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Successful Productive Activities and their Important Features

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Students are given a list of questions and talk about them in their groups.  They then note down similarities and differences.  Then they present on the most interesting things about their group.  Example HERE

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Role Play--Example

Imagine a situation or conversation in which the target language is likely to be used.  (For example: Present Perfect--a job interview in which the applicant is being asked about past experiences; future forms--a conversation with a high school guidance counselor about what you will do after graduating; modals of obligation--a parent telling her child the rules for borrowing the car, etc). Students are put into pairs, each student is given a role (e.g. parent, child) and they  must act out this situation with their partner.   For less structured role plays, it is not necessary to hand out role playing cards--simply telling the students the situation is often sufficient.  But for more structured role plays, it is helpful to give each student a card which gives them the details of their character.

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Procedure
Setup for this task will simply require a relevant picture and instructions for writing. For example, if students have been studying animals and comparatives, it could be a picture of two different shark species with instructions to compare and contrast different features. It could be something more imaginative like a picture of a person doing an activity, with the student writing a narrative for that person. Or it could be a series of pictures that the students have to connect on their own. Set a reasonable time limit and recommended words for the student to write.

Advantages
It can be a way for students to get engaged in writing, and isn't very restrictive.

Disadvantages
May be difficult for some students who view themselves as less creative. Some may need ideas to get started.

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Make a Poster and Do a Small Presentation

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Make a Poster and Do a Small Presentation

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Students are put into groups, and given a topic that will encourage the use of the target language. (e.g. present perfect: “What are some places that everyone in your group has been to?”).  They have to make a poster on this topic, ideally using a combination of illustrations and written text.  They then present this poster.

For smaller classes, they can present the poster to the whole class.  For larger classes, put two groups together and have each group present to each other.

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Find the Person Who is Most Similar/Different to You

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Find the Person Who is Most Similar/Different to You

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Students are given a topic, and encouraged to speak about it at length.  The topic should be one which encourages the use of the target language (e.g. past simple “Talk about everything you did yesterday”, going to future “Talk about your plans for this weekend”, present simple “talk about your daily routine”, second conditional “talk about everything you would do if you had a million dollars” etc.)  Students typically require some planning time to prepare before they are ready to produce, so give them a couple minutes to think about it.

Then, students have to go around the class, and listen to as many people as they can.  They must try to find one person in the class who is the most similar to them, and one person in the class who is the most different to them.

This can also be done as a writing activity.  In this case, post the student writing around the room, and each student will go around and read the writings to try to find who is similar to them and who is different.

Variation: Find the Lie

This is similar to the above activity, but in this case each student is encouraged to slip one lie into their talk.  As they walk around the other room talking to other students, the other students have to try to guess what the lie is.

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Discussion Questions--Example

Students are given a list of discussion questions that require an extended response and encourage the use of the target language.  They discuss these questions  with their partner.

Variation: Walk around the Room-- Example

The same idea, but the discussion questions are now posted around the room.  With their partner, students have to walk around the room.  When they get to a discussion question they stop, talk about the question, and then when they have finished the discussion, they move on to the next question.

Variation: Speed Dating-- Example

The discussion questions are put onto different cards, which are cut up before class.  Each student is given a set of cards, which they put face down on their desk.  Students sit opposite their partner, and then flip over the first card and talk about the question for 2 minutes.  At the end of 2 minutes, the teacher announces that the time is up (or a buzzer sounds) and  the students have to change seats.  Then, with their new partner, they flip over the next card, and talk about it for two minutes.

The seating pattern is usually two lines of chairs facing each other, or one inner circle facing an outer circle.  Seating arrangements will vary depending on your classroom set-up, of course.

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The Aim
Students do a guided story-writing activity through prompts from the teacher, and then illustrate it in a comic book form.

Procedure
Group the students into groups of 3-4.  Give each a piece of paper.  The students will write 1 thing (follow the list below) and then they will fold over the top of the paper and pass it to the second person (folding over the paper so that the second person can’t see what the first person has written).

Write the name of a place
Write the name of 2 people
What are the two people doing?
What happens next?
Where do the 2 people go next?
Who do they meet?
How do they feel?
What happens at the end?

Before the student open up their dialogues to look, give the instructions of the next task.  Show them a comic book template. Tell them they are going to look at their story and turn it into a comic.  Remember, they must write first and then draw.  ICQ: Do you write first or draw first?
After students have completed their comic, collect them and post them around the room.
Students walk around and read the comics, they then tick their favorite one.  After they’ve finished, collect all the comics and congratulate the winner.
Variation
Students present their comic to another group. They have 4 minutes to present their comic.  Then, students present their comic to a second group, and they have 3 minutes to present their comic.  Finally, students present their comic to a third group, and have 2 minutes to present their comic.  (In theory, with practice fluency will increase each time.  As pauses decrease, and rate of speaking increase, students will need less and less time to present with each repetition.)

