I received a question that made me realize there are teachers who haven’t yet “read my mind”. I have been publishing these theme pages to align with the way I used to teach, but haven’t put out any User’s Manual. Every time I have thought about it, I have talked myself out of it, as I would rather every teacher find their own way. So, feel free to use the themes the way you wish, but in case you need some guidelines, this is how I basically used them:
First, I let my students choose which themes they wished to work with during the term. There are step-by-step instructions on the Planning Page.
To start a theme, I would do one or two of the following:
– show the image on the white screen and have a general discussion on what the students expect the theme to include,
– show a Warm-Up video and/or a Song
– have students discuss in groups and then fill in a mind-map on the whiteboard listing all the things they already know about the theme.
To work with the theme, I would choose one or two links from each category: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. These tend to be quite self-explanatory, but can also be used for individualisation. Some themes include Games and Interactive links to spice it all up.
The links under Viewing can be used in various ways, depending on the theme. In a diverse class, I would start with an easy one that everyone understands, follow up with one on the general level of the class, and finally a more difficult one, making clear to everyone that it was supposed to be quite hard to understand.
While showing a video, I would make stops when necessary, either to discuss the message or explain some language.
After watching a video the students would discuss and/or write about what they have learned and/or thought about while watching.
After working with a theme my students would often write a paper about what they have learned, what was interesting, what they thought of it, and whether they think there would be any benefit of knowing this in their future lives.
I want to point out that these are just very basic guidelines. I didn’t always work like this. Some students/classes need a clear, repetitive structure, but luckily most enjoy variation and thrive on surprises. Feel free to be creative!
I would love to hear how you work with WebEnglish, so please, leave me a comment below.