? Why/Why not?, quick feedback + recap (ask: what did we do today (research suggests that students usually only remember the beginning and end of a lesson. So this will remind them of what they learned. Also, gives them a sense of accomplishment and feeling they've really learned a lot in this lesson 

 

Homework (optional): ??

 

First lesson — Introducing oneself / Small talk / Expectation

 

1. Introduce myself and hand out the notecard with information about myself and classes.

 

 Explain briefly that this will not be a traditional class with teacher as the all-knowing at the cntre of the attetion. I will guide you but you will do the learning and you will participate actively. I know this is not what you are used from school in many of your countries. But effective learning takes place when you take responsibility for your learning and participate actively.

 

Also: This is new to me, so I need your feedback. (later ,provide either notecards with questions or a link to surveymonkey (remember to keep it simple) 

 

2. Lead-in: Elicit what people do and say when they meet for the first time. (Introduce themselves, say "Nice/Pleased to meet you". Elicit what you say when you meet someone you know already (Nice to see you again). Show slide one and introduce first task.

 

Students mingle and do the activity. (Make sure they really talk to as many people as possible)

 

Show second slide and elicit possible questions.

Show third slide and go through the ques. / highlight or point out the auxiliaries and verbs/structure. Point out that the replies are not complete. Elicit the complete sentence e.g. I'm a teacher, Yes, I like reading, ...

Model taks: One st asks the T. T gives complete answers. Ask the qus to a student. This st asks the qus to another student.

 

Students pair up and ask each other these qus.

 

Look at this slide again. One question is different (structurally). Which one?

So, there are two types of questions Yes/No and those with ques word to get more info.

 

Elicit more question words: Type into local chat.

 

Show slide four. Students check if there is a qu word that wasn't mentioned.

 

Elicit qus from the slide and write into local chat.

Can they come up with more qus they can ask someone they have just met?

What is (not) OK to ask in your culture/country)

 

In pairs or small groups ss ask each other these qus. (They should try and find people they don't know yet) Point out they can ask other qus as well.  ----> ss / groups move away from each other or mute the others

Monitor and help

 

Come back together: Call on some ss and ask who they talked to and what they found out, alternatively have them introduce someone to the class.

 

Give feedback on common mistakes/problems.

 

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Game to help ss get to know the place:

 

Give ss a note card with questions. 

They then have to walk around the building and find the answers:

e. g.

Find as many different rooms as you can and list them 

(Library, cafeteria, classrooms, reception, gallery, etc.)

 

Or: 

How many tables are there in the cafeteria?

What can you do in the library?

....

(What else can I ask? Need to wait until the building is finished)

 

Class feedback about their findings/type into local chat

 

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If time or at the beginning??? :

 

In pairs/groups talk about these ques:

What do you need English for in RL/SL?

What do you talk with people about in SL?

Were you always able to say what you wanted to say or have there been misunderstandings? What was the problem?

 

Why are you here? 

What would you like to  see/learn/do in the English class?

What do you expect of your teacher?

What kind of activities would you like to do during the class?

 

Come together as a class and call on each group pair to report about their conversation

 

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A collection of some very raw ideas

 

 

• Mini-speech / presentations by students. Give them a presentation board or better they can give me their pic. Then they talk about it.
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• More discussion-type lessons. Get them speaking, presenting, interacting and help them with the language
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• fomal/informal distinction (give examples and in pairs they sort it out + and talk about why they think so + give slide with correct version and explain why it is important or better ask is there a distintion in your language? How important is it in your culture?
•  
• Talk about a topic and than visit an SL sim related to it. 
•  
• Bring in a guest interviee / presenter (but have students first prepare for it)
•  
• Gallery: Visit a museum or gallery. Student walk around, choose pictures to talk about (What does this picture make you think of?...)
• Favourite place in SL (show us around / guided tour)
• Interview each other and report back to the class (good for first lesson)
• Webquest (feasible without own land? Maybe we could ask so who has an interesting place if we can bring our students and do quests there. They would have the advantage of more traffic on their sim).

 

 

Chatlog

-----> Chatlog + give feedback (in notecard form to students individually or all who belong to a group  + use these to teach some language next time (common problems) + chatlog can also be copied into the wiki for everyone to read in their own time.

There is a chatlog tool in my launchroom (sphere-shaped). Would be good to try it out and see how it works exactly.