Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello there all,
I would first of all like to thank 'Leo' for posting a reply to my request for flashcards, a long time ago- last April! I have been busy with a new baby in the family, so sorry it took me so long to thank you! I finally bought the flashcards from ESLkidsstuff, in England, very very good quality, not cheap but very comprehensive! Used them to good effect now several times....
I am about to embark on several months of extra-curricular group discussion tutorials with selected students from Forms 5 and 6 here in Hong kOng, ages approx. 16-18, and although the remit is 'practice for oral exam papers', plus some groups who only want basic discussion techniques, I know that if I am alone with the students, I will definitely do warm-up activities to get them in the mood just to respond to each other.
The problem is that I feel pretty dried up- my Ideas Bank is well overdrawn. I need to make some deposits, so has anyone got any ideas?
I often use postcards as a stimulus- ask them to choose one from a pile and say why they would like to go to that place, what appeals, etc. However, I feel stuck now, simply because these students are very shy and passive. How can I break the ice, quickly and effectively?
The Ideas Bank is a Hungry Bank...... but accepts all currency!
Cheers, me dears.

I don't know how many kids there are in your class but I had small groups last summer and this is an idea I used to get them talking. I found it on the internet (wish I could credit the person - can't remember where I found it tho).
Every class we started with a "cup of conversation". I had slips of paper with different interesting conversation topics on them all mixed up in a coffee mug. A student would choose a topic and then I would give everyone a few minutes to "pre-think" and jot down ideas or questions they could ask in the course of a conversations. Of course in the beginning no one would speak (shyness? hormones?) so mean teacher I am I forced them by giving them each 4 plastic chips. Every time a student added to the conversation they could toss a chip into the centre. I let them all know that the convo wasn't finished until everyone was empty handed. Students who got rid of their chips early could continue to contribute to the conversation by asking questions to students who were still with chips. The plan is to eventually ween everyone off the chips so that we could just have a normal conversation every class.
Hope this helps.

Hey.. thats a good idea!!!

Cheers!

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