Tag Archives: mediation

Exploring Cities: 3 Classroom Activities to Supercharge Speaking Skills

General, , , , ,

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

Teaching about Animals with the Help of ChatGPT

General, , , , ,

There has been a lot of talk recently about the benefits and drawbacks of using ChatGPT in the classroom. To be honest, from the teachers’ perspective and in my opinion, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. In fact, I can only see advantages. It is true that it is not going to help you engage your students; after all, it is only text, but what is undeniable is the fact that it is a great time saver for teachers.  For me, ChatGPT is like Aladdin’s Genie of the Lamp, but granting unlimited wishes. You just wish for something, ask it nicely, and there it is. Ready to be used. You may not always be satisfied with what he initially offers you, but no worries, just ask again and be more specific about what you want.

In this lesson about animals, and in all the activities below, I have used ChatGPT.  As I said, a real time-saver. You just need to add your teacher’s magic!

  • Topic: Animals
  • Level B2 upwards
  • Skills: vocabulary, speaking and mediation.
Activity 1: Introducing Animals. Playing with ChatGPT.

Fun activity. I asked students to pair up and asked them to come up with a list of 10  farm

animals. To make things exciting, I set a timer for one minute only! Once the minute was up, I had them swap their lists with another pair.

And then, I brought in ChatGPT to join the fun and asked it to generate a similar list of farm animals. The students got a point for every animal they had that was also on ChatGPT’s list!

We wrote any new vocabulary on the board and repeated the same activity, but this time with wild animals.

Prompts in ChatGPT:

  • write a list of 10 farm animals  
  • write a list of 10 wild animals 
Activity 2. Guessing the animal.

I decided to play a fun guessing game with the help of ChatGPT. I picked an animal and then asked ChatGPT to give me three clues about the animal, starting with the most difficult clue and ending with the easiest clue. I asked ChatGPT not to use the name of the animal in the clues.

Prompt: Can you provide me with three clues that describe a rhinoceros, in descending order of difficulty, for someone to guess the animal without mentioning the word ‘rhinoceros’?”

I asked students to play in groups of 4, name a spokesperson, and gave each group a hotel bell.I then explained that I was going to read a series of clues for an animal, starting with the most difficult one (worth 3 points). After I read each clue, the groups had a brief moment to confer amongst themselves. If they thought they knew the answer, their spokesperson could press the bell. During the activity, I made sure to emphasize that only the first team to press the bell was allowed to give an answer for each clue. This added an element of competitiveness and encouraged the students to be quick on their feet.  If they guessed correctly, they scored 3 points for their team. However, if their guess was incorrect, they would not be allowed to press their bell for the next clue (worth 2 points), even if they knew the answer. The last clue, which was the easiest one, was worth only 1 point. It was a really fun way to challenge the students’ knowledge and teamwork skills!

Note: you might not agree with the level of difficulty ChatGPT gives for each clue. Feel free to change the order. For example: For the word rhinoceros, this is the order provided by the chatbot. I read it in a different order.

  1. This animal has a thick, tough skin that helps protect it from predators. (2 points)
  2. It is known for its large, pointy horn on its nose. ( 1 point)
  3. This animal is a herbivore and can be found in both Africa and Asia. (3 points)
Activity 3. Speaking : ChatGPT questions in a Speed chatting Activity

I asked ChatGPT to provide me with 10 thought-provoking questions about animals. I then asked my students to discuss these questions with a different partner each time I posed a new one (speedchatting style)

Prompt: provide me with 10 thought-provoking questions about animals.

These are the questions ChatGPT provided. I used only 5 of them.

