Friday, July 15, 2005

MiniMAX

MiniMAX
Who should do the work in the language classroom? Jon Taylor is in no doubt that it's the students.

A call for increased teacher efficiency would probably provoke a cry of exasperation followed by a riot! Yet efficiency is not about working harder - indeed it may involve working less. Efficiency is the ratio between input and output; in this case teacher input (or lesson preparation) and student output (language production).

Preparation is an essential and creatively satisfying part of teaching, although it is not the amount of time invested which counts, but its effectiveness. It may be possible to reduce the preparation and still see positive results in student output, and I would go so far as to say that a transfer from 'teacher input energy' to 'student input energy' would almost certainly bring about a rise in productive output.

Do any of the scenarios in the box below sound familiar?

One common feature of such situations is that the teacher is over-loaded and the students under-loaded. Often, considerable effort is required for learning to take place, but that effort needs to be made by the student. Teachers who hog the whole burden consequently deprive students of an integral part of the learning process.

Furthermore, disruption is much more likely when the going is light. So the teacher who spares the students any effort is digging his or her own grave as regards controlling the class. These issues, amongst others, form part of an approach to teaching I call 'Minimax': getting the maximum reward from the minimum investment of time.

Perhaps you have already guessed the minimax principles from the examples of the struggling teachers.

Do you recognise yourself?

John is conscientious, creative ... and under stress. There just isn't enough time for everything. He is in the staffroom designing a handout. Above him is a poster for a seminar on cutting down preparation, but with four more handouts to do, he's not sure he can afford the time …

Mary is creating a puzzle for her teenagers. Last time they finished in five minutes, so she still has the rest of the lesson to plan.

Jack has made some beautiful flashcards. He's done six but needs 20 for this afternoon.

Helen is preparing a roleplay by writing instructions on slips of paper, distributing attitudes and opinions evenly amongst the class. As she writes, a shadow of doubt creeps in. Last time they refused to argue for beliefs they didn't hold, it took ages to explain the vocabulary on the role cards and the whole activity fizzled out in minutes …

Roy needs a handout. He came up with a great one last year. Pity he binned it.

Jane realises that she's learning far more about the English language, and far faster, than her students. Designing worksheets has really helped (even her spelling has improved), though the students barely seem to look at them.

Sally has got some great quizzes. She writes the questions, divides the teams, explains the rules, asks the questions, decides if the answers are correct, writes on the board and keeps the score. And the students? Well, they get excited about winning, of course, and answer the questions, if they can …

Adam prepares extra material for the faster students in his mixed-ability class, but it never seems enough. He exhausts himself keeping them occupied, while they get restless waiting for the others, who are trying to catch his attention …

MiniMAX principles

The minimax approach aims to put the hard work needed for learning squarely on the shoulders of the students, freeing the teacher for more effective roles such as guiding, facilitating, monitoring.

1 If you cut your own wood, it warms you twice.A great deal of the work that goes into pre-lesson preparation would be far more effective as part of the lesson plan. What for the teacher may be useless donkey-work, for the student becomes valuable practice or revision. Who would benefit more from designing a crossword?

Which of the steps involved would help the student: looking back over past vocabulary sources, choosing important words, checking spellings, fitting them together, making up definitions, presenting their crossword puzzles to test other groups? As well as being fun, the preparation is probably more effective practice than merely completing the answers.

2 Mixed ability
If students work in groups designing activities or exercises for their peers, they not only derive pleasure and motivation by challenging their classmates, they also help each other to revise. In a mixed-ability class, the work can be divided so everybody is involved in the creation of tasks. Students rely on each other and assist each other to meet the time deadlines.

3 Better than the book
Which house is a student most likely to enjoy describing? The one on page X of the coursebook, or their own? Or their ideal house? Or their idol's? Are parents more at home describing their own children or the people in the flashcard you have made? In which have they more control over the content, and in which is there a real information gap?

Personalisation can provide meaningful content for lessons and frees the teacher to shape what students want to say. It is realistic practice - things close to the students are likely sources of communication in the real world.

4 Let there be creation
There are many activities in which the student is encouraged to imagine, think, dwell and ponder. You don't always need to lay your hands on a picture - just ask the students to close their eyes and dream one up, or conceal a blank card and get them to guess what's on it. There is a party game where a volunteer tries to find out what has happened by asking questions; the others simply answer 'Yes' or 'No' according to whether the question sentence ends in a consonant or a vowel. The students use a lot of language in a fun way.

