Guess what I’m talking about – a nice way to welcome new students

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In the book I’ve mentioned before, Mr Graham Stanley writes about an activity I want to use to familiarise my new students with our school – it’s a really nice activity for both old and new students and it brings some nice ideas for similar tasks and homework.

The whole task is based on listening for gist, but preparation is key: you ask a a few people from school’s staff to talk briefly about something (something I enjoy doing, a birthday present I really liked, my favourite food etc.) without mentioning what they are talking about. You may also take photos/videos of those people if they agree.

In class, play the recordings and ask students to guess what the person is talking about. Once they guess, play the recording once more and ask them to note down the words that made them think they know the answer.

The reason I find this activity useful is not only its purely educational aspect, but also the social potential. I’m planning to record short speeches by the people my new students have already met, so they’ll get a sense of familiarity (very important, especially for those individuals who join a group of students that already know each other).

To continue the activity, I want to make my students record themselves in pairs in a similar way and then listen to the recordings as a whole class activity (a very nice idea for getting to know one another). I also plan to give them homework of recording one person (a friend/a family member) and themselves – it’s a very good way to encourage students to record their own speech and work on their pronunciation.

I hope my students will find this activity as enjoyable as I do 🙂