THE BOY WHO LIVED. Games and Activities to Energise the Language Classroom for Junior High School
THE BOY WHO LIVED
Energising Language Classroom Activities for Junior High School: A Teacher’s Guide
Junior high school students often find language classes challenging, but as a language teacher, you have the power to transform these challenges into engaging learning experiences. Classroom activities are the key to achieving this transformation. These activities not only make learning enjoyable but also foster a deeper understanding of the language, leading to improved fluency and proficiency. In this blog post, we will explore a diverse range of innovative and interactive language classroom activities designed specifically for junior high school students. Whether you’re looking to enhance vocabulary retention, boost conversational skills, or make grammar lessons more enjoyable, this guide will provide you with a rich array of strategies to create a dynamic and effective learning environment for your students. Let’s embark on this journey to energize your language classroom and inspire your students to become passionate language learners.
THE BOY WHO LIVED
Target Group: 3rd year
Difficulty Level: Basic Conversation
Activity Objective: To practice recognizing and using relative pronouns through readily-accessible foreign pop culture
THE BOY WHO LIVED – Procedure
- Students form small groups (~3-5 members) and receive group worksheet
- Students watch short English movie clip and attempt to catch use of a relative pronoun within the dialogue
- Replay video clip as many times as necessary for majority of groups to find the use of relative pronoun
- Each group writes the sentence containing the relative pronoun on the group worksheet
- The teachers check group responses, then write the correct English sentence on the board
- Replay the clip 1 more time for students to listen for the sentence.
- Next, instruct groups to translate sentence into the native language
- All groups (or select groups in a large class) share their translations
- The teachers reiterate correct English sentence and the translation on the board.
- Repeat entire process with another movie clip, time allowing
Materials and Preparation
Select 1~2-minute video clip(s) from a movie containing dialogue in which a relative pronoun is used. (I used a scene from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in which Hagrid tells Harry “You are the boy who lived,” for example). Be sure to include English subtitles.
Group worksheets with blanks for students to write English movie lines and
translations. Blank white paper may also suffice.
Suggestions and Advice
Select a well known movie that many, if not most, students have already seen. This ensures that students are able to focus on the grammar point and are not left puzzling over the storyline.
Select a movie that you think will be interesting to students. Besides reviewing relative pronouns, the secondary purpose of the activity is to get students interested in watching English media as a means of improving listening and speaking skills, as well as stimulating interest in studying English overall.
Energising Language Classroom Activities for Junior High School
In the world of language teaching, fostering a love for learning and effective communication is our ultimate goal. By implementing these engaging classroom activities for junior high school students, you are not only enhancing their language skills but also creating an environment where curiosity, creativity, and enthusiasm thrive. As we wrap up our exploration of these energizing language activities, remember that your role as a teacher is invaluable, and your dedication to making language learning exciting and impactful is what sets the stage for your students’ future success.
So, continue to innovate, adapt, and personalize these activities to suit the unique needs and interests of your students. Watch as their confidence soars, their vocabulary expands, and their ability to communicate fluently grows. With your guidance and these engaging activities in your teaching toolbox, you are well on your way to inspiring a new generation of confident and capable language learners. The journey to language proficiency may be challenging, but with your passion and these activities, it is always an exciting one.
Happy teaching!
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