HERMES

I find this is a nice and easy way to close up an activity. Like favourite end-of-term dynamics, lesson or anecdote. End-of-course positives and negatives, or proposals and suggestions. Also good for New Year’s Resolutions, for instance, vocabulary and expressions activities, or learning strategies… just to give you a few examples. Feel free to adapt this activity to your lessons and let us know what succeeds with your group!

PROCEDURE:

Hand out stripes of coloured papers and markers. Ask students to write, for example, the good things about the lesson / term / course on one side and the not-so good things on the other side.

When everybody has done so get a volunteer read out loud what they wrote on their piece of paper, staple the ends together and decide whether the person to their right or left goes next. The next person repeats the action, and starts making a chain of coloured papers (as in the illustration above).

This simple exercise does have an impact on all the participants, including the teacher, as everybody gets heard (or all opinions are taken into consideration if it is the case).  Watching the chain grow longer with the students words and thoughts is beautiful too. Finally hang up the chain somewhere visible in the classroom.

Hang up the chain somewhere visible

in the classroom

TEAMWORK

La vida, sin prisa