Genres in Classroom

By Cndido Samuel and Vanessa Wright

Topics

Types of Motivation

Genres in Classroom

Practical Example:

Comics and Game Rules Activity

Types of Motivation
Intrinsic Motivation
Affect Achievement Attitude Activity Agency

Extrinsic Motivation
Society People Goals Curiosity

Intrinsic Motivation
Affect Students love to talk about boyfriends , girlfriends, fashion, and movies. They also enjoy when the teacher talks about their personal life, childhood, and embarrassing experiences. Attitude Teacher attitude is fundamental to capture attention and to motivate. For example, by preparing the class in advance and having good humor

Intrinsic Motivation
Activity Reading about and then explaining how to perform a magic trick is a lot of fun and motivating.
Agency Usually students learn faster when given an example and also less time is wasted by telling them they arent doing things the way they should (this sometimes lowers their confidence).

Extrinsic Motivation
People A prime example is 'boy meets girl'. An interesting female/male student usually keeps the other student alert and attentive. This situation boosts their efforts to show off, however, the opposite effect occurs. The student can sometimes be afraid to make a mistake and he/she might participate less.

Extrinsic Motivation

Goals Plans to travel abroad, preparation for CAE, FCE, etc., are natural motivators. Students without clear goals can be motivated by the class atmosphere.

On which type of motivation do you think teachers have more influence? Intrinsic Motivation
Affect Achievement Attitude Activity Agency

Extrinsic Motivation
Society People Goals Curiosity

Genres in Classroom
Journal Entries Personal Letters Greeting Cards Personal Essays or Philosophical Questions Comic Strips Short Stories Talk Show Interviews Restaurant Descriptions and Menus Websites

Schedules/Things to Do Lists Classified or Personal Ads Inner Monologues Representing Internal Conflicts Autobiographical Essays Speechs or Debates Encyclopedia Articles Game Rules Recipes

Genres in Classroom

What are some benefits of providing students with a diversity of genres?

Range of vocabulary Range of language structures Range of registers Range of information

Genres in Classroom

The class that will be presented was designed for a specific group:

With 8 students, who were 9/10 years old With a pre-intermediate level of English Which had two hours of English Class per week Which I had been teaching for a year and a half.

Genres in Classroom
Game Comic

Rules Strips

Game Rules

Why Game Rules?

Its ludic aspects boost students interest Students are likely to be familiar with it Students can utilize the language learned Certain grammar topics and vocabulary may be apprehended more easily

Comic Strips

Why Comic Strips?

Its ludic aspects boost students interest Students are likely to be familiar with it Students will improve their ability to associate different languages (written, visual, symbolic) to interpret the text

Game Rules
SIMON SAYS

Simon says is a game for three or more players.

One of the players is Simon.

The others must do what Simon tells them to do when asked with a phrase beginning with "Simon says."
If Simon says "Simon says jump", the players must jump (players that do not jump are out). However, if Simon says simply "jump", without first saying "Simon says", players do not jump; those that do jump are out.

Game Rules
Why Simon says?

It is a popular game all over the world

It is a very flexible game

It can be utilized as a class management tool

Game Rules
Introduction

Introduce vocabulary, but how?

Why not talk to students about something they are familiar with that requires a similar vocabulary?

Game Rules

If you are a teacher in Brazil, it may be a good idea to talk about soccer. Ask students what soccer rules they know and include some key question such as: How many players are there in each team? What must a player do if he gets a red card? In doing so, students will probably be introduced to the following words: player, must, if and out.

Game Rules
EXERCISE 1 Whats the text about?
1. Rules

to play soccer 2. Rules to play Simon Says 3. Rules to play Opposite Game 4. Rules to play baseball

Game Rules
EXERCISE 2 a) b) f) What must the players do if Simon says Simon Can two players play says touch your head? Simon Says? Why? Can 100 players play g) What must the players Simon Says? do if Simon says Do not What is the ideal number move! Why? of players in your h) What must the players opinion? Why? do if Simon says Simon How many Simons are says move!? Why? there? i) Who gets out of the What must the players game? do if Simon Says Touch j) Does Simon get out of your nose? Why? the game? k) When is the game over?

c)
d) e)

Game Rules

In activity two, students will answer a lot of question that will guide their understanding of the whole text. By guiding the students through the questions, the teacher will be able to help them understanding the text indirectly. At the end, students will be likely to have the feeling that they understood the text even though the text was not translated or thoroughly explained.

Game Rules

EXERCISE 3 - READ THE FOLLOWING COMICS

a) Do

you think they are playing the game Simon Says in the right way? Why or Why not? b) What must they do to play the game correctly? And what mustnt they do? Explain to the two boys how Simon says should be played.

Game Rules

Activity three aims at evaluating students comprehension of the text and ability to apply the vocabulary and grammar learned; discussing with them certain social behaviors; and introducing them to a new genre.

Game Rules

EXERCISE 4 Game time! Did you understand the game Simon Says? the teacher will be the first Simon and the winner will be the next one.

