IT WORKS

IN PRACTICE
More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all worked
for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and then send us your own
contribution. The contributors to this issue will each receive a digital subscription
to Modern English Teacher.

DIFFERENTIATED WRITING The students in the intermediate group were asked to use
the information in the display if they wished, together with any
Mayuri Sooriyampola, Kandy, Sri Lanka other information they had, and to write an article for the school
The students in my classes are at different levels when it magazine about their favourite writer.
comes to writing. I find it useful to divide them into three The students in the pre-intermediate group were given a
groups – intermediate, pre-intermediate and elementary – series of questions, for which they had to provide answers,
and to prepare a different activity to suit each level. written in complete sentences. For example:
One of the tasks I set was to write a paragraph about 1 Who is your favourite writer?
their favourite author. The previous day, I asked the
2 Where was this person born? In which year?
students briefly about their favourite authors and the whole
class agreed on five authors that they would like to write 3 Did this person go to school? If so, where?
about. For homework, I gave them the task of finding out 4 Was he/she married? Did he/she have any children?
information about one of these writers to bring to class. etc.
I explained that they could find the information in their
Later, I helped them to organise these sentences into a logical
mother tongue if they wished. I made it clear that they
order to form a paragraph about their chosen writer, providing
needed to find certain pieces of information: their chosen
them with suitable linking words.
author’s name, birthday, birthplace, how the author spent
their childhood, their education, their most popular work, I gave the elementary group a model paragraph about an
their working life, their family and, if they were no longer author. I then asked them to substitute the information in the
alive, their death. model with information about their favourite author and then
write out a new paragraph.
The next day, before the lesson, I collected their
homework, translated it into English, if necessary, and The aim of this lesson was to get the students to write a
prepared all the information to be displayed on the board. paragraph of their own. By using different activities for the different
ability levels, I ensured that all the students in the class were able
We started the writing lesson with a brief whole-class
to write a paragraph about their favourite author. This technique
discussion of the information they had discovered. I then
also enabled the students with more writing ability to express
gave them an opportunity to look at the display on the board,
themselves freely, whilst those who found writing challenging were
seated them in their ability groups, and assigned a different
able to gain more confidence by engaging with a writing task that
task to each group.
matched their language level. n

30 Issue 123 • July 2019 www.etprofessional.com

 IT WORKS IN PRACTICE

SIX OF THE BEST

Bojana Urbanc, Loke pri Mozirju, Slovenia
Though it is not my Slovenian students’ native language, they
feel really close to English, being surrounded by it daily via
the internet, movies, songs, TV shows, etc. In fact, many of
them are convinced that there is nothing more to be done to
improve their knowledge of the language. As a result, it can
be quite a challenge to get their attention in English classes.
However, teaching new skills such as communication,
teamwork, flexibility and cooperation alongside the language
can make English lessons more versatile, and result in the
students being more attentive and motivated. Here are six
activities I have used in my classes, which have proved
popular and successful with my students

1 Memories
At the beginning of a new school year, the students are asked deserted island. Their only hope is a message in a bottle, in
to bring one of their mementos (or a photo) to class. This which they describe for any would-be rescuers their location,
memento or photo should be related in some way to a story their everyday routine and their emotions, hopes and plans.
that they are prepared to share with the rest of the class. The Students love making up stories: some of them will want to
students sit in a circle, so that everyone can see each other. It stay on the island, the rest will want to get away as soon as
is advisable for the teacher to start by showing a memento or they can. The students vote on the best message.
a photo of their own, explaining its background and meaning.
5 Fake news
The students can ask questions, but no more than three. A
volunteer then talks about their own memento or photo, The students are asked to write down three facts about
before choosing the next person who will do so. themselves, two of which are true and one of which is a lie.
Then they are asked to pretend to be news reporters, walking
2 Songs around the class and interviewing as many people as possible.
Students love music and feel highly motivated when it is used They should talk about their facts, trying not to reveal which
in class. One of my all-time favourite songs is The River by is the fake information. They are allowed to talk about other
Bruce Springsteen. I begin by asking the students to write on people whom they have already interviewed, but they aren’t
a sticky note a word or a sentence that comes to their minds allowed to lie about anyone but themselves. They have
when they think of the word river. When everybody has about 20 minutes to obtain as much information as possible.
finished, I display their notes on the board, reading them The whole class then discusses the information and decides
aloud and categorising them as either positive or negative which information was false.
thoughts. Then, I introduce the Springsteen song, sometimes
6 Alibi
with a gap-fill of the lyrics. The students are asked to discuss
the message of the song and, later on, compare it to the This is a good game for teaching past tenses. Using a picture of
ideas they wrote at the beginning. There are many possible a crime (this could be from a newspaper), I tell the class about a
follow-up activities, including discussing the future of the robbery (or any other crime) that was committed by a group of
characters in the song, getting the students to write a song or criminals. I try to make the story as interesting as possible. I then
story of their own, discussing the differences between living choose four or five students to be the suspects. They have to go
in the city and living in the countryside, etc. outside the classroom to prepare for a police interrogation, while
the rest of the class form groups (one for each suspect) to be
3 Advertising detectives who will prepare questions for the interrogation. The
I give the students five minutes to draw a picture, expressing suspects and the detectives have a basic outline of the crime
themselves in any way they wish. After the five minutes are up, (they know the time and the location). The suspects prepare a
I ask them to ‘sell’ their picture by making a commercial for it. perfect alibi, making sure they all understand and agree on their
They have to think of different ways to present their work of art story, while the detectives work on their questions.
in a way that will be attractive for possible buyers. I ask them When the suspects return to the classroom, each one
to use the passive voice in their commercials. Each student sits with a group of detectives and the interrogation begins.
presents their commercial to the class in turn, and when After five minutes, the suspects switch groups, until every
everybody has finished, they vote on the best three. group has had a chance to talk to them all. The suspects try
to maintain their alibi, while the detectives attempt to pick
4 Last man standing holes in it by asking questions to which they don’t have an
The students work in groups, and I explain that they have agreed answer. At the end, the detectives decide if the
survived a shipwreck (or a plane crash) and are now on a suspects are guilty or innocent. n

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