Think, Pair, Square

Purpose: Students from traditional academic backgrounds may struggle with the idea and practice of group discussions, which are more common in U.S. classrooms. Here’s a technique that may help them ease into the activity.

Procedure:

1) Give the class a discussion question.

2) Ask students to think and talk about the question with a partner.

3) Next, each pair goes and talks to another pair.

4) Now lead a whole-class discussion.

Giving Directions for Worksheets

The best time to give directions for completing a worksheet is BEFORE you hand it out!

Let's say that as part of an intermediate level unit on making a schedule and setting goals, you are using a worksheet that asks your students to look at Sadia’s schedule in chart form, answer questions about it with a partner, then write sentences about Sadia’s activities using adverbs of frequency.

Before handing out the worksheet, plan to:

• ask questions to find out what experience students have maintaining a written schedule of their daily activities (activate prior knowledge)
• pre-teach any vocabulary that might be new
• review adverbs of frequency if necessary
• explain the purpose of the worksheet - what will the students be practicing?
• check for comprehension of instructions

Show students the worksheet using an overhead or document projector. Talk about or show them the different parts of the worksheet. Starting with the first part, look at the example. Talk about the process for arriving at the answer given in the example. Do the next one as a group, with you as the leader, and then ask the group to complete the next one together. Check for comprehension. If the learners can’t repeat instructions or show you, spend more time modeling the activity.

Introduce each part of the worksheet in the manner described above. Demonstrate as much as possible, even when giving verbal instructions. For example, if you want students to underline the adverbs of frequency in their sentences, show them what you mean or ask them to show you.

Now hand out the worksheets.

Qualities Brainstorm

Purpose: To practice speaking; review nouns and adjectives

Preparation time: None

Procedure:
1. Choose a quality, such as round.
2. Have learners name as many things as possible that have that quality (e.g., wheel, sun, moon, clock, etc.).
3. You may write down what your students say or you may have them write a list themselves.

Here are some categories:

Things that …

Are red/blue/black/white
Are round/square/oval/flat
Are hard/soft/liquid
Are sweet/sour/bitter/chewy
Fly/float/jump
Come in twos/threes/fours
Have holes/handles
Use electricity
Are made of plastic/wood/metal/glass
Move quickly/slowly

Variation:
To turn the activity into a game, have each student read his or her list while the rest of the class tries to identify the quality.

Best Practice: Pre-Teaching

Every activity has three parts: the introduction, the activity itself, and some kind of follow up. The introduction to an activity is called pre-teaching. This involves getting students ready to a reading, writing, listening or speaking task by:

• activating students' prior knowledge to link the new material to something they may already know
• teaching key, unfamiliar vocabulary using visuals, props, and examples
• asking questions to find out what learners remember or think about the topic or grammar point so they can start thinking about it
• enabling learners to anticipate content, facilitating comprehension
• explaining the purpose of the activity
• clarifying the learners' task

Examples

Before playing a song

1. share the title of the song and ask learners to guess what it will be about
2. ask true/false predictive questions based on students' guesses in #1
3. discuss the topic and/or grammar focus of the song
4. show a picture that sets the scene
5. talk about the singer/musician and why he/she is important
6. look at some words and phrases form the lyrics to pre-teach key vocabulary
7. clarify what the listening task is

Before reading a story

1. set the scene with pictures
2. talk about the title and ask learners to predict what it will be about
3. administer a questionnaire to find out what learners think or know about the topic
4. generate some questions from learners related to the topic and revisit the questions after reading
5. ask true/false questions about the topic
6. do a word web, eliciting vocabulary from the students related to the topic
7. clarify the reading task, e.g. reading for the main idea, looking for specific information, reading to form an opinion
   

Who Did What?

Purpose: to practice the past tense in yes/no questions and affirmative and negative statements

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Materials: paper and chalkboard or whiteboard

Preparation: Plan to review past tense forms with the students before the activity. Pre-teach any vocabulary that might be unfamiliar, but try as much as possible to use vocabulary that the students already know. On a sheet of paper, make two columns. In the left column write the names of seven people. In the right column write seven actions in the past tense (e.g. wrote a letter to the teacher, played soccer with friends, studied English all weekend). Then draw lines connecting each of the seven people to one of the seven actions. The result will be seven sentences that make sense and are grammatical. Try to avoid using his and her to make it more challenging. These seven matches are the "correct" answers.

Procedure:

1. Write the two columns (people and actions) on the board. Do not draw lines connecting them.
2. Explain to students that they will ask yes/no questions to guess which person did which action. Be prepared to model this a few times, but use extra names and actions and erase them when you're finished modeling.
   
3. Divide the class into two or three groups that will compete to solve the mystery. In turn, have a student from each group ask you questions, such as Did Maria write a letter to the teacher?
   
4. If the answer is yes, then another student from the same group can ask a question. If the answer is no, then the turn passes to another group. When a group guesses the correct statement, they earn a point. Because there are seven sentences, a tie is impossible.
   

