[VioletaBlanca]

Hello, everyone... I need your advice!

I am going to be taking over for a middle school (6th, 7th, and 8th grade) ESL class in a week in Argentina. This will be the beginning of the second semester for the students (their previous teacher was offered a principal's position elsewhere). Despite the fact that this school is in Argentina, the student that I will be instructing come from 40+ countries, so they will not have the same native language.

I am anxious because I only know their ages (11-14), and the fact that they are divided into 3 proficiency levels (beginner, intermediate, and advanced). However, I don´t know how much of a beginner the beginners will be (False beginners? True beginners?), nor the other levels, because I still haven´t been shown the curriculum and the books that the students are using yet, and I can't get a hold of the previous teacher (long story- no fun to be left in the dark like this until the last minute!).

I am eager to begin to work on how I will introduce myself to the classes, and also a paper that I will distribute to the classes outlining my rules, expectations, procedures, etc. However, I don´t know the best way to go about it, because I don´t want to use vocabulary that is too simple or too complicated (perhaps I should create more than one?).

Is there anyone who might have an idea regarding how to create a thorough handout that my students will understand, and/or a good way to introduce myself (especially to the beginner classes?).

Moreover, if anyone has any good ideas for some icebreakers (the classes are 90 min in length), please share!

Thanks for reading!

[Chris Patton]

Hi:

I'm a DoS in a language centre in Indonesia, and we do quite a lot of work with local schools. I've dealt with school classes a lot over the past few years.

The fact that they don't have a common language works in your favour. It means you won't have to deal with a great deal of background chatter in L1. If you do encounter it, you can always shift your seating plan around based on 1st languages.

Do you have any idea about class sizes? That will go a long way toward deciding what kind of icebreakers and warmers you can use.

As for introductions. I have two basic ones that I use in a lot of classes. For lower levels of proficiency, I list a lot of random, disconnected facts about myself on the board. I might write "UK" "coffee" "dogs" "photography" on the board. I then try and elicit the questions that those facts answer. So in the case I'm looking for "Which country are you from?" "What is your favourite drink?" "What animals do you like?" and "What is one of your hobbies?"

Another one, often used for higher levels of proficiency, also involves eliciting questions, but without the whiteboard clues. I call it P.O.W. (Prisoner of War) I tell them that the rules of combat indicate that I do not have to tell them anything about myself, but that I must answer their questions truthfully. Sometimes I add another rule that says if a question is asked incorrectly I am allowed to lie in my response. So if I hear "Where are you come from?" I usually answer "Mars" or something like thhat. When they catch the lie, they rephrase the question.

Remember to be positive and outgoing, and you'll have them eating out of your hand in no time!

Good luck.

Chris