  1. Do animals have emotions like humans do? How can we tell?
  2. Is it ethical to keep animals in captivity for human entertainment? Why or why not?
  3. How do animals communicate with each other? Can humans learn from their communication methods?
  4. What are the consequences of humans encroaching on animal habitats?
  5. Should we use animals for scientific research? Are there ethical boundaries to be considered?
  6. How has human intervention affected the evolution of certain animal species?
  7. Is it possible for animals to exhibit intelligence or problem-solving skills on par with humans? If so, which animals are capable of this?
  8. How have animals been used in art, literature, and mythology throughout history? What significance do they hold?
  9. Should humans be held accountable for the extinction of certain animal species?
  10. How can we improve animal welfare in farming and agriculture?

Activity 4. Interlinguistics Mediation Task.

Yes. Yay!  It can also help you here. In my region, in mediation tasks,  the input is in Spanish and students use English to do the activity, in most cases either summarizing or explaining the main points in the text.  Given that ChatGPT works in Spanish too, why not give it a go?

Yes. Yay!  It can also help you here! So, in my neck of the woods, when students do mediation tasks, they typically get input in Spanish but have to complete the activity in English. Usually, this involves either summarizing or explaining the main points in the text. Given that ChatGPT works in Spanish too, why not give it a go?

First, I asked ChatGPT to generate the text in Spanish, printed it and ten, gave the task to my students. Then, and again using ChatGPT, I modelled the activity. These are the prompts I have used.

Prompt:Write a text in Spanish of about 200 words about why animals should and should not be used in circuses. Use four paragraphs. In the first paragraph, write an introduction, in the second paragraph write reasons for, in the third paragraph reasons against and in the 4 th paragraph write a conclusion.

Prompt: Summarize the following text in English in about 100 words in an organized way. (copy and paste the  text generated from the previous task)

All this would have normally taken me a long time to write, and this is where ChatGPT can really help you save time. And time is gold, isn’t it? But remember, ChatGPT does not teach, it is your own magic that engages students.

Giving Students a Fun Challenging Written Assignment

General, , , , ,

So there’s mediation written assignments, then there’s creative mediation written assignments and then, there’s ANIMATED mediation written assignments.

Naturally I am a huge supporter of anything that involves using digital tools, and this activity is packed with digital tools; not only on my end, to create and present the assignment to my students but also on their end, to animate and share their creative animated task.

Here’s what we’re working with:

  • I have used: Google slides, Genial.ly, the Google chrome extension Bitmoji
  • Students will have to use: Render Forest and then share their animate videos on a Padlet.

The activity is explained in the Genial.ly below.

Note: click on the arrows, on the bottom right corner of the Genial.ly, for a better experience. 🙂

 

Lesson Plan: Save Mother Earth

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , , , , , , , ,

Hey! How’s the new year treating you?

Question for you. Do you have any New Year’s Resolutions? Or let me rephrase it, have you announced to friends and family that you are finally going to hit the gym, eat fewer carbs and give up smoking? Have you? Sorry to be the party pooper here. Statistics say that only 8% of the people who make New Year’s resolutions stick to them. I am definitely part of the 92%. What about you?

However, I have made a New Year’s resolution. It’s the same I made last year. I am going to try to reuse single-use disposable plastic bags when I do my daily shopping. Last year,  I even went as far as putting a bunch of these bags in the boot of my car. There they are. Exactly in the same place. This year I am going to try again. I am really going to try. It’s not that I don’t want to. I really want to do my part. It’s just that I forget. So, I am considering moving the bags to the front seat. It might work. What do you think?

That’s what I’m eco-guilty of. What about you? What is your darkest eco-sin?

The lesson today is aimed at students with a language level of B2  (upper-intermediate) and focuses on revising, learning and using vocabulary related to the environment and environmental issues through a variety of engaging activities which will help them learn vocabulary and  improve listening, speaking and writing.

Introducing the Topic: Playing Hangman. Vocabulary and Speaking

Aim: Introduce some common vocabulary and to work on pronunciation.

On the board, write the word “Environment” and drill pronunciation.

Divide the class into two or three groups, depending on the number of students in your class.

