1 / 66

English Language Icebreaker Activity for Students

Explore an engaging icebreaker activity to promote student communication and grammar practice. The activity fosters a safe environment for students to interact fluently while getting to know each other.

dbraden
Download Presentation

English Language Icebreaker Activity for Students

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Idiom of the Day A Piece of Cake

  2. Introduce Myself

  3. Diane Whaley English Language Specialist U.S. Department of State

  4. Where I’ve Worked

  5. Where I Live • Pulaski, New York • Broadway, North Carolina

  6. My Family

  7. ATTENDANCE SIGN TODAY’S ATTENDANCE SHEET WRITE THE TIME THAT YOU ARRIVED AFTER YOUR NAME

  8. Ice Breaker Activity All About Me.

  9. All About Me 3 DO YOU HAVE THREE ____?

  10. All About Me I have three horses.

  11. All About Me 2 Do you have two ________?

  12. All About Me I have two children.

  13. All About Me 15 Do you have fifteen _________?

  14. All About Me I have fifteen nieces and nephews.

  15. All About Me • Form groups of about 5 or 6. • Arrange yourselves in a circle. • Write a secret number about something you have on a sheet of paper. • Write the answer about your special number on another sheet of paper. Do not let anyone else see this paper. • Take turns!

  16. Extension Activity • Stay in your group. • Take turns asking the person next to you what another person in the group has. • Student A: What does Diane have? Student B: She has three horses.

  17. Reflection Stay in your group and discuss these questions. • What is the purpose of this activity? • Would your students enjoy this activity? • What problems might you have using this activity with your students? • What can you do to adapt this activity to overcome any problems you might have?

  18. Reflection • Promotes student-to-studentcommunication. • Provides grammar practice in an authentic context. • Eliminates the need for complex instructions. • Repeating is a very simple skill. • It trains students NOT to depend on Portuguese translations.

  19. Reflection • Teacher can get a sense of what the students know. • This type of activity has a REAL purpose: Playing a game and getting to know each other. • It creates a safe environment to practice and talk. • It emphasizes FLUENCY over accuracy.

  20. Thank you. That concludes our Icebreaker Activity. Next, I’ll talk about our Lesson Plan for today.

  21. LESSON PLAN FOR TODAY

  22. Lesson Plan for Today • Idiom of the Day 3 minutes a piece of cake: very easy (often used with “be”) A: "Bob said the test was difficult, but I thought it was a piece of cake."" • Introduction of myself 3 minutes • Icebreaker & Reflection 20 minutes All About Me   • Lesson Plan PowerPoint 2 minutes

  23. Lesson Plan for Today • Syllabus (The course plan) 30 minutes+ It’s on our website. Review Quiz • Sign Up Sheets 15 minutes Chapter Presentation Classroom Activity Presentation • Names and Email Addresses circulating

  24. Lesson Plan for Today • Main Presentation 60+ minutes Chapter 1 Perfect English? Do students need native speaker skills? Do teachers need to continue to learn? LLPs Discussion/Questions Group Activity • Classroom Activity Presentation 30+ minutes • Resource/Opportunity 5 minutes The Monster Book of Language Teaching Activities

  25. Lesson Plan for Today Homework: Everyone: 1. Read Snow, Chapter 1 2. Think about the discussion questions, especially numbers numbers 9, 10, and 11. 3. Review the syllabus on the website carefully. Make sure you understand everything. 4. Look through The Monster Book for Language Teaching Activities. It’s on our website: www.joaopessospd@wordpress.com

  26. Lesson Plan for Today Homework (continued) Chapter Presenters: 1. You may use my PowerPoint slides of Chapter 1. 2. Contact me for help. 3. Send me your materials by midnight on Saturday.

  27. Lesson Plan for Today • Homework (continued) Classroom Activity Presenters: 1. Contact me for help. 2. Use The Monster Book of Language Teaching Activities for inspiration. 3. Email me your materials by Saturday midnight.

  28. Lesson Plan for Today Closing (continued) • Any remaining questions • Summation of what we did today

  29. Syllabus Note to myself: Project Syllabus from memory stick NOW (desktop, Brazil project, materials, syllabus)

  30. Syllabus Quiz • What are the two aims of this course? • What is our website address? • What is my email address? • What are the main course requirements? • How many parts? • What are they? • How are the grades determined? • What is the percent to pass this course? • What is the name of the text book?

  31. Syllabus • Please review the syllabus for homework and ask questions during your next session.

  32. Sign-Up Sheets 10 MINUTES ONLY. 1. SIGN UP WITH ONE PARTNER FOR YOUR CLASSROOM ACTIVITY PRESENTATION. 2. SIGN UP IN GROUPS OF FOUR FOR YOUR CHAPTER PRESENTATION ACTIVITY.

  33. NAMES AND EMAIL ADDRESSES • WRITE YOUR NAME AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS VERY CLEARLY ON THE SHEET OF PAPER. • PASS THE PAPER TO THE NEXT PERSON. • LAST PERSON, RETURN THE PAPER TO ME.

