ENGLISH IS FUN!! Peace Corps Ecuador English Camp Training January 23-24, 2014

ENGLISH IS FUN!!Peace Corps EcuadorEnglish Camp Training

January 23-24, 2014

BY: A M Y E . L I N G E N F E LT E RE N G L I S H L A N G UA G E F E L LO W 2 0 1 3 - 1 4

January 23rd / 9:00-9:10 am:Initial introductions in a circle:• 1. My name is _______.• 2. I live in _______.• 3. I’m originally from _______.• 4. Name one interesting fact about yourself that most people don’t know about you.

INITIAL INTRODUCTIONS

January 23rd / 9:10 – 9:30 am:Inner/Outer Circle “Getting to Know You:” With the person facing you in the other circle, please complete the following statement:

• 1. When I was younger. . . .


With the person facing you in the other circle, please complete the following statement:

• 2. In the future, I plan to. . . .



• 3. If I had 1,000,000,000 dollars, I would . . . .



• 4. I joined the Peace Corps because. . . .



• 5. If I weren’t here, I would be. . . .



• 6. What I like about Ecuador is. . . . What I dislike about Ecuador is. . . .



• 7. If laws didn’t exist and no one were watching, I would. . . .



• 8. A regret I have is. . . .



• 9. If I could spend one day with someone (dead or alive) it would be ___________ because. . . .



• 10. I wish I were more. . . .


TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES: “Are You Who I’m Looking For?”

• On a sheet of paper, write down at least 10 adjectives that describe you (they could be from the following list or additional ones).

January 23rd / 2:00-2:30 pm:

English Personality Adjectives:•Friendly•Talkative•Quiet/Calm•Shy/Timid•Realistic•Practical•Traditional•Decisive

•Organized•Responsible•Honest•Good-looking•Logical•Compassionate•Kind•Serious•Cautious•Brave

•Imaginative•Creative•Athletic•Adaptable•Disorganized•Go-with-the-flow•Carefree•Intuitive•Funny

•Sensitive•Hard-working•Spontaneous•Intelligent/Smart•Cooperative•Independent•Confident•Clumsy•Talented



• Now think about the qualities you seek in a good friend, colleague, and/or significant other (choose one for time purposes).

• On this same sheet of paper, write down at least 10 adjectives that describe this “ideal” person (they could be from that list or additional ones).

AARREE YYOOUU WWHHOO II ’’MM LLOOOOKKII NNGG FFOORR??

Your Companion’s Name

Compatibility (YES!)

(Check “X” every time the person

IS who you’re looking for)

No compatibility (NO!)

(Check “X” every time

the person is NOT who you’re looking for)


• Pretend you are mingling at a party or “speed dating.”

• Stand in the “inner/ outer circle” like before.

• When the music starts, “interview” the person facing you to see if they have the qualities you are looking for.

• (For lower levels, write out the questions).

TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES: “Blind Caricature Pictionary”

January 23rd / 2:30-3:15 pm:• Get into groups of 5 people each based on

the color of the index card you have.• Decide who is the best “artist” of the group• Each group will be given a caricature of a

very famous person. Do NOT show this to the group “artist.”

• Each group member will explain how to draw this caricature in as detailed English as possible. Group members can help each other word it appropriately so that the “artist” draws accurately.


• Do NOT mention anything about the person that would give it away.

• After looking at what he/she has drawn, the “artist” must try to guess which famous person it is. The first “artist” to identify the person wins for the group!

• If the artist is having difficulty, he/she is allowed no more than 5 yes/no questions related to the identify of the person. This means, however, that the group cannot be a “true” winner.




TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES: Suggestions, Modeling, Brainstorming

January 23rd / 3:15-4:00 pm:• Previous volunteers model team building

activities that worked in the past.Share here: • Round Robin• Trolls, Giants, and Wizards• Worm tag• Red light, green light• Sharks and Minnows • Spell word with bodies• Where the Wind Blows/I Love my Neighbor

Who. . . • Make team flag and name, and t-shirts

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 9:30-9:40 am:Rumor Game / “Broken Telephone:”• Using the same groups as yesterday’s

Blind Pictionary Caricature Game, each group stands in a line facing the front.

