Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Make a Monster

Junior 2 lesson: Make a Monster

by Shannon


Objectives: To review parts of the body/learn some new parts of the body, to celebrate Halloween by using those body parts to draw monsters (while practicing listening). Students also learn about Halloween in America.

First, students are given copies of the following diagram (larger size). They work in groups to fill it in as best they can, and then the activity is completed as a class. Students practice pronunciation drills of the new words, with special attention paid to the “TH” sound in “thigh” and “mouth” and the long vowels of “shoulder” and “waist.”


Second, class discusses American Halloween customs and traditions. New vocabulary: ghost, witch, monster, trick or treat.


Then, teacher shows a picture of a monster, and ask students to describe the monster using body part words, eg. He has three heads, he has a blue nose, he has twelve red fingers.


Finally, teacher tapes a large sheet of butcher paper to the board and volunteers come up one at a time to draw a monster according to a given description, e.g. “draw a black mouth with six yellow teeth.”


The resulting monsters were really cute. Each class’s monster was pasted to the back board for all the classes to enjoy.

Plane Crash

Senior 1 lesson: A Plane Crash
by Shannon


Objectives: Learning new vocabulary, arguing a position on a subject.


Students are given the following information in a handout. First the passage is read aloud by the teacher and new vocabulary is elicited (pilot, crash, etc.) Students take turns reading the descriptions of the 10 people, and the teacher posts pictures from the internet on the board to accompany each description, adding visual interest.


After the descriptions are read, students work in groups or pairs to answer the 2 questions at the bottom of the handout. Then the responses are shared as a group and listed on the board.


At the end of the class, a vote is taken to see which 4 people the class chose. As a variation, students could vote first before discussion, and then vote again to see if their votes changed after the discussion.


Handout:

There has been an airplane crash in a desert where nobody lives. 10 people are still alive after the crash. No people live in the desert and they are far from a city. There is enough food and water for the 10 people to live two days. Instead, they have decided to choose 4 people who will take all of the food and water and walk for 6 days to find a city. The pilot knows that a city is about 100 kilometers away. 4 people will try to find the city, 6 people will stay behind and might die. Which 4 people should be chosen to find the city?


1. The Girl: Works in a shop (20 years-old) She is beautiful, did not finish school, is 2 months pregnant, and not married.

2. The Army Soldier: (40 years-old) Trained to survive and help others. Very healthy.

3. The Pilot: (35 years-old) Understands directions well, believes he knows where the city is.

4. The Young Mother: (25 years-old) She is a teacher; her children were not on the airplane.

5. The University Student: (21 years-old) Very smart, will have a great job in the future.

6. The Rich Businessman: (45 years-old) Owns a huge business. Many people work for him.

7. The Famous Politician: (60 years-old) He will try to become the next President or leader of a country.

8. The Nurse: (35 years-old): Knows how to help people who are sick or hurt.

9. The Boy: (8 years-old) Very young and lovely. Wants to see his mommy and daddy again.

10. Yao Ming: (27 years-old) Great NBA player. Famous.


Please Answer These Questions:

#1) Why do you think each person should live? What does each person contribute to society?

#2) Choose 4 people who will live. Why did you choose them?

Inventions

Senior 1 lesson: Inventions
by Shannon

(sorry, I don’t have a handout to share for this one; I did the descriptions of each invention on big sheets of butcher paper)


Objectives: Learning new vocabulary, using comparisons


Teacher brings pictures and descriptions of various inventions (from as simple as a vegetable peeler to as advanced as a submarine). After pre-teaching new vocabulary, students read the descriptions together. Before breaking the class into groups, go over ways to make comparisons (more than this one, better than that one, etc.)


In groups, students are given two of the inventions and asked to list 3 reasons that one is more useful than the other. Answers are shared with the class.


Finally, each student group is given 10 minutes to design their own invention. The teacher gives an example and some guiding questions (who would use this? How much would it cost?) Students share their ideas with the class. (Alternatively, this assignment could be given as homework and the lesson could be stretched over 2 class periods).

American Jokes

Re-telling Jokes

from http://waze.net/oea

1. Copy a set of jokes (found below) and then cut them into strips of paper. Copy a table with a column for the jokes' names, heard, and told. Cut these into small rectangles.

2. Give a sample American joke – pre-teach blonde and the stereotypes associated with them. Pre-teach any other vocab from your jokes and explain the columns – they will read their joke, remember it (no reading!), then re-tell it to each other. They will mark “told” in the appropriate column. After they hear another classmates joke, they should mark “heard.”

3. If they hear a joke they like, they can tell that joke instead of their original joke. Continue marking their table so they can keep track of which ones they have heard.

