IT WORKS IN PRACTICE
More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all worked
for ETp readers. Try them out for yourself – and then send us your own
contribution. Don’t forget to include your postal address.
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of It Works in Practice for this year.
Use my word Poll position
Quite a number of students find Polls have been used in ELT for Here are ten lesson ideas:
making conversation is not an decades as a way to get students 1 Write a question on the board and ask
easy thing to do – even in their talking and discussing. your students to vote and present a 30-
mother tongue, let alone a foreign They’re great for starting off a class second comment.
language. As teachers, we often or finishing off a topic, and can 2 Tell the students the topic of the question
try to give them practice in this even be used as the basis for an and get them to guess the question itself.
skill and provide some hints for entire lesson. Polls basically involve
3 Put the students into groups, give each
maintaining conversations, such proposing a question, having a vote
group a series of questions and get them
as never answer just yes or no, ask and presenting comments/having a
to discuss each one.
questions, maintain eye contact, discussion. In class, you can play
around with these steps by putting 4 Give the class a choice of three questions
try to sound interested, etc.
the vote at the end of a discussion and ask them to decide which is the most
To make speaking activities more interesting – and why.
or having an initial vote and then a
exciting, I often give each of my
discussion, or even having no vote 5 Write up one question and get the
students a different word before but just comments. You could also students to brainstorm the background to
the activity starts. They have to start with a broad discussion, vote it and why people might want to ask this
keep this word secret from their on a question and then discuss it question.
partner, but their task is to steer further. The options are endless,
6 Ask pairs of students to make their own
the conversation in such a way as almost.
to get their partner to use their questions and canvas the opinions of the
An interesting source of daily rest of the class.
word at least once during the
contemporary poll discussion ideas 7
conversation. If you want, you can Make a question at the end of the class
is www.sodahead.com, an online linked to the topic you have been
specify that they cannot say the
polling site where readers ask studying and elicit some opinions. Then
word themselves, but will score questions and then vote and add
points every time their partner put it on www.sodahead.com. For
comments. This site also has homework, ask the students to add their
uses it. slideshows and lets you make your comments and keep track of other
The choice of words is up to you: own poll and post it on the site. people’s.
they could be simple everyday What’s great about it is that
8 As in 7, but ask pairs of students to come
words or expressions, or ones that anything you put up can be voted
on and answered by anyone; the up with questions.
you want to revise with your
comments soon add up, so within a 9 Ask the students to create a slideshow of
students.
day you’ll have plenty of responses. important images related to their
This technique is great fun and Another good thing is that all the question and then put it on the site.
provides plenty of speaking questions are about topical US/UK 10 Get the students to canvas the opinions
practice as the students work hard stories, which will encourage the of their friends, family, host family or
to force their partners into saying students to read and watch the other teachers for homework and to
their words. news and understand the report back in the next lesson.
Nataliya Potapova importance of learning about Phil Wade
Uzhhorod, Ukraine culture alongside language. Bordeaux, France
• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 78 January 2012 • 37