• The first person will get a card and read it . Then he will “spread this rumor” to the person behind him, and so on.

• The last person will say what he heard out loud. The group that got it 100% right the fastest is the winner!

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 9:40-9:50 am:Board Game: “Would You Rather…?”• Get into groups of 3. • Roll the dice and on the space where you

land, read the choices aloud.• Select one of the possibilities and then say

what you would rather be or do (even if the idea may be imaginary and really impossible). You should explain your choices.

• If you are unable to answer correctly, you cannot move forward.

LANGUAGE GAMES

LANGUAGE GAMES

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 9:50-10:05 am:Grammar Sentence Auction Chart• Get into groups of 3. • Read the sentence and decide with your

group mates whether it is correct or not.• If it is incorrect, rewrite the sentence

correctly in the space provided.• Decide with your group mates how much

you want to “bet” that your assessment was correct.

• The group that bets the most money total on the most correct sentences is the winner!

LANGUAGE GAMES

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 10:05-10:20 am:English Relay Race• Similar to a relay race with “checkpoints.”

At each checkpoint, students must answer a question correctly in English, and can't leave until they do- this process could also require making a basket or doing something physical, or simply just running from one place to another answering questions at checkpoints. A teacher should be at each checkpoint monitoring correct usage.

• You can have one checkpoint per team or multiple, depending on space.

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 10:05-10:20 am:English Relay Race• “Checkpoint” questions depend on English

proficiency level and interests/lives of the camp attendees. They shouldn’t include yes or no questions but require an answer of at least a phrase. Examples:• What did you eat for breakfast today?• Have you ever been to the United States?• What do you like about your best friend?

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 10:05-10:20 am:English Relay Race• Get into groups of 3-4.• 3 people stand at “checkpoints” and the rest

form 3 separate teams.• Run to the checkpoint as fast as you can,

answer the question, and when it’s answered correctly according to the checkpoint monitor, go to the end of the line and the next team member runs up.

• The team that finishes first is the winner!• (The checkpoint monitor can be a student

holding a card with the question and correct answer).

Music Research:

• “Developments in brain-based research note that central featuers of music and language are housed near one another in the human brain, suggesting they may share features of “grammar” that orders musical elements and language elements similarly.” - Lems, 2005

Music Research:

• Songs (particularly pop songs) provide learners with repetitive, focused, (yet open-ended) lyrics that allow for a myriad of teaching opportunities for teaching grammar, vocabulary, idioms, and listening comprehension -Murphey, 1992.

• Use songs with meaningful English lyrics.

• Students create their own lyrics to rythym of music.

• Repetitive lyrics help!• Cloze/“Fill-in-the-blanks” of lyrics

while listening to song.• Begin or end a lesson with a song.• Use actions, body movements,

gestures to accompany songs and poems (e.g. clapping, jumping).

Best Practices for Music:

• Use puppets to accompany music.• Students can create personal

songbooks.• Use song, lyrics, and poem charts.• Use lyrics to teach vocabulary,

grammar, almost anything!• Use lyrics to teach elements of poetry:

ryhming words, stanza/refrain, rythm, imagery, melody, meter, form.

Best Practices for Music:

Sources for Songs:

• www.americanenglish.state.gov• www.bussongs.com• www.songsforteaching.com• www.tefltunes.com• www.eslcafe.com• Your own YouTube, CD player, and/or

iTunes library!

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 10:20-10:30 am:Camp songs!!• Example: pop song “Unwritten” by Natasha

Bedingfield• Other resources available on my website:

http://peopleleap.com/peace-corps-volunteers-english-camp-training-music/

“Unwritten” By Natasha Bedingfield

I am unwritten, can't____________________, I 'm undefined

I 'm just ______________ , the pen's in my __________, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you Open up the dirty __________________

Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find Reaching for something in the distance

So close you can almost ___________ it Release your inhibitions

Feel the rain on your _______________ No one else can feel it ______________

_________________ can let it in No one else, _______________

Can ____________ the words on your lips Drench yourself in words unspoken

Live your life with arms wide ___________ Today is where your ___________ begins

The rest is still unwritten, oh, oh

I break tradition, sometimes my tries, are outside the lines We've been conditioned to not make _____________,

but I can't live that way, oh

Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty __________________ Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance So close you can almost ___________ it

