AN ACTIVE START TO THE TEFL ACADEMIC YEAR

Another school year is just around the corner. TEFL eachers (me included) are bound to be planning for that first week where we set the mood of how learning will happen in and out of our classrooms. Last year, I wrote about ‘get-to-know activities’[1], but these are just some of the many introductory activities we could introduce. For example, it makes sense to plan for TEFL student-centred lessons right from the first day of classes by introducing TEFL active learning activities, which give students the opportunity to learn while doing –and which many students are not accustomed to[2]. This can help our students transition smoothly to learning by discovery and collaboration. Smart, right?   Below are two of my favourite active learning activities. (I hope you will share yours too!).

Jigsaw: This activity , which was first developed by Elliot Aronson in 1971 as a way to make classrooms more inclusive[3], teaches students to work in groups. In this model, I first assign students to a ‘home group’ of four to six students each (the activity works best with even numbers). Next –note that there are variations of what happens next –I give each TEFL student from each home group a question (numbered 1 to 4 or 1 to 6 depending on the group size) and ask TEFL students with the same number question to form a second group, which becomes the ‘expert group.’ These groups then work together to solve or answer their respective questions before returning to the ‘home’ group to teach or explain their topic. By the end of the activity, each group has shared and learned from each other (here you may want to include team roles to keep groups on task). As TEFL teachers, our task is to eavesdrop, give guidance, and clarify as students discuss. Once each TEFL group has covered all the topics, you could also include a whole class discussion, with each group restating one of the questions and going over the answer. On the first day of classes, this activity can be used to let students discuss classroom expectations. The number questions could be in the form of a ‘what if’ situation that requires TEFL students to base their answers on classroom expectations.

Think-Pair-Share:   This activity is a nice transition to working with groups because it begins as an individualized activity before TEFL students are asked to share their response with another person and then with a larger TEFL group. For beginners, the activity could be about jotting down vocabulary the students already know, comparing the list with another person, and then sharing the list with two others. For more advanced students, the activity could begin with students making a list of what they would like to learn and why, before sharing it with the person next to them, and then two others. The TEFL activity could be extended to include students writing their combined lists on flip chart paper, which they would then share with the entire class. Teachers could use these lists as part of their diagnostics. There are some questions the teacher should have in mind: Are all the words spelled correctly? What themes pop out that indicate topics students are familiar with? What are the most prominent gaps? What are the strengths?

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