two+innovative+elt+techniques


 * TWO INNOVATIVE ELT TECHNIQUES **

**The Yes/No Game **  It is a simple but fun quick-fire game to liven up a class or as a reward in the final segment of a language lesson. A student comes to the front of the class, the students choose a topic (for example, ‘Your last holiday’, ‘Your favorite food’ etc), then the class fire questions to the student. The student has to answer the questions but cannot say the words either ‘YES’ or ‘NO’. As soon as they do, they are out! Then the next student takes a turn.  You can vary the speed and difficulty of the topic depending on the material you have been covering and the ability of the class. This game is guaranteed to engage and enliven and group of students.  I think it is a good idea to encourage the students to participate in the lesson. By this game, students can have fun with lesson and reinforce the topic they learnt. I believe that it is applicable for all profile learners in Turkey. However, this can be more challenging for young learners. Moreover, it can be applied for any grammar lesson and topic if it is modified.

**Disappearing Dialogue **  Disappearing dialogues is a very much used language teaching technique. You can ask students to write a dialogue or you can use a prepared dialogue. Students work in pairs in this activity. After students are comfortable with the dialogue, disappear some parts and continue disappearing more. Then, ask students to rebuild the dialogue with their pairs. Don’t worry if they put in their own language/words and don’t get the dialogue perfectly. The aim is to practice and specific practice of language in a specific context.  I think it is beneficial teaching method for students and we can use this method in most of the lessons if we modify it. It leads students to pay attention to the structures and helps them to memorize it. Yet, this can lead students to forget the structures, so it should have extra activities afterward. This is a technique which can be used for any learner profiles. It can be changed from the easiest ones to the most difficult ones according to level of students and it is an applicable method for learners in Turkey.

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 * Comment by Mehriban Arnazarova **

I know the same game exist also in Turkey which was being played on TV for many years, I know:). It is really funny and as you said it is really motivating activity for students to engage in the class. However, if the topic is chosen by the students, there will be no relevance with the topic the teacher will cover during the class. I think, this game can be played at the end of the lesson to develop students’ speaking or questioning skills. Alternatively, it can be used so that the teacher may decide the topic which would be relevant with the lecture topic. Thus, students may acquire a general idea or knowledge about the topic which will make them to engage in and participate to the class during the lecture as you already mentioned. Thank you for your effort to share the different technique and your ideas with us:).