how to reduce ttt
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how to reduce ttt
I love "backs to the board" as a way to get students speaking and revising new vocab. What other good activities do you know of which are simple and motivate students to speak?
sure - you can do it as an activity with as few as 2 students, or make it a team game with up to 3 teams (2-4 students in each team).
You have 1,2 or 3 chairs by the board, and one s from each team sits on a chair, facing away from the board. Their team mates stand or sit facing them, so that they can talk to them easily. You then write a word on the board and the team members who can see the word have to describe (in English of course) the word, trying to make the seated student say the word.
Eg, you've written "SUN" on the board, so the s's are saying things like "it's big, yellow, very hot, in the sky..." trying to get their seated team mate to say the word. The first team to do this gets a point.
I usually let the seated s guess 3 or 4 words, and then swap places with a team mate.
The teacher's job is to listen for the s to say the right word, and to make sure nobody uses their native language (I deduct a point if they do.) Of course some s's from team A may listen to what s's from team B are saying, but it doesn't matter, it's all part of the fun.
It's a very simple game, but it's a great way to get the students talking to eachother rather than to the teacher. It's a nice rest for the teacher, because all you have to do is write a word on the board and award ponts. And it works with a wide range of levels (the words can be "sun, boy, yellow" or they can be "depression, devout, weird" for example).
I usually use this game at the end of lessons, for 10 - 15 minutes, and I use a few random words at first, then introduce words which have been covered or introduced during that lesson. I always think beforehand which words I am going to use in the game, but you can always wing it.
I think this is a very well-known game/activity, it's my favourite, but I don't want to use it all the time. So I was wondering if anyone knows any other simple games/activities like this that need little preparation, but (and this is the crucial point) get the students talking to eachother, in English, enthusiastically.
You have 1,2 or 3 chairs by the board, and one s from each team sits on a chair, facing away from the board. Their team mates stand or sit facing them, so that they can talk to them easily. You then write a word on the board and the team members who can see the word have to describe (in English of course) the word, trying to make the seated student say the word.
Eg, you've written "SUN" on the board, so the s's are saying things like "it's big, yellow, very hot, in the sky..." trying to get their seated team mate to say the word. The first team to do this gets a point.
I usually let the seated s guess 3 or 4 words, and then swap places with a team mate.
The teacher's job is to listen for the s to say the right word, and to make sure nobody uses their native language (I deduct a point if they do.) Of course some s's from team A may listen to what s's from team B are saying, but it doesn't matter, it's all part of the fun.
It's a very simple game, but it's a great way to get the students talking to eachother rather than to the teacher. It's a nice rest for the teacher, because all you have to do is write a word on the board and award ponts. And it works with a wide range of levels (the words can be "sun, boy, yellow" or they can be "depression, devout, weird" for example).
I usually use this game at the end of lessons, for 10 - 15 minutes, and I use a few random words at first, then introduce words which have been covered or introduced during that lesson. I always think beforehand which words I am going to use in the game, but you can always wing it.
I think this is a very well-known game/activity, it's my favourite, but I don't want to use it all the time. So I was wondering if anyone knows any other simple games/activities like this that need little preparation, but (and this is the crucial point) get the students talking to eachother, in English, enthusiastically.
