I. In-Class Activities
1. Surrealist Games:
a. Questions and Answers: For drill of Interrogatives. Each student writes an interesting question on one piece of paper and folds the paper so the next student does not see the question. Everyone passes his paper to the left and the next student writes an answer. Then the students can look at the questions. Have the interesting ones read to the whole class.
b. If..., then.... : For drill of result clauses. Same as above, the first student beginning with an "If" clause, the second giving a result.
c. "Les Cadavres Exquis": Five persons sit around a table. Each one writes on a piece of paper an adjective, hiding what he or she writes from the others. Fold the top of the paper on which the adjective is written to the back and pass the blank side up to the next person to the left. Next a noun (specify plural or singular) is written as the subject of the sentence. It is folded back and the blank side passed on as previously. The same process is done for a verb, specifying transitive as well as singular or plural and tense if desired. Repeat the process for another noun and then for another adjective. The last person unfolds the paper and tries to reconstruct a grammatically correct sentence. The best two from each grammar point can be saved to start a class poem. The name of the game comes from the first sentence written by a group of surrealist poets in this fashion: "Le cadavre exquis boira le vin nouveau" ("The exquisite cadaver will drink the new wine"). Different sentences can be constructed to drill different grammar points, including the use of the conditional. The exercise forces students to think about the different role of words in a sentence, the sentence is of their own making.
2. Surrealist Story: For Vocabulary drill. Give everyone a piece of paper with a vocabulary word on it, from the lesson under review. Each student draws on the blackboard the image for the word (select only those that have a concrete expression). Then each student takes from his or her bag the most unusual object in it for which they know the word in the foreign language. The chief story teller starts the story about his object related to one image on the board; he then designates another person to continue the story using his object and an image on the board, and so forth, until everyone has told part of the story.
3. Unlikely dialogues: For vocabulary drill. Divide the class into groups of four or five persons, each group selecting two people unlikely to meet.. Have them enact a dialogue based on the conversation topic of the lesson, the rest of the class trying to guess who the two persons are. Examples: a nerd working out at a gym; a MacDonald's worker as a waiter at a three-star restaurant.
4. Language as sign or symbol:
a. Make a list of adjectives associated with male or female. Write the two lists on the blackboard. What are the most stereotypical adjectives for each (the ones listed the most times)?
b. Make a list of words that imply sexual judgments and indicate the source of the association, the social context, that may have generated that social meaning. Would members of another culture have the same sexual associations for the same words?
c. Win/Lose/or Draw: for vocabulary drill. A person from one team is given a social concept that he tries to represent by drawing the "signs" society uses to communicate the concept. His team members must guess the concept he is trying to communicate within a certain time limit or the next team can guess and get the point. Example: Death (draw a skull and cross-bones.
d. Verbal Scavenger Hunt: for Vocabulary Drill. The organizers (preferably students, not the teacher) make a list of abstract concepts, such as intelligence, thriftiness, safe sex; each team is asked to see how many words of concrete items they can list as signs of those concepts, with the correct gender, of course.
e. Password: for vocabulary drill. Two students go before the class, one with his or her back to the blackboard. The other student is handed a word or words associated with a given occupation to write on the board (example: leather briefcase/businessman; spiked heels, hot pants, lots of make-up and a cigarette/whore). The class gives hints about the word until the student with his back to the board guesses it.
5. The Dating Game: Exercize for interrogatives. Each student prepares a list of questions for the chosen candidate to ask three potential dates.
6. How well do you know your prof? Vocabulary Drill. As a class, list all the roles you think your prof plays (prof gets a point if the student lists one he or she never plays). Can the prof then add more to the list than what the students listed to beat them?
7. Lola MontŠs: Drill for interrogatives. Select someone to play Lola Montes (or a panel may be chosen instead) at the Circus: she will answer the most outrageous questions asked by class members. (Of course the answers need not be truth!)
8. Who am I? For general conversation drill. Send three students out of the room; they are to decide that one of themselves will play a given role; the other two are coaches for the performance. In the meantime, the class selects another student who will play a role the class chooses. When the first three return, the two selected role players meet. From their interaction, the class tries to guess who the first person is.
9. Write a Bumper Sticker using the vocabulary from the lesson.
10. The Witness: for general vocabulary drill. Give each group a well-known current event and have them defend three different points of view as to what happened, playing different roles as witnesses.
II. Homework Assignments:
1. Parallels: After reading a story or seeing a short film, discuss the role played by one of the characters. We all play roles. The student should analyze the characteristics of a similar role he or she most often plays (virtuous daughter, macho seducer, etc.)
2. For a small group (or several small groups) or no more than 4 students.
a. Select some subject about which you will make a documentary, it may be a satirical one on your school or food. Research it, develop the script for a film treatment. Film it, using video or slides with sound.
b. Write a commercial and film it.
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