4. Give them a good 15 minutes or so to mingle amongst each other and hear/tell as many jokes as possible.


The joke about the tiger

Two men are walking through a forest. Suddenly, they see a tiger in the distance, running towards them. They turn and start running away. But then one of them stops, takes some running shoes from his bag, and starts putting them on.

“What are you doing?” says the other man. “Do you think you will run faster than the tiger with those?”

“I don’t have to run faster than the tiger,” he says. “I just have to run faster than you.”


The joke about the genie

An Australian is sitting at a bar, and he sees a lamp on a table. He picks up the lamp and rubs it, and out pops a genie. It says, “I will give you three wishes.”

The man thinks for a while, then he says, “I want a beer that is never empty.”

The genie waves his hand, and a bottle of beer appears on the bar. The Australian starts drinking it. When it is almost empty, it starts to refill. The man is very happy. The genie asks about his next two wishes.

The man says, “I want two more of those.”


The joke about the ugly son

There was a man who had four children, all extremely good-looking, except for the youngest one, Craig. Craig was quite ugly!

The man grew old, and just before he died he asked his wife, “Mary, I have only one question. Please tell me the truth. Am I Craig’s father?”

“Yes, my dear,” replied his wife. “I promise you, Craig is 100% yours.”

The husband smiled. “I can die a happy man. Goodbye, my love.” And he peacefully passed away.

Mary gave a big sigh and said, “Thank god he didn’t ask me about the other three.”


The joke about the smart dog

A man went to visit a friend, and was surprised to find him playing chess with his dog. He watch the game in amazement for a while.

“I can hardly believe my eyes!” he said. “That’s the smartest dog I’ve ever seen!”

“Oh, he’s not so smart,” the friend replied. “I’ve won four games so far, and he’s only won two.”


The joke about the cute dog

A man walks into a shop and sees a cute little dog. He asks the shopkeeper, "Does your dog bite?"

The shopkeeper says, "No, my dog does not bite."

The man tries to pet the dog and the dog bites him.

"Ouch!" he says. "I thought you said your dog does not bite!"

The shopkeeper replies, "That is not my dog!"


The joke about the robber

One night, Tim was walking home, and all of a sudden a robber jumped on him. Tim and the robber began to fight. They fought and fought, but finally the robber managed to pin him to the ground. He searched Tim’s pockets, but only found 25 cents. The robber was so surprised that he asked Tim, “Why did you fight so hard for just 25 cents?”

Tim said, “I thought you wanted to steal the $500 that I’ve got in my shoe!”


The joke about the pool

A beautiful woman walked into an orchard (果园) and found a lovely pool. It was a hot day, and she decided to go for a swim. She looked around, but didn’t see anybody. So she took off all her clothes. She was just about to jump into the pool, when a man suddenly appeared. He was the owner of the orchard, and he had been hiding behind a tree!

“This is my orchard, and swimming in the pool is prohibited (禁止),” he said.

“Well, you should have told me that before I undressed,” said the woman angrily.

“Swimming is prohibited,” he replied, “But undressing isn’t.”


The joke about the blonde

A blonde woman goes to work one day, crying. Her boss asks her why she’s crying, and she says that she just heard that her mother had died. The boss tells her to go home and rest, but woman wants to continue working so that she won’t think about the sad news too much.

A few hours later, the blonde receives a phone call. Afterwards, her boss hears her crying again. He goes and asks her what has happened. She says, “It’s so sad. My sister just called, and told me that her mother has died too.”


HANDOUT A SMALL TABLE TO EACH STUDENT

The joke about…

Heard

Told

the tiger



the ugly son



the smart dog



the cute dog



the robber



the genie



the pool



the blonde



Drawing Directions

Drawing Directions
by Naree (adapted from http://waze.net/oea)

  1. Introduce shapes – square, circle, oval, triangle, pentagon if you want, etc... Introduce different types of lines – straight, curved, horizontal, vertical, parallel if you want...

  2. Introduce descriptions – shaded, striped, spotted, etc...

  3. Introduce directions – top, bottom, in the middle, in the corner, left, right, top-left, northeast, etc...

  4. Choose one student to be the “artist” who will stand at the board with their back to the class.

  5. Show the rest of the class a pre-drawn drawing that uses the vocab you just taught.

  6. Have the artist's classmates shout out directions to help him draw what they are being shown. (You should probably call on people so the artist isn't confused by all the noise)

  7. Afterwards have the artist look at your drawing and see how close they were. Give them tips on how to improve their directions.

