Communication TECHNIQUES FOR IE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM rupf Pergamon Institute of English Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 http://www.org/details/connniunicationsstOOwinn PERGAMON INSTITUTE OF ENGLISH (OXFORD) Language Teaching Techniques COMMUNICATION STARTERS Techniques for the Language Classroom Other Titles of Interest BERMAN, Michael Playing with Words Playing and Working with Words Read and Recall: passages for advanced reading comprehension in English. Take Note: materials for aural comprehension and note-taking in English. CLARK, Robert and Jo McDonough Imaginary Crimes: materials for simulation and role-playing. DUNLOP, Ian and Heinrich Schrand In and About English: authentic texts for developing reading and communication.
Matters of Moment: materials for reading comprehension and discussion in English. Lee It Depends How You Say It: dialogues in everyday social English. MADDOCK, Vivienne and W. Lee Getting Through: Trinity College English.
MOLLER, Alan and Valerie Whiteson Cloze in Class: exercises in developing reading comprehension skills. MURRAY, Heather and M. Niethammer-Stott Murder Comes to Breakfast: a detective story for intermediate students of English. PONSONBY, Mimi How Now, Brown Cow?: a course in the pronunciation of English.
ROMIJN, Elizabeth and Contee Seely Live Action English: Series of commands for real communication.* ZINKIN,Taya Write Right: a guide to effective communication in English. *American text with British English glosses COMMUNICATION STARTERS Techniques for the Language Classroom JUDY E. WINN-BELL OLSEN Edited by William R. Lee PERGAMON PRESS Oxford • New York • Toronto Sydney • Paris • Frankfurt U.
Pergamon Press Ltd., Headington Hill Hall, Oxford 0X3 OBW, England U. Pergamon Press Inc., Maxwell House, Fairview Park, Elmsford, New York 10523, U. CANADA Pergamon Press Canada Ltd., Suite 104, 150 Consumers Road, Willowdale, Ontario M2J 1P9, Canada AUSTRALIA Pergamon Press (Aust. Box 544, Potts Point, N.
2011, Australia FRANCE Pergamon Press SARL, 24 rue des Ecoles, 75240 Paris, Cedex 05, France FEDERAL REPUBLIC Pergamon Press GmbH, 6242 Kronberg-Taunus, OF GERMANY Hammerweg 6, Federal Republic of Germany Copyright© 1977 Judy E. Winn-Bell Olsen All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without permission in writing from the publisher. First edition 1977 This edition 1982 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Winn-Bell Olsen, Judy E.
- (Language teaching methodology) 1 English language - Study and teaching - .A2 ISBN 0-08-025360-1 Not for sale in U. or Canada Printed in Great Britain by A. THIS BOOK WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED WITHOUT the inspiration of Prof John Dennis, SFSU, fosterer of countless. "fragile communities"; the encouragement of Suzanne Griffin, USF, colleague and friend; and the everlasting patience and practical help of Roger E.
01sen, husband and partner. IT IS DEDICATED TO THEM. EDITOR'S PREFACE WHEN, early in 1975, I first met Judy Winn-Bell Olsen at a TESOL Convention held in Los Angeles, not all that farfrom San Francisco, where she teaches, she was immediately recognisable (if she will forgive me that somewhat colourless word) as an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher, full of good, practicable teaching ideas and, which is rarer, obviously able to see the teacher's effort and provision in the classroom from the point of view of unsure and unsophisticated learners. I was running a two-day workshop on games, and soon found Judv taking a very active and enterprising part, much to the benefit of us all.
At that time she was working on the first edition of Communication Starters, which appeared in 1977 (Alemany Press, San Francisco) and soon went into a second printing. I described it later as "a glorious ragbag of a book", and so it is, in the best of senses, and a book that inexperienced and experienced teachers alike can dip into in the certainty that they will fetch out something of interest and value to their day-to-day teaching. The book was widely available in the USA in its original form, and it is a pleasure as well as a privilege to try to make it still more generally available in this edited version. Relatively few changes have been made, and all the principal sections of the book have been kept.
The author has re-drawn and brightened up the illustrations. Characteristically American words and phrases have been glossed by footnotes giving the nearest British equivalents. There has also been some minor stylistic revision and rearrangement. Bibliographies have been supple- mented from British-published and other sources and placed at the end of each section.
Purely local references have been reduced in number and a degree of generalisation added. As the author herself says, the ideas behind these exercises are applicable to many kinds of learner and types of teaching-learning environment. And we know that they have all been tried out with classes and found to be not only entertaining but also helpful to learners of English. Everybody, no doubt, will use Communication Starters in her or his own way.
It is not the kind of book which demands to be worked through systematically from cover to cover, but one rather from which selection needs to be made in accordance with the needs of class and The teacher who wants ideas on role-play will find some in teacher at a particular stage. If anyone is wondering how maps can help, there is guidance in Section X. Teachers whose immediate concern is spelling should look at Section XIV. But il the end oi term, or some special day, is approaching, it would be wise to consult "Holiday Activities Section XV.
Nevertheless my own respect for Communication Starters has been increased by reading it very carefully right through: the "ragbag" stands up to this quite well. It is not oi course a Editor's Preface book to follow mechanically, nor would the author like it to be used in that spirit. Ms Judy Olsen is a true professional, and thus accepts the need of continuous adaptation in the class- room, that most variable and human of places. Lee CONTENTS Introduction Xll I.
