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. The contributors to this issue will each receive a digital subscription
to Modern English Teacher.

NEXT QUESTION, PREVIOUS ANSWER DO IT LIKE THIS

Chiara Sabatini, Terni, Italy Martin Appleton, Exeter, UK
In this activity, I prepare a series of fairly simple questions and show This activity is fun to do in the classroom, but it
them, one by one, to the students (I use Quizlet and project the would also work well in a Zoom class or other
questions on a whiteboard). I sometimes use the activity to review synchronous online lesson where the students
topics we have recently studied, but questions asking for personal can all see each other.
information work just as well, and it is a good activity to use on the Prepare a list of actions that can easily be done
first day with a new class, to give you some idea of their current level or mimed. For example: stand up, sit down, open the
of English. The difference between this and a normal ‘question and window, brush your teeth, paint a picture, take a photo,
answer’ session is that the students get to see the first question for eat an apple, etc. Also decide on a range of different
just a few seconds, then I show them the second question, at the same people that you can ask the students to impersonate.
time choosing a student to answer the first question. The next student For example: a very young child, an elderly person,
chosen has to answer the second question while the third one is someone with a headache, perhaps a famous person
displayed, and so on. So each time, a student is required to answer (choose people that all the students are likely to know).
the previous question while looking at the next one.
There are several different ways of doing the
As mentioned above, I prepare sets of questions using Quizlet.com, activity.
so I always have them available online, but you could make a Google
1 It is quite fun simply to give the whole class
Slides presentation or write the questions on sheets of paper. The
the action and the person, and ask them all
important thing is that you keep the activity going. The students are
simultaneously to do the action as if they were
unlikely to get bored, because they have to concentrate to remember
that person.
the previous question, in case you choose them to answer it. They
never know which student you are going to call on next. My students 2 Y
 ou could choose individual students in turn,
like doing this activity because it is quick and it allows them to speak: giving them the action and the person and
the shy students enjoy it because they can take part even if they only asking them to perform for the class.
use a few words; the more confident students are happy because they 3 Y
 ou could choose an individual student and tell
can talk a bit more. If you want to practise both speaking and writing, them in secret what you want them to do and
you could get the students to write their answers on mini-whiteboards who you want them to be. The rest of the class
or sheets of paper, though this will take a bit longer. then have to guess the action and the person.
I learnt this activity during a webinar organised by Cambridge 4 Y
 ou could extend the activity by asking the
University Press last spring during lockdown. I then adapted it for my students to choose actions and people to give
students. to their classmates. This would give them
Here are some examples of questions I have used with my students: practice in using imperatives as well as
responding to them. n
What’s your name?
What’s your telephone number?
What’s your favourite colour?
What do you do in your free time?
Have you got any brothers or sisters?
What was your favourite subject at primary school?
What did you do last Wednesday?
Where did you go on holiday last year?
What did you do yesterday afternoon? n

32 Issue 131 • November 2020 www.etprofessional.com

 IT WORKS IN PRACTICE

PASS THE PARCEL

Ellie Linghurst, Morioka, Japan
This is a variation
on a children’s
party game, in
which a small
present is
wrapped in
multiple layers
of paper, and the
parcel passed
around while music is played. When the music stops, the
child holding the parcel is allowed to remove one layer of
paper. The game continues until the final layer of paper is
removed – and the child who takes off this final layer gets
the present. In this ELT version, the students pass around
an envelope containing small pieces of paper, each with an
item of vocabulary written on it. The teacher plays some
music, occasionally switching it off. Whoever is holding the
envelope when the music stops has to take a piece of paper TRUE STORY OR FAKE NEWS?
out and make a sentence using the word on it. The music
Simon Johnston, Billingshurst, UK
is then put back on and the envelope moves on. The teacher
These days, we hear a lot about using authentic material
needs to keep an eye out that a different student each time
in the classroom – and we also hear a lot about ‘fake news’.
is holding the envelope when the music stops.
Here is a great way to combine the two in an activity that
Variations: Instead of single items of vocabulary to practises all four skills.
use in a sentence, the pieces of paper could have a
Get some English newspapers (or find a selection of online
noun and a verb tense that has to be used in the sentence,
news stories in English). Choose fairly short stories with
questions for the students to answer, things they have
interesting headlines, ideally ones which are a little mysterious
to do or mime ... the possibilities are endless. n
or don’t give away the exact content of the accompanying story.
Make copies of the stories with their headlines. You will need one
FLASHCARD SNAP story for each group of four or five students in the class. It is
important that the groups all have completely different stories
Delia Collins, Toronto, Canada and don’t show their stories or the headlines to the other groups.
For each group
Distribute the articles and tell the groups to read their
of students,
articles carefully. Then ask them to prepare a ‘fake news’
you will need
version, using exactly the same headline but telling a
two sets of
completely different story. Remind them that they will have to
flashcards, one
pay attention to the accuracy of their English, so that it is harder
showing only
to spot which story they have made up.
pictures, the
other only words Each group gives an account of both stories to the class in
corresponding an oral presentation. The other students have to work out which
to the pictures was the original story and which is ‘fake news’.
in the other set. Each group sits around a table and places the You could also let your groups of students find their own news
flashcards face down in two piles in front of them. The students stories to use in this activity, and it is something that could be done
then take turns to turn over two flashcards at the same time outside class or in preparation for an online lesson. This has the
(one from each set). They should do this in a way that allows advantage that you also have to work out which story is true and
everyone in the group to see. If the flashcards match, the first which is ‘fake news’. Many students will work harder and with
person to realise this shouts Snap! and everybody stands up. more enthusiasm if there is a chance of fooling their teacher.
The last person to stand up gets some kind of penalty. This My adult students had great fun with the headline ‘Human
could be a point (if they get four points, they are out of the hamster found dead’. The original was a rather sad story about
game) or it could be a forfeit (they have to do something, the death of an old man who never threw anything away and who
such as make a sentence out of the word on the flashcard). had filled his house with rubbish. The students’ version told of
This game can be played with the whole class, using a bizarre genetic experiment in which a hybrid creature – part
a projector to display the flashcards, but it is best played human, part hamster – had been created in a sinister laboratory
in small groups as it is much easier to spot who is the last on a seemingly deserted island. Of course, in this case, it wasn’t
person to stand up. n too difficult to guess which one was ‘fake news’! n

www.etprofessional.com Issue 131 • November 2020 33