sorry if I post this the wrong way...
I am teaching a group of studies using a communicative approach, a method they chose, but they don't seem to like any topic and/or game, just one of them speaks, and he speaks far too much, so I have to try and keep the other ones talking and cutting him all the time...
Anyway, I am not posting this to cry all over you... I just wanted to suggest the few topics that have been useful to me.
- As they are around 30, car accidents and retelling their experiences.
- To use the conditionals, I made them answer several questions, some of them moral- and this one is very good, psycology is fashionable now-. For example, what would you do if... you saw an acquaintance -not a friend- with the trouser zip open? And if you found a wallet full of money? And if it was at work/school? If it had an identity card?/ If you won the lotto?/ If you could just save one thing from your burning house?/ If you could just make one wish.... which and why? and so on.
Also, advertising is good, because I make each one retell one ad without saying the brand. This way, all of them have to speak, and it keeps the others interested trying to guess which one it was. And then, as I teach business English, I make them decide in what kind of publicity would they invest (TV, magazines, hoarding...) and decide what they would do in case they were a marketing manager. Also, sometimes if they are original you can make them invent and ad...
Then, I play taboo with them. It really keeps them talking.
I do not play it the usual way- I prepare the cards- one word on the top, that they will have to describe to the rest of their team- difficulty depends on the level of the group- and four or five below, that they won't be able to use in the description. If they do, they lose their turn. I like to play it in 2 different ways; first one, everyone against everyone. So you give the person who has the cards from 2 to 5 minutes (5 if their level is low, 2 if it is good), and when someone guesses one card, he or she (who guessed it) keeps it. The player who ends up with more cards wins.
You can also make two teams. More competitive and funny. And you should seat them mixed so that one can watch that his opposite team is not cheating by using the forbiden words.
Well, if anyone has any topic or game that could be helpful, I would be grateful forever!!!
also, I have some other ideas, but not quite good. If someone would like to try and develop them with me, just drop me a line...
cheers.
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