A fun, sociable activity which provides the necessary practice on functions and exponents and generates a lot of laughter.

Instructions

1. Show the trainees the pile of cards. Choose one at random but do not look at it. Hand it to one trainee and ask them to stick/pin it to your back.

2. Explain that the word on the card is a function but that you do not know what it is. Ask the trainees to give you exponents of this function so that you can guess what the function is. Do not guess the function until you have heard several exponents.

3. Explain that the trainees are now going to play the same activity as a whole group. Explain that each trainee will have an unknown function on their back, will stand up and will mingle with the other trainees.

4. Explain that whenever a trainee meets a new partner, they should look at each other's backs, and say an exponent of the function they see. Stress that it is important that trainees should not confirm each other's guesses during the game. Only at the end of the game will they guess their function.

5. Monitor for incorrect language to feed back on after the activity.

6. After 10 minutes, call the trainees back into a circle. Each trainee guesses what their function was, and looks at their card to confirm their guess. Conduct feedback by asking questions such as What was the most formal/ informal exponent you heard for your function? and feeding back on errors.

NB Functional categories end in –ing, e.g. thanking, interrupting, asking for clarification. Make sure the trainees are using this form, and elicit it where necessary.

Variation 1

For groups who may find it difficult to think up exponents on the spot, hand out a copy of the complete worksheet (1.3A) before the mingle. Groups can then practise thinking up exponents in advance. Before proceeding to the main activity, collect all copies of the worksheet.

Instructions

1. Divide the class into five groups.

2. Hand out a different mind map to each group. Explain that each mind map focuses on one of the main areas which influence motivation for L2 learning. Ask trainees to discuss the questions on their mind map, sharing specific examples from their experience as an L2 learner and teacher. One trainee in the group notes down details from the discussion on the mind map, branching out from the main prompt words. If trainees find it difficult to think of examples, they can also discuss and note down how the factor that they are discussing can be used to motivate language learners in the classroom.

3. When the mind maps are finished, have trainees display them on the classroom walls and ask them to present their observations to the whole class, allowing two to three minutes for each group. Allow for questions at the end of each presentation.

4. Hand out a set of the classroom activity cards to each group. Ask trainees to match them to the appropriate motivating factor on the appropriate mind map.

5. Monitor and conduct whole-class feedback.

Instructions

• 1. Divide the trainees into groups of three or four.

• 2. Explain that this activity is based on the game of dominoes (demonstrate by drawing dominoes on the board if necessary).

• 3. Show the dominoes to the trainees and explain that by matching questions (on the right-hand side of each domino) with answers (on the left), they will eventually form a complete rectangle. Start the activity, setting a time limit of ten minutes.

• 4. Monitor to ensure that all trainees are engaged; it is likely that group leaders may emerge! Exploit any ambiguities and queries by putting them back into the trainees’ hands to encourage group cooperation and confidence at this stage.

• 5. Stop groups after ten minutes and have them rotate to the next group's workstation (elicit or feed in language: clockwise / anti-clockwise). Ask each group to check the previous group's work, making any necessary changes. Stop after two minutes and rotate again, then again if required.

• 6. Conduct feedback, checking the answers and answering any queries. You could also ask the trainees which of the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) gave them new information about the TKT.

Variation

Shuffle the dominoes and hand out one to each trainee standing in a circle. Have each trainee read their own question and the corresponding answer from the card next to them (on their left). The whole class listens, repositions, monitors and corrects, until the domino loop is complete.

Answer key

How many questions are there in the TKT papers?

There are 80 questions in each of the three modules.

How many marks is each question worth?

Each question is worth one mark. All questions are equally weighted.

How do I mark the answers on the answer sheet?

You shade the lozenge for the answer you think is correct.

Do I need to take all the TKT modules?

No. You can take one, two or all three of the TKT modules, in any order.

What is the highest mark I can get?

Band 4. The other possible results are band 3, band 2 and band 1.

Will I get a certificate?

