Communication

Communicative activity 1

Name of the Activity: Direction Direction

Material: may vary according to the game chosen

Ss’ Level: any

Source: BBC. June, 2007.

Procedure: The T selects a game that has specific rules ( and enough to make it hard for Ss to remember them all ) that must be followed in order to play a certain game ( whichever the T chooses as appropriate ).Prior to the activity, the T selects one S and gives her /him the directions for the game without telling the rest of the class. The directions should be clear and oral ( not written). At the same time of the game, the S who has heard the rules will give the directions to the rest of the group, without any help from the T.

She should allow the group to play the game once before having a group discussion or making any corrections or clarifications of the rules of the game.

COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITY 2

Name of Game: “Discussion Wheels”

Material: Discussion Wheel drawn on the bb or a big poster, and individual copies of the wheel

Student’s level: advanced

Procedure:

1. Prepare yourself for the activity:
1. Think of 8 or 10 contentious sentences based around a theme which you would like the students to discuss.
2. Draw a circle on a piece of paper and draw lines through the circle one line for each sentence) so that the circle is divided into segments. At the end of each line, write one of the sentences, and then make sure to copy enough so that each student has one.

2. Run the activity:

• Hand each student in their own discussion wheel and get them to look at the sentences and put a cross on the line next to the sentence according to how much they agree or disagree with it. A cross near the centre of the circle indicates strong disagreement and one near the edge of the circle can indicate strong agreement. A cross half way along the line can mean they are undecided.
• Once your students have had time to put crosses on each of the lines they can then start to discuss. This can be done in a number of ways, for example, assigning each st a partner or small groups or mingling around the class to speak.
• Once they have a partner to talk to, get them to discuss and explain their opinions and see if they can convince their partner to change the position of the crosses.