Release your inhibitions





The rest is still unwritten Oh, oh, oh, yeah…

Staring at the blank page before you

Open up the dirty __________________ Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance So close you can almost ___________ it

Release your inhibitions









The rest is still unwritten The rest is still unwritten The rest is still unwritten

VOCABULARY WORDS: “UNWRI TTEN”

1. Unwritten (adj.)- Not written 2. Undefined (adj.)- Not defined, not sure, not exact 3. Unplanned (adj.)- Not planned 4. I lluminate (verb)- To give light to, to shine onto something 5. Release (verb)- to let go of, to drop, to decrease 6. I nhibition (noun)- Something you are afraid to do, something you are

cautious about 7. Drench (verb)- to make very wet, to soak, to pour water onto

something 8. Tradition (noun)- a custom that has been done for many years in a

particular group of people 9. To be conditioned (verb)- to be raised in a certain way, to be

trained, to be taught, to get used to

Name: ___________________________________

Natasha Bedingfield “Unwritten”

Comprehension Questions

1. What is the word “book” a metaphor for in the song? 2. What do you think Natasha means by “Staring at the blank page before you?” 3. What do you think “the dirty window” represents? 4. What do you think she means by “Feel the rain on your skin; no one else can f eel

it f or you?” 5. What does she mean by “Live your lif e with arms wide open?”

LANGUAGE GAMESJanuary 24th / 10:30-10:35:• For all resources, ideas, materials, links,

etc. always feel free to go to my website at: www.peopleleap.com

• For camp-specific resources, please visit my EL Fellow Blog at: “EL Fellows Program > “Amy’ Professional Blog” or http://peopleleap.com/category/amys-fellow-blog/

http://www.peopleleap.com/

http://peopleleap.com/category/amys-fellow-blog/


INCORPORATING AMERICAN CULTUREJanuary 24th /10:35-11:00 am:

INCORPORATING AMERICAN CULTURE





TEAM BUILDING ACTIVITIES: Suggestions, Modeling, Brainstorming

January 24th / 11:00-11:30 am:Brainstorm other possible ways to teach/incorporate American culture into camp activities:Share here:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

GROUPING STRATEGIESActivities - Dividing Into Small Groups

http:/ /www.youthwork.com/activitiesdivide.html

Try some of these ideas when you want to add some fun and challenge to the process of dividing into smaller groups. Dividing I nto Pairs Opposites Attract- Ask each person to pair up with someone who is diff erent f rom them in some way, examples: male/ female; tall/ short; blond/ brunette; blue eyes/ brown eyes; etc. Commonalities- Quickly make a series of statements and ask participants to raise their hand if this is true of them. The fi rst two people to raise their hands are partners and do not respond to any more statements. I n the case of ties, move on to the next question. Sample statements: my favorite color is red; I am a Pisces; I am a basketball f an; I have blue eyes; etc. First Names- Have everyone count the number of letters in their fi rst name. Now ask them to find someone who has the same number of letters. Those two are now partners. I f a person can't find someone let him/ her use another name s/ he is called by (i.e., a student named Matthew may use the name Matt and then look f or someone with 4 letters instead of 7.) I f they still can' t find someone pair up with a person who has the closest number of letters. Line Ups- Group lines up according to any variable you can think of to use. Examples are: oldest to youngest; tallest to shortest; alphabetically by fi rst or last name; chronologically by month and date of birthday. I f you want to add challenge to the process, do not allow people to talk. The two people at the ends of the line become partners, the next two become partners, etc. Finding "Twins- " Decide ahead of time on a category such as animals, f amous people, occupations, emotions, sports, etc. and prepare slips of paper with specific examples of the category you have chosen. Make two slips for each example (one set of three for an odd number). Af ter distributing the slips, each person makes a noise associated with the example and/ or performs a movement. The group circulates until partners have been found.

