Job Discussion Forums

[Cadava]

I originally posted this on the China forum, but then I realized that other places have nice weather too, so I wonder if anyone else can give some input on this one.

Now that the warmer weather is returning to this part of China - at last - I would like to take my classes outside for some fun activities. Can anyone suggest any language related activities that are suitable for outdoors?

I have used running dictations and giving directions quite successfully, but I can't do this all the time.

Any new ideas?

Thanx.
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[Will.]

sitting on the grass is great for any circle activities, might i suggest Chinese whispers?

[carnac]

Sometimes when the weather is nice... which is every day here...and the class has been working hard and is feeling a little beaten up, I take them for a walk, notebooks in hand, me with a large sketchpad. We look at the world and name the things as we walk. Flower, seeds. Tree, trunk, branch, twig, leaf. Rock, gravel, stone, pebble. A total immersion in much-vaunted "realia". They remember this stuff much more than the book vocabulary. I make them pick up a rock and say "I am picking up a rock." Then throw it somewhere, hopefully not at someone. "I am throwing...". "What did he do?" "He threw the rock!" Here is a car. The bumper. The headlights, the rear-view mirror, all the parts. We explore the car, the trees, the flowers, the buildings, the earth. I write the words on my sketchpad and hold it up and they all scribble in their notebooks, the English word and their own word so they can remember.
Post-walk quizzing a week later and they have retained the vocabulary in quite a remarkable way! And we have had a pleasant hour or so learning real English. I model this after how babies learn, and it is effective.