Putting the Students in the Driver's Seat! Part 1 Original post August 2020
Hi there,
One of the things I liked very much in school was when the teacher gave us control over what to practice.
I like to do the same thing with my own students and whenever possible, I put THEM in the driver's seat.
The following activity I use a lot. It is fairly simple to set up and (as always) can be used with any level students.
Preparation
1. Practice the Target Language (TL) e.g. “Do you like to...?”
2. Put a set of Topic Cards* on the board and label them 1, 2, 3 etc.
* If the cards are too small, it is okay to enlarge them on a copy machine and use them as flashcards.
HOW TO PLAY
1. Student 1 calls out the number (s)he wants to practice: "Number 2, please!"
2. The other student(s) use the TL: "Do you like to eat curry and rice?"
3. Student 1 answers: "Yes, I do!", "Yes, sometimes!" or "No, I don't!"
🧐 The students can select any card they want to practice, but they are not allowed to select the same card twice (you'll be surprised how much the listening "intensity" of the other students will increase because of this)
👍 This activity is not limited to LMQ only. You can use flashcards, draw pictures or elicit topics from the students and write them on the board, as seen below.
In Part 2 we'll turn things up a few notches for the more advanced students.....
In the mean time have fun 🤗