HUMAN LIBRARY

        When I heard about the human library concept, pooofff! I got it, liked the peer teaching-learning based idea in it and  thought: I must do something with it, it must work for my goals. I came up with an awesome speaking activity for any level... Beginner to upper... You may plan a controlled, semi-controlled or completely free one for yourself... As I always say, have it your way 😉
        For a controlled one, you determine the whole process: the topics, place, the partners...etc.
        The topics will be enough for the semi-controlled one.
        Aaand your job will become easier with the upper levels. Set them free, get your seat and enjoy the show...

ELLA ELLA CINDERELLA

     This is the story of Ella. Oh, poor Ella! Sweet, lovely girl...

     Downhall is a small town. Ella lives in a big house in this small town with her parents. Her father is a rich man, her mother is a housewife. Ella's father James always goes faraway countries and doesn't come back for a long time. When he comes back home in the end, Ella and her mother get very happy.

     One day, James goes out of the country for business again. He stays away from his home and lovely family for six months. When he returns home, he learns that his adorable wife, Bella has got a fatal illness. After a very short time, she passes away. Ella and James mourn for her for a very long time. They always think of her and their happy past days. 

     Father and daughter keep on living on their own until that day. Oh, that dark day... The day that James explains the ugly truth to Ella, the day that Ella's nightmare begins. James falls in love with the black widow, Hannelore. Hannelore is a middle-aged, evil minded woman; she also has got two horribly ugly and cruel daughters.

 
     In two weeks' time, James gets married to the black widow. Then, Hannelore and her daughters move James and Ella's home, they start living altogether.

     Everything goes well at the beginning. Dinners, parties with nobel families, lords... After two weeks, James has to go faraway countries for business again. In fact, he doesn't want to leave his daughter alone but he convinces himself that Hannelore and the girls will be good friends to her through his absence. However, he never comes back... His ship can't survive a strong storm, sinks and he gives his last breath in the deep ocean before seeing the pretty face his beloved daughter and saying goodbye to her.

     After James' announcement of death arrives home, the black widow and her daughters, shedding crocodile tears for a few days, start treating Ella like a maid, despising and insulting her. Ella, becoming unhappy day by day, falls into despair. She sleeps in the kitchen and talks only to her animal friends.

     One day in the town it is spread that, there'll be a ball in the palace and the prince will choose his future wife at this ball. Hannelore, the girls and Ella, hearing this, become very happy. After seeing Ella's happiness, Hannelore says that she will never go to the ball and locks her in the attic on the day of the ball.

     Ella lies on her bed desperately and begins to cry silently. Aaaaannd poooofff! Suddenly, a fairy appears in the room and promises to send her to the ball after dressing her up like a princess; but on one condition: "She has to leave the ball before it strikes 12 o'clock at night." 

     The fairy godmother does her magic and dolls Ella up. A gorgeous dress, glass slippers, silky hair...

 
    Ella sets out to the palace on a pumpkin carriage with her servants. Nobody, including the prince, can take their eyes off her. The handsome prince approaches and asks her to dance. They keep on dancing non-stop for hours until Ella notices that it's midnight. After hearing the bell ringing, she rushes to her carriage. However, on the stairs she falls down and loses one of her slippers. The prince ,running after her, can find only the glass slipper of the woman he fell in love with at first sight; but he is decisive to find her and he plans to visit all the houses in the town one by one, make all the single ladies try that glass slipper on until finding the love of his life.

     Wow, wow, wow! The royals are in front of Hannelore's house. Now, it's their turn to try that slipper on. The trumpets blow, the prince and his servants come in. The ugly sisters try the slipper on one by one, but it fits none of them. One of the servants, noticing Ella, says :"It's your turn". "But she is our maid!" opposes Hannelore in a surprised manner. The prince says: "Her being a maid doesn't mean that she can't be the love of my life!" and orders his servants to give the slipper to Ella. She puts it on and it fits her foot as if it has been made for her.


     The prince, finding  his love, hugs her so tight and takes her to the palace right away. Their marriage is celebrated all through the country for days and nights aaaaaannd they live happily forever and ever...

     By the way, if you happen to ask about the cruel witches; of course, they pay for what they've done. And their punishment is living whole their lives with wickedness and falsehood...

                                                   THE END :) 

     

THE BOOT IS ON THE OTHER FOOT ;)

         Things are changing now :) This time the students need to choose the incorrect answers.

-This activity works well for intermediate to advanced level students.

- Prepare a kind of "quiz show" questions: as well as general knowledge you can ask commonsense - trick questions to allow calculated answers.

-All they must do is to choose the incorrect answer.

-It's really enjoyable and I can make sure that you'll have great fun :)

STORY CHAIN

-Give one sentence from the story to each student on a piece of paper. (not in the correct order)
-Then, each student reads out their sentence in turn.
-The students need to put the sentences into the correct order by listening and understanding.
-At the next step, they sit or stand beside the student who has the preceding sentence and complete the story chain.
-When all the sentences are done, they read out the complete story.
 
             Take it easy and have it your way :)      McD...

CRAZY DANCE

    

        It's a pretty good and enjoyable idea for teaching feelings and emotions. We (both "me" and my pupils :) ) had a great time doing it.

        If  the pupils already have a background of these words, you can directly apply it. However if they don't, you'd better make them ready yourself. Before getting started; determine the words, prepare the worksheets and give them a couple of minutes to work on. This is the most boring part :) The rest will be so funny that you won't even remember the first step...

        How was mine?
        My worksheets were visually supported ( no translation). There were only the words and the smileys showing them and only one word with its smiley on each page.

        Now, find an energetic music (I know, I don't need to say but in English please :)). You can get started then...

        At the beginning you can use some easy instructions like "dance, jump, stop... etc. as a warm up :) Then, show the feeling or emotion you want them to act while dancing. For instance, when you show "happy", they dance happily or sadly for "sad". If you show "tired", they act like they feel tired. Bored, surprised, shocked, scared,..etc. as many as you wish... The activity goes on till you feel dead tired :D..

         Take it easy... See you soon...

SAVE YOUR SHIP

• Determine a lexical area of vocabulary. (fruits, animals, adjectives, stationery... etc.)
• Prepare a worksheet or a list of words for the students to study on. (visually supported, not in the mother tongue)
• When the pupils feel ready for the game, divide them into groups of four or five.
• Choose a captain and a shooter for each group. (the rest is the crew.)
• Let the pupils to pick a name for their ship.
• Then let the game begin :)  

 Here is how:
The ship that the instructor picks starts first. The captain says the first word (from the vocabulary list they studied beforehand), then the crew one by one till the shooter's turn comes. The shooter says his/her own word and then another ship's name. (All the pupils should say different words from the list). Now the ship chosen by the shooter has the turn and they do the same. If the captain of the ship cannot give a word in two seconds or one of the crew and shooter repeats the same word, their ship sinks and the group loses the game. It goes on until one ship is left and becomes the winner.

Did it work?
Absolutely yes! It's an enjoyable and challenging way of learning and teaching vocabulary... I'm sure you and your pupils are gonna love it!