  • Team A starts saying one letter. Whether they guess right or wrong, the turn goes now to Team B who will say another letter.
  • To try to guess the hidden word, a member of the team will need to stand up and say. “We know!”. If they guess right, they score 1 point. If they don’t, the other team can say up to two letters before anybody tries to guess again.
  • Note: they can only attempt to guess the word once half the letters have been guessed. For this, before each game, you will have to count the number of gaps. For example, if the word contains 8 letters, they can only guess when 4 letters have been filled.

There are four words and expressions to be learnt or revised with this exercise. After they have guessed the words, ask them a question where the target word is used in context. You might need to introduce some new vocabulary at this stage.

  1. Environment: What do you do to help the environment?
  2. Global warming: How do you feel when you hear about global warming?
  3. Recycle: Do you recycle? What kind of things do you recycle?
  4. Renewable energies: Do you know what renewable energies are? Do you use any of them? Why? Why not?
Leaning Vocabulary
  • Drill pronunciation as you teach the words and then flip the cards to see how they are used in context. Do this exercise twice.
  • Reinforcement: there are 24 terms here. Ask students in pairs to write in two minutes as many as they can remember.

<

Listening. School Strike for Climate Change

In this inspiring thought-provoking talk, 15-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg addresses the world leaders demanding they act against climate change.

Ask students to take down notes from Greta’s talk and then in pairs talk about the most important ideas in her speech.

Encourage the use of vocabulary.

Three Speaking  Activities
  1. Gallery Walk. Thought-provoking Posters with a Humorous Twist. Giving a Monologue.

Posters here

  • Put the posters containing environmental issues up on the walls of the class.
  • Ask students to stand up, tour the gallery and choose a poster they would like to talk about for about 4 minutes.
  • Ask students to stand next to the poster they would like to talk about.
  • Arrange students in groups of three, being careful to mix students doing different posters.
  • Ask students to sit down and give them 3 minutes to prepare their speeches. Encourage the use of specific vocabulary.
  • Students, in their groups, gallery walk stopping next to the posters they have chosen and delivering their speeches.

 

2. Speaking: Pictures with prompts. Monologues.

Pair students up. Give each of them a speaking task. Allow them 2 minutes to prepare their monologue and ask them to speak for about four minutes.

Student A

Student B

Oral and Written Mediation

Oral Mediation

PDF 1  PDF 2

Context: A friend of yours from New Zealand, who until two weeks ago lived for 20 years in a monastery in Bhutan, has decided to pay you a visit. He doesn’t speak the language and besides, knows nothing of the real world we live in.

Student A. He shows you this infographic but needs help to understand it.  Choose two or three ideas and explain what they mean.

Student B. He sees this cartoon in a newspaper and doesn’t understand it. Explain it to him.

Written Mediation

See the Task  here

Hope you have enjoyed the lesson!

Lesson Plan: Online Shopping and Traditional Shopping

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , , , , , , , , ,

So, who doesn’t like shopping???

I know, I know, I can see some of you raising an eyebrow and thinking… “well, I must be weird then, if I don’t like shopping”. Of course, you are not, it’s just that I love it so much that now that I don’t have as much spare time as I used to have, I miss it like crazy.

But I know, not everyone is a shopper, not everyone is a consumer. However, we all need to buy, whether it’s clothes, food or any other stuff. So, this lesson might come in handy whenever you decide to set your foot in a shop.

Hold on! Shop? Did I just say, “set your foot in a shop”? Like in a physical shop? It seems to me that right now, the online shopping experience has become so incredibly diverse and sophisticated that no matter what you need, it is simply a click away from you. You don’t even need to physically go to a shop. You can get yourself the latest craze from anywhere in the world without actually moving from your sofa. Kind of awesome!  Yeahhh, awesome but boring!!!

Anyway, in this lesson aimed at B2 students, we will be focusing on the topic of shopping and we ’ll be comparing online shopping to traditional shopping.