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Procedure
The teachers asks each student to write 5 vocabulary words on slips of paper on a topic they've studied. Animals, food, furniture or other things that can be described are best. Students then put them in a pile in their group, and then mixed up and given to other groups. The teacher then takes a slip as an example, saying they have to describe the word, but can't say it (e.g. This is a type of fish that has...). Students then work in groups, taking turns describing the word, with the student who guesses it first getting the slip of paper. The student with the most words at the end wins.

Advantages
Very easy to set up with little preparation required. Students usually enjoy it. It can be used for a variety of topics and different target language, such as defining clauses at the higher levels, or adjectives at the lower levels.

Disadvantages
Requires monitoring so that students are using full sentences, and not just saying synonyms or using body language. Also requires students to hide their words or not say the word accidentally.

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Procedure: In the example given in Unocvering Grammar, Thornbury asks students to rewrite the poem Down by the salley gardens as prose. I think it is a great idea for several reasons. For one, it can be used with any number of poems that are relevant to the students or the syllabus. Moreover, it really lets students engage and try to understand poems for a purpose (rewriting) and through this they become much more aware of the features of the genre, activating or creating schemata.

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Procedure
The teacher reads with the students the book "Fortunately" by Remy Charlip.  This is a picture book for children in which a fortunate thing will happen to the character, and then an unfortunate thing and then a fortunate thing. (e.g. Fortunately he landed in water. Unfortunately there were sharks in the water. Fortunately he could swim. Unfortunately there were tigers on the land. Fortunately he could run. Unfortunately he ran into a deep dark cave.)  Then, the students in pairs write their own version of this story.  The different stories are posted around the class, and the students vote on their favorite stories.

Advantages
In my experience, student engagement with this has been really high.  They really have a lot of fun with this one.  Voting on the best story allows for peer content feedback.

Disadvantages
No communicative outcome.

Materials
PDF instructions from English Peterson HERE.  My own materials HERE.

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Procedure:
Students are given a topic to talk about (usually a story from their past--e.g. "talk about a time you were proud of something").  They have one minute to take notes on their topic, and check a dictionary for any necessary vocabulary.  Then, they talk to a partner, and tell their story for 4 minutes.  The teacher listens and takes notes on what he/she hears in the classroom.  After 4 minutes finishes, the teacher gives feedback on the whiteboard about good language use, as well as corrects any errors.  Then, the students change partners, and talk again on the same topic, but this time for 3 minutes.  Again, the teacher listens and gives feedback after the 3 minutes finishes.  Then, the students change partners again, and talk on the same topic for 2 minutes.  The teacher listens and gives feedback.  For an optional extra, the students can write about the same story for writing homework.

Source:
I first heard about it from Scott Thornbury's book Uncovering Grammar, although the planning time and the teacher feedback between partners is my own addition.  The theory, as Thornbury explained, is that the first time students speak on a topic, they are so focused on delivering their message that they don't have any additional attention left for accuracy.  But when they repeat the same story several times, the story becomes more automatic, and they have more attention left for accuracy issues.  In Thornbury's version, the students become more accurate without teacher intervention, just by task repetition alone.  (The value of task repitition was also mentioned in the pre-sessional reading.)  But I've added in the teacher feedback in my classes, and I think it helps students notice errors.

Advantages
Lots of time for students to practice, and improve their speaking.  They also get input from listening to 3 different partners tell their story.

Disadvantages
No communicative outcome.  Students are told to just tell a story to a partner.

Materials
I have a number of topics prepared here.

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Procedure
The teacher reads a story to the class.  In my experience, I use children's books that are popular in my country, but that my students don't know about (e.g. "The Cat in the Hat").  The teacher then stops the story halfway through, without revealing the ending to the story.  The students write their own ending to the story in pairs.  They then read each other's ending, and vote on the best ending.  The teacher then gives delayed feedback on good language use and language errors.

Advantages
There students really enjoy writing funny or outrageous endings to the stories, and they really enjoy reading each other's endings.  The voting on the best ending allows for peer content feedback.

Disadvantages
Although the teacher can give delayed feedback, there's no predetermined language point.
Also, although there is peer feedback on the content, there's no communicative outcome for the task itself other than the students simply being told to write a story.