[jenniferp]

Hi all,

I'm in need of some ideas for an activity to do with my high-schoolers.
Their English level is very high and I have classes of 32 students. They've just finished their mid-term exams and I want to do something fun with them as our first lesson back to normal next week.

Any ideas would be really appreciated!!
Thanks all
xx

[revdoc1947]

HI Jennifer,

Are you lucky or what? My high school students are sub-standard. In other words, this is the high school of last resort. Some of my kids are functionally illiterate in Korean!

Anyway, my fantasy before I got assigned to this school, but knew I would be teaching high school had many components. I had been looking forward to showing my students good American movies with a theme they could relate to. Then I would have a discussion period about the film. I used to teach at the college level.....one of the films I used quite often was "Groundhog Day". It's listed as a comedy, but the message is deeply planted......the only day any of us have is today.

That's one idea.

Another would be to read books with the students....or short stories to stimulate discussions.

Showa powerpoint presentation on some historic place in the U.S......sort of like a guided tour. Encourage students to talk about the places they have visited and what they liked most about it.


Do a "family tree". This could take one day or one month, depending on how far you want to go with it. Kids could draw the tree and place family members accordingly....back as many generations as they could/liked. They could interview family members and ask each person to tell as story about some particular period of their lives. Students could then write and present these stories in class.

All of these kinds of projects encourage an expansion of vocabulary and also work to build the student's comfort with making in-class presentations.

Hope you find some of these helpful.

Victoria

[HUE]

I think any game or activity that gets them up and moving about would be fun. You can even make sure it somehow reviews language from previous lessons.

Or how about a skit or a play? Hand the students a script from a TV show or movie, which they must then perform (in which case, they could see the real version first). They could even write one based on parameters set up by you (such as a terrible family vacation, or a chance encounter with a movie star). In either case, place the students in groups, hand out a different script or task for each group, and then spend most of the class preparing for it. Then use the last fifteen minutes for the students to perform.

[Denis DNT]

Have you ever tried this? It's fun in my school.

Select a piece of prose which doesn't have a lot of dialogue.
Have them illustrate what is happening in the text with their own pictures including made up dialogue just like those cartoon books they read everyday. Set a prize for the best and see how they will get drawing like kindergartens.

This activity will enhance their reading comprehension, writing, vocabulary and imagination.