Do it backwards
Gareth, Wales
The editor of this magazine and myself have a few things in common, we both love cricket and we both love doing cryptic crosswords. I learnt the basics of how to do cryptic crosswords at the knees of my father, but I really worked out how to do them when I spent a summer doing them backwards. By this I mean I would look at the answers in the next day’s newspaper and then try to figure out why they were correct. What has this got to do with teaching? Well, it occurred to me that when we do gap-fill or multiple-choice exercises, or even reading or listening comprehension, we are testing our students, not teaching them, but these exercises could be, no, should be a teaching tool. So why don’t we allow students to see the answers and ask them to work out why they are correct? – in other words, do it backwards like I did with the crosswords. So often this is called cheating, but is only cheating if you are not putting the effort in. Early in a course, I give my students the answers to all the questions and then set the task to tell me why they are right. I explain that they are using the answer to help them learn and then encourage them to do this for the rest of the course. So, instead of copying from the answer key or from a colleague without thinking or waiting for us to go through the answers as a class and writing the answers in their books and never looking at them again, the students know that, however they get the right answer, they can actively use the information to help them learn.
Whiteboard feedback
Do you use mini-whiteboards in your teaching? I use mine all the time, they are the best Christmas present I’ve ever had. One way, I use them is to get feedback from controlled practice or reading and listening exercises. The students write their answers on the mini-whiteboard and then, when they are ready, I ask all the groups to display their answers to the class at the same time. The students can then look at each other’s answers and see where there are differences. They can look at those questions again to see if they are correct or if they have made a mistake. Meanwhile, I can see which questions the whole class have got correct and which might require a little more discussion. Doing targeted feedback helps me to save time but also focus my time on areas where students need more help. Alternatively, one group are the whiteboard group. Only they write their answers on the whiteboard and then we do feedback by discussing their answers.
Making the weather interesting
James, Spain
Who says speaking about the weather is boring?!
When teaching Young Learners we tend to start with the date and weather as part of our routines. I have started doing something different to vary it a bit.
I elicit the date and weather but now I have also moved on to temperature. I ask them what they think the temperature is in Seville ( my home town) and they have to guess. I simply say higher or lower in order to help them. This introduces the idea of comparative at very low levels. I then compare the temperature with London (my second home city). And I then finish off by asking them to tell me the name of an exotic city and we find out what the temperature is like there.
The idea is to raise awareness that we live in a world where things are very different – and, hopefully, to show them what an incredible world we live in. Then (a good way to involve the logical mathematical students), I ask them to tell me what the difference in temperature is in the different cities.
- Seville 42 degrees
- London 13 degrees
- Rio 24 degrees
What is the difference in temperature between London and Seville? And between Seville and Rio?
I then go to Google images and type the name of the city to see what you can find in that exotic place. This has enabled me to introduce vocabulary they would only encounter at higher levels (mosques, skyscrapers, lakes, churches, bridges, statues, squares)
I finish off by asking the students if they would you like to travel there. And they are encouraged to say: Yes, I would / No, I wouldn’t and the reason why / why not.
This way they have spoken about weather, realised that the weather is different in different parts of the world, spoken about cities and landmarks and been introduced to the comparative form and the question with Would you like.
I also add some comments about the city ‘Oh, yes, I have been there; I ate an ice cream sitting in the main square‘; ‘No, I haven’t been there yet but I’m hoping to because they say the . . . is incredible‘. This introduces learners to the present perfect for experiences and personalises the city.
I encourage my students to go home and find the name of an exotic city. The most exotic city will be chosen for the next lesson. This way we have travelled to Ouagadugu, Tiblisi, La Paz and Tokyo.
It is a good opportunity to speak about weather but also to stretch students with new lexis and grammar.
Vocabulary pairs
Robert, UK
I normally turn this exercise into a fun activity by projecting the 36 words onto the screen. I tell the class they have 60 seconds to remember as many words as possible.
After the time is up, they jot down as many words as they can remember and then discuss with a partner, adding words to their own list.
I then say there are 18 pairs of words and give them time to try and recall or guess any more before we look at the words with the definitions (a–r) Tell the class to beware of Red Herrings!
See Resources Online at https://pavilionelt.com/wp-content/uploads/MET34.5_OnlineResources_IWIP_VocabularyPairs_McLarty2.pdf
Look at the definitions and words below.
For each definition (a–r) find two words which fit, for example, a Two crops = 14 maize & 31 barley
| a Two crops | b Two types of chart | c Two stations | d Two herbs |
| e Two homophones | f Two opposites | g Two fruits | h Two dogs |
| i Two bears | j Two anagrams | k Two colours | l Two oceans |
| m Two trees | n Two vegetables | o Two temperatures | p Two things ice does |
| q Two flowers | r Two things to cross |
| 1 Euston | 2 way | 3 parsley | 4 white | 5 Southern | 6 boiling |
| 7 Baloo | 8 daffodil | 9 freezing | 10 rose | 11 flow | 12 bridge |
| 13 melt | 14 maize | 15 peas | 16 grey | 17 river | 18 orange |
| 19 weigh | 20 fox | 21 step | 22 tulip | 23 pets | 24 crack |
| 25 Paddington | 26 basil | 27 pine | 28 fell | 29 oak | 30 beans |
| 31 barley | 32 pie | 33 apple | 34 Victoria | 35 Indian | 36 wolf |
Answer key
| a 14/31 | b 11/32 | c 1/25 | d 3/26 | e 2/19 | f 10/28 | g 18/33 | h 20/36 | i 7/25 |
| j 21/23 | k 4/16 | l 5/35 | m 27/29 | n 15/30 | o 6/9 | p 13/24 | q 8/22 | r 12/17 |
Pesky students?
James, Spain
Pesky students? Need a quick way to change partners in a discrete way without causing a fuss? There are lots of ways to change partners in order to change interaction patterns.
Ask students to stand up and arrange themselves alphabetically according to name or surname.
You can do the same according to birthday months, shoe size, last holiday destination, favourite food, what they ate for lunch or dinner and so on. Students will soon catch on, so choose other ways that are more obscure: colour of eyes, same colour clothes or the way they travelled to school. If you do it by birthday, let them know there is a 50-50 chance of a shared birthday if there are 23 or more in the class!
Some students will be adamant and refuse to change their partners and friends, so, once you have them in order, you decide how you’ll proceed. Students standing together (friends who chose the same answer) will not necessarily be working together; you need to now invent another way to pair them up, for example, by starting the new pairing from the right or left of the line, or by being a member of a pair yourself.
Students need variety, so changing them around will benefit them in a number of ways (different accents, different ways of tackling a task, different vocabulary or grammatical knowledge, getting to know their partner and improving rapport).
https://pavilionelt.com/wp-content/uploads/MET34.5_OnlineResources_IWIP_VocabularyPairs_McLarty2.pdf
https://pavilionelt.com/wp-content/uploads/p46-47_MET_34.5_SepOct_2025.pdf
