New Routes

Getting students out of the classroom – Jane Godwin Coury

Have you heard of the “Daily Mile” that is spreading through schools in the UK that can help improve children’s concentration levels? Basically every day for 15 minutes children can run round their school field to build up their fitness. It can be done at any time during the day and pupils can run together, compete or just jog alone. Apparently only one fifth of primary school children in the UK are getting the recommended daily amount of exercise so some teachers think it is a great way for their pupils to get fit.

Getting children out of the classroom sometimes can be beneficial not only to get fit, but also to do some activities which have something to do with the content of a lesson. Below are some suggestions you can use in your language classroom. By the way, you can also use these activities with teenagers and perhaps even adults!

ACTIVITY 1

AIM: To walk around the neighbourhood observing things using the five senses.

LEVEL: B1 onwards

INSTRUCTIONS: Prepare some questions for your students such as the ones below. Go outside your school with your students and walk around the block with them. Each student should write down the answers to the questions.

A WALK AROUND THE BLOCK

Look up at the sky, what can you see?

______________________________________________________________________

Walk to the end of the road and touch 4 different things, e.g. a tree, a wall, etc. Write them down.

______________________________________________________________________

When you get to the end of the road, stop and stand still. What can you hear?

______________________________________________________________________

Turn the corner, and walk a bit further, what can you smell?

________________________________________________________________________

Walk a bit more and write down three things you can see beginning with the letter ‘C’.

________________________________________________________________________

Go back to your school, write down what you would really like to eat and drink right now.

_____________________________

When you get back to the classroom, ask the students to mingle with each other and compare their answers. They should talk to as many people as possible.

ACTIVITY 2

AIM: To practice vocabulary to do with food and drinks.

LEVEL: A2 onwards

INSTRUCTIONS: Divide your class into two teams. Ask them to go outside the classroom into a big area. Give each team 15 pieces of paper. Ask one person from each team to write the word “BEANS” on one piece of paper. Ask them to place this piece of paper on the floor, one in each corner of the big area. Tell the students that their challenge is to write a word on each piece of paper that follows on from the last letter of the previous word, e.g. “BEANS” – “SALT” – “TOMATOES” – “SAUCE”… The team that uses the 15 pieces of paper first are the winners. This activity can be used with any words you would like to practice.

I hope you have fun with your students doing these activities!

Jane Godwin Coury

Jane Godwin Coury is from the UK and has been working in English Language Teaching since 1987. She holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL from the University of Leicester and a Post-graduate certificate in Educação Transformadora: Pedagogia, Fundamentos e Práticas from PUCRS. She has been living and working in Brazil for 27 years and has also taught in France, Germany, the UK and the USA. Jane has vast experience of teaching English and has been involved in Cambridge English qualifications since 1995. She is also a teacher educator, English language editor and translator. Jane currently works at Cult Estácio teaching online courses. She is the author of various publications including “Exercícios para Falar Melhor em Inglês” (Disal) and co-author of “Help! Preciso de Atividades para Minhas Aulas” (Amazon).