RIFLI is designed with several very clear objectives and goals:

• To offer our students the opportunity to strengthen their overall literacy skills in reading, writing, and conversational English.  Our target population is first-step learners –those with limited or no proficiency in English – who need the most help.
• To create life-long learners.
• To help parents learn how to be ‘first teachers’ to their children.
• To help parents understand and work with the public school system to ensure their children’s educational needs are met.

Sometimes we seem to focus too narrowly on the first goal because we can see the knowledge void we want to fill for our students.  Whole group activities give us the opportunity to incorporate these other program goals into class, and they should be included in your lesson planning as often as feasible.

There are several different ways to approach this issue.  First, there is a difference between whole class instruction and a whole group activity.   Whole class instruction is often used to introduce new materials and strategies to the entire class. Working with the whole class to introduce new concepts can build common experiences and provide a shared basis for further exploration, problem solving, and skill development. Whole class instruction also can help identify students' prior knowledge and experiences that will affect new knowledge acquisition.  This would be very useful if you’re going to start a new unit on health or nutrition or safety.  Instruction implies a lesson, a presentation of information, and some kind of learning activity.  The problem with whole group instruction is the diversity in your class.  Your lesson has to reach across a broad range of abilities and interests to engage your students.  And instruction by its very nature takes a longer period of time. Whole group instruction won’t happen weekly.

Whole group activities, however, serve a different purpose and should be incorporated into your planning frequently.  They are learning experiences, but very different in nature and tone than group instruction.  In an activity, students function independently and interactively almost simultaneously.  Students should be having fun and loosening up a little.  An activity can be very short and simple – 5 or 10 minutes -- or last much longer.  The primary goal is to get your students to use conversational English spontaneously as they speak, think, and move around your space. 

It’s a little easier to see how an activity can include all class participants – children, parents, other adult ESL students – more readily than your whole group lesson can.  Let’s remember to have some fun in class.  That’s one of the cornerstones of life-long learning.

Here are some activities you can use or adapt for your class. The first activities are relatively simple, and then they start to require more and more English skill. Some of these can get more than a little noisy, so please make sure you won’t disrupt other library patrons with your activity.

Large Group Activities and Initiatives for Community Building (as presented by Chris Cavert and Sam Sikes and the AEE International Conference 2001)

Do What I Do/Do What I Did  (Simon Says)

Needs/Numbers: No equipment needed and any number can play - as long as each person can see you.)

Directions: (Do What I Do) Stand in front of the group and have them mirror the body movements you show them. For example, touching your head, arms out to the side, one leg up, leg down, arm up, finger on your nose. Try to integrate some funny poses to break the ice.  Alternate naming the body part in English and Spanish.  (If you say “cabeza”, the class says “head”, “pie”, the class says “foot”; etc.)

Directions: (Do What I Did) Stand in front of the group and start body movements as above. This time the group will perform the action you did prior to the one you are doing. For example, everyone starts their hands at their sides, then you put your hands on your head -- the group still has their hands at their sides. You put both fingers in your ears, the group puts their hands on their heads. You put your hands on your hips, the group puts their fingers in their ears -- and so on. For the last movement you can clap your hands (the group should be doing something else) then you bow and the group claps for you to wrap up the activity.

 

My Baggage Lies Over the Ocean

Needs/Numbers: No special needs and any number can play.

Directions:1)Teach the song below to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean". 2) Sing the song and clap on every "B" word/sound. 3) Sing, clap and then add a dip and stand to the "B" word/sounds. For example, on the first Baggage the group claps and dips down (bends at the knees slightly). On the second baggage the group claps and stands back up again. Proceed with the dips and stands throughout the song (you should end up standing at the end of the song).

My Baggage lies over the ocean,

My Baggage lies over the sea,

My Baggage lies over the ocean,

So, bring back my Baggage to me.

Bring back, bring back,

Oh, bring back my Baggage to me, to me.

Bring back, bring back,

Oh, bring back my Baggage to me.

 

6-Count (from Executive Marbles, 99 Best Games)

Directions: Does anyone know how to do a 6-count? It goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Count from 1 to 6 with everyone at the same time. (Do it again with “feeling”.) Put movement to the count by raising your left hand above your head and down to your side. Your hand should go up on 1, 3, and 5 and down on 2, 4, and 6. (Repeat with feeling.) Give your left arm a rest and let’s give a movement to your right arm. It goes up on 1, straight out to the side on 2, down on 3, up on 4, straight out to the side on 5, down on 6. It makes the shape of a triangle. (Repeat with feeling.) Now, as if you hadn’t guessed, we will put both the arm actions together with the count. Your left arm still goes up and down while your right arm still goes up out and down. (You might want to go fairly slowly, but don’t expect many people to get it right.) Challenge small groups to work on the 6-Count together for a few minutes until all of their team could demonstrate their  competency at doing it.

 

Known & Unknown (from 99 Best Games)

Highlights: Many people fear the unknown to varying degrees. The unknown may represent failure, loss, betrayal, being wrong, emotional discomfort, abandonment, or rejection. Simply knowing that the unknown is present can set in motion the building of trust.

Preparation: Make sure the area is free of dangerous obstacles.  Pick a topic of general interest or related to an event in the news at the moment:  Fire safety, going to the hospital, driving a car, etc.

Directions: What are some things we know about ______? (People provide a host of answers). What are some things we don't yet know about this topic? (People give a range of responses). Look around the group here and find a person who is unknown to you. If you know all the people here, pick the person you have known the least or for the shortest time. Don't make it obvious who you have picked Now select, again in secret, a person whom you know really well or know better than others. These two people represent your "Known" and "Unknown" for this next activity. Your job for the next three minutes is to keep the "known" person between you and the "unknown" person at all times. Ready, GO! (Absolute chaos ensues as people struggle to maintain alignments).

Variations: Debrief afterwards on how difficult it was to protect oneself from the unknown by using the known as your shield. Draw out how that connects to the original topic.

 

Switch, Change & Rotate (Musical chairs without the chairs)

Directions: Ask your students to get into groups of 3 or 4 and stand in a line facing in the same direction, one behind the other. When you say, “Switch”, the front and back players change places -- practice. When you say “Change”, the line of players turns 180 degrees to face the opposite direction -- practice. When you say, “Rotate”, the player at the front of the line peels off and goes to the back of the line -- practice. Spend a little time practicing while the groups are stationary. Add two more directions: “Freeze” – meaning to stop, and “Move” meaning to walk (not run) forward. Then, ask the groups to start walking (indicate this with a “move” call) around the room (boundary area) in their line formation - the head of the line being the leader. Now, call, “Switch, Change or Rotate” as the groups are walking around.

 

Bawl Game

Directions: Ask all the members of your group to face the center of the room (or outside play area). You are going to ask everyone to start "Bawling" and crying and stay that way as long as they can as they move towards the center of the room. To be a top notch bawl player, you must keep your eyes open and interact with the bawlers around you. Mingle around in the center of the room and continue to bawl away. No one is allowed to touch another player during the bawl game. If at any point you laugh (un-bawling), move towards the outside area of the group - this will form a sort of circle around the bawls remaining. Warning: You might want to add, “During the activity, please remain standing.”

The objective: Be the last player bawling.  (Note: I have never been able to play down to the last person so I often end it after some good laughing gets going. I often send players back in the mix to get the bawlers to laugh.) The most memorable learning from this to date: "Those who laugh last, cry the most!"