2022.11.27 101 low-prep ideas for exploiting coursebook activities (LanguagEd day) Sandy Millin

http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/101ideas/
101 low-prep ideas for exploiting
coursebook activities
Sandy Millin
LanguagEd day, 27th November 2022
Twitter: @sandymillin
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sandymillin/

Do you think you often do the
same things in the same way, or
do you feel your lessons are
quite varied? Why?
Add your answers to the chat.

English File Intermediate Plus 3rd edition, Teacher’s Book p146, Latham-Koenig and Oxenden, with Lambert and Martín García

How could you exploit this activity for memorisation?

 Cover some / all of the text – what’s missing?
 Picture prompts
 From you
 From students
 Pictionary
 One person A, other B
 T asks, students call out
 S asks, partner/other students responds
 T asks, students write on (mini) whiteboard(s) / in chat
 S asks, partner / other students write
 Memorisation challenge: how many can you
remember?
 Freestyle
 With A / B as a prompt
 Evil memorisation (thanks to Olga Stolbova!)
 Remembering new structures
 Remembering new vocabulary
 Drilling pronunciation
 As revision
 Increasing confidence
 Increasing automaticity
Memorisation activities
What? Why?

Evil memorisation 
Show the answers only – can they write the
whole sentence / dialogue?

How could you exploit it for pronunciation?

 Some of the memorisation activities
 Say all the sentences as quickly as possible
(AQAP!)
 Key word drills e.g. ice cream, clouds…
 Picture drills
 Say them with different intonation/voices to
create different meanings/situations
 Correct the mistakes (emphatic stress)
 Remembering new structures
 Remembering new vocabulary
 Preparing for upcoming speaking
 Increasing confidence
 Increasing automaticity
 Because we don’t normally do enough
pronunciation work!
Pronunciation activities
What? Why?

How could you exploit it to add challenge?

 Before they see it, T says A, they predict B
 Remove the options
 Teacher says first half of the sentence, pausing
at a convenient point. Students say second half.
Then in pairs. e.g. “Shall I…” “…turn on the
heating?”
 Change A to the opposite/a slightly different
phrase. What’s an appropriate B? e.g. “I’m
boiling!”
 Do it again, but…
 Faster
 With your book closed
 With your eyes closed
 A little struggle = deeper processing = retained
for longer
 Chance to take risks
 Sense of achievement
 Differentiation
 But…sometimes you might need to think about
removing challenge, not adding it!
Adding challenge
What? Why?

How could you exploit it to promote creativity?

 Extend the conversations: what was said before /
after
 Decide who/where/when/why it was said (by)
 Take the ‘wrong’ answer and create a context
where it would be right
 ‘Banana’ sentences: replace the key words with
banana for your partner to give other ideas
 Students have A sentences. They write their own
Bs on separate pieces of scrap paper, then mix
them up. Another pair tries to match the As and
Bs together
 Deeper processing = retained for longer
 Add context to language
 Give students ownership of the
language
 Pride: look what we made
 Play!
Promote creativity
What? Why?

How could you exploit it to change interaction?

 Get students moving
 Let students get to know each other
 Give students more control
 Increase student talking time
 Increase student independence
 Give yourself a break!
Changing interaction
What?
 Gallery walk: questions stuck around room
 Translation mingle: students translate one
conversation into L1. Then show translation to
others, who change it back to English
 One group does 1-6/odd sentences. The other
does 7-12/even sentences. Give answers for the
other half. Peer check
 Hot seat/Backs to the board with a (picture?)
prompt for student looking at the board to say
sentence A, person with back to the board says
sentence B in response
 Board race (combined with other ideas!)
Why?

Any questions?

2022.11.27 101 low-prep ideas for exploiting coursebook activities (LanguagEd day) Sandy Millin

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