Introduction
Introduction to Resources Manual
The Resources Manual is a set of Communication Activities and Simulations for teachers running task-based courses. Communication Activities are 1-2 hour activities: Simulations are full-day, 4-6 hour activities. Both are designed to force English students to use their language for real, meaningful communication; not only with their teacher, but with each other.
This Manual is on-line here and contains most of the necessary material to run the activities although some additional materials may be needed in certain cases.
Each activity type is preceded by a page of "Teacher's Notes" that explain how to run the activities, time required, class size and various other things.
Structure of "Teacher's Notes"
Activity Name: The normal name of the activity as referred to at the Hyundai Institute for Human Resources.
Time Required: Optimum time required. All activities can be lengthened or shortened (but don't ignore the debrief).
Class Size: The minimum and maximum class size. In practice, many activities can be run with fewer than the minimum. A map game, for example, can be run with as few as two students. Some activities, however, don't work well with small classes: picture mills, consensus, simulations. All activities can accommodate big classes, but again some don't work so well: look again pictures, map games, describe and draw ( too noisy); village trading game, balance of power (number of groups cannot be increased).
Level: A general guide to the level of the activity. In practice an advanced student in a beginners' activity will be okay but in the long term, s/he will get disillusioned and there will be complaints. A beginner in an advanced activity will get left out.
- Beginner = OPI level 1 (ETS /ACTFL rating scale)
- Intermediate = OPI level 1+
- Advanced = OPI level 2 & 2+
Most first-year university students in Japan and Korea are OPI level 1 or 1+.
Material Required: Material that teacher should prepare in advance.
- Information Gap: This
refers to physical barrier that is set up between
student pairs so that they cannot see what the
other is drawing or what picture s/he has. I
usually use folders, books and cardboard to do
the job, but be creative. Make sure the students
cannot peek. The information gap is a fundamental
part of the communicative classroom and as such
we tend to take it for granted. However, it
should not be ignored.
- Gambits: Refers to
handouts that contain model sentences, vocabulary
and phrases that help the student focus on the
form of the language. These gambits are not
included in the Manual.
- Money & produce slips, unit cards. Refers to pretend money and items that student use during simulation for trading. Use your word processor to make these.
Optimum Time: A reference to the week that the activity is most appropriate based on an eight week intensive English course. (In the past at Hyundai, Simulations usually took up the best part of the Monday, while Communication Activities were the morning 1 1/2 hour class on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.)
Generally, the timing is flexible for the simulations but the order has been tried and tested and works well. Beware of pushing communication activities past their time. Don't for instance throw in a picture mill in week 5. The students will complain.
For teachers running non-intensive course, such as 1 hour per day classes, you may be aghast at the amount of time required for some of these activities. However, you can still fit these activities into your "teach 50 minute - run and get on the bus - teach 50 minute" lifestyle. Start with the communication activities. Introduce one or two into your course per week. Run them over two days if necessary. Link in the activity to any language area that you may be studying with your course-book. Picture Mills and Describe & Draws are a good place to start. You may be tempted by the simulations but they are more difficult to integrate into short courses. You need more time and higher level students. But be bold and improvise. If needs be, run a simulation over the last week of the course, just for fun.
If you wish to see any of the activities in the Manual carried out professionally (!*@&?) then you are welcome to visit me any time at Kansai Gaidai University near Osaka.
Aim: The general goal that the students are working towards.
Background: General background information.
Procedure: Most activities follow a simple rule of Inbrief, Activity, Debrief. The simulations are more complex, but follow the basic pattern.
- Inbrief - General
setting up of activity by teacher to students. Be
enthusiastic. The students will only give as much
as you give during this session.
- Activity - Monitor the
students. Answer students questions. Ask
questions to check they understand what they have
to do. Participate if possible. A teacher who
participates in the activity immediately gains
the respect of the students. In some activities
you will have to take a back seat to allow the
students to develop there own ideas on how to
solve the problem at hand. Guide where necessary
and push them if you have to if time is short.
- Debrief - Some
teachers are tempted to skip this. At the end of
a long hard day it's the easy way out. But there
are good pedagogic reasons why you should not,
apart from the fact that you've just demanded
that your students work among themselves for
several hours and that every play needs an
ending. Linguistically, this is a good time for
you to model the basic sentences and vocabulary
that the students have been grappling with during
the activity. They are at their most receptive
period for learning these and new items and you
owe it to them. It's very important than students
keep in touch with correct English. You are the
only one who can give it.
- Mill - When students
stand up, find a partner, exchange information
and then look for another partner. A bit like a
cocktail party where nobody wants to talk with
anyone for too long.
- Individual Work -
Students work by themselves, either reading or
answering some questions. They are preparing for
the activity.
- Pair Work - When
students sit down with a partner, face to face
and exchange information. Generally they keep the
same partner for the length of the activity. If
you have an odd number of students, pair two
students with one. This works just as well.
- Group Work - When
students sit down in groups of four to six and
discuss some information. Anymore that six is too
many except for certain activities, such as the
jury.
- Prep - Preparation
- Strategy - Similar to
group work but each member of the group is part
of the same team working on a strategy to defeat
the others and win the simulation.
- Reconnaissance - When
students from one team visit other teams to get
information. Generally, trading is not allowed
during these sessions.
- Trading - When
students from one team trade items with another
team. Students are free to move from room to room
and team to team.
- Meeting - When representatives of one team meets with representatives of another team to discuss matters.
Additional Notes: Some additional notes outlining teacher's role, tips and traps.
Language Feature: The language feature introduced by the activity. Generally we distinguish between concrete level (i.e. description) and abstract level. Activities requiring abstract language, thought and reasoning will be more difficult. Weaker students may tend to drop out at this point. In practice, all activities contain both concrete and abstract language.
If time is short/long?: Some useful tips to overcome timing miscalculations. "Ooops group C has finished after 5 minutes - panic!", "Woooah.. is that the time.. hey kids see you tomorrow!".