5 Real play or roleplay?
How often do we try and tell our students what to think? It is one thing to have pairs taking turns in being shop assistants and customers so that they both practise certain functions. It is quite another thing to persuade students to hold certain views or play devil's advocate merely to practise expressions of agreeing and disagreeing. In a real discussion it is improbable that they would all be of the same opinion anyway, and surely it is more beneficial to help them express their true feelings?

6 Keep a dog and bark yourself
Who's the worst player on the World Cup winning team? Answer: the trainer. You may be the best English-speaker in the class, but that just shows that you don't need the practice as much as your students do. They will improve by doing, especially if they speak in a meaningful fashion, rather than only listen to you.

7 Go with the flow
Sometimes it happens that you have your own plan but the students want to steer the lesson in a different direction. This may be an indication of positive feedback, in that they are enjoying an activity and would like to devote more time to it, or perhaps an interesting topic has come up and they would like to discuss it.

In such cases, it may be worthwhile diverging from the schedule and making the most of their interest. Similarly, the need for some remedial work might come to light during an activity, in which case it may be advisable to strike while the iron is hot. This means you can save your prepared material for a later lesson, and save yourself some time in the process.

8 The devil makes work for idle hands
I owe this tip to my first headmaster in Secondary School teaching. Leaving aside its rather heavy overtones, its application is simply that you need to engage students in activity to avoid wasted energy and negative vibes. It's even better, of course, if that activity is inspiring, challenging, motivating and fun, and if they can see that progress is being made.

9 Keep it simple
Materials are often too meticulously prepared. Loose cut-out photos have a number of advantages over mounted laminated cards. They are lighter and less bulky, and easier to carry and store. Also, they are smaller, you can fit more onto the table. Adding to them is quick and keeps the collection fresh. If they get torn or lost, they are not difficult to replace and you can be consoled in the knowledge that you didn't spend hours producing them.

10 Milk it
Many great ideas can be extended and adapted, revised and recycled. So think about how many other uses there could be for the materials and techniques you have created. An activity you have used for a grammar point may be suitable for vocabulary or pronunciation areas. Don't throw resources away. Slips of paper with lexis on them (prepared by the students, naturally) have multiple uses, and should be stored and frequently reused.

11 Focus away from the teacher
Encourage the students to participate while you direct proceedings. Rather than carve your way through a stony silence with the pressure of all eyes and ears on you, put the ball in their court early and get them working with each other as well as with you. A squash coach is a 'minimax' artist: one or two steps, and the learner is running all over court. The novice wouldn't learn half as much just by watching.

12 Avoid number paranoia

Why is it that we are obsessed with finishing a list on a round number? How much time have you spent racking your brains for a tenth example on a handout when your nine are perfectly adequate? Why must we push on to make it 12,15, 20, or at least an even number? What is all this discrimination against prime and odd numbers? Is it because they are 'odd'? This may seem trivial, but without it the list of 'Minimax' principles would feel somehow incomplete
.
13 Number paranoia revisited
There isn't really a number thirteen, but I didn't want to end on an even number (see previous point).

MiniMAX activities
There are no special secrets or techniques in the minimax approach. You are probably already a practising member of the club. Any activity which entails little preparation and yet generates effective language practice qualifies. This is to encourage efficiency not teacher laziness.

Group participation

The seeds of some of these ideas have come from teachers I have worked with or whose seminars I have attended, particularly on Pilgrims summer courses. One effective writing activity I call Crazy Biographies can work with any group once they know the Past Simple. Each student writes a past tense autobiographical paragraph, but in the third person, and (optionally) writes a related 'comprehension question' on a separate sheet.

The next student continues the account from his or her own imagination or experience (and writes another question). It is then passed on again, and again, and so on. Completed biographies are pinned on the wall for enjoyment (or as the source material for answering the questions).

Rumour is a similar activity for speaking practice. Each student concocts a simple tale and tells someone else, who adds new details on retelling it to another student. In both activities the whole class is engaged, and they take part in the creation of numerous texts, rather than just one, which gives them more motivation to listen or read, and more interest when they hear or see their adapted contributions.