RACES AND RELAYS Vocabulary Race Question Word Relay Conversion Relay Other Sources II. BINGO ACTIVITIES Types of Game Game Format for Maximum English Practice Playing the Game Other Sources III. OTHER FAMILIAR GAMES Grammar Tic-Tac-Toe "Who Am I?" Hangman Commercial Games Twenty Questions Other Sources IV. CHAIN ACTIVITIES 11 Introduction Chain Drill Chain Drills with "If Shopping Chain Drill Class Story Possessive Pronoun Chain Drill Other Sources Field Trip Chain Drill V.
INTERVIEWS AND OPINION POLLS 14 Procedure Example: an Opinion Poll on Working Possible Topics Other Services VI. ROLE-PLAY ACTIVITIES 16 Shopping Role-Play Restaurant Role-Play Post Office Role-Play The Prop Box Hostel Life Role- Play Cake-Making Role-Play Requests and Responses Other Suggestions Preparing for Field Trips Other Sources Contents VII. TAPE ACTIVITIES 22 Listening Comprehension Taping from the Radio: Commercials Exercises: Spontaneous Taping from the Radio: Newscasts ( lonversation Responding to Taped Sounds Taped Telephone lonversations ( Student -Made Tapes Other Conversation Tapes Other Sources VIII. JOURNALS 28 Journal-Writing Correction of Sentences in Journals IX.
CUISENAIRE ROD ACTIVITIES 29 ( reneral Suggestions Less Manipulative Rod Activities Rod Exercises for Small or Large Groups Other Sources X. MAP ACTIVITIES 39 Campus Map Exercise. Golden Gate Park Map Exercise Area Map Exercise Yosemite Map Exercise Bus and Railway Map Exercise Magnetic Map Exercise Student-Made Maps Disneyland Map Exercise Town Plan Exercise Other Sources XI. "TELL ME HOW" ACTIVITIES 55 Simon Says Construction Engineer Robot "Tell Me How to Draw It' Picture Grids Other Sources XII.
PICTURE ACTIVITIES 60 Picture Stories Other Sources Picture Exercises for Grammar and Vocabulary Practice XIII. VOCABULARY ACTIVITIES 71 The Silent Way Technique for Vocabulary Context-Free Identification: Vocabulary Expansion and Writing Research Tasks An Adaptation of the Silent Way Vocabulary Context-Free Identification: Research Tasks Technique with Picture Stickers How to Implement the Adaptation Paired Vocabulary Games Task Cards: a Classification Activity Vocabulary Games You Can Buy and Adapt Vocabulary in Picture Contexts Other Sources Context-Free Identification: the Language Master XIV. ACTIVITIES FOR ELEMENTARY SPELLING, READING AND WRITING 82 Flipcard Activities Alphabet Cards and Exercises Scrambled Sentences Alphabet Cards: Advanced Set Silent Way Reading and Writing Activity Other Sources Contents XV. HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES Valentine's Day Notes on the Sample Re-Ordering Tasks April Fool's Day Recipe Tasks Halloween "Looser" Instruction Tasks Lessons for Other Special Days Re-Ordering Tasks APPENDIX: Pictures for reproduction 97 Index of Structures 103 INTRODUCTION THIS book began as notes for teachers given out at the end of each lesson in an intensive summer ESL program for Japanese students in the San Francisco Bay area.
As the program expanded, so did the notes and exercises, until it seemed best to house them in their own volume. Readers can guess that Section I and III-XII have grown out of the subject-content of the original program, as they will see continual references to field trips in San Francisco, to Disneyland and Yosemite, and frequent reference to American occupations, weddings, and homestays with American families. Sections II and XIII-XVI have grown out of my teaching of ESL to adult beginners in Chinatown, San Francisco. Much of the material herein has been shared at conferences and workshops (held at CATESOL, TESOL, The San Francisco Community College District, The San Francisco Unified School District, Palomar College, and the San Diego Community College District, between 1974 and 1977) under the titles "ESL communication-starters", "Teaching vocabulary at beginning levels", and "An eclectic approach to some of the things that teacher- training never prepared me for".
Parts have also appeared in print, and are reprinted here with permission. The ideas behind these exercises, however, are applicable to many other contexts — to different kinds of learner and to other types of classroom and teaching-learning environment. For some classes, particularly in short-term intensive programs emphasizing verbal skills, this book has suggestions for what could be a major part of the program; for others, the ideas could provide an occasional change of pace. In whatever way the ideas are used in the classroom, I hope that they will prove interesting and practical.
My classes and I have had fun with them. A word of warning. Different sections of the book follow somewhat different plans. Some, like the one on the rod activities, contain step-by-step "how to" instructions which you may want to take into class and follow directly.
Some are more general descriptions and suggestions for you to develop yourself, such as the tape and vocabulary activities. Others, like the map exercises and picture exercises, are intended for you to duplicate and use in your classroom, but may require additional preparation on your part. Ultimately only you can be the judge of whether an activity is appropriate to the level and needs of your class. RACES AND RELAYS 1.
Vocabulary Race This is a good "wake-up" game. Before the lesson, make a list of 15-20 words that the class has already studied. Then make up a second list of the same words, but in a different order. (Be sure to do this before the lesson - it's hard to do it spontaneously.) Divide the board in half and write one list in each half.
Divide the class into teams of equal size and line them up behind a starting-line. When you say one of the words on the lists, a member of each team must go to the board, find the word, cross it out, and return to the starting line. The person who crosses out the word first gets a point for his/her team. Members of each team will want to shout helpful suggestions to their representatives who are looking for a word.
Just be sure that they do it in English. When they start using their native language(s), stop the game long enough to teach them cues like "Look up", "Look down", "To the left", "To the right", "Hurry!", "That's it!", etc. This can be a noisy, exciting game. You can make it somewhat more sedate by giving competitors a chance to walk to the board before saying the word that they must look for.
Conversion Relay Divide the class into two teams.