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[santi84]

I might be overthinking it, but I'd love some advice for teaching an advanced ESL class of CLB 7+ learners (C1+). I normally teach pre-literacy/low beginner classes and I'm not sure what to expect. It's been eight years since I taught a class at this level (and even then, I was just a student teacher). They are multilingual and multilevel within the high range. Oh, and I have until Wednesday to prepare! It's a last minute thing. Right now, I have planned to do some vocabulary expansion on emotions/a major local event, watching a news clip with difficult expressions, some common idioms related to it, and expanding connectors/transitions from a related photo story. I might end it with a hot potato game.

Appreciate any tips, as I know several of you work with this level.

[nomad soul]

Don't overlook the Cafe's Idea Cookbook.

Some suggestions off the top of my head...

- Introduce them to commonly confused words. (Plenty of these lists on the Internet.)

- Include a quote or proverb of the day and have them summarize its meaning in writing to share with the class. Altnerate it with an idiom of the day.

- Breaking News English is based on real news stories and has complete, ready-to-go lessons for all levels.

- Incorporate a group activity on manners (e.g., spitting, touching someone's head, public affection, shouting, chewing gum in class, asking someone's age, being late, referring to teacher by his/her first name...) and have the students in groups discuss and rank each behavior from culturally acceptable to repulsive within N. American context. Then as a class, have them discuss the results and see if they all can come to consensus on the ranking. (Adapted from Breaking News English, cultural awareness lesson.)

- "What Would You Do?" is an American TV show that offers short video clips on a variety of dilemmas. Great for discussion on values and ethical decisions, which boosts critical thinking.

- For a fun writing activity that gets them out of their seats... If you have a large white board in your room, write the first 5-6 words of a story at the top of the board. Be a bit creative but don't write an entire sentence. For example, There once was an evil leader named... (without elipses). Have the students line up behind each other and give the marker to the first student. He/she will have to finish your sentence and then start a new one to keep the story going. However, before his/her sentence is completed, you're going to call "Next!" in which the next student in line goes to the board and finishes the classmate's sentence and then starts to write his/her own until you call 'next"... and so on. (Give them about 5-6 seconds to write.) Stop the activity when there's no more board space. With the students at their seats, give them time to read the story (guaranteed to be silly). Elicit corrections to any grammar, spelling, punctuation... errors.

Another version of this activity is with the students in groups of 4-6 using paper rather than the board. Encourage students to incorporate new vocabulary. One student starts the story and then passes the paper to the group member on his/her right when you call "Next!" End the activity after about 5 minutes and post each group's story on the wall so that their peer groups can rotate around the room to read and comment on. Use this activity as a fun cool down for the last 10-12 or so minutes of class.

- If you're familiar with Boggle, draw a large Boggle grid with letters on the board. Using paper, students in pairs work together to create as many words as they can in three minutes.

[santi84]

Thanks Nomad Soul. I really like the idea of a continuous story on the white board - I'm sure I'll get a few giggles. It sounds like a good way to perk them up (it's a late night class ending at 10 p.m.)

[nomad soul]

[mmcmorrow]

Your suggestions seem fine - be sure to report back on what happens!

My only advice is not to be too input heavy. If you don't know a class, it's a bit of a lottery how particular activities will go down and whether the students will perceive them as meeting their needs and interests. Also, leaving more space for students to show what they can do in English - and to express ideas about what they want or need - could be useful for any follow-up classes.

Here is a suggestion for a three-hour class, which doesn’t require too much preparation and involves a fair amount of student output, but, in my experience, is also reasonably engaging and challenging for higher level students. Each activity should last a 45 - 60 minute lesson - clearly you might need to snip something out or add something in, depending on the class.

A) Story and Interruptions

1) Elicit from students a number of expressions used to interrupt a speaker, or comment in some way on what they're saying - e.g.

Could you speak up a bit?
Could you slow down a bit?
Excuse me. What do you mean by?
Really?
Think of some more yourself!

2) Do some pron work on the expressions, particularly focusing on rhythm and intonation.

3) Tell a story about your childhood - e.g. getting lost. The students have to interrupt you using the phrases you've covered. Use some polite expressions to deal with the interruptions, e.g.
That’s a good question.
If you don’t mind, I’ll deal with that in a minute.
I was just coming to that.

4) When it’s over, see if students can remember any phrases you used to deal with interruptions. Write them up and do some practice as necessary.
5) Ask each student to close their eyes and remember a story - e.g. about getting lost. Give them some cues to help them remember (all the time the students have their eyes closed) e.g. How old were you? What was the weather like? How did you feel?

6) Put them in small groups. Each student tells the others their story, while the others use the expressions to interrupt.

7) Meanwhile, monitor and note down some errors to use in the activity C.