Variations: Have the students work in groups of three. Each student creates an original list, in two copies: one with the lines drawn (the answers), another for the other to students who will ask questions to solve the mystery of who did what.

The 2010 Census

Thanks to Meredith Sommers at Centro Guadalupano School at Holy Rosary Church in Minneapolis for this lesson idea!

The 2010 Census count is approaching. The official day of the count set for April 1, 2010, but the census forms will be mailed during March. Census data is widely used by governments and businesses to determine programs and funding, plus to apportion seats to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Purpose: To help learners become familiar with the Census, its purpose, and how to fill out the form.

Prep Time: about 10 minutes, or longer if you need more time to decide how to explain the vocabulary

Materials:

• copies of “Juanita and the Census” (see attached)
• picture of a fictional family
• copies of the 2010 Census form available at
  http://2010.census.gov/2010census/pdf/2010_Questionnaire_Info.pdf
• and a copy of the Census form envelope, if you have one

Note: The Census 2010 office in your area has free pencils and other items that you can obtain for students. You can find your local office on the census.gov website.

Prep:

• make copies
• decide how to explain the vocabulary
• make up some fictional names and ages for the people in the picture

Vocabulary

confidential Representatives Congress

official business census personal information

temporary permanent related

Procedure:

1. Prepare students to read the story by doing a pre-reading activity and teaching the vocabulary listed above. If you have a copy of a 2010 Census envelope, use it to help explain the vocabulary.
2. Hand out and read aloud the story of “Juanita and the Census.” Ask students to write a question mark next to any sentences that they don’t understand.
3. Answer students’ questions and then read the story again.
4. Check comprehension of the story. For example, “Why do they count people?”
5. Show students the fictional family. Tell students the names and ages and how they are related.
6. Show students the census form. Elicit from students how to fill out the form for the fictional family.
7. Hand out the census form to all students. Help students complete the form. Encourage them to copy this completed form when they fill out the official census form.

Note: Question 9 in the form asks “what is person’s race?” The advice to Hispanic/Latino students is to write “Mixed” if they don’t call themselves White or Black.

For more information on Census 2010, go to the government website at http://2010.census.gov/2010census/.

Juanita and the 2010 Census

Yesterday, Juanita got a letter in her mail box. It is for “Resident” at 3828 35^th Ave. S. Minneapolis, MN 55407. That is Juanita’s address.

Juanita doesn’t know what to do with the letter. Should she open it? It says “Official Business” on the envelope. Juanita brings the letter to her teacher. She asks her teacher if she should open it.

“Yes,” her teacher says. “This letter is sent to everyone in the United States. It is called the Census. The Census counts how many people live in this country.”

“Why do they count?” Juanita asks.

“The census is important. It helps the government choose how much money to give to schools. It tells the government how many Representatives in Congress each state will have. This year, Minnesota might lose one Representative. If they count everyone, maybe we will not lose a Representative.”

“Do they count every year?”

“No, they count every ten years,” her teacher says.

“I am not a citizen,” Juanita says.

“The census counts everyone. They count immigrants, citizens, and unemployed people. They count all the men, women, children, and babies.”

Juanita is nervous. She doesn’t want problems because she filled out the form.

Her teacher says, “All the personal information is confidential. This means only the Census Bureau will have the information. The police will never see it. Immigration services will never see it. The President will never see it. Only the Census Bureau will see your name.”

Juanita opens the envelope. There is a form with ten questions. She asks her teacher, “How do I fill out the form?”

Her teacher helps her with the form. It takes about ten minutes.

If you don’t fill out the form and mail it, someone from the Census Bureau will come to your house. They will ask you the ten questions.

You can get help with the form in English if you call 1-866-872-6868. You can also get help in Spanish if you call 1-866-928-2010. The telephone call is free.

English Only, Please!

Purpose: Encouraging learners to speak English at all times can be challenging. Here are some ways to encourage the use of English during class.

1. Ask students to raise their hands to show who in the class speaks Somali, Hmong, Oromo, Spanish, etc. Help students understand that talking to each other in English helps them understand people they will encounter outside the classroom, too.

2. Make a STOP sign with the words “Speak English” on it. Hold it up at the beginning of an activity or during class when you hear a lot of other languages being spoken. The sign speaks for itself! Learners may start using the sign to remind each other, too.

3. Insist that, when doing pair work, students work with a partner who speaks a different first language.

4. When learners come into class, give them each three buttons, coins, or pieces of paper (something that won’t roll off or blow off the table!). Explain or demonstrate that every time you hear them speak a language other than English, you will take one of their buttons. For the first few times, you can give a warning before you take a button, but make sure to follow through. This is not meant to be punitive. It is simply a visual reminder. Learners will soon start to monitor themselves and each other.

Note: For higher levels, try enforcing the English-only rule for half of the class at first. For lower levels, try it for 15-20 minutes.

5. Help the class generate a list of sentences they can use when they don’t understand each other: I’m sorry, I don’t understand. Can you repeat, please? Could you please speak more slowly? Encourage students to practice these in class and when working in pairs and small groups.