21 CENTURY

LEARNING IN ESL
CLASSROOM:
ST

Classroom techniques and fun learning

By Emily Dunn & Jillian Baranziri
Compiled by Noorhasyimah Munira

1. SPEAKING AND WRITING

LOWERING THE EFFECTIVE FILTER: USING GROUP

WORK TO PROMOTE SPEAKING

Why is it
important?

How does
GW
promotes
speaking?

Quick & easy

way to group
students?

QUICK & EASY WAY TO GROUP STUDENTS?

Silent
birthday

Synonym
s Match

Mingling

Playing
cards

Jigsaw

SILENT BIRTHDAY
Without talking to one another, (students) form a line according to their
birthday months. Starting from January at the front and all the way back
to December.
If you are teaching a large class, you can divide them into two large
groups first.
You can make it a game or time it to make it more interesting.
Check the line and see if they have lined up in a correct sequence
Divide them into smaller group for other activity (count 1,2,3,4, 1,2,3,4)

MINGLING
How to:
Students get up and mingle
Put on some music
Whenever the music stop they have to get into groups of 2, 4, 5, 10 etc.
Give them a topic to talk about in their groups i.e. their favourite food,
how did they get to school, country they would like to visit and why

SYNONYMS MATCH
In their fixed group, get students to pick an adjectives and brainstorm a
list of synonyms for the adjective. They must have enough adjectives for
each member of the group.
Get them to write each words on a piece of paper. Get them to put all the
paper in a pile at the front of the class.
Mix the pile up.
Get each students to randomly pick a piece a paper from their pile, and
tell them to find their synonyms match.
They can now work in their new group

PLAYING CARDS
Get two sets of playing cards
Give each students a card.
Simply shuffle your deck of cards and sort the cards into the number of
students per group that you want.
Students find their matched set of playing cards and are now sorted into
groups.
You can also use this system to choose volunteer. Just pick a card from
your deck, and the student with the similar playing card is chosen as the
volunteer

JIGSAW
Use the jigsaw technique to read a long article i.e. a paragraph per group.
The stages

Team of
1s

Experts

Team of
2s

Team of
3s

Team of
4s

Regrouping: Travelling experts

1,2,3,4

1,2,3,4

1,2,3,4

1,2,3,4

OTHER USES OF JIGSAW

Reading
/passage

Comprehension
/question

Writing
/sentence or
paragraph

Story telling/
sentence

Theme
/topic

DECREASING TEACHER TALK TIME (TTT)

Engaging learners

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE
TEACHING (CLT)
Increased
interaction(ST
T)

Meaningful
interaction

Autonomous

Authentic
conversation

Engaging

TEACHERS AS SUPPORTERS OF
LEARNING AND FACILITATORS (UR, 2012)
Elicit, not
explain

Concise
Instruction
s

MKO

Scaffoldin
g

STRATEGY TO ENGAGE I: STYLE

OF TEACHING

Gestures

Body language

STRATEGY TO ENGAGE II: BOARD

& QUESTIONS
Using the board

Asking the right

questions

Students doing
the writing

Open ended
questions

Peer to peer
feedback

Follow up
questions

STRATEGY TO ENGAGE III:

POSITIVE TEACHER TALK

Language
Pictures
in context
Authentic materials

STRATEGY TO ENGAGE IV:

OTHERS
Peer review (connecting to work and
presentation)
Plan STT/TTT when planning the lesson
Inductive method
Forum, talk show, role play,
Projects, marketing, competition
Encourage participation

CASE STUDY: STUDENTS

REFUSING TO READ
Storytellin
g

Popcorn
reading

Strategie
s

Scrambled
plot line

SPEAKING

Importance

Micro-skills

Arguably the most sought

after skill

Pronunciation

Requires a break from the

traditional teaching
method

Intonation/stress

Requires authentic
communication

Register

ACTIVITY 1: PRESENTING CIRCLE

WRITING
Get students into groups of four. Have them sit in a circle.
Each member of the group writes a paragraph
Have the students pass the paper to the person next to them
After the circle is complete, they will get their original essay
Have them read in their groups and choose the best essay
Students present the essay that they have chosen to the class
Rationale: ??

ACTIVITY 1: READ TO ACT

Get students into small groups. Have them select one member as the
director
Give each group a simple short story (50 100 words)
Act out the story from memory
Read the text again, take note, write simple dialogues
Have students rehearse a second time
Have students perform for the whole class

CREATING TO SPEAK
Using art to generate language

ACTIVITIES

C
o
m
i
c

PSpace Poem
i
c
t
u
s r
t e

1. COMIC STRIP: WE ARE GOING

ON A TRIP

How are we getting

there?
Get students to choose
unconventional transportation
i.e. horse, hot air balloons,
hovercrafts, dinosaurs,
superman, submarine

Where we are going?

Absolutely anywhere in this
world, fictional, past, present
and even future.
i.e. Mars, treasure island,
Amsterdam, future, Atlantis,
Hogwarts

CARTOON TEMPLATE
1. Cartoon at the
beginning of the
journey

2. One aspect of
the trip

3. One problem the

character faces,
things character
encounter

4. Arrival at
destination

CARTOON GENERATORS
Read, write, think
Make beliefs comic
Bit strips
Pixton
Comic masters

2. SPACE POEM (REFLECTIVE

PATTERN)
Winter
Cold, Boring
Shivering, Skiing, Shovelling
Snowman, Ice Skates

Diamante
Poem

Oppos
it

es

Sandcastles, Surfboards

Relaxing, Swimming, Lounging

Hot, Fun,
Summer

-ing

Adjec
t

ives

REFERENCE
www.americanenglish.state.gov
: website for ESL teachers
: free downloadable resources, lesson plans, and more