MOBILITY 4. Creative Methodology for the Language Classroom. Pilgrims -University of Kent, Canterbury, UK. August Falcó. Day 1

Getting to know each other - there is no better way to know your classmates than playing some games.

Name ball game

Form a circle. Throw the ball and say your name. » Throw the ball and say the name of the person you throw the ball to » Throw the ball and say two names: 1. the name of the person you throw the ball to 2. the next person the ball should go to.

ABC names

Ss group themselves according to the first letter of their first names. Then they collect words starting with the same letter. The words should mean things that they find important, or characteristic of themselves. Then they introduce their group with the names and characteristic words.

Follow on: someone silently says the ABC. Another says stop, and gets the letter from the person. Then the class puts down as many names from the class as they can remember starting in the same letter.

Variation: If ss cannot move in the class, get them to stand up letter by letter, and get their names with a word starting in the same letter from them.

Our map of the world

Ss mingle and organise themselves in space as if on an imaginary map of the world/their country/their city according to where they come from/live.

Map dictation

Ss draw a map of their country/city. T dictates words/expressions. Ls write the dictated items in the map if they have it/if it is true about their country/city. If not, they write the item outside the map. » Ss add items they think are important. » Ss mingle and compare.

Hands sharing

Ss get coloured paper. They trace their hands. They cut out their hands and write their names in the middle. They mingle: they talk to people to find things they share personally or professionally. When they find one, they write it into each other’s hand on one of he fingers and move on to others. They finish when they have something written on each hand. At the end the hands are mounted on a big sheet. The group chooses a title.

Empty chair

Sit in a circle. Have an extra chair. If anyone finds an extra chair on their left, they need to call somebody to sit there, giving a nice reason why they want that person on their left.

 Crossword names

Ls come to the board one by one and write their names like a crossword puzzle

Screwed-up names introductions

Use it if the Ls in the class know each other, but you are new. Give out slips of paper and ask everyone to put down their name, then screw it up and throw it in the middle. Everyone picks a name, NOT their own and introduces the person to the new T.

Coloured slips

Ls get three different colour slips and they need to finish three sentences in their own way. One sentence per slip. » Slips are passed around and Ls put a tick on the ones they agree with. » Then there are three group of the three colours. Each group tallies information on the slips and makes a poster, which they present to the class.

Do your name

Get learners to say their names accompanied by these movements: clap hands, snap fingers, tap feet, wave arms, shake hands and body, flutter fingers, do the magic move (open arms), do the echo (bring arms to chest). Then Ls invent their individual combination, these they say out loud in turns with the movements, sounds, and the class repeats exactly the same way.

  

Venn diagram

On A3 sheets, pairs draw two big circles with an overlapping part. They write their names under the circles. They go on asking questions to find as many things they have in common as possible. What is only true about them, they write into the part of the person’s circle that does not overlap with the other person’s circle. They write what is true about both of them into the overlapping part of the circles. It is possible for 3 Ls to work together, in which case they draw 3 overlapping circles. They report to the class (Both of us... Neither of us…, etc.)

We all poster

Ls ask questions to the group to find out what the whole group shares. Questions should be asked in a way that the answer can be given by raising hands. E.g. Do you prefer Turkish coffee to Italian coffee? Raise your hands for ‘Yes’. Ls write/draw things that are true about everyone on a poster. You can get pairs to use information from the Venn diagram activity, and ask the whole class about the things that they share.

The Fun Theory

http://www.thefuntheory.com/