  34. RESOURCE/OPPORTUNITY The Monster Book for Language Teaching Activities published by the U.S. Department of State

  35. Resource/Opportunity Four Corners Speaking Activity (Note to myself: Open this file from my memory stick – Monster Book folder. Section 4 Speaking and Reading – highlighted icon. pages 78 and 79, first pages in the section. DO NOT DO THE ACTIVITY NOW. Just describe the book!)

  36. Main Presentation From Language Learner to Language Teacher By Don Snow

  37. Chapter 1 – Language Teacher as Language Learner

  38. CLT is based on the idea that the goal of language learning is communication. And it considers that many fundamental communication activities are spoken. The theories, ideas, and practices in this book are mainly based on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

  39. Why should an English Teacher be a successful English Language learner? • p4 -Teachers don’t need to have perfect English, but they do need good command of the language. • p4 - Most students don’t need to become native-speakers of English (to get a job, to study science, to travel), so having ‘native’ language skills should not be the goal for them. • p5 - Teachers lack confidence. Two bad effects: • This prevents you from being a good role model for your students. • It distracts from your teaching ability.

  40. Personal Example • I teach (or taught) • English • Ice Skating • Psychology • Being like a native speaker is like trying to be a professional athlete. • You ARE NOT THE ATHLETE, you are the COACH. • Sports has many roles: • Coach, defensive coordinator, team psychologist, doctor • Goalie, defenseman, forward

  41. Personal Experience

  42. Why should an English Teacher be an experienced English Learner? • p6 - If you have learned a foreign language, then you know how to help your students, OF COURSE. • p7 – You have more empathy for students. • p7 – If you continue to learn, you will be a good role model.

  43. Personal Experience • When I was in college, a friend spent a semester in Spain and came back looking so sophisticated speaking Spanish. • I remember how hard it was for me to speak even a few words. • Some friends and teachers helped me to pass the course. • I know learning a language is hard.

  44. Language Learning Projects (LLP) • p9 – an LLP is your plan for continuing to learn. • 3 generalizations about your life: • You don’t have much opportunity to use English. • You are busy. • You probably study alone. • p10 - Getting Ready (ask yourself) • How much time do I have? • What opportunities do I have? • What do I like doing in English?

  45. Language Learning Projects (LLP) • p11 – 4 main steps: • Choosing a (specific) goal • Choosing materials • Planning where, when, and how long • Choosing study and practice methods • Setting measuring criteria • Breakthrough concept • One problem with this style of LLP – specific goals might feel small in comparison to your overall goal of Learning English… but little by little. • Breakthrough point – when you can take the skill you learned and use it. More breakthroughs will improve your overall skills.

  46. Example – Basic English LLP • Goal: Build up my English skills (because I haven’t studied for a long time) • Material: Learn English Website: livemocha.com • Plan: Two times each week, I will study lessons in this course for 20 minutes. • Method: • Register for the website, choose my level (beginner, intermediate, etc.), and go through the lessons one-by-one. • Criteria for measuring progress: I will have succeeded if I • Can complete one unit in one month and remember what I have learned. • Extended measure: Choose two or three phrases or vocabulary that I learned and use them in class time with the teacher or other students.

  47. Example - Reading FLUENCY LLP NOTE: Use EASY readings. You should understand 95% of the words on the page (95/100 words). • Goal: Build my reading fluency  • Material: Readings from the internet • Plan: 2/week, I will read easy English stories for 15 minutes. Then summarize. • Method: • Read a story. Try to read smoothly (my eyes move smoothly) • Summarize the story (speaking or writing). • Criteria for measuring progress: I will have succeeded if I • Short-term measure: I can read smoothly and tell the story again. • Long-term measure: I can read 8 stories in a month, and I can tell or write them from memory. • Extended measure: I can keep a learning journal and write 8 stories that I have heard.

  48. Looking Ahead • p13 - Remember: update and practice your OWN language learning to teach effectively. • Learn about the process of language learning (LL). • Examine and reflect on your own LL. • Continue your own LL (of English or another language).

  49. Group Activity: Discussion • In groups of four or five, discuss ALL 5 questions on the next slide. (Portuguese or English). • Choose one person in each group to take notes. • Choose one person in each group to be the presenter. • Choose one person in each group to write your ideas and discussion points on a piece of paper. • After a few minutes, you will pass your paper to the next group. • Each group will present another group’s ideas. Discussion Dynamic 1

  50. Group Activity: Discussion Questions • Describe your foreign language learning experience. Does it influence the way the you teach? Explain. • Do you think it’s better to learn English from a native speaker of English or someone who has learned English as a second language? Why? • Did you have a teacher that you really liked? Why? Describe that teacher. • What is the hardest part of learning English? Explain. • What are your goals for improving your English? What are the challenges? Explain.

More Related