In Module 3, when exponents are revisited in a classroom context, the term appropriacy broadens in scope beyond register (formality or informality of exponents) to include the ideas of grading language and sequencing instructions, as well as sensitivity to age and culture.

Instructions

1. Spend two to three minutes leading the development of a mind map on the board to introduce the topic. Write the words APPROPRIACY OF TEACHERS’ LANGUAGE in the middle and elicit what factors affect a trainee's choice of language in the classroom, prompting where necessary. Include some of the following list, but don't worry about mentioning all factors at this stage.

Students’ language level

The need to sequence instructions

Sensitivity to age and maturity

Culture

Clarity and precision of instructions

2. Divide the class into pairs. Display the worksheet and explain that the left-hand column shows the context and the right-hand one shows the teachers’ language.

3. Explain that only three of the ten examples illustrate appropriate teachers’ language. Ask the trainees to identify the three appropriate examples. For the other examples, the trainees should decide why they are inappropriate and rephrase them to make them appropriate. Hand out one worksheet per pair.

4. Monitor, answering vocabulary questions and ensuring that trainees are focusing on the teaching situation described in the left-hand column.

5. Have each pair compare answers with another pair.

6. Conduct feedback. Elicit any further factors trainees have noticed from the worksheet to complete the mind map.

Instructions

1. Hand out the background information to each trainee, and ask a few comprehension questions. Explain that in the next activity, you will look at a piece of written work by this learner. Explain that the activity focuses on the way teachers correct written mistakes.

2. Hand out the correction code to each trainee, or elicit symbols for the items on the correction code and make sure that all the trainees are familiar with the symbols.

3. Divide the class into three groups (or multiples of three if the group is very large). Elicit the colours of traffic lights (red, amber and green), and assign a colour to each group.

4. Explain that each group will correct the same piece of work but in different ways. The colour of their group will dictate how they will correct the work. The green group are ‘given the green light’ to correct all the errors; the amber group will be quite cautious in correcting the errors and the red group will be very cautious.

5. Hand out the appropriate correction instructions, a copy of the writing sample on a transparency, and a red, orange (amber) or green pen as appropriate to each group. Hand out a copy of the writing sample to each trainee. Explain that each group should make their corrections on the transparency.

6. Allow ten minutes for the groups to complete their work.

7. Collect in the transparencies from the different groups and use the projector to show the differences between the corrections by laying the transparencies on top of each other, as well as displaying them individually.

8. Conduct feedback on factors to consider when making corrections. Draw out the following:

• the need to motivate and not demotivate the learner

• identifying slips versus developmental errors

• the role of self- or peer-correction

• the need to take into account learner needs, expectations and previous learning experience

• grading work for accuracy and/or fluency

• alternative strategies for tackling errors

Instructions

1.Divide the class into three to five teams.

2. Explain that you are going to play a quiz about supplementary materials as a whole group. Explain that you will be the quizmaster and that you will read out clues. Each clue will be a pro (an advantage) or a con (disadvantage) of a supplementary material. From the clues, each team will work together to guess the supplementary material.

3. Have each team invent their own buzzer sound, e.g. ting! or buzz! before play starts. Explain that when they hear a clue, teams may confer amongst themselves, and if they think they know the answer, they should make their buzzer sound.

4. Read out the pro of the first clue. Ask the team that buzzes first to give their answer.

5. If the answer is correct, award the team three points. Then offer one bonus point to any team who can come up with a con for that same supplementary material.

6. If the original answer is not correct, another team may buzz to respond, but each team has only one chance to answer each clue . 7. If no team guesses correctly, the trainer reads out the con as a second clue for the same item. Each team then has another chance to buzz and guess again, as described above (but no bonus points this time).

8. When the quizmaster is ready to move on to a new clue card, the team who won the last point may choose whether to hear a pro or a con first.

9. The game continues until all the clue cards are used up.

Instructions

1. Ask trainees to stand and come to an open space in the classroom. Give one strip of card to each trainee and tell them not to show it to anyone else.

2. Explain that each card contains one stage or step in a lesson plan. The trainees must work together to reconstruct the correct order of the lesson, by forming a human chain. Nobody may let go of their card!

