The Great Silence Breaker Silly Challenge: Can my Students Talk about a Simple Object for 2 Minutes?

General

Fun, quick and an opportunity to challenge your students.

As a teacher, and especially at the beginning of the course, I often find myself in situations where I’d love to hear my students talk for just two short minutes on a given topic. But, I ask a thought-provoking question and some students seem to be unable to come up with more than two sentences.  Now, I’m not asking for a Shakespearean soliloquy or a TED Talk-worthy speech, I am just asking to answer a juicy question with more than a simple couple of sentences.

And so, I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. It’s time to launch the “Great Silence Breaker Challenge.” This challenge is straightforward yet entertaining. My students have been issued the following decree: talk non-stop for about two minutes on a simple, everyday object. Sounds easy, right?

The beauty of this exercise is that it pushes my students to be creative, think on their feet, resourceful, and yes, a little bit absurd. The idea behind this silly speaking task is that after asking them to talk about a simple spoon, pencil box …etc for about 120 seconds, they will realize how easier it is to answer a question such as” Do you think cars should be banned in the city centre?” which is “slightly” more thought-provoking.

So, here’s the activity.

Procedure.
  •  Put the students into pairs (student A and student B).
  • Ask a representative of Student As to choose a box.
  • Display a timer and ask all Student As to talk about whatever the box contains for 2 minutes. If they manage to talk non-stop without awkward silences, they will get a point.
  • Repeat procedure with Student Bs.

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Exploring Cities: 3 Classroom Activities to Supercharge Speaking Skills

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I am not saying these three activities are great, but I am saying they are

  • visual
  • engaging
  • effective
  • dynamic
  • collaborative
  • thought-provoking
  • challenging
  • Interactive
  • … shall I continue?

So, they are the perfect answer to introduce and end a lesson about our cities and future cities.

1. INTRODUCING

Ask students to discuss the following question in pairs or small groups:

When you think about the concept of a futuristic city, what kind of city comes to mind?

USEFUL VOCABULARY

  • Sustainable development
  • Megacity
  • Vertical farming
  • Urban sprawl
  • Green architecture
  • High-speed rail
  • Smart city
  • Zero-emission autonomous vehicles
  • Renewable Energy
  • Sustainable Transportation
  • Eco-City
  • Drone Deliver

Display the pictures and allow students time to comment in pairs and then,  have a whole class discussion. These images are unique and, as I am sure you have guessed, created with AI.

HOUSING by cristina.cabal

2. DISCUSSING: GIVING A STUDENTS A CHOICE

This activity is designed to engage students in debates and discussions based on their chosen statements.

Before the class

  • In each corner of the classroom, hang a clothesline by using a rope and some adhesive hooks. You will need to assign a corner to each group of 4-5 students
  • Depending on the number of students you have, you will need to print as many sets of cards (one set for each corner) as groups in your class.
  • If you make groups of 5 students, you will need to come up with 5 controversial statements. You can read mine below. You will also need clothes pins to hang the cards on the clothesline. Assign a clothesline to each group.

During the class

  • Give the students a photocopy with some functional language to express opinion, agree and disagree with someone else’s opinion. Ask them to choose 3 or 4 expressions from each list and encourage them to use these expressions in this activity.
  • Divide the class into 4 groups and assign each group to one of the four corners of the classroom.
  • Tell the students to stand up, go to their assigned corner, and choose the statement (phrase) they like the most or believe they can argue for or against effectively from the cards hanging on their group’s clothesline.
  • Have the students sit down and give them 5 minutes to prepare their arguments.
  • Start the debate within each group. Student A should begin by showing their card, stating whether they are in favour of or against the statement, and presenting their reasons.
  • Encourage other group members to listen carefully, take notes, and contribute their opinions to the discussion.
  • After Student A has finished, it’s Student B’s turn to present their card and arguments.

These are the controversial statements I have used for this activity

AGREE OR DISAGREE by cristina.cabal

3. THE HOUSING CRISIS. ORAL MEDIATION: retelling in groups

Lead-in activity

Give each student a piece of paper and ask them to write down one idea for addressing the housing crisis. It could be an affordable housing initiative, a zoning policy, or a rent control measure. Collect the papers and randomly distribute them to different students. Put the students in groups of three and ask them to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the idea on their piece of paper with their group.

The activity

I have used AI to turn text into speech to enhance students’ pronunciation. You will find the QR Code with the audio on page 2  (below).

  • The handout below, Housing Crisis in Cities, is divided into three parts: causes, consequences and solutions
  • Divide the class in groups of 3 students and assign each student in the group a part ( causes. …). Ask them to individually read their part once, underlining any new vocabulary. Divide the whiteboard into three columns( causes, consequences and solutions)  and ask students to contribute with the vocabulary they have underlined. Explain meanings.

