Wall to wall is an activity with the goal of helping your students speak up loud and clear if your English class is a little too quiet. Students try to speak to each other from two opposite sides of the classroom. It's not really a game - there are no points and no winners or losers, but it can increase confidence and help shy students.
Basic Info
| Time: | 5 - 10 minutes |
|---|---|
| Level: | Elementary grade 1 - 6 |
| Works with: | Any question and answer dialogue |
| Class size: | Medium to large |
You will need:
nothing
Lesson Description
- Make sure the students are somewhat comfortable using the English dialogue you want to use for this activity.
- Create some room along two opposite walls of the classroom. (You may have to move some desks.)
- Students make pairs and line up in two lines so that everyone is standing opposite their partner. One student from each pair is "A" the other is "B".
- Get all the "A's" to very quietly (because they are standing close to each other) ask "B" the question, and "B's" answer. Then change roles and repeat. (This is just practice.)
- As an intermediate step, pairs should each take a step back and try again in a normal voice.
- Now get all the "A's" to line up against one wall and the "B's" to line up against the opposite walls.
- This time get all the "A's" to ask "B" the lesson's question in a very loud voice! Change roles and repeat.
Tips
- Demonstrate how to do this with the home room teacher. When you are standing close, make it seem like you are asking a secret question. When you are standing apart use a loud voice and cup your hands to your mouth like you are yelling from far away.
- If you want to do this a couple of times, you can challenge them to do it louder, or you can ask the class teacher to judge which group, A or B was the best.
Variations
- Rather than making pairs, you can just have 2 teams, and instead of one person asking one person (all at the same time) it is one team asking one team. Then, to do the "who it the best/loudest" challenge a few times you can change the teams - ie. Left half of the class vs right half; red team vs white team (most schools will have red and white groups in each class); girls vs boys.