teach . nanjingnow

In my last article, I discussed the advantages and drawbacks of improv activities in the classroom. One thing which I failed to mention is that these activities are only effective if used occasionally, which leaves you with the small problem of how to use the rest of your time in class. Enter solution number two: group work. The basics: give the class a topic, and let them discuss it in independent of you. After discussion is complete, the groups should either stand up and present or partake in a related activity or discussion. With this, class time is used up, the students are made to speak, and there is even a possibility that someone learns something. Just like improv, successful group work will basically have a class teach itself.

This is not to say that assigning group work in class is a problem free way to sit back and do nothing. There are many issues that need to be taken into account before this sort of thing is undertaken. Problems that you can face may include students who flat out refuse to talk, ignore or do not properly understand directions, or use a large group as an excuse to sit back and do the bare minimum. Do not let this put you off implementing these activities in class. Properly done, group work can be used effectively and, unlike improv, frequently.

The first thing to do with group work is, obviously, to put the students into groups. Even for something as simple as this, there is an easy way and a correct way. The easy way is to break the class into two halves and stop caring. The correct way is to form the students into groups of four or five people. This is the best group size for almost any activity for a number of reasons. In my experience, a class usually has between twenty and thirty people, maybe even up to forty if administration feels like torturing the foreign teacher. The point is, with a class that size, groups of four or five people breaks down into a very reasonable number. On top of that, groups of this size are easy to motivate and manage. Get a group of six or seven, and you are sure to see three people hiding behind the others and not talking. On the other hand, if a group has two or three people, it may intimidating for the students to participate in more involved activities or longer presentations.

In addition to group size, the most important thing is to clearly impart the directions and goals of the activity on the students. Whether the group work is given as homework to do outside of class or a meant as a discussion to take place during of class, it is very easy to get off track. In the latter case, poor directions will result in many students blatantly ignoring your unclearly assigned work and just relaxing with their friends. If the group work is meant to be completed outside of class, then a carefully laid out lesson plan may be wasted by many students not having done their homework at all. Either way, when it comes time to present or discuss, very few people will be willing to say anything.

Do not let the specter of a confused, bored, or unwilling class put you off this. Giving good directions is simple, and just takes a little bit of patience. Remember that you have a blackboard behind you, and now it is a great time to use it. Many students in class can easily brush off your spoken language for any number of reasons, but large black and white writing gives almost instant authority to anything that you want to say. After all, you should want to occupy your students’ time with an interesting topic, and this will require in depth guidelines and directions. Most important, tell the students that they all have to talk. I am not sure why, but saying and then writing “EVERYONE MUST TALK” in giant letters on the chalkboard really gives the students incentive to do some good presentations.

The questions remains: what exactly do you tell the students to talk about? What topic is so interesting that it could possibly occupy one or two whole classes? There are a number of ones which I found work particularly well. An example of a fantastic activity is the ‘country game’. The basic premise of this is very simple. Start off class by saying something like “A large number of new islands have been found, and China has decided to give them directly to you!” I suppose that the same thing could work with patches of rainforest or even far off planets and interstellar travel, but not everyone is into ecology or ‘Star Wars’.

Once the background story is firmly in place, tell the students to design their own new country down to the very smallest detail. It is good to start off by describing an imaginary country which you have created yourself. For instance, I am quite tall, so I created a country where people’s wealth, political power, and ability to marry multiple women are based on increments of ten centimeters. It is this sort of ridiculousness which keeps this activity light and enjoyable; after all I do not think that most of the students want to sit down and have a very serious discussion on how to run an economy anymore. However, if they do, then they are free to discuss this too. That’s the real beauty of group work; each student brings their own personality to the table.

After the students have discussed their countries for a designated period of time (I find that twenty to thirty minutes is plenty), it is time to present. As mentioned before, you have to make sure that everyone talks! It is very easy for the charismatic students to come to the forefront, leaving their friends at the back to stand awkwardly and say practically nothing. In any case, the main focus of this portion the activity is to introduce the students’ countries. Almost every time that I do this, I am taken by surprise by the creativity or wit which is present. For instance, a group of students once described creating a country based on anarchism and sex.

The most fun part of this activity comes after the students all present their countries. In a room with five, six, or even seven countries, what is the most fun thing to do next? In my opinion, it is to set them against each other. Give each country three points, and work out a scheme for gaining and losing points. In my class, if two countries attack one (or multiples of this), then the attacked country loses two points, and the attacker gains one point each. Similarly, groups can become allies and share points. Of course, there are other point schemes too, but I chose this one for its simplicity. Go around the room, and give the students turns to negotiate, wage war, and make alliances. The results are usually extremely positive.

Of course, the country game is only one example of things that you can do with group work. As long as there is a creative assignment, clear directions, and a somewhat engaged class, group work like this can be assigned on a very frequent basis. After all, it is about time to give your throat a break. Let the students take over class for a bit.

DO – Give clear directions, make manageable groups, and make sure everyone talks.

DON’T – Let students hide behind their group members instead of talking. Groups are a great time for students to not do anything, so you have to make sure everyone is engaged.

ALWAYS REMEMBER – Creativity goes a long way. Give an interesting topic, and the class will talk for hours. Give a bad cliché or a poorly thought out lesson plan, and you will get a lot of apathetic students.