Gulbakhor Mamadiyeva is an Associate Professor at New Uzbekistan University. She has more than 15 years of teaching experience. She is an enthusiastic teacher who helps students learn and grow personally and professionally. Email: gmamadiyeva@newuzbekistanuniversity.uz

Dilrabo Babakulova is an Associate Lecturer at Westminster International University in Tashkent. She has several years of teaching experience at secondary and higher education. Her professional interests include teacher training, student engagement, and positivity in the classroom. Email: dbabakulova@wiut.uz 

Malika Kasimova is an ESL teacher at military-academic lyceum. She has been working at different educational institutions for more than 10 years. She believes that teachers act as role models, mentors, caregivers and advisers, who can have a profound effect on the lives of their students. Email: malika.kasimova89@gmail.com  

 

Introduction

Traditionally, activities play a crucial role as a part of lessons in EFL teaching. However, not all the activities are suitable for a particular classroom. As EFL/ESL teachers, we can modify them according to the age, level, learning styles, needs and interests of our students.

This paper is going to discuss the importance of activity modification and its positive influence on lesson productivity. Some teachers think that not all the activities meet the specific needs of their learners, and they neglect to utilize them in practice. We are going to share our experience in addressing such problems and provide strategies for adapting them according to the requirements of modern trends. We will demonstrate the implementation of the necessary and appropriate modification techniques for the classroom. 

 

Activity 1

Original version: role-playing a cooking situation

Students are divided into groups of 4 people. Each group is given the same situational problem while living with flat mates and they present it to the group by role-playing. They should be able to show a problem in cooking turns and provide a solution in arranging this situation.  

 Modified version: role-playing flat mate problems

Students are divided into groups of 4 people. Each group gets different situational problems in living with their flat mates. Their task is to present a problematic situation and provide a solution by role-playing.

Target group: Intermediate +

Course and target skill: This activity is designed to develop students’ speaking skills; moreover, it enhances critical thinking skills by analyzing situational problems, answering to HOT questions and providing solutions.

Teacher instructions:

1. Divide the group in groups of 4 people.
2. Give one card with situational problem in living with flat mates to each group
3. Explain that students have to show situation and provide their solution
4. Set time
5. Ask students to perform

Student directions:

1. You will be divided into groups of 4 people
2. Each group gets one card with situational problem
3. In groups you have to read a situation, analyze it and give possible solution.
4. You have to prepare a role-play describing a situation and solution for it
5. Each group presents their performance one by one

Assessment: Formative assessment. Students are evaluated for participation during the class.

Needed materials: cards with situational problems

Situational problems:

1. Cooking turns.

You live with 3 more friends in one flat. At the beginning you decided to cook in turns each time; however, 2 of your mates either prepare lunch too late or just don’t cook because of their studies or work. What would you do and how would you solve this problem?

2. Noise in the flat.

You live with 3 more people in your flat. One of your mates always goes to bed very late as he/she studies at nights. Sometimes, she goes to kitchen and starts cooking something like eggs, sausage to eat. All these noises and smell of food irritates and disturbs your sleep. How would you solve this problem?

3. Taking things without asking.

You live with some more people in a flat. You noticed that some of your friend have been touching your things and taking them to use without asking from you. As a result, when you need you are not able to find needed things. How would you behave in this situation?

4. No water.

You live with your friends in one flat. In the morning you found out that there is no water running from the tap. 3-4 days ago, the tenant informed about it told to one of your mates but he/she forgot about it. What would you do next and would you solve the problem?

5. Noise complaints.

You live with your mates. Some of your friends really like partying and very often invites her friends to home to have a fun.  The have parties especially when you try to concentrate to do your university assignments. It disturbs you as you have to study and after work you want to relax. What would you do and how would you solve this problem?

6. Messy living habits.

You live with some more people in a flat. You are very clean person and don’t like messy kitchen and rooms. However, some of your mates don’t care about neatness and leaves mess after themselves. How would you deal this problem? 

While adapting the first activity we concentrated on Celce Murcia’s book, “Teaching English as a foreign language”. Anna Lazarton states that role plays are one of well-known activities that practice sociocultural situations (Lazarton, 2009). The chosen activity is also based on real life which enables students to practice authentic language.

We have chosen a role-play activity since students talk and learn a lot from each other. Krashen also states that interaction has a great impact in learning second language (Krashen, 1985).

