ESL Madness

I just came across this site by Ted Power, which he calls English Language Learning and Teaching.

He has a great collection of worksheets that you can print out to use in fostering discussion of various topics.

These topics include:

Alternative beliefs | Animal Welfare | The Arts | Crime & Punishment | Cultural Differences | Economics | Education | Environment | Fashion | Food | Health | Holidays | Language Learning | Make & Female Roles | Marriage | The Media | Political Systems | Religion | Rich & Poor World | Science & Technology | Society | Sport | Tradition | Transport | Travel | Violence | Work | Youth & Old Age

Random Thoughts

Lying
Teenage beauty queens
Child beauty queens
Botox and/or plastic surgery
Health of school lunches (great for discussing different countries, too)
violence in video games
privatizing natural resources
smoking in public
gun laws
pit bulls
assisted suicide

From About.com: Multinationals | First World Obligations | Is Grammar Necessary? | Men and Women: Equal at Last? | Violence in the Media Needs to be Regulated | The Internet Craze

Cool Jobs – A Debate Roleplay Lesson Plan | ESL-Flow

Moonstruck! Does the Full Moon Influence Behavior?
From the University of Washington’s faculty pages, this page provides a lot of really interesting statistics (references included) about all the crazy things that happen during the full moon. A great idea for an interesting debate or discussion topic.

Handouts

Debatable Statements
A handout for groups to discuss and answer in a grid.

TV Survey and Debate
This is a handout that students can use in groups to survey each other on their TV habits, then have a debate or discussion about the merits of TV.

Writing & recognizing debatable and non-debatable statements
A list of sentences that students can decide whether they are debatable or not, then they write their own. Needs a little cleaning up, but it’s certainly useful.

Basic Procedures

You could split the class up into 2 groups of for and against, and the rest of the class is the audience/judges.

1. Each group presents a 2 or 3 minute speech explaining and backing up their argument.
2. Then each side gets to give a short rebuttal speech.
3. To conclude, each side gives a 2 or 3 minute conclusion speech.
4. Possibly leave some space at the end for questions from the audience. At the end, the audience decides which team gave the most convincing argument.

Hints & Ideas!

• Practice the techniques of debating thoroughly beforehand!
  CanTeach provides a fun activity to help the students practice the “Yes, but…” mode of continuing a debate or conversation by having them add on to each other’s sentences in a row.

Other Resources

Teaching Debate to ESL Students: A Six-Class Unit | ITESLJ.org

Debate Resources from MrDonn.org

Debates and Discussions by Marina Canapero
This is a great compilation of simple, easy-to-explain assumptions and practices of having a debate. Information is definitely useful.

Materials: comic books, illustrations, cards with different English and Japanese onomatopeias on them + illustrations, or materials for the students to make their own.

Use comic books from and English-speaking country to introduce the various sounds in English. Have the  students try to match up the sounds with the actions.

Ex:

doors squeak, water drips, rocks splash, fathers snore, houses creak…

Materials: costumes or masks, small prizes or candy, pillow cases or bags, decorations

What about having students in a class dress up in Halloween costumes or masks, and then they get to go around to different classrooms and go trick-or-treating??

They could get ready then go around and sing “trick-or-treat!!” to another classroom, who in turn gets to ooh and aah at the costumes and hand out small prizes/treats.

Could be fun.

Aim: To give students an extra opportunity to speak English with you.

On a piece of construction paper, write a question in English for the week, and they can come to your desk and ask you the question, or answer it. If they do, give them a sticker, or some other type of prize to collect.

Use language that is appropriate to their learning, so they are comfortable trying it out. DON’T use any Japanese, as that might make them less confident in their ability to speak English.

EXAMPLES:

“How many brothers and sisters do you have?”

“How many CD’s do you have?”

“Who is your favorite singer?”

Make sure to always ask the student the same question, and initiate conversation based on the topic… “What is your brother’s name?”, “Why do you like that CD so much?”…

From the Internet TESL Journal.

Materials: none

It’s election time, and the students must compile a list of demands and proposals. Base a discussion on these demands as a way of generating conversation.

You can also get proposals for English class, night life, TV, parents, etc. Go to this activity »

From the Internet TESL Journal.

Materials: none

This is a fluency activity based on having students explain themselves given various situations. Go to this activity »

Use for simple present or present progressive with yes/no questions and wh- questions at the same time. Students can prepare questions in class or for homework. Good interview topics include daily habits and routines to practice the simple present. Also, the students should report back on their interviews either orally or written.

I currently work as an “assistant language teacher” (of English) in a small, small town in southern Japan.

 It’s madness.

This blog has been created to help me, and perhaps others in the same maddening position, to make sense of it all, by preparing for those half-crazed lessons.

 Good Luck.