3. Have trainees mingle and tell each other the step on their card; they should try to work out where they belong in relation to the stages they hear. Gradually the group forms a tentative order.

4. Now have the trainees read their own stage out loud again, for all to listen to, in the ‘correct’ order. As others read, trainees listen and try to get an overview of the lesson plan.

5. Prompt the trainees by eliciting what type of class this is: Are there any main distinguishable parts to the class? (First the topic lead-in, then gist listening.) Trainer may also prompt when the trainees have the order wrong: Would you give out the drawing materials before or after the first reading?

6. When trainees are completely happy with the order, have them sit down and hand out copies of the complete worksheet. Have trainees compare their order with the order on the worksheet. Discuss any differences as a whole group.

7. Finally, refer the trainees to the glossary terms at the end of the worksheet and have them match them to the lesson plan stages. Conduct feedback on this and answer any questions.

Variation

A less challenging alternative is to have the trainees order the lesson in pairs, giving a set of cards (2.3B) to each pair. The human chain can then be used as a feedback device to check the answers. Ask a volunteer from one pair to stand up with the first card. Then a volunteer from a second pair stands, with the second card, next to the first person and so on.

Instructions

1. Hand out a copy of the crossword to each trainee. Although most trainees will need little guidance to understand the task, it's worth eliciting down and across, and the word clue which does not appear on the sheet.

2. Have trainees work individually or in pairs to solve the crossword. Monitor and prompt where necessary.

3. Conduct feedback orally or by pinning up a completed copy of the crossword for trainees to check.

4. Discuss how crossword puzzles might be useful for recycling lexis from class. Talk about trainees’ experiences with crosswords and other types of word puzzles. Remind trainees that they can create their own word games on www.puzzlemaker.com and other available educational software.

Variation

To make this into a communicative pair-work activity, photocopy the A and B versions of the crossword (see 2.2B). Have half the class research and work together to write the clues for puzzle A, while the other half do the same for puzzle B. Then pair up one trainee from group A with a partner from group B. Have them read out their clues for their partner to guess. For example, B asks ‘What's 17 down?’, A says ‘the number of minutes needed for each step of the lesson’, and B guesses ‘hmmm … Timing?’

This exercise checks that candidates have grasped important distinctions between skills terms early in the course. This should allow for sensible discussion later in the course when many of these ideas resurface when talking about practice activities, lesson planning, correction techniques etc.

Instructions

1. Demonstrate the activity by asking for definitions and examples for a receptive skill / a productive skill and write them on the board. Encourage the trainees to discuss the similarities and differences between the two concepts.

2. Divide trainees into groups of four. Distribute the worksheets and have trainees work together to define and find examples for each pair of concepts. Monitor to make sure trainees are writing their definitions and examples down. Ask questions to encourage discussion about similarities and differences between each pair of concepts. Avoid feeding in answers yet – the aim is to promote discussion.

3. After about 20 minutes, allow trainees to refer to their TKT glossaries and/or other reference books to check their answers. They should edit their answers and add more detail where necessary.

4. Have trainees swap their worksheets with another group. Each group should mark the worksheet they receive with the correction code:

✓ for each correct definition

✓ for each appropriate example

? for any items which don't seem to make sense

➞ before any additional comments that they write Before they return the worksheets to the original owners, have the trainees add a brief overall comment.

5. Conduct feedback to clarify any concepts still causing confusion.

NB Listen carefully during the group discussion stage to see which concepts have been grasped well and which the trainees are still struggling with. Be well prepared with clear explanations and pertinent (if possible local) examples to clarify concepts in the final feedback stage.

Instructions

1. Dictate the following words won, too and for. Do not spell the words or confirm the meanings. Ask one trainee to write what they have written on the board, then write won, too and for next to them. Ask trainees to compare the answers with their own. It is very likely that some people will have written one, two and four. Explain/elicit that the words are homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings and may be spelled differently).

