This was the first lesson that my partner and I taught, and our only objective was to have the class do some activities that encouraged discussion. This lesson began with a warmup: a game called Two Truths and a Lie. Students took turns stating two truths and one lie, and other students guessed which statement was a lie. This game was fun for two reasons. Firstly, it is challenging to come up with convincing lies about oneself. Secondly, it is challenging to identify truths about oneself that seem worth sharing. Furthermore, this activity gave students a chance to bond while sharing interesting details of their lives.
In the next portion of our lesson my partner and I displayed six quotes and asked students to choose the quote which resonated with them most. We included quotes from Abe Lincoln, C.S. Lewis, Gandhi, Lao Tzu, Margaret Fuller, and a Chinese proverb. When students had finished choosing their preferred quote, we asked them to explain what about that quote resonated with them, which worked well to give students an opportunity to speak but ended up being teacher-centered in that students would address my partner and I when answering questions rather than the rest of the class. In the future I would like to encourage students to “pass the microphone” to the next student rather than acting as the sole facilitators of the discussion.
Our next exercise was a classic: the old “what three items would you bring to a deserted island?” dilemma. For this exercise, we split students into breakout rooms and asked them to deliberate until they all agreed on three items. Upon returning to the main room, we asked each group to share the items they agreed on as well as to explain the rationale behind their decisions.
Next were a listening exercise, wherein students listened to audio recordings and answered corresponding comprehension questions on esl-lab.com. Then we reviewed the answers as a group.
As a final “exit ticket” we asked students to state something they learned about a classmate during the lesson. This gave them an opportunity to practice speaking as well as to display their knew knowledge about their peers.