Name That Partner- Divide the group in half based solely on seating. Ask each group to name an example of a category (same as the above categories) that starts with A and name one person as that example. Continue through the alphabet until everyone has a name. Don't skip any letters. The A's, B's, C's, etc. become partners. Picture Puzzles- Cut pictures f rom a magazine so that there are half as many pictures as members of the group. I f you have a theme try to find pictures related to the theme. Cut each picture in half and mix them up in a hat. Each person takes one piece and partners are those whose pieces form a complete picture. Pick a Number- Ask everyone to pick a number between 1 and (choose the upper number depending on the size of your group). Those who have picked the same number become partners. I f only one person chooses a particular number, as them to choose another number. Dividing I nto Groups Cries of Animals- This game is fi lled with laughter and fun with the intention of f orming the participants into groups of 4 - 10. Before one could conduct this game, he or she needs to write the names of animals (cow, cat, pig, etc.). Once the group is ready to play, distribute these written slips of paper to all. Let the participants not show their slip to another person as this needs be top most secrete. Then tell the group to make the sound of the animal that they have on the slip and form a family of the same animal (in one corner of the hall) carefully listening to the similar sounds f rom the others. I n this way, it would be easy to form the participants into groups. Values Clarification- Present the group with a value statement related to the theme of the event. Ask them to arrange themselves in a line f rom Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree. Encourage discussion so each person is in the right place in line. Count off my 2's for diverse groups or divide in half f or more homogeneous groups.

GROUPING STRATEGIES

Shake, Rattle and Roll- Take as many fi lm canisters as you have people. I n each fi lm canister, put an object. The objects you pick can be like the f ollowing: cotton balls, pennies, paperclips, jelly beans, M&M's, etc. I f you have 30 people and you want to divide them into three groups of 10 each, you would place a cotton ball in 10 of the canisters, a paperclip in 10 of the canisters, and a penny in 10 of the canisters. Each individual then picks a canister f rom a bag, basket or some other container. They cannot look or smell in the canister. They can only shake the canister to distinguish the diff erent sounds of the objects. The object is for the individual to find persons in the group with a like sounding object and stay with that group. There are many variations on this game. I call it, "Shake, rattle, and roll". Enjoy! Contributed by: Susan Markley, MS, CTRS Form A Band- Each band must have a drummer, guitar player, keyboard player and singer. Then they mime out their band, complete with air instrumentation. Then all of the drummers are in one group, all singers in another, etc. You can create as many band members as you need groups. (above example gets you four groups). Similarly, you can do the same with a baseball (any sports) team. I 've done it with pitchers, catchers, hitters, outfi elders and hot dog salespeople. This gets five groups. These are good for kids, and also kind of fun f or adults, lets them play. Contributed by: J en Hall Blue Sky- Have people, on the count of "Blue Sky," hold up anywhere f rom one to ten fi ngers. "Green fields, red earth, blue sky. Go!" All the people holding up an even number of fingers on one side, odd fingers on the other Pictures- Give each student a card with a diff erent kind of ball or sporting equipment picture on it. Students are to find the person(s) with the equipment that matches theirs. Of course you can use any category f or this (i.e., dogs, cars, birds). Playing Cards- Decide how many groups you want and what size. For example, if you would like to have 5 groups of 5 and you wanted to randomly put them into groups then get 5 Kings, 5 Aces, 5 2's, 5 J acks, and 5 Queens (of course you will need more than one deck of cards) and shuffl e them up. Pass them out and match up the five who get the Kings, Queens, etc. Arm/Finger Cross- 1) Have everyone cross their arms across their chest. Amazingly (at least I was amazed) it almost always works out to about 50% cross right over lef t, and the other 50% cross lef t over right. 2) Have students close their eyes and then put their hands together so their fingers are interlocking and their palms are touching each other. Have them open their eyes and look down at their hands. I f their right thumb is on top then they are one team and if their lef t thumb is on top then they go to the other team.

GROUPING STRATEGIES

• ANY QUESTIONS?

• MY CONTACT INFO:• My Website: www.peopleleap.com

(go to “EL Fellows Program > “Amy’ Professional Blog” or http://peopleleap.com/category/amys-fellow-blog/)

• My email: [email protected]

THANK YOU!

http://www.peopleleap.com/




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Documents

ENGLISH IS FUN!! Peace Corps Ecuador English Camp Training January 23-24, 2014