Book Tasting or How to Engage your Students when Choosing a Book

General, Reading, ,

February favourite activity! I know! The month has barely started, but I already know this is going to be my favourite activity.

The truth is I’ve been meaning to write about this activity for a long time, and it has been sitting on my shelves for so long that I cannot give credit to one single person ’cause I don’t really know who first came up with this brilliant idea. Not me. This time, I am just the vessel.

So, this activity revolves around books and the question I am asking you is: Do your students need to write a book review? Do you, or do they, choose the books they have to read? In my case, I have always hated being forced to read books I didn’t like so ever since I turned into a seasoned oldish teacher and could make my own choices, I decided to give students the choice I had never had as a student.  Something as simple as choosing the books you’d like to read. From the school library. Sure.

Preparation.
  • Book the library room. That’s the best place for an activity revolving about books.
  • I carefully selected books and divided them into three categories: Fiction, Short Stories, and Classics. I chose a varied and attractive collection from each category.
  • I bought a pack of red and white chekered plastic tablecloths. I bought them here. (Note: it is not sponsored 🙂
  • I also brought some silver paper trays I had at home to place the books. Remember, this activity is called Book Tasting, so you want all the props.
  • In Canva, I designed:

– a place mat (I photocopied it in red to match the tablecloth). Download Here 

 

-a menu  (brochure) with all the instructions and space to write their options from each table. Download Here

 

How to go about it
  • Arrange the tables as seen in the picture above. Place the tray with the books in the middle ( to be honest, you don’t need a tray but it adds a little touch)
  • There are X tables with books from different genres. In my case, as explained above, I had 3 tables with fiction, short stories and classics.
  • Ask students to form groups and choose a table to start.
  • Ask them to choose one of the books on your table. ( there should a number of them)
  • Tell them they have 10 minutes to read the blurb, or synopsis, normally found at the back of a book’s cover. They should also read a page and assess the readability of the vocabulary used.
  • Ask them to present the book they have chosen to their group and explain why they think it would be a good or a bad choice.
  • After listening to all the presentations in their group, they have to  choose the book(s) they’d like to read from this table and write their option(s) in the space provided.
  • Ask them to move to another table and repeat procedure.
  • Tell them to list their top three book choices in order of preference after having visited all the tables.
  • It is now time to take the book they have selected. Ask them to start with their first choice, and if it is unavailable, move on to their second option.

 

Follow up: if you are feeling up to it and know how to work with Flip, set up a Topic asking students to record their reviews of the books they have chosen. Download the QR Code generated by Flip and attach it to the back of the book.  Now it’s time to move on to another round of reading. Encourage students to choose another book and listen to recommendations from their classmates.

A Speaking Board Game about Work with some Props

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A digital or analogue board game? Which do you fancy? For me, variety is key. So I tend to alternate between both types of exercises to keep things interesting. In this post, you will find both versions. Cheers to diversity!  But just so that you know, I am going to focus more on the analogue version where I can use props.

Who doesn’t love props? Using props in the classroom can be an effective tool for teaching. Props can help to engage students and bring an element of fun and creativity to a lesson. And right in the middle of winter ,when days are short and dark, I feel the need to add some extra spark to my lessons. Don’t you?

Board games have been around for a long, long time but, have you tried to design one? It is not easy. I have tried and failed. They looked awful. This time I have not wasted any time, and used Genial.ly’s Monopoly board game, which I have adapted to suit my content.

 

First, I made an online version (reusable in case you want to change something), which turned out great, but I decided to go old–school and print out the board, get a huge foam dice, and use some coloured counters. Not surprisingly, rolling a big red foam dice and having students use little markers to claim their spots really made a difference. 

Here’s the downloadable version if I have managed to persuade you to use the printed version of the board game.

TEACHER-GUIDED: HOW TO PLAY
  • Arrange students into groups of 3–4 students and give each group a board.
  • Each player in the group must choose a colour: blue, green, yellow, or red.  They will then receive a token to mark their position and 10 coloured counters (preferably, the same colour as their token) to indicate the questions they have answered correctly throughout the game. 
  • Each player should take their token and place it on the starting square. Write down the starting order of the students on the board, like this: blue first, then green, then yellow, and lastly red. To start playing, the teacher rolls the huge die and Blues move their token to the corresponding square.
  • If Blues can talk about the question non-stop for 2 minutes, they earn the right to place one of their blue counters on that square. That square is now officially theirs!
  • If another player lands on a square that is already occupied by a coloured counter, they will have to answer the question, but they will not claim the square.
  • Special squares: squares with icons contain penalties, such as “The player pays light taxes: loses 2 of his coloured counters.” (you can read the penalties in the digital version)
  • The player with the most coloured counters on the board, once all squares are occupied, will win the game.

I hope you enjoy the game!

Flowers by Miley Cyrus in my Class

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I can’t. I couldn’t resist the temptation of using this song in class. I know you have heard it everywhere, as it has become a global hit in just a few days. And as it turns out, it is also in my English class.

How can I incorporate the song into my lesson plan in a way that goes beyond just a fill-in-the-blank exercise?  Easy. We are going to do an activity that combines some of my favourite ingredients:

  • A touch of technology
  • A game-like speaking activity
  • Singing? if not singing, lip-syncing.

STEP 1. Before the game: working on form
  • Show students the lyrics with the gaps and ask them to predict the lexical category or part of speech that could fit each of the 10 gaps in the song: is it a noun, an adjective, a preposition or maybe an article? Allow a couple of minutes for this task. You might want to show an example.

