A fill-in

I'd welcome any ideas.

Scenario: You have to entertain one, two, or three ESL students. You know that they are B2 to C1 level. You have no access to their materials. They are part of a larger group, so you do not want to impact their regular teacher's flow.

What standalone subject would you use that relates to ESL? How would you usefully fill the hour?

I think I'd start by asking their teacher what they would like me to do with the learners.

5jj said:

I think I's start by asking their teacher what they would like me to do with the learners.

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But that is not an option here.

Flamenco1 said:

But that is not an option here.

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Why not? Your title is "A fill-in" so presumably you are covering for another teacher. Is there no way of getting in touch with that teacher? Do they give private classes or is this based at a school or language academy?

I'm sorry, I should have seen that coming.

I can give two examples not connected with ESL. With an audience of 20, a speaker failed to turn up. Peter came to the rescue and spoke, without any visual aids, for 50 minutes, about the Duke of Wellington. (The talk was given on what was part of Wellington's estate, so local interest). He barely mentioned Waterloo, the Peninsular War, or the Duke's political career. He spoke about Wellington's views on agriculture and the long term care of estate workers. He was brilliant. Even those who thought they were well read on Wellington learned a lot.

In college, a professor was taken ill. The stand-in spoke about the mass movement of peoples before 1000 BC. It was not connected to our curriculum. We requested he come back, but sadly ........ But I still remember a lot of what he said, despite 50 years passing.

And now for a bad example. In India, without notice, I was presented with a group of smiling faces in a Himalayan school. They ranged in age from 5 to 14. I wished I had had something prepared. Sadly, the best I could do was show the children a new plastic 5 pound note, that you could crumple and yet it would return to its original form. And that led to why the English eat fish and chips. They were, I'm glad to say, very kind.

The main reason I want to prepare myself for an ad-hoc ESL related lesson/talk. is because in the summer we get visits from young people who are learning English (not together). We often go by train to Seville (1 hour and 10 minutes). They've all seen orange trees before. What an opportunity.

I do have one topic that has been suggested: A brief introduction to Blake, Thackeray, and Scott through quotations. We will discuss how they did, or appear to have, broken grammar rules (based on the use of relative pronouns). Discuss how grammar rules relate to the development of the language.

The point is that it is a total change from their normal lessons. It can be witty. It introduces some new vocabulary. It is always to hand.

Flamenco1 said:

I do have one topic that has been suggested: A brief introduction to Blake, Thackeray, and Scott through quotations. We will discuss how they did, or appear to have, broken grammar rules (based on the use of relative pronouns). Discuss how grammar rules relate to the development of the language.

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I think that's aiming a bit high for groups of children aged five to fourteen.

5jj said:

I think that's aiming a bit high for groups of children aged five to fourteen.

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That was not ESL related. To be honest, with such a great age range, I'm not sure what more I could have done. I'm forever thankful that I had a 5 pound note in my wallet. That seemed to fascinate the young ones. I was asked at one point if I had met the Queen. They seemed disappointed that I hadn't.

I don't follow what you're asking. Entertain? So this isn't about teaching?

Are you simply asking us for topics on which you could give an hour's talk? Why do you think giving a talk is such a good idea?

jutfrank said:

I don't follow what you're asking. Entertain? So this isn't about teaching?

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I can't think of any great teachers who do not entertain.

But best we drop this discussion. I guess the responce answers my question.

I didn't mean to suggest that teaching shouldn't be entertaining. I was just trying to understand exactly what your goal is here. Sorry if I came across as unhelpful. I do want to help if I can.

Perhaps, instead of giving a talk, you might think about something more active and fun, like a game? Would that work?

Come across as an honest broker and ask them to confide in you. They probably find the secrecy as frustrating.

Perhaps a humorous synopsis of the history of the English language.

Skrej said:

Perhaps a humorous synopsis of the history of the English language.

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Skrej you're a mind reader. But thank you for the suggestion.

So far I have:

The origin and evolution of the English language. We have a nice story, some nice timeline graphs supported by humorous cartoons, some great quotes (including the Bard, of course), and some linked vocabulary. This is aimed at B2. I will use Spanish as required. (My students are all Spanish).

Beyond the Battle of Waterloo. My students are Spanish, so most know about the Peninsula War. I briefly mention Waterloo. Then I cover Wellington's peacetime activities. This one is aimed at C1.

The third one relates to grammar rules, but I am not comfortable with it. It is a bit dry. I was going to base it on Blake and Thackeray, but they are difficult for a student to continue with, if they should be so inspired. I'm now looking at Dickens. If I base it on London I can include my short talk on Cockney rhyming slang. The other big plus is that his works are available free of charge.

Taking into account the input I've had, the rules I'm trying to stick to are:

• the talk must stand-alone (no homework, no preparation).
• it is the subject of the talk that is taught
• English is a by-product.
• it must be fun.

Each talk will have a vocabulary sheet, be posted online, and have links to related material.

Do you mean:

If I base it in London ....

?

Tarheel said:

Do you mean:

If I base it in London ....

?

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Interesting. I used the preposition "on" because I will focus on the social problems and challenges Dickens raises. I will use Dicken's London centric observations as examples, but for sure I will relate those issues to any big city of the times.

Cockney Rhyming slang, I agree, is based in London, "within the sound of Bow Bells" - sadly an ever diminishing zone. But I will not be focused on the location. I have several examples of rhyming slang outside of London.

I see "in" here as a positional preposition, and that would not be my focus.

But I could discuss prepositions all day long. Thank you

Learn to read your audience- teaching like this is a bit like stand-up comedy in many ways. Develop antennae to detect whether what you're doing is going down well. Have a stock of topics to hand for such improvised sessions, and float one or two out to see if they bite- if they take the bait, go down that path. If they don't, move on to something else fast.

Tdol said:

Learn to read your audience- teaching like this is a bit like stand-up comedy in many ways. Develop antennae to detect whether what you're doing is going down well. Have a stock of topics to hand for such improvised sessions, and float one or two out to see if they bite- if they take the bait, go down that path. If they don't, move on to something else fast.

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Tdol I think we are on different planets here. Your skills clearly surpass mine.

My talks have structure, just like my lessons. I will have done enough research to have confidence in what I am teaching. I will have prepared enough humour, which might be seen as optional fill-in, but I am far from being a stand-up comedian (how I wish ).

I have seen many presenters get dragged off of plan only to find they end 20 minutes early, or run out of time due to repetition. Indeed, as a conference chairman, I would always have a prepared list of questions so that I could help out the less experienced presenters (clients/customers as opposed to suppliers in the IT industry).

The other danger I see, if you react to the audience, is that you end up reacting to the bold and not the timid.

But if you can make your approach work I take my hat off to you.