The first modified activity is called “role-playing flat mate problems” which was adapted from role-playing a cooking situation. In the original version students were given the same situational problems, they were asked to solve a problem and present it by role-playing working in groups of 4 people. This activity seemed a bit boring as all groups have to produce almost the same play which looked like each other; in addition, all groups were using the same vocabulary. In modified version, students are divided in groups of 4 people. Each group gets different situational problems connected to living with flat mates. All groups discuss their own situation and present them. Problems in living with friends can be, cooking turns, noise in the flat, taking things without asking, no water, noise complaints and messy living habits. All these problems are authentic as students may face in a real life. This activity is aimed to improve mostly students’ speaking skills; moreover, they practice their critical thinking and listening skills also. Furthermore, they learn to respect other members of the group and work cooperatively which are one of the essential skills in the life. Then students show their ready performance which is useful to enhance their self-confidence. 

 

Activity 2

Original version:

This activity is from the book “ESL activities for teens and adult” (Lennon, 2016, p.187) Students prepare 10 questions for homework and bring these into class. Half the students have prepared questions for reading passage A; the others have done passage B. In class, students swap reading passages and each has a time limit to answer the set of questions given by their partner. 

Modified version:

The group is divided into two groups. A group is given a passage A, and B group is given a passage B. Both groups should read the passage and write ten questions through discussion in 15 minutes. After finishing writing the questions, groups exchange the passages. After reading the passage of the opposite group, they should find the answers to the questions. One by one, students read the questions and answer them. The group, which has more answers that are correct, is the winner.

Target group: Intermediate+

Teacher instructions:

1.  Find two suitable texts from a textbook, online books, magazines, articles, papers or student written material
2. Print out them separately for each group member.
3. Divide the students into two groups and ask one of the member of each group come to the teacher’s table and choose one card (Card A and B)
4. Group with the Card A takes passage A and B gets Passage B
5. Ask each group to read the passage, and then in groups make ten questions about the text.
6. Ask students to exchange their passages and questions with opponent group.
7. Ask students to read the text of the opponent group and answer the questions.

Student directions:

1. Choose one of the reading passages on the Teacher’s table.
2. Read the passage then work in the group to write ten questions for the text.
3. Exchange the reading passages and questions with the opposite group and read their passage.
4. Answer the questions connected to the text.

Assessment: Formative assessment: The group, which answers correctly most questions, is the winner.

The second activity is "Reading comprehension" from the book "ESL Activities for Teens and Adults" (Lennon, 2016, p187). Usually, we have reading passages and ready questions to answer. However, this activity provides the opportunity to make questions after reading. Students are provided with the reading text, half of the group take text A and half take text B. At home, they read and make questions. At the lesson, they exchange their questions with the partner and answer them.

The modified version of the activity allows the students to work in groups and complete the task in the classroom. Students are divided into two groups and they choose the card to find out which text they will read from two of them. All students will have their printed texts. They read the passage and discuss the information, then make ten questions. After that, groups exchange their texts and questions. Both groups should read the passage of the opponent group and answer the questions. The group with the most correct answers is the winner.

This kind of activity will help students to improve their reading for detail and reading for gist skills. Also, it will develop critical thinking skills as they are asked to make questions and discuss what they learned from the text. According to Bartholomae and Petrosky (1986), readers should be reinforced to perform after reading in order to comprehend what they have read. As we know, engaged readers can do some other tasks after reading and it causes developing critical thinking and evaluating skills in readers. 

 

Activity 3

Original version: 

In the news (Miller, 2007) teacher reads a short news story. The learners prepare WH -questions about the story as much as possible. The teacher writes the questions on the board. The teacher reads the news story one more time. Students then in pairs ask and answer the questions on the board. Instead of pair activity, the whole group also can work together. 

Modified version: 

What? Where? When? Students watch BBC news and take some notes while watching. After watching the video, they are divided into two groups: Reporters and Local People. Reporters make up questions about news using their notes while Local people predict the questions and prepare possible answers. One student from each group is invited to the center and they are asked to role-play as “Reporter and Local Person” by asking and answering to the questions. Other students check the accuracy and correctness of the information. After, the rest of students make up pairs and they also role-play. In the last stage, students are provided worksheets with HOT (Higher Order Thinking) questions and they write their answers individually using Conditionals II.

Target group: Intermediate+

Teacher instructions:

1. Ask students’ opinions about “Early Marriage”.
2. Demonstrate the BBC news on the screen. https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cdn743d9p2wt/child-marriage (The Video can be watched a second time if needed).
3. Divide them into two groups.
4. Observe the group work. Help students if they don't know new words.
5. Ask 2 students to role-play as a module while others pay attention to the accuracy of the information.
6. Give overall feedback for role-plays.
7. Ask students to answer the HOT questions on the worksheets. If students need more time to write answers, it may be given as a home task. 