For example, I wrote a letter___ my mother (students will most likely agree, they’ll need   a preposition to fill in this gap)

STEP 2:  Defining and Guessing

  • Hide the gapped text. To begin the activity, the text will be hidden from the students’ view.
  • Students will work in pairs. Student A will face the board. Student B will face away and write on his/her notebook numbers 1 -10 (there are 10 gaps/words to be guessed)
  • Tell students you’ll write the missing words on the board in random order, but each of the words will be identified with a number.
  • Write the first of the missing words in the cloze on the board, and ask student A to define the word, or give a synonym or antonym for student B to guess and write down. For example, if the word on the board is “1. wrote”, Student A might say, “number 1 is a verb in the past, and you use a pen or a pencil to do it”. If Student B guesses the word, he will write in his notebook, next to number 1 wrote. If he cannot guess the word in the allotted time, he will write 1-___.
  • Tell students you’ll write a new word every 30 seconds.
  • Continue in the same way until you have written all the missing words on the board. Remember that the words should be written in random order.

STEP 3:  Fill-in the Gaps Race.

  • Once they have all the words, Students A and B will work together to complete the gapped test.
  • Place a bell on your table. The first pair to complete the task ( i.e. putting the words in the right order to complete the lyrics of the song) rushes to the teacher’s desk. The teacher checks that the exercise is correct and if it is, they ring the bell on your table (well, if you have a bell to ring). From that moment, the rest of the class will have one minute to finish the exercise.

STEP 3:  Singing or lip-syncing

Yes. If some students need a pit of persuading, tell them it is a very good exercise to improve pronunciation.

STEP 4: Conversation questions. We talk a bit now.

  • Can you describe a time when you experienced a heartbreak?
  • How did you cope with the feelings of heartbreak?
  • Have you ever helped a friend through a heartbreak? How did you support them?

The List: A Simple Retrieval Activity before a Speaking Exercise

General, ,

I spend a possibly unhealthy amount of time designing activities that have to do with retrieval practice. I think I might be becoming an expert.  In my head, I design the idea and then, I am confronted with two options:

  1. Make it simple, using a simple sheet or slip of paper.
  2. Make it more appealing and spend time I don’t have looking for a nice design that in terms of learning is not going to make any difference.

Guess which one do I normally choose?  Yes! That one.

I always do some retrieval practice before giving my students a topic-related oral activity. I think it is essential to bring to the front of their minds what they have, with luck, stored at the back. Otherwise, in their conversations, I might not hear the desired newly-learned vocabulary but the old boring one from the previous level. And we don’t want that, do we?

This retrieval activity can be done using regular sheets of paper or this beautiful template on Canva designed by Sara T, which I have shamelessly modified to suit my needs. Here’s mine, which you can easily modify as long as you have a Canva Account.

Now, let me explain this very simple activity.

  • Level: can be done at any level. In my case, B1.
  • Topic: Education. Again. It can be adapted to any level.
  • Time: about 10 minutes

BEFORE THE CLASS.

  • Choose three words for each student in the group to revise. You will need a different list for each student in the group, so if you form groups of 4 students, you will need 12 words.
  • It should look something like this

THE ACTIVITY

  • Put students, ideally, into groups of 4.
  • Give each student a list.
  • Before the activity starts, they need to make sure they know how to define and pronounce the words on their lists. Allow some time for this part.
  • Student A starts defining his/her words, one by one. Students B, C and D write Student A’s name in the space provided (_____’s list) and their guess at the words being defined by Student A. Then, it is Student B’s turn, then Student C and finally Student D.
  • Once all the students have finished describing the words on their lists, it is time to check how many they have guessed correctly.  You can do it as a whole class, with Student As re-explaining the definitions and any other student in the class volunteering their guess or, alternatively, you can let them do it at their pace, in their groups.
  • Each correct guess scores 1 point.
  • And well, you know, a round of applause or a sweet for the winners.

Now, they are ready to use this vocabulary in a speaking activity

Chat GPT: Mind-Blowing Artificial Intelligence to Make your Day

General, ,

Artificial intelligence (AI) has taken giant steps in the past month. The tool I bring you today is mind-blowing, even terrifying, and I am not exaggerating even a bit! I’ve been trying the website for a few days now, and I have already told all my friends about it, and now I am telling you. I cannot keep a secret this big! This is way more than a time-saver!

The website is

  • Free
  • Requires registration and some verification. Do it. It is worth it.
  • I have tried it in Spanish English, French, and German.
  •  Its URL is https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/. Click on TRY to SIGN UP:
What can this tool do? The question is, what can’t it do?

Some things I have tried:

1. Write a formal letter to a client complaining about a product.(Personal note: my sis is constantly

2. Write an essay about unusual customs. Then I asked it to write the same thing in a more informal style, and then again using only 50 words. We can also ask it to write in a way that a 6-year-old would understand (for lower levels).

3. (personal) How to fix a wooden table bitten by a dog.

4. A list of the advantages and disadvantages of using a mobile phone in the classroom.

5. Vocabulary for C1 education (it was very basic).

6. Write 5 multiple-choice questions about education vocabulary with four options.

7. Correct this sentence: He took me  granted because doesn’t love me.

8. Explain the difference between curriculum and syllabus so that a child would understand it.

In short, the list of things it can do for you is endless.

Limitations: ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers.” So while the material might come out sounding original and authentic, there is a good chance it may also be wrong. Also, it does not have access to current events or up-to-date information about specific countries. Its knowledge is based on a snapshot of the internet from 2021, and it is not able to browse the web or access new information.