Module 19 - Teaching with Limited Resources

 

When you teach abroad, you are likely to find yourself having to do without many familiar teaching materials.  Art supplies, markers, textbooks, a photocopier, games and computers could all be in short supply for you and your students. But don’t be discouraged-this is the perfect chance to let your creativity and resourcefulness shine through in the ESL classroom.

 

If you know that you are traveling to an area where schools are under-funded and in need of support, you can prepare in advance to be teaching with limited resources.

 

Find out about what is likely to be available and how limited the resources are, and bring some materials with you. Construction paper, crayons, a small ball, and speakers for your computer or ipod can all make a big difference in your class.

 

It is also a great idea to look into TEFL courses that have a module on teaching with limited resources. This can help you be even more prepared before you go.

 

During class, focus on games or activities that involve a lot of speaking.

 

Role playing, conversations, and drama activities can get your students speaking and learning with virtually no resources.

 

Write up a short script before class, or write a conversation on the board.

 

Allow students to substitute words or phrases, if they are able to.

 

Let your students be creative, and have fun.

 

When it’s time for games, keep things simple-you can communicate a lot, and have a lot of fun, with simple games and ideas.

 

There are tons of fun games that you can play which require almost no materials at all.

 

Here are a few ideas:

 

Spelling Game:  Say a vocabulary word and spell it.  If you spell the word right, the first one to sit down is the winner.  If you spell it wrong, the first one to raise his or her hand and spell it correctly is the winner. You can try this with sentences and grammar, too.

 

Spelling Race: You can have individuals come to the board and race to finish writing a word first.  You can also play this game in teams, where each team member writes one letter, then hands the marker or chalk off to the next team member.  They’ll be writing fast, so make sure you include a rule that the word has to be legible to count!

 

Hot Potato: You’ll need a ball and a timer.  Students sit in a circle, and each one has to say one letter of a spelling word, or ask a question before passing the ball to the next student.  When the time is up, whoever is holding the ball has to sing a song, do a dance, or something equally fun.

 

Bear-Ninja-Cowboy: A life-sized version of rock-paper-scissors!  Teach your students actions for bear, ninja, and cowboy.  Then teach them the rules: Bear eats Ninja, Ninja chops Cowboy, Cowboy shoots Bear.  Students start off back-to-back, and take three steps as you and the rest of the class chant “Bear, Ninja, Cowboy, turn!”   When they turn, each student does one of the actions.  You can let the winner choose a spelling word for the loser to spell, or ask a question that the loser has to answer.  Or you can just play and have some fun!

 

Two Truths and A Lie: Perfect for older kids who already have a good vocabulary and grasp of basic sentences.  One student says or writes three sentences.  They can be about anything, but two have to be true, and one has to be a complete lie.  The other students then try to guess which one is a lie.

 

Here are some other ideas:

 

Starter level

 

Speech bubbles: speaking

 

• For lower-level students, choose a picture in their coursebook (or magazines - choose famous stars) that has several people in and have them think about what each person is saying.

 

• This could be as simple as What’s your name? or How are you? but encourage students to be as creative as they can.

 

• Give them time to think of their ideas, then tell them to write what they think each person is saying in a speech bubble on the picture.

 

• Finally, put students into groups to practise the conversations they have made.

 

Pictionary: speaking

 

This is a good game to review vocabulary that students have covered in class, such as household objects, animals, jobs, food, sports, etc.

 

• First, make a list of twelve or fifteen words that you want to review.

 

• Then draw a line down the middle of the board to split it into two sections.

 

• Divide the class into two teams and explain that one person from each team must come to the board and draw a word that you give them.

 

• Explain that the students in their team must correctly guess the word.

 

• When their teammates have correctly guessed the word, they should sit down and another person from their team should come to the board and draw the next word.

 

• Explain that they have to guess as many words as they can in the time available.

 

• The team with the most number of correct guesses at the end is the winner.

 

• Tell each team to elect one person to go first. Give them each a different word from your list to draw and begin the game!

 

Elementary level

 

Describe the picture: speaking

 

• Choose an interesting photograph or illustration from your course book and put students into pairs to describe what they can see. You might want students to concentrate on using a target structure you have recently covered. For example, an elementary class might review the present continuous by saying what each person in a picture is doing. She is sitting on a chair/He is speaking on the phone, etc.

 

• You could turn this into a game by putting students into groups of three or four and having one student ask a question (e.g. What is she doing?/Who is speaking on the phone? etc.) while the other students compete to be the first to answer. Students gets one point for each correct answer. The winner is the person at the end of the game with the most points.

