Teacher Discussion Forums

Hi.

We're a couple of new teachers about to start at a new private language school that is opening in China.

The school opens on Saturday and we have to do a half hour English Corner, which is where students get to practice their English without being taught.

Unfortunately these demo English Corners will be happening on the Open Day, so we won't have time to grade the students. What we will have is a class of between 6 and 20 mixed ability students. We are having difficulty thinking of a fun, communicative activity which will involve all levels of students.

We don't have that much experience, and none of taking a mixed level group. Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

I would suggest preparing a lot of visual things to put on display. Have an object area with range of different items which kids can choose and try to describe or simply tell you the name of it. Have picture boards classifying various subjects eg, colours, fruit, months, shapes, weather, all of these can be used to elicit known English or start discussions and introduce other language areas, eg, positioning "what is next to/below/at side of the banana?", or favorites "What is your favorite colour/fruit/type of weather?" etc..
Have a "Hot spot" where kids can stand and say as much or as little about themselves for a given time limit (30 seconds for example). Lesser ability students cound just point to themselves and say their name and age perhaps where as others will be able to speak in proper sentences describing themselves in more detail. Either way the kids will have been able to comunicate information about themselves.
A good and simple game to play with mixed ability students is "Ball Bomb". Have kids sit in a circle and as they throw the ball to each other they have to say one English word. Keep a count of how many words are said without being repeated, the ball dropped or a long hesitation. Motivate the kids to try and beat the last count every time.

Hope this helps a little you didnt mention the age of the children so Im not sure if these ideas are a little basic but they can easily be adapted to different ages.

Thanks for the reply. We should have stated the age, we think they will be more university age type people, and adults. But thanks for the ideas for our kids classes, the Ball Bomb sounds great.

Something I do in my multi-level classroom is an activity I found in a great book called "New Ways in Teaching Speaking," edited by Kathleen Bailey and Lance Savage.

Take note cards and write a different topic on each card. I've used words and phrases like family, vacation, scary things, last year...., when I was a child...., when I get old.... place the cards in a stack. Have a student draw one card. He/she can say anything about the topic. Go around in a circle with each student addressing the topic.

There's no limit. Beginning students usually say a simple sentence ("I have two children.") or two and more advanced students might tell a one or two minute story. You can make the topic cards fit the lesson of the day, or they can be totally random. The goal is just to get them talking.

My students have really enjoyed this activity and I like it because it's so quick to prepare!

Robih