The Language Teacher
October 2002
Words That Make a Really Nice Place to Live
Rick Romanko
Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
QUICK GUIDE
Key Words:noticing, negotiating, incorporating
Learner English Level: Intermediate
Learner Maturity Level: High school and university through to adults
Preparation Time: Minimal
Activity Time: Two to three class periods, depending on student level and class length
Materials: Pictures (from clip art, magazines, books, or hand
drawn)
It is essential to build a large vocabulary when learning a foreign language. The following sequence of activities focuses on vocabulary encountered in a unit dealing with quality of life. It is a multi-skills lesson designed to provide students with numerous opportunities to 1) direct their attention towards vocabulary, 2) negotiate the meaning of vocabulary with others, and 3) incorporate new vocabulary in a communicative speaking activity. With a few adjustments, this activity can also be used with lower level students. What makes a nice place to live?
Step 1: Begin by writing the words Quality of Life on the board and draw a circle around it. This will be the anchor idea for a semantic map. Ask students, Where is a good place to live in Japan? When they give their answers, elicit their reasons. Write down their answers around the anchor idea.
Step 2: Explain that these features create a good quality of life. Then ask students to give you examples of things that cause a bad quality of life. In the end, you will have a map on your board similar to the one below (see Stahl and Vancil, 1986, for other ideas on building effective mind maps). Estimated time: 10 minutes.
Picture perfect?
Step 3: Have students form small groups of two or three students. Each student in the group should find a set of pictures representing some of the key words from the mind map and bring them to the following class. As a group, they should then make a picture version of the mind map. This will help reinforce connections between the target words and their meanings.
Many pictures can be obtained from the numerous clip art and picture gallery sites found on-line or the more traditional avenue of books and magazines. The teacher should prepare a general set of pictures for the initial class representing the words and ideas you hope to guide your students to produce during the map building stage (again, see Stahl and Vancil for ideas on building effective mind maps). Words for which pictures could not be found can be hand drawn by the students. Estimated time: 10 minutes.
My city is the best!
Step 4: Arrange students into new groups of three or four students and ask them to choose a Japanese city with which they are familiar. As a group, students brainstorm examples of their city's good and bad qualities on their own copy of the mind map. An example might be: Tokyo's air is polluted because of the many buses, cars, and motorbikes. Group work increases the chances that students will not be stumped and also gives students a chance to learn from each other. The teacher should also be circulating from group to group providing assistance when needed. Addressing the whole class about a word or connection that is causing difficulty can be helpful and productive. Estimated time: 20 minutes.
Your city has what? You should see mine.
Step 5: Form new groups of four so that every student becomes the representative of their previous group. Students compare and contrast the good and bad qualities of their cities. Stress to students that they should circle qualities that make their city better or worse than the others. In the end, each student will have a mind map that highlights the attractive and unattractive points unique to their city. Estimated time: 20 minutes (five minutes for each group's representative to present).
Step 6: Students then return to their original group. Ask them to classify the characteristics of their city into two categories: distinctive good qualities and distinctive bad qualities. With the good qualities, students should write up a list of reasons why someone should move to their city. With the bad qualities, students should write down ideas on how each problem could be solved The result is a plan to improve their city. Once again the teacher can address issues while wandering between the different groups. Each group should end up with a sales pitch as to why their city provides the best quality of life. Estimated time: 15-20 minutes (depends upon the student level).
Are you interested in moving to paradise?
Step 7: To close off the lesson, students circulate around the classroom convincing each other to move to their city. Their list of attractive qualities and the city improvement plan will provide students with lots to talk about. If they can successfully convince someone to move to their city, they should ask that student to write his or her name on their paper. This activity can easily be turned into a contest, with the different groups competing to get the largest number of students to move to their city (a small prize always adds a fun incentive). Asking students to read and then look up from their paper as they speak should discourage direct reading from their papers. This activity can also be made into a fluency activity by reducing the amount of time a student has to convince their partner (see Maurice, 1983; Arevart and Nation, 1991 for a description of fluency building activities like 4/3/2). Estimated time: 15 minutes.
A final note
This activity can easily be adapted and used for other topics such as recommending books or movies. Depending on the level of your students, the timing of each step will also vary. Thus, for those who teach classes of less than ninety minutes, it is recommended that the activities be run over several consecutive classes. This will also allow lower level students the extra time they need and deserve in their attempts to attain a better quality of life in their English language classroom.
References
Arevart, S. and Nation, I.S.P. (1991) Fluency improvement in a second language. RELC Journal 22, 1: 84-94.
Maurice, K. (1983). The fluency workshop. TESOL Newsletter 8: 83.
Stahl, Steven A. & Vancil, Sandra J. (1986). Discussion is what makes semantic maps work in vocabulary instruction. The Reading Teacher 40, 1: 62-67.
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