  8. Now have the class draw a picture using the shapes and words you just taught.

  9. Collect and re-distribute and pair up students. They CAN NOT show their drawing to the other person.

  10. Have one be the artist and the other give directions.

Swapping Stories

SWAPPING STORIES

by Naree (adapted from http://waze.net/oea)

  1. Tell a personal story (funny or from childhood) and give it a title.

  2. Tell them its their turn. Pass out a small piece of paper to each student so they can write the title of their story down. Give them time to think and write.

  3. Tell them the directions: They will go around and tell someone his/her story. Afterwards, each person should swap their little piece of paper and go to someone else. Now they must tell the story that is in their hand (someone else's story). This means they need to carefully listen and re-tell.

  4. After 20 minutes or so have them sit down and share some of the stories they liked/heard. Ask the original storyteller if the story just told was correct. This is usually the funny part b/c sometimes things are waay off! They usually have fun learning something new/funny about each other.

U.S. Geography: Where in the US is Carmen San Diego?

US Geography: Where in the US is Carmen San Diego?

by Naree

Used in my American Society & Culture class for Junior university students. In this class I tend to not give them as much homework as I could. If adapted, I would have students do more of the research and presentation. Be sure to hand out a map of the US to them (I forgot this – woops! And many wanted one afterwards). Chinese students really do enjoy learning about American culture and geography is a good place to start since it shows the diversity of cultures pretty quickly (visually, accents, food).


  1. Show a picture of Carmen – ask students who she is... a fictional character: she was a good detective (ACME) but then turned bad because she was bored and found it more challenging to steal famous monuments throughout the world. Kids watched the cartoon/game show to learn about world geography. Play the famous Carmen song “Where in the World is...” (I have this)

  2. Now introduce this game – Where in the US is she? They will be shown pictures (or you could describe a place?) and they need to guess what state she is in.(I also have a ppt of all the pics if you're interested)

  3. Show/draw a map of the US – colored regions of the map – to illustrate which state she is in. Be sure to introduce the region that state belongs to (the South, NE, West, Midwest)

  4. After finishing all the states and regions (be sure to give examples of accents and unique culture – southern food, hospitality, bigger people?, drawl “ya'll” ; northeast NY accent if possible and be sure to do a mini- 9/11 talk on how many Americans felt all over the country even though it only happened in one city (think Nanjing and Japan), oldest area in the US bc first colonists here ; Midwestern standard American accent b/c of TV broadcasters, best cheese, Great Lakes, “the mitten” / hand reference to MI & WI ; the West with a Cali valley girl accent, etc

  5. Show pics of a few tourist destinations in the US and give them the names (and a handout – included – with a brief description). Have them take notes on which ones they like (from your mini-presentation)

  6. Put them in groups of 4 and have them collectively decide on only 3 tourist destinations because they are stuck traveling together. They have to do a rank and debate type discussion.

  7. Afterwards get their feedback and see which places are more popular in their eyes.

Improvisation: Party Quirks

Improvisation: Party Quirks
by Naree, Howie, & Alby

Usually Chinese students like acting. If you first act a bit silly, they will soon follow.

  1. Play the “YES!” game: Warm up by getting everyone standing in a circle around class with space between each other. Now shout out random things to do. Everyone has to say “YES!” and then do it.

    "everyone jump up and down!"
    "YES!"
    *30 students begin jumping*

    "everyone act like a chicken!"
    "YES!"
    *arms are flapping and feet are scratching*

    "everyone hug your neighbor!"
    "YES!"
    *all students get a hug except the one boy who happened to get stuck with girls on both sides... whoops*

    "everyone say NO!"
    "YES!"
    "NO!"

    Be patient with silence in the beginning. At the end of few rounds (5-10min), calm them down and return them to their seats.

  2. Follow up with what did they just do. Did they pre-think things to say? What do you call that? Then introduce the word “improvisation.” (Whose line is it anyways and drama classes). This is why we played the YES game.

    (Go over the following after one example perhaps. Do examples when you break the “rules” so they understand why it's important to say YES etc)

    There are only a few rules or tricks of the trade in improvisation. a) always say YES. Go with the flow. “Have a seat please.” “Ok! Oh my gosh! It's broken.” “Oh no! You must be hurt! Are you a doctor?” “YES! I'll fix myself” Saying NO hinders this creativity and funniness. b) help each other. When a fellow actor/actress is stuck, help them out by asking questions that give them a chance to also develop their character. “Hey, weren't you in California last week?” “Uh, yeah! I was making my new film.”c) Ask open ended questions (especially the host) since he/she needs to figure out each guests' quirk. Yes or No will block things too quickly. Give the other person chances to speak and explain him/herself.

