The Language Teacher
03 - 2002
You Can Communicate It
John Morris and Brian Cullen
Nagoya Institute of Technology
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words: Quick activities, Activating language resources
Learner English Level: All
Learner Maturity Level: High school and up
Preparation Time: Very little
Activity Time: Variable
Students can often do more with their language resources than they realize themselves. As teachers, encouraging students to use their existing knowledge is just as important as teaching them new material. We have found the following activities to be useful in encouraging students to use their existing knowledge and resources.
Activity 1: Simple Words for Difficult Things
First, emphasize to students that they can do a lot with the little that they know. Demonstrate this by carrying out a short paraphrasing exercise.
Step 1: Divide your students into small groups.
Step 2: Give each student a turn to explain English words using simple English words that they already know. Simple words such as hail, sea, or lion are good to begin with. Some sample student paraphrases are given below:
hail: It's like rain, but hard and cold.
sea: It's very big. It's blue. People can swim there.
lion: It's a big cat. If I see him, I will run away.
Before starting, give several examples like these to your students. As students become familiar with the idea, move on to more difficult words such as guilt. You can incorporate vocabulary from recent lessons.
Step 3: Once students are sufficiently proficient at paraphrasing words, add some fun by making it into a game. Give a list of words to one student in each group. This student should not show the list to the others.
Step 4: Set a time limit of three minutes and ask the student to paraphrase as many words as possible. The other students in the group must try to guess the words. The group that guesses the most words within the time limit is the winner. Students enjoy this game, and it provides powerful motivation to use existing language resources.
Activity 2: Using Body Language
Step 1: Emphasize to students that body language plays a crucial role in communication. Demonstrate a few examples to the students by using body language to show that you are hungry, thirsty, tired, or impatient.
Step 2: Divide students into pairs, and give one of the students a scenario that they can communicate without speaking.
Example:
You missed your plane because . . .
Think of a good reason and, using only body language, explain this reason to your partner.
The reason may be written on the card or you can ask students to use their imagination. The person listening should also be taught to be active in trying to interpret the event.
Step 3: Students then change roles. Some people may find the use of body language a little embarrassing at first, but if you ask everyone to do it at the same time, tension can be relieved.
Activity 3: Combining Body Language and Words
The next stage is to combine body language with words that students already know, to convey a difficult message. For this, we use two games.
Something Strange Happened Tonight
Step 1: Divide students into several large groups.
Step 2: Give scenarios to the students that they must report to a police officer. It is best if these scenarios involve bizarre or amusing incidents.
Example 1: You were walking through the park and dropped your wallet. A bird came down and took it. You chased the bird through the park but it dropped the wallet in its nest high up a tree. You want to borrow a ladder to get it down.
Example 2: You were assaulted by an old man as you were waiting to cross the road. You gave him a slap across the face, but he turned out to be a martial arts expert and you got badly beaten up.
Students can use body language and any words from the target language that they know to get their message across. Different students take the role of policeman or reporter each time, and the other students act as spectators.
Dark and Windy Night
Step 1: Divide students into groups of about five or six students.
Step 2: Explain to your students that it is a dark and windy night. One student takes the role of a person in a house in an isolated place. One by one, the other students have to persuade this student to let them in by explaining what has happened to them. One of them is a murderer who is told to make up any plausible reason to be let in. The others are given bizarre stories. Give scenario cards to students explaining their situation. Include instructions to use only body language, only verbal language, or a combination of both. Here are two examples of possible scenario cards.
Example 1: You were driving along the road with your wife and kids when you saw a guy whose car had broken down standing by his car. You stopped to help. Suddenly, he produced a knife and took your car with your family. You need to borrow the telephone and tell the police. (Use only body language.)
Example 2: You were driving through a forest when there was a flash of purple light and your engine went dead. You got out of the car and saw strange lights. When you got to them you saw they were aliens unloading weapons. You want to get in so you can inform the authorities. (Use only verbal language.)
Students try hard to talk their way into the house, and the bizarre events of their stories keep the mood fun. By allowing students to use different combinations of body language and verbal language, all students will begin to realize the rich resources that they already have.
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