2. Hand out one bingo game board to each trainee. Explain this game of bingo:

• Each bingo game board has five squares with a different part of speech on it.

• To win, a trainee must cover all five squares on their board with counters.

• When the trainer calls out a word which is an example of a part of speech on a trainee's board, the trainee should call out the name of that part of speech.

• The trainee must then prove that the word is an example of that part of speech by giving both:

1. an example sentence / a context / a mime, and

2. the spelling in that part of speech.

• If the trainer is satisfied with the answer, a counter is given to the trainee to cover the part of speech on their board.

• If another trainee thinks the word is also an example of a different part of speech which is on their board, they may also call out, and attempt to win a counter.

• When a trainee has covered all five squares, they shout ‘Bingo!’

NB Trainees may continue suggesting different parts of speech for each word given. If there are no more suggestions from the trainees, the trainer may choose to prompt, asking e.g. How else can you spell …? or by giving an example clue, e.g. Did you get a yes or a no? (to elicit the fact that no is also a noun) or choose to move on to the next word clue.

Trainees can usually name the four skills really easily, but have trouble naming subskills precisely. This activity addresses this by featuring many examples of subskills in learners’ real-life contexts.

Instructions

1. Divide the class into groups of four to six trainees.

2. Explain/demonstrate how to play the game. (These instructions are rich in game-playing language so you may wish to highlight the italicised words and have trainees make a record of them.)

• Each player takes it in turns to roll the dice and move their counter the correct number of spaces along the board.

• Every time they land on a skills square (marked READING, WRITING, LISTENING or SPEAKING) the player opposite picks a card from the corresponding pile and reads the scenario (but not the answer!) out loud to them.

• The player whose turn it is must say which subskill or strategy is being used. The player who read the card checks this against the answer on the card. In case of any debate, the team should call on the trainer to act as referee.

• If the subskill named is correct, the player may go up the ladder or remain at the head of the snake. If the subskill named is incorrect, or if the player doesn't know, he must remain at the foot of the ladder or slide down to the tail of the snake.

• The reader then returns the card to the bottom of the pile and it is the next player's turn.

• The winner is the first player to land on the ‘finish’ square.

3. Circulate, monitor, arbitrate or encourage debate where required, and note down any areas of difficulty.

4. At the end of the game, lead feedback, asking what trainees have learnt from the activity and clarifying any points of difficulty.

NB Trainees with a B1 level of language may need some vocabulary support. Consider having mixed language level groups, and be ready to answer queries.

Variation

For a less challenging game, begin with a review of skills and subskills, and write all the subskills on the board. When the trainees play the game, they can refer to the list on the board to help them make their choice.

Instructions

1. Write the word feedback in the centre of the board. Ask trainees to say what feedback is (e.g. giving learners information about their learning) and why it is an important part of the learning process (e.g. it motivates learners, helps them understand their problems and makes them aware of how they can improve).

2. Develop a mind map like the one below by eliciting:

• what teachers give feedback on

• why they give feedback

• how teachers give feedback

3. Hand out the worksheet to each trainee. Explain that the trainees should categorise each of the eight examples of feedback in three ways:

1) What is the trainee giving feedback on?

2) Why is the feedback being given?

3) How is the feedback being given?

4. Have trainees work individually or in pairs.

5. Conduct feedback. Categorise the examples of feedback in the following three ways:

1. Draw a line between the example and the appropriate aspect (at the bottom of the page) to show what the teacher is giving feedback on.

2. Write the reason why the feedback is being given next to the example (encouraging, giving a grade, informing, recommending, praising etc.)

3. Circle the example in the appropriate colour according to how the feedback is being given:

• individual (teacher to student) = red

• group (teacher to class) = green

• peer (student to student) = blue

Instructions

1. Divide the class into groups of four. Hand out one card to each trainee so that each group has all four cards between them.

2. Explain that the aim of the exercise is to brainstorm ideas for a lesson. Ask trainees what the main aim of the lesson is (to practise talking about the past). Explain that each trainee in each group has a different subsidiary aim relating to the same lesson. Ask the trainees to think of a possible procedure for this subsidiary aim and write it in the space next to possible procedure A.

