Great! Can you count the oceans and the

continents?

Seas cover a really big surface.

The continents are coloured. We are

yellow.

Yes, 70 percent

are oceans!

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BrainstormingDirecting the creative energy in your classroom

The best way to have a good ideais to have lots of ideas.

Linus PAULING, American scientist

Many teachers avoid brainstorming, as theyassociate it with noise or discipline problems. This may be true at the outset, but once you seehow it works and how much fun it can be,brainstorming will become a firm classroomfavourite. Here are a few basic tips to help youmake your learners fall in love with brainstorming.Start incorporating it into your classes and you can bet that sooner or later you will hear yourstudents say: Teacher, can we brainstorm this?

What is brainstorming and what is it not?

Your students are full of creative energy. Thechallenge is to help them channel this energy anduse it in an organised way. Brainstorming shouldnever turn into criticism. Perhaps the most precisedefinition of brainstorming is: All ideas that comeup before any discussion or judgment takes place.

What are the benefits?

The average learner finds it difficult to come upwith a variety of ideas in response to a problem.Imagine a solitary child staring at a blank sheet of paper. A lonely place, indeed! However, thatsame child feels less pressured and less alonewhen working in a group and is much more likelyto come up with different ideas, solutions and connections.

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What will brainstorming bringto my CLIL classes?

The advantages of brainstorming in CLIL aretwofold. With respect to language and content it will provide:

a natural situation for communicating in English.

an opportunity to actively use and revisecontent vocabulary.

a chance to learn new concepts or vocabularyfrom other students.

Yet, brainstorming goes beyond language andcontent teaching. Your students also learn how to:

really listen to others.

negotiate and be tolerant towards differentopinions.

develop critical thinking skills.

All these are real-life skills. Your learners futuremanagers, scientists, salespeople, artists,journalists will remember with gratitude theteacher who taught them how to use and developthese vital interpersonal communication skills.

The rules of the game

You can introduce a brainstorming session whenyour objectives are:

generating ideas on a given topic.

tapping into and diagnosing prior knowledge.

introducing a new topic.

Brainstorming turns into an enjoyable and efficientlearning experience if you follow this basic 3-stepmodel.

Tell your learners that brainstorming is a gameand as such has rules.

Step 1: Before

Work in small groups and choose a group coordinator

Brainstorming with the entire class is not a goodoption. The ideal group size is 4-5 learners. Choosea moderator who moderates the session andmakes sure the rules are followed, and a secretaryto write down the ideas.

Create a relaxed atmosphere

Make sure that everybody understands that it isnot a competition. Give each group a huge sheetof blank paper and different colours to note downtheir ideas.

Encourage learners to volunteer for the role of moderator and secretary. If there are novolunteers, consider choosing a shy learner assecretary and an extrovert learner as a moderator.

Classroom management tips Having a visual focus can really help younger

learners. Give each group a photo, an imageor any kind of realia connected with thebrainstorming topic.

Try putting on music in the background.The best option is some fun, upbeat,instrumental music. Music without words can help to create a sense of play without the distraction of lyrics.

Define the problem and remindthem of the objective

Make sure that the subject of brainstorming isclearly defined and that everybody understands it(e.g. How many things can you think of that are (...)?,What if there was no ?) Whatever the topic of thebrainstorming session is, the objective will alwaysbe the same: to generate as many ideas as possible.

Step 2: During

All ideas are accepted

Even if one or more learners think that an ideawont work, they shouldnt criticise it. That ideamay be a stepping-stone to another, more usefulanswer and they need to hear it out.

Write down all ideas

A secretary writes down the ideas clearly so thateverybody can see them. This will give the learnerwho proposed an idea the confirmation that theidea has been accepted, or, at least, listened to.Everybody needs to have equal opportunity to contribute.

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Brainstorming

Step 3: After

Conclude the session

The worst and the most frequently made mistakeduring a brainstorming session is to end it withoutany kind of conclusion. In this final phase theteacher should intervene and help learners to bemore critical towards their ideas and to agree on a summary.

Review, summarise and select

Tell your students that summarising involves three steps:

eliminating duplications.

summarising two or more very similar ideas into one.

removing all ideas the group feels are no longer appropriate.

The teachers role in brainstorming

As teachers, we take the lead: ask questions,monitor, field questions and keep the what ifspirit thriving. Give a gentle, encouraging pushwhenever you see that your students are notlooking beyond the obvious answers. Show yourenthusiasm for their creative solutions even whenyou know that these will not work.

The best way for your students to learn is to learnfrom their own mistakes.

Remember!Non verbal communication plays an importantrole in group work. You can increase theirsensitivity to gestures and facial expressions by bringing into the classroom photographsrepresenting different emotions and discussing these with them. Ask them questions such as:

How does this person express himself?

Do you think this is correct?

Would you like to work with this person?

What would be a better reaction?

Do you think that this person is listening?

Can you mime active listening?

How do you show that you dont like the idea?

If you have never used this technique before,involve learners in the creation of thebrainstorming rules from the very beginning!For example, the topic of the first session could be Think of the rules which help usbrainstorm successfully!

You can use the photocopiable sheet on thenext page. First, tell your students to brainstormon the rules using the words above and then to make up the sentences.

Suggested activity

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Our brainstorming rules

This is how we come up with a lot of great ideas!

E

DE

LVIV

ES

P

ho

toco

pia

ble

sh

ee

t

Listen

Together

Creative

Everybody Write down

Ideas

Accept

Stronger

Tolerant

Different opinions

Talking

Competition

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