Selector

Below is a small scale example of a teaching resource I've found useful in keeping a class motivated, through competition and tension. The picture shows the names of 9 different students from a fictional class, each put onto an individual powerpoint slide.

• To begin with, set up the names of your pupils on individual slides making sure that all slides are a generic design, like that used for Rita or Sue. Set the powerpoint to rapidly cycle through the slides (set slide transition to change automatically after 0 seconds and get the last slide to return to start).
• View the slideshow to show the names flying past, then right click at random and ask your selected student a simple question related to whatever is being studied. If they answer correctly, exit the slideshow and give the student an opportunity to change the colour of their name (further learning opportunities in an EFL classroom). On re-entering the slideshow, the student's name will be recognisable above all others as it flashes past.
• Use the powerpoint again, but this time ask a harder question and offer the reward as a picture on the student's slide (of their choice, or from a small selection). This time when the slideshow is stopped, the pupil will have had more time to assess the question and have motivation to answer despite being put on the spot.
• By saving the powerpoint for a given class, it can be used at any time and gives students an opportunity to build up an impressive slide that shows off their personalities, such as Sam and Kian's.

This resource can be used at nearly any stage of a lesson, and I'm sure you'll find plenty more uses for it than just basic verbal quizzing. When using this resource in a classroom, I found that students were begging for me to use it every lesson, which was real leverage in getting them to get tasks completed to make time for an activity I'd already planned into my lesson.

Angus Gallagher

TEFL Circus Spot the Difference

This a spot-the-difference activity, designed to fit a specific text for a TEFL classroom as a starter or warm-up, though I'm sure it can be used outside of those parameters. The images were traced and altered from printouts from the pre-school colouring book (http://www.preschoolcoloringbook.com/color/cpcircus.shtml) and (http://www.coloring.ws/circus2.htm)


The differences are:

1. Lion - Tiger
2. Missing sheep on the hillside
3. Belt on the Acrobat
4. Rung missing on the Ladder
5. Diamond Shape missing on top of support post for circus tent
6. Change in the Majestic Elephant's headdress
7. Ringmaster's whip
8. Additional balloon in Clown's cluster
9. Clown losses his 'red' nose and begins to cry
10. Change in price and number of balls on the coconut shy

Hope this is of some assistance to someone out there!
Angus Gallagher