Category: writing

writing

Presentation: Infographic

Astrid van Houwelingen

Occasionally we are presented with a unit in the language coursebook that lends itself very well for further investigation. When that is the case I find myself jumping for joy and seizing the opportunity to make something more out of the unit than the regular reading, writing, listening and grammar activities.

In this instance the unit in our coursebook dealt with the history of the English speaking world. It included five chapters with topics ranging from the Amish community to the early colonisation of Australia. These topics were presented in each of the reading texts for the units. In order to intensify students’ learning of English culture around the globe, I presented them with the task of creating an infographic and presenting their work to the rest of the class for a mark. This task forces students to dig deeper into the culture and history and at the same time invites them to read, write, speak and listen in English while doing their research. It also allows them to master some of those all important 21st century skills. Now who doesn’t love that?

The Basics

Level: B1-C1 (Intermediate, Upper-intermediate, Advanced)
Focus: Reading, speaking, listening, writing, computer skills, co-operating
Time: 3 hours + time to present (depends on how large your group is)
Materials: Laptops/computers

Aim

Students learn about English-speaking cultures, doing research and making an infographic. They prepare a 2.5 minute presentation.

The task

The task of creating an infographic was mainly done in class. Students worked in groups of four and used their laptops to find information online. They worked with an online free programme in order to make a neat looking infographic on the topics listed in their coursebook. The remainder of the work as well as preparing for the presentation was done at home.

I found that students were confronted with a great amount of target language. Some students decided to watch a documentary to learn more about their topic whilst others dug into historical sites. Because students were able to choose their topics within their unit of study many students were motivated to create something satisfying. Some students even came up with their own ideas to include on the infographic. How’s that for ownership? 😉

Additional ideas

This presentation task was designed to expand on a unit of study about historical periods in the English speaking world. However, there are many other units that would be very suitable for creating a task like this. Think of units on student life, culture related units or units on technology. As long as the basis is there and you have some idea of building on it, your options are endless.

Over to you: Do you have coursebook material that would lend itself well to being expanded? Have you made use of this opportunity in the past?

Have fun teaching! ^_^

Love,

Astrid

Grammar, Listening, speaking, vocabulary, writing

Creative writing: The holidays

Astrid van Houwelingen

The holidays are always exciting moments for students. Whether it is Halloween, Christmas or some other local holiday, they are sure to get your students wriggling in their seats with anticipation. Why not make use of this time of year and ask your students to channel their excitement into some creative writing and story telling? And while we’re at it, throw in some revision too. Two birds one stone anyone?

The Basics

Level: B1-C2 (Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-intermediate, Advanced)
Focus: Listening, revising vocabulary and grammar, creative writing, speaking
Time: 120 minutes divided over two lessons
Materials: Computer with audio, vocabulary list, grammar overview, writing materials

Aim

Students revise their vocabulary and grammar. This can be done either before a test or after you have set some revision homework. They also do some creative writing and storytelling.

The task

We all love to hear a good story. Writing one can be a challenge but it does provide for a great deal of language output and therefore a chance to revise what students have learned. In the slides below you will find a two-hour lesson. Students will write their own holiday related story in the first lesson (in this case a Halloween story). In the second lesson students will read their stories to each other, battling it out in a story battle. To motivate students to include their revision work the story battle works with a point system. The more vocabulary and grammar they include the more points their story has to begin with. The winner can be awarded a prize of some sort (some students work harder with chocolate in sight) or dish out some ‘eternal fame’ (or ‘lame’, as one of my students called it).

Additional ideas

Although the lesson in the slides is Halloween themed, it is easy enough to transform this into a Chrismas themed lesson. It could also be used more broadly as a lesson to be done before students are off on their spring or summer holidays. In that case you could ask your students to write about their best, most amazing, imagined holiday. You do not actually have to leave your chair to imagine where you could go or what you could do with your free time, do you?

Over to you: Do you feel like your students could write a longer piece of text like this? And how do you address the holidays in your lessons? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments.

Have fun teaching! ^_^

Love,

Astrid