Break the ice

The first day of class is usually spent in part by getting acquainted and establishing goals. Icebreakers are techniques used at the first session to reduce tension and anxiety, and also to immediately involve the class in the course. Use an icebreaker because you want to, not as a time filler or because teaching guides say one should be used. Listed below are several examples of icebreakers.

• INTRODUCE MYSELF. Participants introduce themselves and tell why they are there. Variations: Participants tell where they first heard about the class, how they became interested in the subject, their occupations, home town, favorite television program, or the best book they have read in the last year.
• INTRODUCE ANOTHER. Divide the class into pairs. Each person talks about him/herself to the other, sometimes with specific instructions to share a certain piece of information. For example, "The one thing I am particularly proud of is..." After five minutes, the participants introduce the other person to the rest of the class.
• CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS. Have students write down one or two adjectives describing themselves. Put these on a stick-on badge. Have class members find someone with similar or opposite adjectives and talk for five minutes with the other person.
• I'VE DONE SOMETHING YOU HAVEN'T DONE. Have each person introduce themselves and then state something they have done that they think no one else in the class has done. If someone else has also done it, the student must state something else until he/she finds something that no one else has done.
• FIND SOMEONE. Each person writes on a blank index card one to three statements, such as favorite color, interest, hobby, or vacations. Pass out cards so everyone gets someone else's card. Have that person find the person with their card and introduce themselves.
• FAMOUS PERSON. People write a famous name on a piece of paper and pin it on someone else's back. Person tries to guess what name is pinned on his/her by asking others around the room yes or no questions. Variation: Use famous place instead of famous person.
• MY NAME. People introduce themselves and tell what they know about why they have their name (their mother wanted to name me after her great aunt Helen who once climbed Pike's Peak in high heels, etc.). It could be the first, middle or nickname.
• HOW DO YOU FEEL? Ask the students to write down words or phrases that describe their feelings on the first day of class. List the responses on the blackboard. Then ask them to write down what they think you as the teacher are feeling this first day of class. List them on the blackboard in a second column and note the parallels. Briefly comment on your feelings and then discuss the joint student/teacher responsibilities for learning in the course.
• COMMON GROUND. This works best for small groups or for each small group sitting together as a team (4-6 learners). Give the group a specific time (perhaps 5 minutes) to write a list of everything they all have in common. Tell them to avoid the obvious ("we're all taking this course"). When time is up, ask each group how many items they have listed. For fun, ask them to announce some of the most interesting items.
• ME TOO. This also works best for small groups or foe each small group sitting together as a team (4-6 learners). Everyone in the group gest 10 pennies/toothpicks/scrap of papers, etc. The first student states something he/she has done (e.g. water skiing). Everyone else who has done the same thing admits it and puts one penny in the middle of the table. Then the second person states something (e.g. I have eaten frogs' legs). Everyone who has done it puts another penny in the center. Continue until someone has run out of pennies.

These are just a few of the hundreds of icebreakers. Be creative and design your own variations. Don't be afraid to experiment and try different approaches, and above all, have fun and start that most important first day of class on the right foot!

Insubordinate reading

What with classes, sports, video games, and everything else life throws at a hapless student, it can be tough getting in some quality reading time. The solution is obvious; why not just read in school? The problem with schools encouraging students to read is that they rarely encourage students to read materials that they would have picked out on their own. For those of you who get the choice of what to read in class, you are lucky! This entry is for the rest of us.

Reading unassigned material in school can be maddeningly impossible. Granted, there are study halls, lunch breaks, and the walk between classes to put in quality reading time. However, what do you do if you have a book that is so exciting - say you're just coming to the end, or a mystery is about to be revealed, or it's just so good that you can't bear to put it down? Or what if the class is so horrible that you can't sit through it unaided? If you are no longer a student and instead reside in the working world, the following can also be applied to meetings although the repercussions can be a bit more severe.

What to do

Materials
Ideally, you need some form of desk or table to pull this off. A backpack will also facilitate the process. But have no fear if these things are not to be found, this process works for all situations!