3. Allow about two minutes and monitor, ready to help trainees who lack ideas. When all the trainees have written something down, ask them to fold down the top part of the paper so that their idea is hidden, but that possible procedure B is still visible. They should then pass the paper to the trainee on their left (within their group).

4. Have the trainees write in a possible procedure B for the aim on the paper they are now holding and continue the process until each paper has been passed around the whole group.

5. Explain that each group should now work together to use the ideas generated to create a lesson plan based around the ideas on the paper. They should choose one possible procedure for each subsidiary aim to create one lesson.

6. When they have finished, have each group present their lesson plans, with trainer's guidance.

Variation

Try the activity again with different main and subsidiary aims. Here are some suggestions:

Reading lesson

Main aim: to encourage use of class library for extensive reading

Subsidiary aims:

1 to raise interest in the topic

2 to introduce vocabulary for different book genres

3 to familiarise students with various books available

4 to give students practice in extensive reading in L2

Writing lesson

Main aim: to practise creative writing for pleasure Subsidiary aims:

1 to brainstorm ideas

2 to use recently taught adverbs in written work

3 to self-edit a variety of language mistakes

4 to motivate through content feedback

Instructions

1. Divide trainees into pairs. Hand out one worksheet to each pair. Ask trainees to identify the six different interaction patterns in A on the worksheet.

2. Lead feedback, and write the six different interaction patterns on the board as below:

(If your trainees are more familiar with variations on these symbols, you may substitute as necessary.)

3. Refer the pairs to the table in B on the worksheet. Ask trainees to decide for each one which interaction pattern they would use. Stress that several different interaction patterns are possible, and that there is no single correct answer.

4. As each pair finishes, join them with another pair to form a group of four. Ask each pair to compare their choice of interaction patterns with the other pair in their group. For each answer that they can successfully justify, a pair receives one point. In each group the pair with the most points wins. Monitor and act as referee where necessary.

5. Lead whole-class feedback by asking what factors influenced trainees’ choice of interaction pattern. Ensure that the following factors are discussed:

• Your teaching aims: main, subsidiary and personal aims

• The activity: whether controlled practice, discussion or project work, the activity will lend itself to one or two different interaction patterns

• Variety of interaction (balance): within one lesson, over a sequence of lessons

• Class size: prohibitively large or small, space available

• Students’ learning styles: group learners and individual learners

• Students’ abilities and level: stronger and weaker students working together or apart

• Students’ personalities: whether shy or dominant

• Group dynamics: the behaviour, relationship and interaction between students

• Learners’ previous experience: patterns they are used to

Variation

Elicit the factors which affect choice of interaction pattern before the trainees make their own choices in stage 5.

Instructions

1. Display board diagram (on overhead or multimedia projector, or write on board) to introduce topic of teaching resources and materials. Allow three minutes for trainees to discuss in pairs how each item differs from the others. Conduct feedback, establishing the main differences between the four categories.

2. Have trainees form a circle around the resources table. Have them sort the resources into four initial piles: reference resources, coursebook package elements, supplementary materials and teaching aids. Allow just one minute for this as changes can be made at the next stage.

3. Divide the class into four smaller groups and allocate one pile to each. Explain that each group should review the contents of their category and sort them into three different subgroups:

1) items which definitely belong only in their category (e.g. dictionaries in reference resources)

2) items which don't belong in their category

3) items which could also go into a different category

4. Conduct feedback, asking each group to present their subgroups. Hand out the worksheet and have trainees complete the first table, writing a definition and example of the four different resources.

5. Ask trainees to put aside all items which they have categorised as solely aids, supplementary resources or coursebook elements, so that only the reference resources are left on the resource table.

6. Display the reasons for using reference resources (either on an OHT, the board or on cards). Ask trainees which reasons seem most familiar to them.

7. Finally, have trainees sort the reference resource pile into subcategories using the reasons. To close the activity, refer students to the second table on the worksheet, and have them record their findings there.