Brainstorm and pass-it-onIn pairs, students brainstorm a list of recently studied words, eg house vocabulary. They pass their list to the next pair, who draw a scene including all the items. This drawing is then passed to another pair, who have to identify the original list. A fourth group checks the work of the previous groups.

Meanwhile, the original writers draw someone else's picture, and then recreate a third group's wordlist, etc. Everyone takes part in four different lists. Obviously, the more times it goes round, the more students see the words recycled.

An entertaining conclusion is to cut the pictures into quarters and without showing their portion, students describe their picture and find partners holding the other parts of the same original.

Speaking activities

A lovely 'warmer' is to ask the class to stand on an imaginary line (or in 'no-man's-land' in a large class). In response to a choice of words from you, they move to one side or the other and chat to the nearest person about the theme which prompted their choice. For example, you could say 'tea or coffee', indicating right or left respectively, and so they would stand on one side and say why they chose 'coffee' instead of 'tea'.

Theme choices might include 'beach or mountain', 'film or book', or something related to recent lessons.

Questionnaires
Students can conduct surveys by preparing and asking each other a series of questions. Even with reading and listening texts, they can be encouraged to challenge each other's comprehension. Remember (and remind students) that while some questions merely test factual understanding or recognition, others go beyond and include the students' experience, tastes and imagination.

Given an authentic column of holiday advertisements, for example, which of the following questions require factual answers, and which involve the student's 'self' more?

a Where does the Kenyan safari start?
b Which countries would you visit if you went on the trekking expedition?
c Would you consider going on the Caribbean cruise? Give reasons.
d Have you ever been to Tunisia? Did you see the same things as those described in the advertisement?

You can appreciate that the last two questions encourage both searching for information and the chance to personalise, to be involved in the content. As monitor, therefore, you can encourage groups to write questions along these lines.

Using songs
It is not always necessary to have a complete copy of the lyrics to use a song effectively in class. For these activities, it is enough for you to know the words fairly well. A good deal of vocabulary work can be done before listening, for example finding the opposites of given words, or tabling parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, adverb) of words in the text, then listening to the song to see if they are correct or to see which possibility they hear.

Some songs lend themselves to the idea of 'draw what you hear', after which the students can compare drawings and revise the language by remembering it together.

Revision lessons
Every now and then you might favour the idea of an informal progress test. Students come to expect them, and I suspect that some of them enjoy them, and welcome the chance to express what they have learnt. Normally, which of these steps do you do, and which do your students do?o look back at language coveredo prepare the testo do the testo correct the testo give feedback

A minimax purist would have the students doing all five steps. The first two steps are invaluable for revision, and the last two are useful for fine-tuning and paying attention to detail. The teacher can suggest possible exercises (see list above) and offer assistance and suggestions. You are in the passenger seat, but you have dual controls if you need them.

None of the above activities is rigid or fixed. This approach is more a way of thinking which can be adapted to any level or group size, and you as teacher can direct the techniques appropriate to your class. Whenever you catch yourself preparing activities or materials, ask yourself, 'Could students do this?'

REVISION LESSON

Prepare a 'test' for another group of students to do. Please write clearly, preferably in black, so that it may be photocopied. Make a separate list of the correct answers.

Translation Translate five sentences which illustrate a language point we have studied.

Crossword Design a crossword using vocabulary we have studied. Make up appropriate clues.

Categories Jumble up 20 words which can then be sorted into four groups. (You decide on the groups.)

Gapfill Write five sentences, each with one gap (eg prepositions).

Mix 'n' match Choose up to ten pairs (eg opposites, collocations), and jumble them up.

Odd-one-out Produce five lists of four words. Three have something in common; one is different.

Spot the error Write five sentences, each with one grammatical error.
Picture it For five words or expressions we have studied, draw pictures which illustrate their meaning.

'Name three things you can …' CATCH / SPEND / MISS (Offer five verbs, eg CATCH: a cold, a ball, a bus; SPEND: a weekend, a fortune, an hour; MISS: a person, a target, a film, etc.)

Definitions For two words or expressions we have studied, write out three definitions, two of which are wrong.

Design a quiz Ask five factual questions from themes we have studied in the coursebook.

Gapfill text Take a text we have studied, photocopy it, then blank out 10 important words.

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In case my CELTA teachers google my work and find this site, it should be noted that the lesson plans here are original work, and that I am keeping them on my blog for my own records. For further information, email me at sandyhoney2@gmail.com.

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