A familiar and effective way to provide classroom practice of foreign language skills in a meaningful context is role-playing. One variation, spontaneous group role-playing, offers a bridge between textbook dialogues and real-world dialogues. Especially appropriate for beginning and intermediate students, simultaneous group role-playing is a…

Focusing on the difficulties primary teachers often encounter when trying to get their students to listen, this article presents two exercises that have proved effective in improving students' listening skills. The first exercise, "The Echoing Fishbowl," provides children with attentive listening experience by putting them in a situation in which,…

Films used as a force in creating public awareness of local environmental problems were discussed in this occasional paper. Teenagers active in an environmental studies summer program at Gill School, Bernardsville, New Jersey, realized that films effectively informed fellow citizens of such problems. They produced 8mm films portraying pollution…

Group creative writing activities encourage foreign language students to participate on various levels as thinkers, writers, readers, and critics. Students stimulate, correct, and give feedback to each other about writing skills. (CB)

Maintains that early childhood educators should encourage cooperative behavior among young children. Teachers can encourage such behaviors by organizing space and activities that facilitate cooperative social interactions; by supporting and reinforcing children's cooperative ventures; by planning for cooperative classroom activities; and by…

Describes two teaching techniques for the foreign language classroom. The first involves the use of magazine pictures and simple drama techniques. The second, known as "task listening," asks students to listen only for certain things in a text and to carry out tasks such as completing maps, diaries, order forms, etc. (SED)

Suggests the technique of brainstorming, in which a group generates spontaneous thoughts regarding how something might be used or how a problem might be solved, as a valuable way to help elementary school children learn science. (JR)

Describes the "Participation Classroom" model for foreign language learning which provides students with opportunities to participate in teaching, evaluating, and goal setting. Based on students' needs, this model provides a noncompetitive teamwork approach to achievement. This article outlines teacher's and students' roles in creating a…

Cooperative learning is the use of small student groups as teams to accomplish a common goal, emphasizing positive interdependence, individual and group accountability, face-to-face interaction, team skills, and group processing. Using formal cooperative learning groups at the college level requires planning, monitoring of students' learning,…

Natural and enthusiastic communication among students is a goal of every second-language class. Whole-class interaction activities promote interpersonal sharing as well as intense oral practice of targeted linguistic structures in a relaxed atmosphere. Examples are given. (Contains four references.) (Author/LB)

Describes an activity designed to introduce a group of students (or adults) to a book and encourage them to share their perceptions of it in a short time. Describes six books which might work well for this exercise at the middle school/junior high level. (RS)

Elementary teachers can use graphing to introduce students to one another. An eye color graphing activity helps students learn more about each other while experimenting with different ways of organizing and displaying information. For follow up, students can apply their graphing knowledge by collecting and displaying data from their families. (SM)

Offers a group approach method to learning new structures in German. Students practice one pattern by constructing sentences in a simple, mildly competitive board game that can easily be put together by the teacher. (GLR)

Discusses the positive effects of cooperative learning on students' academic achievement, attitudes toward each other, and social and affective development. Describes two cooperative learning techniques with broad utility and adaptability: the jigsaw strategy and student teams achievement division. (SV)

Describes how an elementary teacher encouraged her students to read novels using cooperative group activities based on popular television shows. Students divided into groups, took different roles, read a novel, and made a presentation to the class. When they finished the novel, they selected a new activity. (SM)