 

ONE: Lead-in Activity

Types of shops

Although students have a B2 level, I find they always welcome an opportunity to review vocabulary and maybe learn the names of some less common shops.

  • Play the video once without stopping and at the end of it, ask students in pairs to write down as many different kinds of shops as they can remember from the video. Write the words on the board for correct spelling and drill pronunciation.
  •  Divide the class into As and Bs. Ask As to face the board and Bs to face away from it.   Play the video, display the first picture and ask As to quickly describe the kind of shop they see on the board. As describes half the pictures and then they change roles with Bs doing the description and As guessing the shop.

Note: The slides contain music. Turn down the volume if you do not want it.

You’ll find the list of all the shops featured in this video at the end of the post.

 

TWO. Brainstorm and introduce new vocabulary

Give students two minutes to write down as many words as they know related to shopping. When the two minutes are over, ask them to stop.  After a quick round to see who has written the highest number of words ask students to tell you their words, writing on the board only the ones that are a bit more challenging.

For example, words such as “deal” or “goods” will be written on the board while “shop” or “money” will not.

More useful vocabulary:

  • A good deal: if something is a good deal, you pay a low price. You can say that a store has some great deals, for example
  • A bargain: the same as above
  • 20% off the price is now 20% less than the original price
  • Overpriced: if sth is overpriced, it costs much more than you think it should
  • To order: when you order something that you are going to pay for, you ask for it to be brought to you, sent to you, or obtained for you. “to order things online”
  • Order number
  • To place an order
  • If you have a discount on the retail price, you pay less price than the price normally charged
  • Goods: things made to be sold
  • To be scheduled for delivery (tomorrow)
  • Online form
  • A secure payment page
  • To enter your card details
  • Get a refund
  • You can pay “Cash on Delivery”
  • To exchange a product
  • To track your package
  • Shipping rates

Ready to test your knowledge?  Fill in the blanks with some of the words above.

THREE. Listening. Video Activity: Singles’ Day

Lead-in: Ask students if they know anything about Singles’ Day. Info, here

  • Play the video once without giving students any tasks.
  • Give students the gapped text and ask them to complete it with the words they hear. Play the video.
  • Play it again, if necessary

See the activity here. You can check the answers by activating the subtitles in the video.

FOUR. Speaking: Online Shopping versus Traditional Shopping

Divide the class into two groups: those preferring online shopping and those preferring traditional shopping. Ideally, you would pair up students in this way, but more often than not, you’ll have to persuade some students to take a different view for the sake of the exercise.

Give each student their corresponding handout and ask them to read the information on it. Their aim, when pairing up with a student holding an opposing view, will be to try to convince their partner to change their mind.

  • Handouts  for student A and B here
  • Functional language to be used here

FIVE: Oral mediation

NOTE: These activities will be in Spanish. Students will need to act as mediators in an oral interlinguistic mediation activity.

This is the first time I am going to do an interlinguistic oral mediation activity with my students. My students are going to take the role of mediators and use a source text in Spanish and relay the selected information to an English speaker, who does not understand Spanish.

What is a mediator and what does he do?

The mediator acts as a facilitator in a social event during which two or more parties interacting are experiencing a communication breakdown or when there is a communication gap between them.

Watch the video and find out a bit more about mediation.

These are the first two tasks I have prepared for my students. More would be coming!

Task 1   〉    Task 2

SIX. Discursive writing. A pros and cons essay.

Write an essay of about 200 words on the advantages and disadvantages of buying in local shops.

Tips and example here

Shops featured in the video:

clothes shop, chemist’s, fishmonger’s greengrocer’s, baker’s, bookshop, shoe shop, butcher’s, record shop, haberdashery, florist’s, barber, optician’s, newsagent’s, petrol station, pet shop, toy shop, stationer’s, chain store, charity shop, corner shop, tobacconist’s, sports shop, travel agent’s,  jeweller’s,