  • Once all vocabulary issues have been solved, give students about 5-10 minutes to read their part several times. If they want to improve pronunciation, instruct them to listen to their part  (audio provided by the QRCode). PDF here. 
  • Ask the students that have been assigned Causes of the Housing Crisis to retell the information they have read in as much detail as possible, and then ask the students in their group to contribute with their own ideas by asking :  Can you list more reasons behind/ consequences of /solutions for the housing crisis?
  • Repeat procedure for Consequences and Solutions, with students contributing with their own ideas.
  • Finally, engage students in a whole-class discussion.

Housing crisis by cristina.cabal

Follow-up: Give your students this quote: “Housing is a basic human right, and it is the responsibility of governments to ensure that everyone has access to safe, affordable, and stable housing.” Ask them to express their opinion about it.

More activities revolving around Cities

Fixing Common Mistakes: 3 Activities with End Up or Finish?

General

I don’t know about other languages, but these two verbs, Finish and End Up, can be easily confused in Spanish. Is it also true in your language?

Do you often see this mistake? I do.  We missed the bus and finished taking a taxi. I do. Even when teaching C1 levels. Well, this is about to change.

EXPLANATION

So what is the difference between these two verbs? How can we use them?

END UP
  •  if you end up somewhere, you eventually arrive there, even though you did not originally intend to go there.

           Many of his friends ended up in prison for different crimes

  •  if you end up doing something or end up in a particular state, you do it or get to that state even though you did not originally intend to.

         We missed the bus and ended up taking a taxi

                         If the crisis continues, we will end up with millions and millions of unemployed

In Spanish, it can easily translate as “terminar por”

FINISH
  • If you finish, or finish something you are doing, producing or dealing with, you reach the end of it, so there is no more for you to do, produce or deal with.

            I’ve just finished doing the ironing

When we finished eating, we left

  • When a course, film, sale, etc finishes, especially at a planned time, it ends

            The course starts in September and finishes in May

In Spanish, it can easily translate as “terminar de”

NOTE: The good news is that both verbs are followed by gerund so, you see, here you can not make a mistake.

PRACTICE

  1. A QUIZ . We start with a beautiful exercise I have created on Wordwall.  I am teaching C1  students about Cities and City Life so, all the sentences revolve around this topic.I have tried to use in the sentences some of the vocabulary taught in this lesson.

2. TRANSLATION.  I love, and I know for certain that they like, doing small translation exercises. They claim it helps them fix the structures better. So, here it goes, a small translation activity, using flip cards.  Much easier sentences than in the previous exercise.

How to go about it

  • Divide the class into pairs or groups of three students. Pair A, Pair B… etc
  • Display the first sentence to be translated and give them some time to complete the task. (you decide how much time they have, but the key is to give them neither too much time nor too little.
  • Ring a little bell to indicate time’s up and ask pairs to raise hands if they know how to translate the sentence. You will listen to the translated sentence of the pair who raised their hand first. If it is OK, they score 1 point. If incorrect, with a lot of drama, shout NOOOO!!! Pairs need to be ready to raise their hand quickly if they think they have managed to write the correct translation. If, say Pair D, raises their hand and the sentence is OK, they score 1 point; if incorrect repeat procedure shouting NOOOO!!! until a pair gets the correct translation. Flip the card and comment on any errors other pairs might have made.
  • Continue in this fashion with the rest of the sentences.

3. SPEAKING. Have a look at these quotes and pay attention to how these two verbs are being used. Which quote do you like best ? Why?

Create a GIF-like “Meet-your-Teachers” Interactive Photo with Genial.ly

General, ,

Hello, hello!

Do you know this classic end-of-the-course photo we used to take when studying primary education?  I am sure you do and keep some in old photo albums. Ahh I miss the time when we printed photos!

Now, picture this: the annual staff photo or students photo transformed from a static image into a dynamic mosaic of interactive moving photos welcoming the students to the new course. How, you ask?  Thanks to GIFs and the incredible free templates in Genial.ly. It is very easy to create and a lot of fun: you only need a little bit of tech and a dash of inspiration.

Below these lines is an example of what we are aiming for. If you hover over the image, you can read the names of the teachers, the language they teach and the position they hold in the school.

 

Steps to Follow

  • Tell the teachers (students) what you want to do and then, using your mobile phone, record a quick 2-3 second video asking the teacher to make a move. It is important that they don’t talk, just make a movement.  See my own video here

Great! Now that you have the video, we go to the free tool https://ezgif.com/ to create a GIF from the video. We might need to optimize the resulting GIF to reduce file size, but don’t worry, you can do it on ezgif.com, too. To optimize the GIF, look below the GIF (it says” optimize GIF”). I also use this other GIF optimizer when I need t further reduce the GIF; also free.

 

3. Awesome! Now you have all the GIFs for all the teachers (students) in your school. Time to go to  Genial.ly and sign up for free.

  • Click on Create and in the search box, write school photograph ( in Spanish “orla”). There are two free templates. This is the one I have chosen but you can customize it as much as you want.
  • Click on Use this Template and modify the texts.

