Get them to talk

The first week of teaching is in full swing! I've taught six classes so far this week, and got a pretty good idea of students' levels of English. Overall, I was really impressed, not only with English speaking capability, but with their eagerness to speak and listen. Once again, I am reminded of how Americans need to step it up and learn more languages. Not necessarily dedicate their lives to them, but second language acquistion develops the brain in a unique way and reminds individuals that their mother tongue is not at the center of the universe. You can connect with a person in a powerful way when you speak their language. I tell my students that in the classroom we only speak English, but outside of the classroom, I am a student as well, a student of French.

For this week and the next, I will mostly be doing introductory activities. I introduce myself, let students ask questions about me, explain the format and rules of the class. Then I distribute pictures of myself, friends, and family and let the students make comments and most importantly ask questions about them. For the TES LVR (essentially seniors with an English specialization) this activity proved to be too easy, it quickly turned into a comfortable conversation--which isn't bad but I need to be sure to challenge them. For the younger groups, the photo activity proved challenging, they mostly asked "Who it is?" and "His name is what?" So...we'll have to work on that. But it really helps for me to have a working knowledge of French, because I can understand their thought process when they formulate sentences.

Next, I let students give a brief introduction of themselves. They told me about where they were from, what they like to do, favorite foods, music, movies, etc. This again varied in complexity according to level. Finally, we played a game I coined "Tell Me." In an envelope, I put in little pieces of paper with statements like "Tell me about your family." "Tell me about a place you have visited." The students passed it around and would share for a few minutes (or seconds) on the subject. I liked this activity the best because it prompted discussion without preparation.

My goal now is to find ways to really engage the students. I get the feeling that they always discuss the same things in English. This is how I am in French--I can easily tell you about myself, where I am from, what I want to do, etc., but when the topic is varied, I often get lost. I need to develop topics for debates, comparisons and the like. I also want to integrate movies, current events, television shows and taboo topics. I have so many thoughts flying around I hope I can pull it all together. Point being--day one and two = success.