One of my colleagues reckons he’d leave China just so he could get away from English Corners. What is an English Corner? At my school, it’s a class with no capped student size with a teacher facilitating the discussion of a particular topic.
I was pacing up and down, jittery over my virgin English Corner. The turnout rate of my Sunday class was smaller than I had anticipated, turned out I probably don’t have that many fans in the school. Found myself shouting rather than speaking loudly as I tried to compete with the ongoing road show in the mall where my school’s located. I don’t have strong vocals and my voice breaks into a rasp when I try to speak loudly, gotta work on that.
Made a pretty IWB (interactive whiteboard) presentation; always gives me satisfaction and pride.
Started off with an Earth Hour video, also available on Youku for those in China. Got the students to participate in a little Be Bright pub quiz from the WWF in between an article and some discussions. Did you know that rhinoceros horn is made of hair?
Published by
Gloria on
April 15, 2010 in
Beijing and China.
Tags: activity, adjective, book, don't have to, elementary, Grammar Practice Activities, has, have, have to, intermediate, locations, occupations, Penny Ur.
Materials: Paper
Students are to write the name of a famous person on a slip of paper. You could shuffle the slips or put them into a bag and let students draw one each without looking (or sneaking a peek) at what was written. Chesting the slips, students ask one another true/false questions to find out who they are.
This game can be modified for different levels of students from guessing adjectives and locations to occupations using have/has or have to/don’t have to, as suggested in Penny Ur’s Grammar Practice Activities.
Anticipated errors: Students say I know who am I instead of I know who I am.
Tip: Set students to ask three questions, then get them to change partners.
I had a hard time getting them to swap partners today because I didn’t set a limit and found myself shouting and urging them to do it a couple of times during the game.
Nick’s been teaching some preschoolers and amongst them, here’s Yoyo:
One little, two little, three yellow fingers
Four little, five little, six yellow fingers
Seven little, eight little, nine yellow fingers
Ten yellow fingers on my hand
A four-year old who creatively altered the lyrics of Ten Little Fingers to Ten Yellow Fingers.