I feel that the trick of learning English, or any language, is a communicative approach – that is to achieve goals other than the goal of learning the language! By this I mean a communication activity where the goal is to get information from someone and the language becomes the process or the method and not the goal itself.

This serves two purposes – distraction away from the boring task of learning words, grammar etc without a context, and a wider cognitive goal of having to think through a process, hopefully a real world communication situation, and deal with it sucessfully. This prepares the learner for actual contact and language use in daily life.

Anyways, not always easy to do with schoolkids who’s main motiation seems to be looking cool and mucking about – and with good reason – most of them won’t need English for several years yet -if at all? – so it remains abstract and just another lesson in the daily grind.

So for me the question is how to generate a bit of tension and excitement to wake them up and get them interested while trying to use the language as a goal orientated process.

Not easy!

Anyways, one game I’ve been turned onto by a colleague is using a toy bomb which ticks down. Here is a picture (Japanese).

I use this to get the kids to use language against the clock. Stand in a circle and then get them to ask questions in the target language or free questions if they are more advanced. The questioner holds the bomb, asks the question and passes it onto the next person who has to answer quickly and then ask another question.

If it explodes then that person is out or their team loses points etc.

Although not my ideal goal for real world communication it works on the students’ language in the following way:

Repeated verbal practice of the target language.
Quick thinking to formulate and answer a question.
Listening practice.

The time element adds the tension and keeps the kids excited, as well as increasing their cognitive processing speed.

If you would like to get one of these bombs then please contact me, or you can buy online through the rakuten.com website (if your Japanese is upto it!).