ELTA Serbia is a partner with different associations in Europe, and one of them is the Eurolingva Examination Center which has been offering a wide variety of courses for both teachers and students since 2013. This summer, from 24^th to 26^th August, Eurolingva Examinations Center, in collaboration with the Pilgrims Teacher Training, organised a full 3-day course for teachers of English as a Second Language in Oradea, Romania. This course was a wonderful opportunity to get introduced to some interesting creative writing and speaking activities, freshen up with new ideas and strategies, and meet other teachers and share teaching experiences. ELTA Serbia was invited to take part in the training course, and the activities we are sharing below are the result of that training course.

We knew when we were supposed to go to Oradea on a Pilgrims course that it would be a great event. We were right. Oradea city charmed us with its magic and also got its fullest potential in Mr Peter Dyer’s workshops. As usual, Mr Dyer added a piece of drama to his talks and practice. The whole idea of his workshops was to improve speaking skills and make assignments more motivating, fun, and engaging. It goes without saying that teachers struggle with this productive skill – students are often shy and feel uncomfortable speaking in front of their classmates, or they simply do not know “what to say about a certain topic.”

Nevertheless, Peter had a brilliant idea of how to encourage them – pure improvisation. No plans, no speech preparation, just speak easily and freely about what comes to your mind at a particular moment. We must confess we had lots of fun and a memorable time spent together. All the games or exercises can be adapted to any level. They are mostly done in pairs or groups and often include movements and gestures.

1.  What are you doing?

Students stand in a circle. The teacher tells one student to stand in the center. That student mimes some activity – e.g., cooking a meal. One of the students from the circle asks him/her What are you doing? And the student should reply with something completely different from what he/she is doing; for instance, I am playing the piano while still miming cooking a meal. And then, the student who asked the question stands in the center and does the same. The other students should react loudly when they hear the reply (aahaaaa).  Time: 5-10 minutes.

2. I have a present for you

The teacher picks one student who will give a present to one of his/her classmates (student’s own choice). The present is imaginary, but the student ought to mime giving a present (showing whether it is heavy, light or small, for example). The student who receives the present decides and says aloud what he/she got. Also, he/she should react. For instance, Oh, how did you know I wanted a new skateboard? Wow, thank you so much! And it’s orange; I can’t believe it; I have always wanted to have an orange skateboard. Encourage them to improvise and be as creative as possible. The student who got the present now gives a new present to someone else in a class.  Time: 10–15 minutes.

3. A magic scarf

We were shown these two options of how to use scarf for some spontaneous communication:

1.  Students take turns throwing a scarf on the table, and then they give ideas what the shape it made reminds them of. Time: 5-10 minutes
2.  Students take turns to use the scarf in an unusual way – representing an object. They pretend to use the object and make some comments that don’t directly reveal the object. The student who makes the right guess is the next. It’s important to set the rule – the object should not be a clothing item or an accessory. Time: 10-15 minutes

We had another great treat with Judith Feher’s activities. She showed us a great number of practical activities with a humanistic approach; they were communicative, engaging, and fun and could also be adapted to different levels.

4. Coloured paper pool

The teacher prepares a pool with lots of cut-out coloured papers: the more colours, the better. Students stand in a circle around the pool. The teacher tells students to pick a paper or papers that represent something they choose on the topic that the teacher assigns (food, clothes, person, place). Students pick papers and then go round and guess what each other’s papers represent. Time: 10-15 minutes

5. Guess what’s added

Students work in pairs. One student is supposed to describe their holiday or some other event. That student is supposed to add something that wasn’t really in the actual event, and the other student is supposed to guess what that was. Time: 5-10 minutes

6. Live punctuation marks

Students work in groups. Every group gets a text from the teacher.  The students are supposed to prepare the text in the following way: one student is a narrator, and the others should represent different punctuation marks by deciding on a gesture and sound that would represent the mark. The groups rehearsing should not be in the same room. When the groups are ready, they “perform the story” for the other group – the narrator reads and the “live punctuation marks” do their share. The other group guesses who is which punctuation mark. Time: 15-20 minutes

We hope you enjoy these activities. Don’t forget that real knowledge is when your students generate their own sentences without previous preparation.

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