Korean Job Discussion Forums

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Sick of having your well planned lessons interrupted by late arrivals? Students seem wordless and unmotivated? Bring back the warmer!

Many teachers forget that one of the most practical reasons for a warmer is that it allows for late arrivals. We all hate having to have to give instructions over and over again to every student who arrives late.

Also, if we can get everyone laughing and in a good mood, it helps enormously. It doesn�t have to serve a linguistic purpose like revision of the previous lesson�s work, although of course that�s great if it does. It can just be a mood lightener. My favourite is the good old yes-no game, as most students love the challenge.

In case you don�t know this old chestnut, the rules are simple. T asks st to answer his barrage of questions without ever saying yes or no. If they say it, they lose. Then the next student gets a chance. Follow up each question with �really?� or just repeat the last word of their answer with interrogative intonation and invariably you get your man! If your students get good at it, simply introduce more rules like:

No nodding or shaking their head!
No repeating the same answer twice!
10 second time limit on an answer!

If you get a really good student-opponent, try taking him off course with questions for a while which don�t require yes or no answers, and when the time is right, fire in your polar interrogative and you�ll catch your fish!

Students love to think they can beat the teacher. First time up, you can usually catch them all out in no time. Don�t agree to playing again till the next lesson!

When you�ve caught them all out, provoke them by comparing them to stupid fish who take the hook without giving the fisherman a fight!!

The beauty of this warmer is it�s more or less failsafe, exciting, motivating and requires no prep/materials.

Whatever you do, don�t neglect the warmer. It�s not just a gambit dreamed up by a TEFL guru/author to sound smart and if nothing else it will allow for latecomers and can really get a good atmosphere going. With higher levels, get them to question you and for maximum comedy value, let them catch you out occasionally!

If you find that the students� concentration tails off towards the end of the lesson due to clock-watching, pressure to get ready for the next lesson etc, use these activities as warm-downs as well.

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[Fishead soup]

I give the early birds handouts from Andrew Finch's textbook" Tell Me More". It's usually some kind of diagram that has to be labeled,prepositions,clothes,body parts, furniture. When the bulk of the students show up I start whatever lesson I had planned.

[naturegirl321]

Simple chatting works as well, if your students are high enough. NOt saying that you should do it every class, but once in a while is good.