LESSON CONCEPTSo I found the original -Just A Minute- activity earlier this year. In the activity, students take turns speaking for a minute about one of six possible topics. I liked that it covered freestyle speaking production. But I didn't like that it only engages one student at a time. The other students have no incentive to listen to the speaker. So I've developed a teamwork based adaption that I use as an extended warm-up with my kids. It's designed for second year middle school students and up. After teaching the full lesson once, you can use this as a warm-up as often as you wish.
MAIN AIMSSPEAKER To encourage students to speak and think in English in real time. To move away from rigid/ memorization focused speech production. To provide students the opportunity to be creative and practical with the assistance of a structured format. To engage students with more authentic based speaking/language production.
OTHER TEAM MEMBERSTo emphasis team collaboration and responsibility. To provide students with more listening practice. To encourage students to give accurate feedback in English. To encourage group and self sufficiency.
OUTLINEThere are two PPTs: A longer full introduction PPT that goes over the warm-up and a shorter warm-up PPT.
FULL INTRODUCTIONUse this one first and only once. It stresses the basics behind the warm-up and goes over each job in great detail. It contains a lot of repetition. Most kids only tend to focus on the needs of their individual jobs in the moment and will forget what they need to do when they get assigned a new job. The speakers especially will be too preoccupied thinking about what they can talk about to really listen to the other job descriptions. Be sure to demo all four jobs before they do the activity (elicit help for the non-speakers jobs is a good idea but demoing as the speaker is the most important). Depending on the skill level/focus of your students, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a full 45 minutes. It's best to have an additional mini-game or activity prepared just in case this does not cover the full 45 minutes.
WARM-UP ONLYThis is the condensed version. I use it every time I run this warm-up with my students. However it's not as necessary and you can wing it if you prefer that. This PPT is faster paced than the full introduction PPT. You only really need to give one quick reminder the first couple times you run through this warm-up with them. They'll get into the habit of doing all the roles just fine. It can take anywhere from 8-15 minutes, again depending on the skill level of your kids and how well the teams are working together.
ADVICE FROM MY EXPERIENCEI really love this activity and I've had great feedback from teachers and kids alike. The first time students do this, it sounds impossible or horrifying to most of them. It's a daunting and that's completely fair. But it's something that even low levels students can successfully do. It's all about framing it. Your main job is to facilitate and encourage. Don't critique them (that's what the other three jobs are for). Even if a student is just listing something, it counts. When you do your one minute speaking demo, stick to matching their English speaking abilities and consider making some mistakes. It helps when you do the three types of feedback with the class as a whole.
Remind them it doesn't have to be the most interesting or perfect. Simple is fine. The most important part is just to keep talking (in English). Remind the other kids not to speak unless they absolutely have to. Most kids genuinely want to help their friend when they're drawing a blank, but you need to emphasis to them that it doesn't help the speaker in the long-run. If a kid is really struggling and it's been 15 seconds, then give them an idea or tell them "what about _____?" For the full intro, I give them lots of topic related ideas. For example, if the topic is colors, tell them to think about their favorite colors, what colors they can see in the room, what do different colors mean, etc. Remind them not to rush. There are no points for rushing/speaking to slow. If you have students that normally like to do their own thing, they're going to realize very quickly that it doesn't really work out well for them when they let down three other people depending on them (especially if they are speaker).
Listen to what they say each time but be discreet. I like to walk around the room, usually moving items. It sounds silly but it allows you to listen to your students without them having the added pressure of some teacher looming over them. During feedback reports, I tend to pick one or two groups (usually the ones that need the most guidance/help or slacked off the most) to work with one-on-one. I also do more post-report class eliciting for the introduction lesson and gradually do less and less over time until they are fully self-sufficient.
Make sure everyone is pulling their weight. Some students love the chance to talk, others take more time to warm up to the idea. The Topic Matchers usually give the least helpful feedback at first, especially in regards to reporting what the person actually talked about, so be mindful of that. Let them pick the topics whenever possible. Just make sure there's lots of variety. For the warm-ups only, lesson related topics can be a great match.
If you happen to have one or two group of three students (it happens occasionally), give one person an extra job (English Guardian and Topic Matcher combined). For the fourth speaker, have them play rock paper scissors to pick a speaker (occasionally somebody wants to have extra practice and will volunteer).
There are also job feedback cards.
These cards are not necessary. I personally only use them after we switch to the warm-up only format. But for students who need a little more structure or repetition, the cards can be very helpful. One page has four cards, one for each job.
ADDITIONAL INFOThe main PPT is designed using Prospero, a PPT template from Slide Carnival. (Their templates are awesome.
http://www.slidescarnival.com/). I left the credit slide in the PPTs but they're hidden.
I didn't stick with the original template's fonts though. Instead, I used Varela Round and Open Sans for the main PPTS. For the cards, you will need Source Sans Pro.
These are the links to the fonts. Don't forget to install them before using the PPT (especially if you go to their individual classrooms). [FULL INTRO AND AND WARM-UPhttps://www.google.com/fonts#UsePlace:use/Collection:Varela+Roundhttps://www.google.com/fonts#UsePlace:use/Collection:Open+SansCARDShttps://www.google.com/fonts#UsePlace:use/Collection:Source+Sans+ProThis lesson uses little to no paper. And once you've done the full intro with them once, it's a great warm-up or end of class activity to use at any time. It's extreme flexible.
Please, let me know how it goes for you and what works/didnt work for you and your students. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Hope you and your students enjoy it.