Student directions:

1. Share your opinion about “Early Marriage” with the whole group. 
2. Watch BBC news and take notes paying attention to names, dates and numbers.Work in two groups: Group A – Reporters, Group B – Local people. Group A, make up questions based on the news. Group B, predict the questions and prepare possible answers.
3. One student from each group make ua a pair and demonstrate your role-play as a module. 
4. Other students, check the accuracy of the information. 
5. Find your pair. Student A+ Student B 
6. Role play the interview.
7. Answer for the questions on the worksheet. Use Conditionals 2 type: What would you do if you lived in that place? What would you do if you were one of the activists? Do you think the news is worth broadcasting on TV? Why?  Why not?

Assessment: Formative assessment: Peer –checking of accuracy rate of the questions.

The third activity is called “In the news” focused on listening for the gist and making questions for the facts in the news. The strategy aimed to improve the learner’s ability to attentively catch the specific information by addressing the questions. In the communication part students ask and answer the questions with each other. In the revised version, the teacher prepares students for the listening test with brainstorming questions about early marriage. The teacher is not supposed to read the news story but students watch authentic material. In the next step, students are divided into two groups. Group A (Reporters) prepare questions based on the notes and Group B (Local people) predict the types of questions that may be asked and think about answers. In pairs, students role-play as a reporter and resident of the local community. The final stage of the activity is writing the answers for the HOT questions using Conditionals. 

The activity integrates both productive and receptive skills through listening, speaking and writing. Students listen to and watch real news podcasts or news programs. It is obvious that authenticity improves learners listening skills and familiarizes them with different accents, speed and intonation of the speech. Authentic mаterials are vаluable sources which is the bridge between the reаl world and the clаssroom (Kelly, Offner & Vorland, 2002). What is more, аuthentic materials motivate and encourage a learner to study better as they experience real language comprehension ( Guariento & Morely, 2001). Moreover, role-plays in pairs encourage learners to interact with each other in an interesting way. Holt and Kysilka (2006) believe that in teaching the language role-plays give a lot of fun to learners along with improving their language skills. The technique facilitates communication by peer-cooperation. The revised activity has a language focus which should be used by students in writing the answers for the HOT questions on their worksheets. 

It is a fact that higher-order thinking is the top stage of Bloom’s taxonomy (1956) and it is essential for the instructor to develop critical thinking skills of the students. The last part of the activity gives the chance for learners to use new knowledge and vocabulary. Without the last part of the activity the learners could limit themselves with the target vocabulary and the facts such as names, date or time. Critical thinking widens the learners' horizon which results in writing successfully in the future.

 

Conclusion

Activities are the most effective part of the lesson when students are engaged in the learning process. Considering the level, needs and interests of our learners is an essential part of the activity modification. Every classroom is a different world with different learners, so teachers should be encouraged to try to adapt and modify activities to increase the effectiveness of the lessons.
 

References

Activities for the Language Classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved from: educasia.org 

Aronson, E. (n.d.). "Jigsaw Basics" Retrieved from: jigsaw.org

Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by principles (2nd Ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.

Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Snow, M. A. (2014). Teaching English as a Second or      Foreign language. Boston: National Geographic Learning.

Hess, N., & Ur, P. (2012). Teaching Large Multilevel Classes. Cambridge University Press.

Guariento, W. & J. Morely (2001) Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 55 

Holt, L.C. & Kysilka, M. (2006). Instructional Patterns: Strategies for Maximizing Student Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 55 (4), 347-353.

Vernon, S. A. (2012). ESL Classroom Activities for Teens and Adults: ESL games, fluency activities and grammar drills for EFL and ESL students. (3rd ed.). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Kelly, C., Kelly L., Offner, M., and Vorland, B. (2002). Effective ways to use authentic materials

with ESL/EFL students. The Internet TESL Journal, (8)11. Available at:

http//iteslj.org/Techniques/Kelly-Authentic.html 

Krashen, S. D.The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. New York: Longman. 1985

Guariento, W. & J. Morely (2001) Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 55

Holt, L.C. & Kysilka, M. (2006). Instructional Patterns: Strategies for Maximizing Student

Learning. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage in the EFL classroom. ELT Journal, 55 (4), 347-353.

 

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