When they're nearly done, put on the board some superlative forms - e.g. the cutest / the wierdest / the scariest / the saddest. Then ask students in their groups to decide which (if any) of their stories deserves any of those titles.

9) Get each group to report back on one of the stories - e.g. the cutest
__________________________________________________________________
B) Question tags used as conversation starters

1) Mime a situation with a student, where you're standing in an airport departure lounge waiting for the flight to be called. See if the students can guess where you are. Then try out some conversation starters on the student, giving the impression that you're desperate to talk to someone, e.g.

Cold in here, isn't it?
It's been a lovely week though, hasn't it?
I see Germany won again, didn't they?

2) Ask the students a few questions about it - e.g. What am I trying to do? What grammar am I using? How do you make tag questions? Does your voice go up or down? Why? How do you reply to these questions?

3) Depending on your preparation time and the level of the students, give them some work on form - e.g. Dictate or write some starters on the board for students to finish or write whole tag questions cut into halves for students to match up. Make sure they're realistic conversation starters and cover a range of options - e.g.

The government should invest more in transportation, ...
Somebody always pushes in, ....
This place needs a good clean, ...
Security gets worse every time, ...
Nobody knows a thing in this place, ….
Jetstar are the worst, ….

4) Focus on the falling pronunciation and get students to practise some of them

5) Get students to add two of their own which they could use to start a conversation in a departure lounge - go round and check them.

6) Demonstrate with another student. They use a conversation starter and then you have to try and keep the conversation going for at least a minute, using whatever language you like - not necessarily using any more tag questions. Have two students do a demo in front of the class (if you like).

7) Get the students to mingle and try to start up conversations with at least three other students

Meanwhile, listen and note down some more errors for part C.

9) Put up some more superlatives on the board - e.g. the creepiest / the most imaginative / the chattiest / the sexiest and get a few students to report back on any departure lounge conversations that fit any of those descriptions
10) As you are monitoring, prepare your list of 12 sentences, roughly half correct and half incorrect for activity C. I suggest you begin with about five or so that you’ve already prepared in advance of the lesson and then add other sentences based on grammar or vocabulary errors you’ve noticed during the class. If there’s a break and you can use a photocopier, you could put these on a sheet and prepare copies for each group. If not, you can just write them on the board during the next class.
____________________________________________________________
C) Grammar Auction (based on Mario Rinvolucri’s Grammar Games)
1) Elicit ‘an auction’, ‘bid’, ‘the highest bidder’ and get students to talk about if they’ve been to an auction or seen one.
2) Tell the students they’re going to have an auction in class and you’re going to give each group $100. They can bid in $5 increments. Students have to try and buy correct sentences, but they need to be careful because some of the sentences are faulty – and you know, if you buy something at auction, there’s no refund! The winner will be the group that’s bought the most correct sentences; if there’s a tie, then the team with the most money left wins.
3) Distribute the copies or write the sentences on the board.
4) Conduct the auction as authentically as possible – e.g. using phrases such as, ‘What am I bid for this beautiful late twentieth-century English sentence?’; ‘Hold on. I think we’ve got a telephone bid from Japan. No sorry, wrong number. This isn't Pizza Hut.’. Make sure students keep a note of which sentences they’ve bought and how much money they’ve got left.
5) Go through the sentences, telling the class which ones are right or wrong. Keep explanations fairly brief.
6) Get the class to applaud the winning group – possibly ask them to give a speech, thanking their family, teacher etc.
7) Ask the students where they think you got those grammar points from. Yes, from them!
Get the students to choose one of the grammar points for the next lesson and to discuss any areas they especially need / want to improve on during the next month. Possibly pass round a sheet of paper for them to add their own suggestions to.
9) Set some homework – e.g. tell them to check up question tags online and do some exercises / get them to try to start and maintain a conversation with someone in English / Get them to watch ‘Under the hammer’ or any similar auction show online and report back /

Martin McMorrow, Massey University, New Zealand

[fluffyhamster]

Wow, a lot of these are uncannily similar to suggestions I was going to make:

"Warmer" - Proverb of the day. Pick one (whichever one). After students have nailed its bookish meaning in the abstract, try to show them how it might actually be used by e.g. a sarcastic Calvin taunting his "long-suffering" dad by repeating the wisdom back to him. Then get the students to rinse and repeat with another random proverb. There are hundreds and hundreds to choose from!

Airport departure lounge "niceties" - The object here is to turn the students into moany or even slightly weird-sounding types by the use of either overchirpy in-your-face comments + tags about the weather or other inconsequentials, or by means of complaints + tags about the airport, airline etc. In other words, apparent language banditry of the highest order, especially considering that they likely wouldn't see 99.99% of these people ever again, unlike neighbours, local shop or bar apparent regulars, etc. You could even up the ante by making the context on board the plane and e.g. trying to calm an adjacent nervous passenger ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=i0GW0Vnr9Yc#t=2 ), as this will help build the emotions needed for the next activity.

