Rosana M. Almeida de Oliveira from Brazil is an English teacher and speech and language therapist, with qualifications in language studies, audiology and reflexive practice. In this article, Rosana shares an activity to help students learn English in a fun way, while understand the importance of it as an International Language.
This activity, which I used in my own class, involved pupils in tasks which allowed them to see the usage of English language, develop comprehension and oral skills, using recipes as a textual genre. As a result of the activity, my students started thinking about the relevance of English in their daily lives and it promoted interaction among students/teacher and students/students.
Insights
Considering the importance of English as an international language and its relevance as a social practice, I have thought carefully about how important it is to involve pupils in activities and tasks where they can see the usage of the language. One of the textual genres that I used with my students was recipes. I chose this genre because we were celebrating healthy food week at the time, and it motivated students to learn more about a recipe in English, as well as think about healthy habits.
Content
The proposed activity occurred in 3 classes, each 50 minutes long. In the first lesson, the teacher handed over a sheet of paper describing a detox juice recipe. The students had to be attentive when reading the vocabulary, cognates, false cognates, and characteristics of the genre etc. The main challenge was asking the students to figure out that the text was a recipe. This task was done in pairs, and the students shared their opinions and conclusions with the class afterwards.
On the second lesson, the students might infer about the benefits of detox juice through a short text, written in topics. Each pair of students had to use reading strategies to comprehend the text. At the end of the lesson, they had the opportunity to explain the text using their own words, and discuss the benefits they found. Under my assistance and other students´ help, we checked if their reading comprehension was correct or not, then we discussed nutritional education.
On the third and last lesson there was a practical task. I brought to the classroom all ingredients and appliances necessary to prepare the recipe, including products of hygiene. I asked three volunteer students to go to the main table. The remaining students in the classroom gave instructions to the three volunteers in order to help them follow the recipe properly. All instructions were given in English, which made the comprehension, oral skills and social interaction between students/teacher become easier.
Results
This activity encouraged the students to be more interested in learning the language, made them think about the importance of the English language in their daily lives, and promoted interaction among student/teacher and student/student. In terms of linguistics, students were able to work on their reading skills and make the process of speaking and listening easier.
Skills
The skills used in this task, conducted over three lessons, included reading, listening and speaking.
Find more activities for learning English in the classroom.