Come to my Party or Get Out of Class

In college, my Chinese teacher did a lot of activities where we were free to walk around the room, talking to other students (in Chinese) to find out information. I thought this was a great way to force us to practice new phrases with each other, but I’ve been hesitant to try the same approach with my middle school students. I knew giving them time to do an activity like this would result in at least half the class chatting in Chinese. Even when you expect that kind of behavior, though, it’s still pretty aggravating when it finally happens.

The activity at hand was about inviting classmates to your party, keeping track of how many people can come, filling in what parties you were invited to, and letting others know you can’t go to theirs, because you are busy. Students were supposed to write down something similar to my mock schedule before the chaos began, changing the days to fit their own whims:

Sun - busy (visiting grandpa)
Mon
Tues
Wed - my party
Thurs
Fri - busy (moving to new apt)
Sat

A few of the classes actually liked the activity, as it became a competition to see who could invite the most people. Most classes, however, were pretty apathetic, and two classes in particular wouldn’t even get out of their seats. Those students quickly asked their neighbor, “Saturday?” and answered, “No,” then spent the rest of the time talking about math homework. It got so frustrating walking up and down the aisles, seeing all the students who didn’t write a schedule or who were just doing the exercise in Chinese.

It’s counterproductive to have to continually remind your class, “The whole purpose of doing this is to practice English. Stop talking in Chinese!” At that point, you may ask yourself, “Why am I even here?” I got so upset with one class, though, I didn’t just ask that to myself. I told them, “If you’re not going to do the activity, then I’m not going to stay.” And I walked out two minutes before the bell rang. Man, it felt good to see the dumbfounded looks on their faces as I packed up my things and left. You’re all un-invited to my party.

1 December 2009 | Teaching | Comments | Home
tags: class activities

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