Use the key vocabularies as cues/topics to encourage students to speak Chinese.
This activity encourage authentic communications in Chinese, build mutual understanding and trust among students, and also gives an opportunity for teachers to observe students’ strength and weakness and to design follow up drills.
(The example is taken from Mandarin Express Pre-Intermediate Level A Teacher’s Manual.)
How Does It Work?
Preparation:
Make photocopies of the topic cards
Procedure:
Organise students into groups of four.
Give each group a set of cards.
In each group, one member picks up a card, and talks about something that is related to the topic word. Other members in the group can either ask some follow up questions or to share their thoughts. Then the next person picks up another card and talk about it, until all cards are discussed or the time is up.
Teachers walk around the class and monitor the progress.
Follow up 1:
Teachers invite two or three students from different groups to share what they have learned through the activity.
Follow up 2:
Teachers ask each student to write down something that they find interesting during the activity.