"Shouting over Stomp band racket" - The most important thing here is to remember to bring plenty of bins, dustbin lids, brooms etc, so the students can make plenty of noise. It doesn't ultimately matter what you'll be saying, you just have to try to make yourself heard over the din. It will also help if you equip the students with fighting-talk taunts such as 'Could you speak up a bit?' (not 'Sorry, I didn't quite catch that...'), 'What do you mean by that?' (not 'What does X mean?' or simply "repeating" what you think you heard but with a questioning intonation), and 'Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough'. Each student then has a turn at making themselves hoarse. The added bonus of this activity is that if fights break out you can then practise seeing who has adequate medical insurance, calling paramedics, etc.

Finish if there is time with a round of "Consequences", but not the boring old classic man meets woman and he says then she says and the consequence was... . No, this will work best with classes of students from countries that America may consider to have evil leaders, and thus starting from the sentence stem 'There once was an evil leader named...' (best to entertain the more literal construals first and foremost eh, after all, why pick that particular stem? Must be a reason surely?). You could show the start of The Interview (Koreans could check the subs) or perhaps better The Naked Gun to get students into the necessary mood.

I would've typed more but I write like a jerk and only have a 20-year-old CTEFLA. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. I'll have to get a diploma or MA so next time I can really help answer any pitiful pleas to practically get others to do one's lessons.

[nomad soul]

[fluffyhamster]

Ok so we can use that line from that South Park song - Blame Canada! Either way, I like the randomness of the examples on offer - 'Write whatever you want!'. Not trying to sabotage anything though, am just repeating what others have so very fairly said about me and why that explains my not being able to offer better suggestions than the stellar stuff you guys have come up with. I am sure it will be a great help to Santi and her students, after all, she's short of ideas and "Beggars can't be choosers"! (Shush, Calvin!).

Seriously though, if you read my above post closely enough you'll see that I am in fact at least suggesting a few subtle or not-so-subtle changes or alternatives. But then, everyone's a critic eh!

[mmcmorrow]

I interpret the comment above about my tag question activity as a criticism of the choice of airport as a location. Maybe it's not the best location - I guess the teacher may come up with a more relevant context. In retrospect, I think I'd also include some conversation starters without tag questions - e.g. I see Germany won again. I think that's more realistic and also allows students to use some easier conversation starters in the activity itself. But I think tag questions are a genuine challenge for higher level students and they'd appreciate a new teacher bringing something like that to the table. And intonation is, I think, a real concern for many advanced students - and not something many courses really focus on.

I've used variations of the three activities various times when faced with situations similar to the one which the original poster mentioned - but obviously I can't guarantee they'll work for him / her: Caveat lector, as they say. It'll be great to hear back in case he / she does decide to try any of them. Meanwhile, it's been a welcome distraction as I revise my PhD thesis (which is nothing to do with auctions, airports or anecdotes) for submission next month. But who knows? I might be persuaded to use, 'Hot in here, isn't it?' at some point during my doctoral defence

Martin McMorrow, Massey University, New Zealand

[fluffyhamster]

I teach tags myself Martin, but I prefer lexical ones (e.g. eh!) and to have settings more conducive to conversation. I don't know about you but when travelling usually the last thing I want to do is converse much. I'm usually a bit too tired and stressed (but not much of a complainer even so, believe it or not!).

I think some of your gambits each way for that interrupted story are far too confrontational or political-debatey sounding. Plus it seems rather counterproductive to me to interrupt purely for the sake of practising interrupting. I'd prefer, certainly with advanced students, to concentrate more on the stories and only (sometime later) address interruptions (animated listener contributions such as guessing, exclaiming etc?) if the ones they spontaneously used were somehow excessive or unnatural or both. Which they will be if they use the phrases you suggest LOL.

Good luck with the doctoral defence.

[nomad soul]

[santi84]

I really appreciate the information and dialogue about how best to guide an advanced class. I care about my students, and I feel it is important to check in with fellow teachers when going into unfamiliar territory.

Thank you for all the information, and I will get a more thorough look at it later when I'm not on a phone.

[santi84]

My CLB-aligned lessons are already written, I was just interested in advice from teachers with more experience in that area. It's a strategy that has always served me well, no apologies.

[nomad soul]

Right on, sister!

[Mr. Kalgukshi]

Inappropriate postings have been deleted.

For the record, it would be a very good idea for everyone to stay on topic and avoid posting thread derailing comments.

I kid you not.