Game Rules

In exercise 4, students will play the game Simon Says. The successfulness of a class with games is related to the balance of ludic and educational aspects presented in the class. Teachers should not only give students time to play and only watch it. English can still be practiced and learned during the time the game is being played. For instance, students could review the rules of the game when someone gets out of it or they could practice different vocabulary in the commands (touch your
NOSE, touch your RIGHT FOOT, touch your HAIR; put the book IN the box, put the book ON the box, put the book BETWEEN me and the box; imitate a LION, imitate a ROOSTER); touch something BLUE, touch something RED, touch something YELLOW;touch the TABLE, touch the

Game Rules

EXERCISE 4 - Now you are going to play the game in groups The teacher will be Simon again. Now hes going to give you the commands for your group to draw a picture. (ex. Simon says draw a sun). What must you do if he doesnt say Simon says before the command? The group must draw only on one paper.

Game Rules

HOMEWORK Do you want to play more games? Give the class a suggestion! Write a text explaining the rules of an interesting game you want to play in the class and also draw some comic strips showing how the game is played

Game Rules

Simon Says can also be utilized as a classroom management tool. There are some games that are utilized to give commands to students, such as: Opposite game. With Simon Says students would have to obey the teachers commands only when they start with Simon says Simon says be quiet. Of course the successfulness of such technique will depend on the group of students the teacher is dealing with. Therefore, teachers should be sensitive to recognize the applicability of this technique

Comic Strips

Comic Strips

In order to help students grasp this meaning in this kind of text, teachers should help students find all sources of meaning present in the text. In comic strips both verbal and visual language are important for a good comprehension of the context. Students should be encouraged to explore the speech balloons, boxes, panels layouts, gutters, sound effects, symbols and motion lines. Students will be better readers of comic strips when they are able to interpret all these features present in this

Comic Strips
1 ANSWER THE QUESTIONS

a) What are these kids doing? Why? b) Do you help your parents at home? How?

c) What dont you do? Why not?

Comic Strips

Exercise 1 will introduce the students to the topic of the class and raise in them the curiosity about the vocabulary related to chores, which is the language focus of this class. There will probably be a plenty of parents thanking you for having discussion about topics like that in class.

Comic Strips

Comic Strips

Students are not supposed to know all the words in the crossword extracted from eslgalaxy.com, but instead of telling the students what the right answer is, the teacher can help them achieving the right word.

Once the crossword is filled in, students will be able to answer question (b) and (c) from Exercise 1 more acurately.

Comic Strips
EXERCISE 2

a) How often do How often you you organize take out the your closet? garbage? A)Always B) Sometimes C)Never A)Always B)Sometimes C)Never

How often do you make your bed? A)Always B)Sometimes C)Never

b) How often do your classmates do the chores listed on the crossword?

Comic Strips

In Exercise (2A) students will be introduced to the adverbs. Since only the introduction of the vocabulary is not enough to make students utilize these adverbs correctly, the teacher should explicit on the board how the adverbs are used by writing down examples such as I always organize my closet; I sometimes take the garbage out; and I never make my bed. The teacher should make sure that students understand the adverbs of frequency during exercise (2A), so that they can practice it

Comic Strips
3) WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO IF YOU HAVE A DOG?
a) Do

you have to walk your dog? b) Do you have to feed your dog? c) Do you have to sleep with your dog? d) Do you have to study with your dog? e) Do you have to play with your dog?

Comic Strips

Exercise (2) introduce students to the topic of the comic strips. In doing so, students will be more interested in the topic when reading the comic strip and they will be more likely to understand the meaning being conveyed. The similarities between must and have to will allow students to recapitulate part of what was learned in the previous section and understand more easily the grammar topic being presented here.

Comic Strips
Exercise 4 Simon Says Time
Gimme your paw Bark Roll over Play dead Sit

Comic Strips

In order to cover the part of the comics that hasnt been introduced to students yet, students will play Simon Says. In turn, they will recapitulate what was the main topic of the previous section and will also have fun. By playing the game students will be, naturally, practicing some of the vocabulary present in the comic strip. After this exercise, students are likely to have a good understanding of the verbal part of the comic strips, which is also supported by the visual aspects.

Comic Strips

Only now students will be handed the comic strip

Comic Strips

The comic strip is short but the language used is not as easy as one might think. If part of the vocabulary is not introduced beforehand, chances are that students will not be able to understand the content of the verbal part and will have to stick to the visual aspects of the comic strips. Understanding only the visual aspects may be enough to have an idea of what the comic strip is about, but students have to understand both visual and verbal aspects to have a rich comprehension of what is

Comic Strips
a) Who is the boy playing with? b) What are they playing? c) Is Lindonjohonson a boy? d) Who is Lindonjhonson? e) What is WOOF, WOOF!? f) Why is the WOOF, WOOF! balloon different? g) Who produces the SNIF! SNIF! sound? Why? h. Is the smell good or bad? How do you know? i. Why is the last part of the story bigger than the others? j. What do you think is the best title for the story? k. Is it a funny story? l. Did you like the story? Why or why not?

Comic Strips

These questions will lead students to the visual and verbal details of the comic strip. In turn, students will have a better idea of how they can get meaning out of a comic strip.

Comic Strips

What called my attention in this comic strip was the topic and its design. I realized I would be able to work with a lot of language aspects, mostly connected to simple present, that were related to the topic. Besides, the topic helps to keep the education environment of an English class, by discussing subjects such as the importance of doing house chores and taking care of pets. In spite of the fact that it is small, this comic strips present a rich visual language which can enable students to understand how meaning can be

Thank you very much!

Candido Oliveira: candido.oliveira@culturabh.com.br Vanessa Wright: vanessa.wright@culturabh.com.br