  3. Begin to introduce the game “Party Quirks.” There is one host (who needs to set up an imaginary house/party space – popcorn, movies, music, etc), a moderator (who says “DING!” when the host subtly guesses correctly... do you like playing basketball? NOT are you shaq? Though this will happen towards the end), and 2-3 guests who have a quirk. Define quirk as someone with an oddity (a bit strange if you will with different characteristics). The host does not know that the guests' quirks. This is his task throughout the game.

  4. Provide an example: I had 2 friends assist in this but you could try with more confident/dramatic students (or prep a little bit before with them?). I stepped out of the room since I was host. The two guests asked the class for suggestions on what their quirk should be. Examples include: someone who thinks he's superman, 5 years old, 100 years old, about to die in 10 minutes, a famous person (Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Shaq, Yao Ming, etc), jumps every time someone says “and” (similar variations with sing or dance when someone says or does something), etc.

  5. Since I had helpers, we split into smaller groups of 10 so the students felt more comfortable trying this in front of each other (they told me afterwards). Each co-teacher moderated their smaller groups. I haven't tried it with 30 students by myself (and for the whole time) yet.

  6. End with the importance of improvisation: Definitely encourage/praise them since they did a difficult task in another language. Also explain that theatre is often used to build confidence and public speaking skills. This confidence can carry over to speaking a new language. The fear of being silly when you say something is simply ... silly. And being silly is often quite fun and funny for everyone.

American Idioms

Teaching American Idioms

by Vicki Lung (OYY 05-06, Hunan)

Time: 45 minute or more (I made it go for 1 hr 45 min)

Level: Senior 2 (Grade 11 in Middle School), Works with university students and adults (USTB)

  1. Explain what an idiom is: speech form or expression that is peculiar to itself grammatically or cannot be understood from the individual meanings of its elements.

  2. Give an example: “All systems go!” It's not grammatically correct, and you only understand it once you imagine people in the control room at NASA getting ready to launch a rocket. Or “His back is to the wall” and stand against the board unable to move.

    Be sure to DRAW or ACT things to illustrate the image you are trying convey. This makes it fun and helps them understand.

  3. Ask if they know any American idioms (most known “It's raining cats and dogs”)

  4. Explain the importance of understanding idioms. You can't look it up in a normal dictionary (though my college kids found some on their electronic ones) and they are commonly used in writing and in speech.

  5. Explain the key to understanding idioms: There is a story behind every idiom. Think of the IMAGE that goes with the idiom and this is the key to its meaning. For example, for “They flew the coop,” think of chickens flying out of the coop and escaping. The only way that the chickens can be flying is if they are outside of the coop (and now they're gone!)

  6. Pre-teach necessary vocab (coop especially :P)

  7. Split students into groups of 3 to 5 and have them discuss what they think the idioms on the list mean. These teams can also compete with teach other to guess correctly the meanings. They need to discuss in English as much as possible. If you hear Chinese, their group will lose a point. If they get an idiom, they get one point. Give them 10 minutes. (I did not do this, instead I had them race outside like Thai TESL training so they had to memorize what I thought were the most common 6. I made the whole thing last 1 hr 45 min or so with a 5 min break in between)

  8. After time is up, go through the list of idioms. Read the first one out loud. Students raise their hands quickly if their group has an answer. If they guess the correct meaning, the get one point. If not, let others guess. Try to hear from as many students as possible (within groups and between students).

  9. If no one has the correct answer, explain the meaning. Use drawings and act. Make the image of the idiom clear. Ask them for examples or provide other situations when you could use the idioms.

  10. I include the handout and answers below:

* Catch My Drift? *

American Idioms


The following sentences use common American idioms. Guess what they mean:

For example:

All systems go” means “Everything is ready.”

His back is to the wall” means “He is trapped by the circumstances.”


