Another ESL Teaching Blog

Hello again buddies!!!! I have found an interesting game in wikipedia... so... Have fun!

Pictionary is a guessing word game published in 1985. The game is played with teams with players trying to identify specific words from their teammates' drawings.

Objective

Each team moves an object along a track formed by a sequence of squares. Each square has a letter on it. The objective is to reach the end of the track first.

Gameplay

The team chooses one person to do the drawing; this position rotates with each word. The drawer chooses a card out of a deck of special Pictionary cards and tries to draw pictures which suggest the word printed on the card. The pictures cannot contain any numbers or letters. The teammates try to guess the word the drawing is intended to represent.

There are five types of squares on the board, and each Pictionary card has a list of five words printed on it. Players must draw the word which corresponds to the square on the board on which the team's marker is:

• P - Person/Place/Animal (or any noun) , or related characteristics O - Object (things that can be touched or seen)
• A - Action (things that can be performed)
• D - Difficult (challenging words)
• AP - All Play (any type of word)

AP category (and a few other words) are designated as "All Play". For "All Play," the teams compete against each other as well as against the time. Each team designates a player whose purpose will be to draw pictures. The team that guesses the word first gets to advance and take the next turn. If none of the teams guess the word in the allotted time, the turn passes to whichever team should have been next.

==Winning a turn== If a team wins its turn by correctly guessing a drawing inside the time interval, that team then rolls a die and advances that number of squares to take another turn. If the team runs out of the time allotted for guessing a word, that team does not advance and the next team takes a turn. Also if the drawing member of a team does not draw the right picture and the team guesses what s/he is drawing and s/he is caught, than that the turn is rewarded to the next team in line.

Hello buddies!... Today I wanna talk about the use of L1 in classrooms.

I'm sure that in your methodology classes you was told that use of L1 in the EFL classroom should be minimal and should not exceed a ratio of more than 5% of the L1 to 95% of the target language. However, there are some situations in which it is better to use it! some of this situations include:

• requesting new lexis

• explaining abstract terms

• to aid in the generation of comprehensible input / production

• during exams and other high-stress situations

• to maintain the flow of dynamic activities

• to explain idioms and expressions in songs, movies and videos

• giving information / instructions to LEP learners

• in adapting materials to the special needs of the learners

Remember that while the use of the learners L1 should be strictly controlled, it is plausible to make accurate use of it in activities to promote learning and acquisition. The use of L1 should not be prohibited at all, this is a tool that you should not forget!

Hello everybody and welcome to my blog!!! Today we are going to discuss lesson breakdowns. I think every teacher in this world has had a breakdown in at least one of their classes, you know, things such as laughing, people who are late, a joke, etc. Avoiding this kind of issues is impossible. Anyway, you can make lesson breakdowns less relevant or almost unperceptable by following this steps:

1. To create a feel good atmosphere in the class.

2. To create a sense of co-operation to produce a stated result.

3. Flashback/Flashforward. For example: after reading the textbook – get the children to tell each other when they are happy, when they are sad, when they work together and when the feel alone. Use drama faces and bodies to show the class how they feel.

4. Out of Role – What did you see, who did you meet?

5. Still image of a scene from the playtime football game (small groups)

6. Flashforward – bring to life, what are people saying, doing?

7. Mime

8. Rumour Mill – Whisper to friends about any topic, for example: why should he be accepting of himself as well as others?

I hope you can find this steps useful in your classes. May the force be with you!!!