Spontaneous Conference Inspired Lesson

Today I was all at sea! No time to prepare for my round of Tuesday lessons. Having grabbed a stack of possible ideas on the way out the door this morning, I felt neither focused nor motivated.

On arrival, I had a flash of inspiration. Get my two learners (the first group is often a small one!) to guess where I'd been and what I'd done this past weekend. (If you saw the FB post I wrote Monday evening, you'll have an inkling of what transpired...)

As I was suggesting this idea, my brain was racing one step ahead calculating how much I could get out of it and what learning could be achieved. Here is the lesson which evolved and which I consequently used for the ensuing 2 more lessons.

Aim of Lesson:
1.) to review question forms in simple past and present perfect
2.) to practise talking about where people come from - what their nationality is.

Process:
1.) Twenty Questions - learners have up to 20 questions to figure out where the teacher was and what she did at the weekend.
2.) Having guessed - In Prague at a business English teachers' conference - learners guess which nationalities were represented at the conference. Nationalities not represented were written down in a separate column.
3.) Go back and look at questions posed in first part - at least one person in every group asked "Where have you been at the weekend?" And other present perfect structured questions. We looked at why this tense does not work when asking about what someone did last weekend.

Outcome:
1.) Learners found out more about the exciting world of BE teachers!
2.) Reviewing the difference between simple past and present perfect was a very useful (and seemingly necessary) exercise. Equally, checking the difference between closed and open questions and how small talk can be helped or hindered.
3.) It was fun thinking of so many different nationalities - keeping a close eye on how to say them in English.
4.) A group talk sharing "Have you ever....?" experiences.

With each group, I was able to refine the "lesson plan" and adapt to the higher levels. Where the first group benefited from a fresh, spontaneous idea, the last group benefited from a more structured and thought-through lesson. I was happy to share my story and to know my learners had a solid reminder of some important grammar in a context that was a change from their everyday experience.

PS: If you didn't catch the FB post I wrote, I've copied it into the next blog post, with a photo of my fellow travellers ;-)