  1. I'll take a baker's dozen.

  2. Stop beating around the bush.

  3. Have you met my better half?

  4. The bank robber finally bit the dust.

  5. It makes your blood run cold.

  6. The show brought down the house.

  7. Tara gave him the cold shoulder.

  8. The prisoner came clean.

  9. They flew the coop.

  10. Betty got the axe.

  11. We just got wind of it.

  12. Mom's got a green thumb.

  13. The girls are having a ball.

  14. Keep your head above water.

  15. I have to hit the books tonight.

  16. I have a little hole-in-the-wall.

  17. It's still up in the air.

  18. Just jump through the hoops.

  19. Keep the ball rolling.

  20. He lost his shirt on that bet.

  21. It happens once in a blue moon.

  22. He's still on the fence.

  23. Did he pop the question?

  24. It's raining cats and dogs.

  25. Harry put his foot in his mouth.

Answers to Catch My Drift

  1. I'll take a baker's dozen. I'll take thirteen.

  2. Stop beating around the bush. Stop avoiding the issue.

  3. Have you met my better half? Have you met my spouse?

  4. The bank robber finally bit the dust. The bank robber finally died.

  5. It makes your blood run cold. It's horrifying.

  6. The show brought down the house. The show was a great success

  7. Ted gave her the cold shoulder. Ted ignored her.

  8. The prisoner came clean. The prisoner confessed.

  9. They flew the coop. They disappeared.

  10. Betty got the axe. Betty was fired from her job.

  11. We just got wind of it. We just heard about it.

  12. Mom's got a green thumb. Mom's a successful gardener.

  13. The girls are having a ball. The girls are enjoying themselves.

  14. Keep your head above water. Stay out of trouble.

  15. I have to hit the books tonight. I have to study tonight.

  16. I have a little hole-in-the-wall. I have a small, inexpensive apartment.

  17. It's still up in the air. It's still undecided.

  18. Just jump through the hoops. Just do what you are told to do.

  19. Keep the ball rolling. Continue the activity.

  20. He lost his shirt on that bet. He lost a lot of money on that bet.

  21. It happens once in a blue moon. It happens very seldom.

  22. He's still on the fence. He's still undecided.

  23. Did he pop the question? Did he ask you to marry him?

  24. It's raining cats and dogs. It's raining very hard.

  25. Harry put his foot in his mouth. Harry said something that made him appear foolish.


Thinking Outside the Box

Thinking Outside the Box by Naree
(inspired by Matt)

Too many times these Chinese kiddos don't get a chance to practice the creativity they do have. Here's your chance to prove other foreigners wrong – your students can be creative!

1. Draw the classic 3 x 3 row of dots (9 total) and ask them how they can connect all the lines with 1 continuous line in only 4 strokes. They cannot lift their pencils/chalk off the paper/board. Give them all 5 minutes or so to try and solve this on their own

Answer: Try this yourself --- you've gotta draw one of the lines outside of the box so you can hit up the other dots. ALSO you can do this with one line! Re-draw the 9 dots on a teeny weeny scale and then take a fat marker or long side of a chalk and cross through the dots.

2. Set up a table for arm-wrestling. Divide class in two and name them Group A and Group 1 (so they are the first of something!). Then have each team select one classmate to arm wrestle. Make sure you repeat the following rule:

The number of times your hand touches the desk is the number of times I will give you candy.

They will assume the classic Win-Lose situation – only one winner (give them candy). After a few chances, show them the Win-Win scenario – both are winners (everyone gets candy). This is also an example of how you can work together and two people can help each other (synergy).

3. Divide the class into groups of 4 or so. Give them the following “lateral thinking” puzzles that encourage creative thinking. Be sure to pre-teach necessary vocab. Remind them to think outside the box and give them hints/clues as you circle around the room

The Coin

John is on a raft, adrift in the ocean with several other survivors of a shipwreck. The others are too weak, so he or Mike will swim to a nearby island to look for help. It is almost certainly suicidal, due to the circling sharks, but they have little else to hope for. Mike takes the lose change from his pocket and puts two pennies in a hat. He tells John that one is a 2005 penny, and the other 1975. If John picks the newer penny he can stay on the rat, and Mike will risk his life. If John picks the older penny, he must go. John has seen that both pennies were actually dated 1975, but he doesn't want to say anything, because Mike is a big guy. How does he win, and get Mike to go, without exposing him as a fraud in front of the others?

The Convent

A man came to visit at a convent while the superior mother was out of town. He left before she returned, and was careful to leave nothing behind. The nuns said nothing about his visit, so how did the superior mother figure out that a man had been there?

The Speech

A politician wrote a long speech. How did it help his career even before he gave the speech?

Light Switches

There are three switches outside a closed room. There are three lamps inside the room. You can flip the switches as much as you want while the door is closed, but then you must enter just once and determine which switch is connected to which lamp. How can you do it?

Hospital

Agatha spent several days in the hospital. She wasn't injured, and she wasn't sick, but she did have to be carried out when she left though. Why was she in the hospital?


Solutions To The Lateral Thinking Puzzles

The Coin: John reaches into the hat and takes out either penny. He lets it slip out of his hand and fall into the ocean. Apologizing, he suggests that if the remaining penny in the hat is the 1975 one, he must have drawn the 2005 penny. Mike cannot argue with the logic unless he wants to admit to lying. Since the others won't tolerate a liar anyhow, he makes the swim.

