ACTIVITY

According to The Free Dictionary (2013) activity is: “An educational process or procedure intended to stimulate learning through actual experience” Thus, activity is a set of tasks that imparts knowledge and skills. Activities make students to bring learned contents from the theory to the practice.

Activities based on the TPR

Figure 12 Activities based on the TPR 

Created by Mauricio Matabay

Running Dictation

“A running dictation gets students out of their seats and engages reading, writing, listening and speaking skills” (Tate, A., 2014) This activity is used to develop the four English skills of students. It is mainly linked to TPR because students need to move to read and get an article and do a role play.

This activity is developed in several steps:

Step 1: Select an article related to a previous topic developed in class. It could be a paragraph, short dialogue, lyrics, etc. Write it down on a paper or print it. Put the articles at the front of the classroom or hold them on different walls of the classroom.

Step 2: Encourage students to work in heterogeneous groups, and assign roles like: runner, writer, check evaluator, report, actor, etc. (depending on the number of students per group)

Step 3: Explain students each role. Runner is who run, read the article and dictate to the writer. Writer is who takes notes. Supervisor is who correct grammar mistakes of the article. Reporter (optional) is who tell the class what they wrote. Actor is who does a role-play about the article.

Step 4:  When time starts, the runner from each group runs straight to the article and memorizes as much text as possible. Then, the runner returns to the writer and reports what was read. The writer takes notes while the supervisor corrects mistakes. This continues until the text is complete.

Step 5: Reporter reproduces the articles to the class.

Follow-up activity

Step 6: Encourage students to use learned useful expressions and personal information like: names, age, likes and dislikes, etc., to change parts of the article.

Step 7: All members of the group have to do a role-play about their own article using manipulatives, realia, or visuals. Encourage students to choose the best role-play.

Figure 13 Running Dictation.

Created by Mauricio Matabay

Role-playing

Wikipedia (2015) refers to role-playing game as “A game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting or through a process of structured decision-making or character development” Thus, students can create fictional characters with the help of some guidelines provided by the teacher.

Here, the role of the teacher is simply a facilitator who gives students some rules and guidelines to play a role-playing game. With clear instructions students able to work on a script that guides the roles and the dialogue lines of each characters.

A good role-playing game involves planning, organization, a script which contains useful expressions and different states of mind of characters, body language, interaction with the public, use of realia or visuals, heterogeneous grouping, and active participation. 

Figure 14 Role-playing

Created by Mauricio Matabay

The following figure suggests the process to do a good role-play.

Figure 15 Role-play process

Created by Mauricio Matabay

Stomp, spin, and spell

Steps 1: Encourage students to work in small groups. 

Step 2: Assign the role of spell master to one student who keeps pictures.

Step 3: The spell master says the name of the picture and then asks one student to spell the word. The student who spells the word has to use actions instead of letters for e = clap, i = hop, s = stomp, and t = spin. If the student spells and acts the word correctly, he or she gets a point. For instance, if the word to be spelled is peanuts he must spell physically and orally in this way: p-clap-a-n-u-spin-stomp.

Step 4: If the student does not spell and act the word out correctly, the spell master spells and acts the word out. Then, the spell master gives a new picture or word to the next student.

Step 5: The student who has more points at the end of the game is the winner. 

Figure 16 Stomp, spin, spell.

Created by Mauricio Matabay 

Simon says

This game can be developed by small groups or total grouping of students where one of them is Simon and gives commands to be followed by the rest of the students. The rest of the students usually respond physically or orally. Commands must only be followed if prefaced with the phrase "Simon says" If not, students do not follow any command.

For example, Simon says, put your hands up! Players have to put their hands up. Simon says, sit down! Players have to sit down. But, if the command is Stand up! Nobody has to stand up, because the phrase Simon says does not preceded the command. If any player follows the command he or she is immediately eliminated from the game. This is the ability to distinguish between valid and invalid commands.

The object for the student acting as Simon is to get all classmates out as quickly as possible. The player who has followed all of the given commands correctly is the winner. 

Figure 17 Simon says

Created by Mauricio Matabay

Where are your keys? (WAYK?)

It is an activity developed by Evan Gardner and used for acquiring languages. WAYK is a system that involves gestures and body language to facilitate communication and interaction.

According to Gardner, E., (2012), “Where Are Your Keys? is partially based on the Total Physical Response"

This activity is developed following these steps:

Step 1: Encourage students to work in small groups.

Step2: Deliver manipulatives, realia, visuals, etc. to each group.

Step 3: Explain each student takes turn to be the interrogator. For each question the interrogator uses gestures. For instance, Students work with flashcards and the question is What is he doing? For the word what interrogator claps, for the word is interrogator makes a circle in the air with his/her hands. For the word he interrogator points the picture with his finger. For the word doing interrogator makes a spiral with in the air his/her finger.

Step 4: The other students have to answer the questions using gestures, too. For instance, the question was What is he doing? The answer (according to the flashcard) could be He is playing basketball. For the word He students point the picture with their finger. For is students make a circle in the air with their fingers. For playing students turn around. For the word basketball students jump like they are playing basketball.

The student who responds physically and orally the questions without mistakes is the winner.

All of these activities can work well under any philosophical approach by selecting the appropriate strategies and methods.

Figure 18 WAYK

Created by Mauricio Matabay