  • Now we need to upload the GIFs. Watch this video, and you’ll see how easy it is to create it. Sometimes, it is easier to see it than to explain it.

Creating a by cristina.cabal

Can’t wait to see your own Dynamic School Photos!!!  Or are you considering, perhaps, an end-of-the-course photo with your students, too? Or maybe first-day presentations???

Thanks for reading! Love you!

Playing a Bingo Game in Teams with Language Cards

General

Here’s the thing – I do love playing bingo. But here’s the other thing – I’m kind of picky about the kind of bingo I play.

I like playing bingo…

  • where all the students are involved
  • where they have to use the target language
  • where there is some kind of prop involved
  • where there is heaps of fun+ lots of learning

And that’s why I have designed this “Get to Know You” bingo game in teams for my first class. I have designed the task cards for the first day of the school year, but it is easily adaptable for any level and any content. You will see a mixture of speaking, translation and grammar and vocabulary tasks and also a mix of difficult and easy tasks to keep things interesting. More elements for this bingo? Yes, it is played in teams and we need hotel bells. Yay!!!

BEFORE THE CLASS

  • Prepare bingo cards: Create unique bingo cards for each team member. Each card should have a 5×5 grid of squares, with each square containing a different task.
  • Task bag: Prepare a bag or container with folded pieces of paper, each containing all the tasks listed on the bingo cards.

IN THE CLASS

  • Form Teams: Divide the class into teams that should sit together. Each team should have an equal number of members ( 3/4 members works fine) . Give each team member a unique bingo card. Give each team a hotel bell.
  • Draw a card: Start the game by drawing a task card from the bag. The drawn task card should be read aloud to everyone.

Now, this is where I twist the bingo game.

Any team and any team member can attempt to complete the task that is drawn from the bag.  If they think they can do it, they will ring the bell.  At this point, it is important to notice that there are two kinds of tasks:

DIFFERENT KIND OF TASKS CARDS

1. If it is a speaking task, they can ring the bell as soon as someone in the team decides to attempt to complete the task. Speaking tasks require that the student speaks for one minute non-stop.

2. If it is a task that involves thinking, conferring or writing, teams will ring the bell as soon as they have completed the task and/or are ready to answer. .

NOTE: the teacher will choose the team that rings the bell first.

SUCCESS OR FAILURE AT COMPETING THE TASK

  • What happens if a team fails to complete a task? Then, the teacher says NO! and another team gets the chance to complete it but to do so, they will need to ring the bell as quickly as possible.
  • What happens if a team completes the task successfully? If this happens, all the members in this team can claim the corresponding square on their bingo card by marking it. It doesn’t matter where the square is on their bingo card or who in their team completed the task; if any member of the team completes the task drawn, all members of the team claim that square.

WINNING

The game continues until a team or individual gets five squares in a row marked horizontally, vertically, or diagonally on their bingo card. The first team, or individual in the team, to achieve this yells “Bingo!” and the team is declared the winner.

CREATING THE BINGO CARDS

I have used the free bingo generator,  My Free Bingo Cards. You don’t need to register, and it lets you generate 30 unique bingo cards. Here  are my bingo cards in case you want to use them.

EXAMPLE OF TASK CARDS

Speaking tasks: the team member attempting to do the task will have to talk for 1 minute non-stop about

  • Talk: What would you change about yourself if you could?
  • Talk: What makes you angry?
  • Talk: What do you find most difficult about learning English?
  • Talk: If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
  • Talk: What is your proudest accomplishment?
  • Talk: Why are you learning English?
  • Talk: Have you ever used ChatGPT?
  • Talk: Tell us about a time you passed an exam without studying
  • Talk: What is the worst gift you have received?
  • Talk about the computer that is on the teacher’s table
  • Talk: Have you ever had a secret admirer?
  • Talk: What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever eaten?
  • Talk: If you had a warning label, what would yours say?
  • Talk. Tell us about a time you met someone famous

TRANSLATION TASKS

  •  Translate. ¿Con cuántas almohadas duermes?
  • Translate: Si fueras un superheroe, ¿que poderes tendrías?
  • Translate: ¿Cuál es el mejor regalo que has recibido?
  • Translate: La policia está investigando el crimen.

GRAMMAR and VOCABULARY TASKS

  • An idiom that means the same as: “decide”
  • ¿Can you name 10 wild animals?
  • What preposition collocates with ” decide”?
  • Finish the sentence: it is raining cats and….
  • Can you say the number : 205,566,903?
  • What’s the past and past participle of the verb “hit”?
  • Can you name 6 irregular plurals?

I have not tested this activity in class as classes have not started yet. I normally wait until I have tried the activity in class but this time, I could not wait to share it with you, plus this is a very busy month for me with exams and teacher training sessions and I was afraid I might forget the idea. So, here it is. Better safe than sorry! I hope you like it!