 

• Alternatively, choose a picture that allows them to recycle the vocabulary they have covered in the class, such as clothes, adjectives appearance and character, etc. He looks shy, I think she’s very intelligent.

 

Describe the picture: writing

 

• Tell students to find an interesting photograph or illustration in their coursebook and to write a few sentences to describe what they can see.

 

• Monitor and provide help as necessary. When they finish, put students into small groups and tell them show their picture while they read aloud their sentences.

 

• You may wish to make this more challenging by telling students to include three factual errors. For example by writing The man is wearing a blue shirt when the shirt is actually white. As they read their sentences their partners must listen carefully to identify the three errors.

 

• Note: You might want to include useful language for describing a picture, such as In the foreground/background, on the left/right, in the middle, I think it may/might be…because…, etc.

 

Intermediate level

 

Story building: speaking

 

• Choose an interesting picture from the coursebook that includes some people and put students into groups to talk about it.

 

• Tell them to choose one person in the picture and to think in detail about them; they should decide on the person’s name, age, job, what they are saying or thinking, where they are going, why, who they are going to see, etc.

 

• Encourage students to build up as big a story as possible using the picture as a prompt.

 

• Explain they have to remember all the details as they cannot make notes.

 

• When students are ready, mix the groups and tell each student to say who they chose and then talk about the story they made up about them.

 

Vocabulary definitions: vocabulary

 

• Put students into pairs with one person in each pair facing away from the board so they cannot see what you are writing.

 

• Write on the board about ten words that you want to review from work previously done in class.

 

• Tell the students facing the board to choose a word and describe it to their partner.

 

• Give them a time limit and tell them to record how many words their partner can guess.

 

• When they finish, have students swap chairs and repeat the activity with a different list of words.

 

Grammar mime: grammar

 

You can review grammar structures such as the past simple and past continuous through simple mime, by making a story.

 

• Write Last night on the board and then mime to the class what you did (watched television, ate dinner, etc).

 

• Have the class call out what you did as you mime each action. When you finish, repeat the mime with students all calling out what you did. Then put students into groups to do the same.

 

• Encourage them to think up their own original stories and mime them to their classmates.

 

Vocabulary mime: vocabulary

 

You can use mime to review certain vocabulary sets, such as sport, jobs, character adjectives, etc.

 

• Begin by putting students into groups to make a list of as many words as they can connected to each vocabulary set you want to review.

 

• Have the group with the most words write their list on the board. Check spelling and add any additional words, then model the pronunciation and have the class repeat after you.

 

• Then choose one word from the board and mime it to the class. For example, pretend to play tennis, be a doctor, be miserable, etc.

 

• Encourage students to call out the word you are miming. Mime a few more as examples and then put students into groups to do the same.

 

Upper-intermediate level

 

Link the pictures: speaking

 

• Tell students to turn to a page in their coursebooks that has several pictures and to try to think of a situation to connect all the pictures.

 

• Tell them to build up a story with as much detail as they can. Then tell each group that they must prepare a role play of their story to the class.

 

• Give them time to decide their roles and what each of them says, then tell them to perform their role play.

 

Good for any level

 

How many … can you find?

 

A good way to revise grammar is to choose a text from the coursebook and tell students to count the number of times they can see a certain structure. For example, ask How many examples of the past simple can you find? or How many irregular verbs are there? You can also focus on word forms this way, by asking How many adjectives/adverbs are there? etc.

 

Spelling check

 

• Choose ten new words that students have recently covered from a unit in the coursebook.

 

• Write them at random on the board.

 

• Give students one minute to memorize them, then erase the words from the board and tell students to write down every word they remember.

 

• Have volunteers come to the board and write the words. Then tell students to turn to the unit where you took the words from and to find each word and check the spelling themselves.

 

• Finally, practise pronunciation and review the meaning of each word.

 

• As a variation, rather than choose the words for this activity yourself you could tell the students to look through a unit and make a list of words themselves that they think are difficult to spell. When they finish, have them dictate their list to a partner.

 

Word jumble

 

• Choose ten words that you want to review and write them on the board but with the letters jumbled up. For example, jantosirlu (journalist), roeevrttx (extrovert), etc.

 

• Tell students to unscramble the words as quickly as they can. Then have them look through a unit they have completed and choose five words to jumble for their partner.

 

As long as you are prepared for the limited resources that you may find in the classroom, you can have plenty materials and ideas ready to go.

 

The most important resources that you need to create a fun and enriching environment are, after all, your own creativity and imagination!

 

 

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