The Convent: Because a toilet seat was up.

The Speech: True Story solution: In 1912, President Teddy Roosevelt was shot in the chest. The folded-up manuscript of his speech was in his pocket, and slowed the bullet, saving his life, and so helping his career.

Switch the first one on for a minute, then turn it off and turn the second on. Enter the room and feel the two bulbs that are off. The warm one was turned on by the first switch, the light that is on is connected to the second, and the last one will be cold to the touch (and connected to the light switch you didn't touch).

Hospital: Agatha is a newborn baby

Solution to 9 Dots Puzzle


Service Project

Service Project by Matt and Molly

Beijing, USTB Spring 2007

Appropriate Student Level: University, possible Senior students if they have time


Service Project


This term we are requiring our sophomore Management Students to participate in a service project for part of their grade.


It’s not really an English lesson, but we justify making them do it by… well, there really is no good justification. It just seems like something they should do. It’s also a good transition from when they operated an imaginary business last term to putting into real life practice some of the ideas they’ve discussed. Given that many of our students have never had a job, internship or have volunteered, this also seems like a good way to make them demonstrate some leadership skills and initiative. It can also help their resumes and give them something to talk about at a job interview. This rationale seemed to work with them and, as a whole, many of our students are excited about this project.


We are trying to tie in some English into all this as well.


For example:


Week 1: Divide the class into two groups- one male, one female. Each group must select one person to be a project leader. After several minutes, have them finalize their decision and bring the project leaders to the front of the class. They must then choose one person at a time, alternating boy/girl, to be a member of their project group.


Have the groups discuss project ideas and how they can do them. They must select an idea by Week 3. Try to make sure that they will actually be responsible for organizing some event or activity. That way they are not just finding an already established activity and participating. The idea is to make them responsible for making something happen.


Also, try to do this in the 2nd semester so that they can do their project sometime in May or June when it’s warm.


Week 2: Hand out sheets asking the following:


Project Leader Name


Description of Project



Member Name

Next Task

Date to be Completed

Supervisor’s Name

1




2




3 (etc…)





Discuss basic ideas and vocab regarding hierarchical management structure. Have the group make sure everyone is assigned a task and that supervisors are selected to help ensure specific tasks are completed.


Also notify them that next week, one person from each group will have to present their idea.


Week 3: Have one person from each group present at the beginning of class (but it cannot be the Project Leader). Presentation is very basic, just a few minutes so they can express their plan.


We’ll be monitoring students and grading them individually over the course of the term. We’ll have occasional classed dedicated to further speaking exercises involving their project. Just not sure what… we’re kind of winging it at the moment. We also intend on visiting the students when they do their projects to make sure they are actually volunteering. We have one group already doing one of many events they plan tomorrow.


This is also nice because we may be able to learn of new volunteer opportunities for VIA through our students as they seek out their own volunteer projects.


Of course, we’ve had to plan other lessons on top of these lessons for the service project b/c most of the in-class work does not take much time.

Sentence Auction

Sentence Auction by Anjali

I wrote down 10 sentences on a piece of paper, some of which had grammar mistakes and some of which did not. I photocopied it and gave it to each team. I then gave them some time to find and correct the mistakes. They were given 100 points for each mistake they changed correctly (don’t let them know which ones they changed correctly) and that ended up being the team’s number of points.


I then auctioned off each of the ten sentences one by one. The object was for the teams to use their points to buy the most correct sentences, while avoiding buying the ones with mistakes. After the highest bidder was found, I’d reveal if the sentence is correct or not. If it’s not, I’ll ask the class how to correct it (this is where the oral English comes in—getting them to use words like “comma” “insert” and “take out”). This is a really loud and exciting activity, so make sure your vocal chords (not to mention energy level) are in good shape before attempting it!

Dear Abby

Advice by Anjali

Make sure the entire class knows the meaning of the word “advice” (and “advise”). Go over some phrases that can be used when giving advice (if I were in your shoes, etc.). Show a couple of short dear abby type letters written by teenagers, then give the class a few minutes to work in groups and come up with some advice for each teenager. Have some of the groups share them with the class.


Then hand out a small slip of paper to each student in the class (there should be four different colors). Don’t tell the students what you want them to do yet. Once you’ve handed them out, tell them what each color means—for example, if they were given a blue piece of paper it means a problem with school, red might mean love, yellow might mean family, etc.


