Round Tables: An EFL activity


Once your students have reached at least an intermediate level, if not advanced, it is indispensable to have them participate in activities that help them sharpen their skills.
One of those activities is a Round Table. Well, if you see the picture we did not exactly have round tables in our classroom but we just put together our desks and that was enough. 
This activity works out better in small groups (the teacher and three or four students). Obviously that means the rest of the class will be somewhat unattended for a while so it is advisable to assign an activity to keep them busy in the meantime.
Each round table session should last 15 to 20 minutes tops so then you can continue with another group. Also each session should begin with a question brought by the teacher which will serve to introduce the theme of the discussion. Something like this could work: "What are the benefits and the problems that Internet has brought to our lives?" Students must be instructed that the main purpose of this activity is to assess their capacity to interact with people other than the teacher who is in this exercise only a moderator. Of course one student must begin for the others to follow. They should ask, agree, disagree, support, refute one another to show they are interacting. If the flow of the discussion falls down the teacher may intervene to keep the discussion enticing and enriching.  
It is an activity that must provide real opportunities to establish genuine and stimulating communication so each of the participants enjoy the activity.        

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How do you say MIRADOR in English?

Image
"Hmm, why do I have this nagging feeling that someone is watching me watching?" In Spanish, a MIRADOR is any place that allows a privileged view of the surroundings. In English, a MIRADOR is a VIEWPOINT or a LOOKOUT. Another possible translation is VANTAGE POINT, though in a tourist context this term is a bit less common.
Read more

The Maps of Ship-Trap Island

Image
Once I had my high school students read The Most Dangerous Game, a short story by Richard Connell. Rainsford, the main character, is a professional hunter traveling by ship to his next hunting area, accidentally ends up in an island called Ship- Trap island. When he goes into the island he finds there are two men living in a palace in the island. One of them is a Cossack general and the other, his brutish servant.  The Cossack is called general Zaroff who is also  a game hunter but has become bored of hunting regular game and now uses the island's unique position to capture sailors from shipwrecks. He lets them go first and next after some time he hunts them down. Rainford's arrival who is worldwide famous presents Zaroff with a rare opportunity to find excitement in hunting again by hunting another hunter. Little does Zaroff know that Rainsford is The Most Dangerous Game in the World and hunting him will not be easy at all. My students enjoyed themselves at reading
Read more

How do you say EXAMEN SUPLETORIO in English?

Image
Darn! I wonder if there's a Make Up exam for this Make up exam! I remember that long ago I asked my distinguished and knowledgeable colleagues of that time to enlighten me and tell me the right English word for what we know in Ecuador as EXAMEN SUPLETORIO or EXAMEN DE RECUPERACION.  After hearing Recovery exam or Supplemenary test and even Supletory exam, I was not convinced so I decided to go to a higher authority and looked up one of those encyclopedic dictionaries from Oxford or Cambridge university (these were the pre-browser times) and found the right expression is MAKE UP EXAM which is taken when an exam has been missed or when a student needs to change one score with a more favorable one. The British say RECUPERATION EXAM which is perhaps more practical since to some people the term Make Up is confusing. Make-up is the word for the wearing of cosmetics. There are Make-up tests which are oriented to future Make-up artists.
Read more