Process
If you have none of these things, the best way to go about reading during class is to lean back against something with your notebook or textbook open vertically on your lap. Put your own book inside the notebook and hope that no one notices. Be sure not to let your books tilt away from you or someone will spot what's hidden inside. Without even a notebook to hide your activity, just try to keep your book as far out of the teacher's line of sight as possible and if caught choose a smaller book next time.

If you have a backpack or a large stack of other books place these on your desk so that the teacher can't see the area where you would normally be writing had you been paying attention in class. Now carefully take out your own book and slip most of it under your desk. Slump down low in your seat with your head at a slight angle. It should be down just enough to see the book but not so far as to appear to be reading it. This can be difficult.

Now, if the teacher assigns you something to read during the class period, you've got it made. There are several options here. You can read with the assigned book (this works best with large textbooks) propped up open on your desk, acting as a cover for the personal reading material that you slip inside. You can also lay the assigned material on your desk as a decoy while you read your book conveniently located in your lap. If you are feeling particularly rebellious, you can just read your own book flat on your desk and assume that the teacher won't notice that you aren't reading the assigned chapter because you're so engrossed in the reading and all text looks the same at 20 feet anyway.

If the teacher begins to look at you angrily then slip the book underneath your thigh or bottom and pretend to be engrossed in your notes. It is also wise to pay just enough attention to the lecture to be able to parrot back that last thing that the teacher said, in case you are suspected of not paying attention.
Some cautionary advice

If you are caught, it could result in a long boring talk with the teacher or worse, a detention. So be careful!

Advanced Studies
For those of you who have mastered the challenge of reading in class, no longer take classes, or are more engrossed in your book than ever, take note.
Some other places to read include:

• In the bath
• At meal-times (though this one is a fairly common sight)
• While in a car stopped at a red light (yes, this one's for the driver)
• In very slow moving traffic (not recommended)
• While stopped at a railway crossing
• Or just taking a walk, as evinced by one Researcher's experience:
If you have a lengthy regular walk I can confirm reading is perfectly easy, using peripheral vision to notice approaching obstacles - the only thing you tend to miss are low hanging branches.

Six methods of remembering new words

Often times, students have difficulty attaining new elements of vocabulary. Somehow, you have to trick your brain into storing these new pieces of information. The key is to make sure the new words don’t go into their passive registry, meaning that they know the meaning of the word when they see it, but they don’t use it in conversations. They have to go into their active registry, meaning that the words are being used on a regular basis. This is a list of tricks that helps students learn new words.

1. Make a list with translation
This is one of the most traditional methods. What you do is write down the words and its translation in the native language. This method has been criticized by teachers, because it hinders the developmental process. When speaking or writing, the student find himself thinking in his native language and making parallels with the English language in order to express himself. However, this can be avoided with lots of practice and audio-video incentive, such as movies, TV shows, documentaries. It remains one of the most popular methods of teaching a new language.

2. Make a mind map
This method is a great way of presenting a vocabulary set, such as: the days of the week, the months of the year, the seasons, colors and so forth. It is most efficient when you plan the outline beforehand and ask the students to help you complete the empty spaces. There are computer tools that make good mind maps, such as www.text2mindmap.com. This is particularly helpful if you use colors (for smaller students) or for people with a photographic memory.


3. Write the words in a sentence
A good way to attain new vocabulary is to contextualize. After presenting a new word, ask the students to form sentences with that word. The more creative and distinctive the sentence is, the more chance the children have of remembering the word. For people that lack creativity a good option would be to make personalized sentences, that would be much easier to remember.

4. Record the words in phrases or collocations
According to the new develompents in linguistics and teaching, words do not exist in and of themselves. It is best to get the students used to the word with frequent collocates and common phrases. The teacher can set the example by including useful and frequent phrases with new words as they come up and writing these on the board.



5. Make a story including the words
This option is useful for higher level students. It makes the words more memorable, but can present difficulties for people who lack creativity. An alternative for this would be a collaborative story done by a group of students. This method is also known as the story method.

6. Do a drawing or some kind of memory trigger
This is great for artistic students. You could make a “gallery of new words” section of the class wall or bulletin board. Another memory trigger could be based on a translation. Here is one example: The word for Spanish is arroz. Imagine a hail of arrows flying towards your bowl of rice.