Then ask each student to write down a problem (real or made up) on the paper (the subject depending on the color of paper they received). Make sure that they know that it doesn’t have to be real and that they shouldn’t write their names on the paper. Collect all of the papers and have students come up, pick a piece of paper (problem) randomly out of the box, and give advice on the problem. Then have other students say if they agree with that advice or not.

Create a Band

Create a Band by Anjali

Credit to last year’s FC for the inspiration! I went over some different types of music (and played a few) and the names for different members of a band (lead singer, drummer, etc.) then had each group form their own band. They had to introduce themselves (I’m the lead singer, etc.) and tell the class about their band (name of band, their hit song, the type of music they play, who listens to their music, etc.). Then, they perform an English song! At the end, we did an American Idol thing and the class voted for their favorite band.

Alibi

Alibi by Anjali

Teach the various relevant vocab (alibi, detective, suspect, crime, innocent, guilty, etc). Pick four or five students to come to the front of the class and explain that there was a robbery yesterday at 12:06pm and that these four students are the suspects. Send them out of the room and have them come up with their story of where they were when the crime was committed (tell them that they should think of as many details as possible—if they were eating lunch-- how much was the bill, who paid, who served them, how did they get to the restaurant, etc.).

Meanwhile, tell the rest of the class that they are detectives and should come up with as many questions as possible. Then, I brought the first suspect into the class (the others still outside) and had the class ask him/her questions. After the class was done with the questioning, I sent him/her to the back of the class facing the back wall. Then, I brought the second suspect in and the students asked him questions, then the third, etc. The goal was for the class to find five differences in the suspect’s stories (one student said that a woman had served them, another said it was a man, etc). If they do find five discrepancies, the suspects are guilty! My students came up with some brilliant questions. I was really impressed.

Create a Country

Create a Country by Anjali
Go over various vocab that describes a country (climate, environmental disasters, population, etc.), show an example via a powerpoint (i.e. tell the class about your own made up country—make sure it’s fun, creative and interesting!), then put them in groups and have them create their own country (to be presented the following week). Since my school has projectors, the students really got into this and made these great powerpoint presentations describing their countries, using the vocab that they had been taught. Six months later, my classes are still talking about Mumu Guo (my made up country).

Daily Warm Up - WOW

Word of the Week (WOW) by Anjali

I do this at the beginning of every Senior 1 class I teach. Normally takes around 5 minutes (although sometimes a debate will occur with the question of the week and cause this to last for 10-15 minutes!). I start out by showing them a word that they may or may not know. If anyone in the class can explain what it means in English, they get five participation points (I have them write their name in my notebook). If no one knows the word, we move on to the next powerpoint slide—with the vocab word used in a sentence. If someone can explain the word at this point, they get three points. If not, then we move onto the next slide—the word in Chinese. If they can explain it now, they get one point.


I also do a question of the week (covers any topic—such as what you would do if you had a million dollars, etc.) and give a few people the opportunity to say something and earn points (between 1-5 points depending on their answer). At the end of the month, the person with the most points in the class gets a little gift from me. The more points they have, the better the gift! Every class loves this and really gets into it (not to mention competitive—students will stand up and point at someone if they’re using a dictionary to look up the word!). At the end of the semester, I did a review of the WOW words that we had studied up to that point. This has been really successful and effective, so I highly recommend trying it out. It is also, incidentally, a great way to learn the names of your students.

Superhero

Superhero by Anjali

1. Show them pictures of a few different superheroes and ask them to name them. Then ask them what they all have in common. None of my classes knew the word, so I then wrote it on the board.


2. Divide the class into 8 groups and tell them that you want them to create their own superhero. Then go over what you want them to say about their superhero: appearance, how they became a superhero, special powers (if you have time, you might want to teach specific ones that they wouldn't know like invisible, x-ray vision), weaknesses, worst enemy/battle. The best way that I have found to teach vocab (without actually bringing the object into class) is describing it in English then asking them "what is weakness" then somebody will normally say the word in Chinese, then you say yes and the rest of the class goes "ohhhhhhh." So, try to learn the chinese words for the vocab that you're teaching.


3. Share your own superhero. I told them a story about Mr. Bear, this ordinary bear who suddenly acquires superpowers after getting hit on the head by evil panda. Basically I told them a story (hitting all of the points that I want them to describe of their own hero—weaknesses, special powers, enemies) while showing some pictures. Once you finish the story, you may want to concept check and ask them what superbear's special powers are and what his weakness is. Or you can do what I did at conference, which was to have students come to the front and act it out while you tell the story. If your students have good listening skills, this might actually work out better.


4. Give each team something silly (toilet paper, etc.) and tell them that whatever they are given must be part of the superhero--either a weapon, the enemy or the superhero itself. Give them 5 minutes to prepare.


