Dogme ELT: Lesson Ideas

Below are a few lesson ideas to incorporate a materials light and conversation driven approach with future possible lessons. Very little preparation is required.

Topical dice
Materials required: a. Some dice (perhaps one dice between two to five learners). b. A couple of learners. c. A whiteboard and some pens. Procedure: a. Write up six questions or sentences on the whiteboard (or get learners to think of six questions or sentences). b. Hand-out the dice to each group of learners. c. Provide instructions: roll the dice and the corresponding number on the whiteboard is used as the basis for conversation. d. The aim of the activity is for students to roll the dice and ask the group a question based on the number on the dice (e.g. a number three is rolled and question three is asked, etc.). The students must speak or interact for as much as possible and use follow up questions. e. Monitor for emergent language to review and scaffold later in the lesson.

My Weekend
Materials required: a. A whiteboard b. A couple of learners. c. Some pens. Procedure: a. Tell students that you are going to talk about your weekend. b. Draw a simple graph on the board with the vertical axis being the day and the horizontal axis being how happy or sad you were. c. Talk a little about your weekend (what you did, who you met, etc.) and draw how happy you were during the weekend. d. Tell students you are going to let them write about your weekend in groups. e. Once the students have written their version of your weekend, monitor for emergent language and perhaps scaffold some language.

Martin Sketchley 2011

1|Page www.eltexperiences.com

Newspaper Post-its
Materials required: a. Some newspaper reports. b. A couple of learners. c. Some post-it notes. d. Some pens. Procedure: a. Post up some interesting newspaper reports around the classroom. b. Give each student two post-it notes and ask them to put a post-it note on a story that interests them. c. Let students mingle and monitor for any emergent language. d. Once a newspaper report has received the most interest, get students to think back about what it was about and write their own version. e. When ready, compare their version with the actual newspaper report.

Agreeing to Disagree
Materials required: a. A couple of learners. b. Some pens. c. Some pieces of paper with Disagree and Agree Procedure: a. Put the papers of Disagree and Agree on separate sides of the classroom. b. Tell students that you will write some statements on the whiteboard for them to think about and decide if the agree or disagree. c. Let students move about and write up as many statements on the board as possible. d. Monitor for emergent language so that this can be scaffolded later in the lesson. e. Offer students to discuss their opinions with the other group.

Pass the Paper Game

Materials required: a. Some music. b. A piece of paper. c. Some learners Procedure: a. Get students to sit in a circle. b. Tell them that you will write up a statement on the board.

Martin Sketchley 2011

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c. Play some music and when the music stops, the student with the ball of paper must speak or respond to the statement. Allow other students to ask follow up questions. d. Monitor for emergent language.

Tell Me about Your Accident

Materials required: a. Some music. b. A piece of paper. c. Some learners Procedure: a. Get students to sit in pairs. b. Tell the learners about an accident that happened when you were young: for example, you broke your arm, twisted your wrist, etc. c. Tell students to tell their partner about an accident that happened when they were young. d. Monitor for emergent language. e. At the end get students to tell their partners accident to the class. Make a note of language which could be scaffolded. f. Possible lexis that could be explored: broken nose, twisted ankle, scar, etc.

Martin Sketchley 2011

3|Page www.eltexperiences.com