Experiential Learning 21, Develop a Positive Feeling Tone in Class

In the training sessions that I generally conduct for teachers, I find that activities demonstrating concepts are more useful than slides. Recently, I did a workshop on motivating students in a classroom.

I had to demonstrate five motivating factors:

1. Feeling Tone 2. Level of Concern 3. Interest 4. Success 5. Knowledge of Results

I decided to demonstrate each of them with a sample activity, that could also be used in the classroom.

I am going to detail the activities I used in five different newsletters to keep each of the newsletters short.

The first factor is: Feeling Tone. It has two aspects to it - Level of Comfort on a personal level and Positive Challenge presented by the task.

I paired the participants and in the first round of a minute's duration, I asked them to share with each other their likes and dislikes.

In the second round I asked them to introduce their partners with an adjective that described them, now that they had got to know them better.

The participants were able to bond well and found it easy to come up with some descriptive adjectives for their friends.

After half-an-hour of jolly bonhomie, I debriefed the game for them.

The first round was a way of getting to know each other better without any obvious learning agenda. Something like this would increase comfort levels among students

The second round was to demonstrate knowledge of appropriate adjectives for friends. This is the round that is used to present a task with a positive challenge to students, for which the necessary scaffolding was done in the previous round.

Similar exercises could be used to discuss and speak about reading exercises, learning points from a completed project and a host of other things.

In the next Edition

Samples of Creative Writing Activities

Here are some samples from a couple of workshops I conducted last week.

1. Story with Phrasal Verbs (in inverted commas)

I 'looked into' the matter and realised that a crime had taken place. I began to 'look for' clues for the crime. The servant at the crime scene 'looked for' clues in the servant quarters. He had 'put on' curious looking clothes. I decided to 'take away' the pieces of broken glass lying there. I have decided not to 'give up' on the case. I will not rest until the culprit 'gives' himself 'up'. After the case is solved, I will 'take off' to London for a holiday. Today's meeting was 'called off' due to this crisis.

2. Poem with rhyming words - 'bus' was the trigger

'Lotus', My School

I go to the school by bus

It is called 'Lotus'

We have a focus

It's truly marvellous

Teachers are fabulous

Everything here is precious

Canteen food is delicious

It is very famous

Students here are geniuses

Teachers are never furious

Pupils are curious

Classrooms are spacious

Students turn out to be courageous

None is ridiculous

Don't believe in the previous

Future is precious

We learn and explore like Columbus

Follow the Syllabus

To become geniuses

Not a bogus

It's only us & us

Who make up the petals of our 'Lotus'

We dream to become gorgeous and fabulous by learning Calculus.

3. One of the tasks a group of ten were expected to do was to use a list of characters that a competing group had developed on a 'watch' - (a time device) and create a scene from a play.

Here's what they developed in 5 minutes:

A SCENE OF A COURTROOM

The Judge is Mr. Transparent Non-bias

1st Advocate - Mr. Punctuality

2nd Advocate - Mr. Co-operation

1st Victim - Mr. Alarming

2nd Victim - Mr. Spontaneous

Mr. Transparent enters the courtroom and without wasting time says, 'Let's be punctual and start the hearing.'

Mr. Punctuality steps up and says - 'Sir, Alarming is innocent and Spontaneous is dutiful. I have some witnesses for it as well. First of all, I would like to call in Audible.

Audible - 'It's not only me Sir, Co-ordination has also seen this'.

4. Poem with a list of adverbs (with a few refinements)

I woke up early that day

I was dressed beautifully

Moving smoothly on the grass

I saw a bird singing melodiously

I believe it perches on the same tree daily

Sweetly it sang and looked at me lovingly

Brightly the Sun shone and made everything beautiful

The feeling was heavenly

I danced to the melodious sound gracefully

So soothing was the song

That my soul was touched calmly and softly

Go to ELT page or Communication Games and check out some games and activities to teach grammar and/or communication.

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