5. Listen to each group talk about their superhero and take notes on the board--particularly the name of the hero, special powers and weaknesses.


6. Tell the class that we want to find the best superhero of them all, so we’re going to have them fight. Pick two of the heroes and ask them who would win if the two of them were to fight. Make sure you have them explain why--what special powers does that superhero have that will enable it to beat the other one, etc. You may need to do a bit of prompting at the beginning to help them out. The winner of the battle fights against another, etc. until all have fought. The one remaining is the winner.


TV Programs

TV Programs by Anjali

Kids like TV. Chinese kids LOVE TV. I started out the lesson by introducing vocab (different types of programs—talk show, sitcom, drama, game show (as well as host and contestant), soap opera, etc.) via a powerpoint (pictures of the different shows, not the words). I also explained each of them in case they were different from Chinese tv shows (for ex. sitcoms are normally 30 minutes long and are supposed to be funny, dramas are normally 1 hour long and are serious). Then I showed 5 short examples of different types of TV shows and had them guess what they were (I showed bits of a sitcom and a drama on my computer, then I did three others “live”). The three live ones were:

1. I asked the two tallest people in the class to come to the front and pretended that I was a host. I introduced the two guests to the audience (class) as Yao Ming and Shaquille O’Neal. I then told them this made up story that Yao Ming had gotten hit in the face and everyone thought it was Shaq. I asked each of them if this was true, etc. Then I asked the audience for their opinion. I let it go on for about five minutes then stopped and ask the class what kind of show it is.


2. I wrote “Price is Right” on the board and divided the class into four teams and explained the rules of the game. I took some oranges, a bottle of iced tea and a candle out of my bag (one at a time and wrote down on the board how much each team thought I paid, then wrote down the actual price that I paid). Then I asked them what kind of show it is. They loved this game by the way and I hammed it up by pretending to be a really cheesy game show lady (doing the “model walk” down the aisles with the showy hands). I also learned that I pay too much for oranges. Again, no more than five minutes.


3. I picked two students to come to the front (pick the most dramatic two who aren’t shy) and gave them this short dialogue that I had written (photocopy it so both have the same one). Then I told them to read it out loud in a very dramatic way. The first line was the kicker and literally had people falling out of their chairs with laughter (“But Lilly, don’t you love me anymore?”). I even interrupted the boy if he wasn’t being dramatic enough and demonstrated how I wanted him to do it (falling to my knees with clutched fists waving frantically in the air!). Ah, yes, the things I’ll do for a laugh.


I then split the class into groups and gave them the last ten minutes of class to come up with their own TV program (as if we’re turning on the TV and watching their program for five minutes). We watched their performances the following week. I liked this lesson because it gave them the opportunity to really use their creativity, since there was a lot of flexibility with what they could do (a variety of programs were used by my students-news show, cooking show, cartoon, sitcom, drama, soap opera, game show, talk show, etc.). As a result, it never got boring because each one was so different from the other. This is a fun lesson that’s a good change of pace if you’ve been doing a couple of heavier lessons and want to lighten things up a bit.


Matchmaking

Matchmaking by Anjali
1.Divide the class into 8 groups and tell them that they are parents. Give four of them daughters and four of them sons. Explain that their children are around the right age to start thinking about getting married. We want to pair up the four boys with the four girls.

2. Go over the various vocab that will describe their child (name, appearance, profession, personality (you’ll also have to explain outgoing and introverted), interests, ideal mate, etc.) and give them about five minutes to come up with their child’s profile. Meanwhile, divide the chalkboard into 8 parts and write the team number and gender of the child at the top of each column.

3. Ask each group to pick someone to come to the board and draw their child (face only is ok). They really get into this part but make sure they don’t spend too much time on the drawing—around 5 minutes. Do not skip this part—the lesson will not be the same without it!

4. Ask each group to tell the class about their child and take notes on the board next to the child’s picture as they speak.

5. After all eight groups have presented, give them a couple of minutes to discuss who they want to set their child up with and why (do they have similar interests, etc). Then pick one group and ask them who they want to set their child up with and why. Ask the parents of the other child if they agree to that set up and why or why not. If they agree, then there’s a match (and the whole class cheers!) and you can ham it up by linking the two pictures up with arrows and drawing a heart. If the parents of the other child don’t agree, then ask them who they want to set their child up with. Keep going until all the children are paired up. Lots of fun and worked like a charm in all of the classes.

NOTE: in each class there is always one really “undesirable” child that no one wants to be with. Save that one for the end because the last remaining child will have to be paired up with the undesirable one!