October
27
Wordy Wednesday #14
I love activites which give students scope to introduce their own ideas, activities which make them “think outside the box” and for which there are no wrong answers. I played a game this evening with my FCE class which I’ve played before with lower levels and all students find it just as difficult.
Show students a picture and ask them to write a sentence about it, but say that they can’t include a certain letter. Make sure it’s a letter which immediately springs to mind when you first look at the picture; for example, if there’s a picture of someone swimming, say the forbidden letter is “s”.
What activities do you use to get students thinking outside the box?
That’s a nice activity, I can imagine it’s difficult. I’ll try it out. I’ve done something similar but with regulating words. It’s a competitive game. I’ve got lots of pictures in my hand, cards actually, like your red and blue ones but with a picture on each, and 3 words that mustn’t be said when describing the picture. Two teams. I describe a picture, long-winded, slowly giving away bits of important information. Even if they guess quite early on (I’ve mainly done this with children), I carry on until the whole room is screaming the word. (It can get out of control!) Then I give the point to the first one who gave it. This can also cause aggravation. Once I’ve done a few, I get learners to take it in turns to describe 3 or 4 pictures each. They really enjoy hearing a learner say the right word but knowing they can still carry on describing.
Thanks for the game, David. I love anything like that which gets students talking and enjoying themselves. I’ll give it a go this week!