Ideas for creative workbook use

Introduction: Setting the Scene

I know that I am generalising, but so often workbooks are relegated to the ‘also ran’ or ‘lemon’ status of materials. Lacking vivid magazine-like colour and language (read grammar) input, workbook exercises are often given as a homework after thought…

To continue the generalisation, this homework is often diligently completed by the learners who least need to get the benefit from it – the dedicated and highly motivated learners who could arguably learn even without the help of a teacher. The others, who would possibly get the most benefit from extra workbook practice either don’t do it, copy someone else’s work (presumably to get their teacher’s approbation) or accidentally deliberately feed it to the dog.

Then, the next day, in comes the teacher who is painfully aware that the teaching programme is overloaded, quickly gives the learners the answers to the questions. The rationalised pedagogical outcome is that the teacher is providing feedback. After the answers have been given to the learners, the teacher asks: ‘any problems?’.

How many of the second group of learners above described would put up their hands to request help and admit to failure, and in doing so, slow down the class which is already behind for one reason or another? Does any of this sound familiar?

Possibly you, like me, have experienced all of these things at one time or another in a long teaching career.

Aknowledgements

Kristina Smith (Longman Pearson) in a recent seminar at İzmir Ekonomik University gave us some of these excellent ideas.

Onto the ideas…

Teachers can ask learners to add an extra question to the exercise, similar to the ones in the exercise. The stated aim might be to write a question that is as similar as possible to the ones in the exercise.

As learners to continue a question, sentence, dialogue.

Learners ask a follow up question.

Learners add an extra word or clause to the sentence. You might like to specify that the word belongs to a particular word class or a particular lexicqal group.

Identify word classes of different words in the workbook questions.

Rewrite the question/phrase so that it means the opposite.

Give the learners only half the dialogue and ask them to predict the other half of the dialogue before looking at the workbook.

Don’t oopen the workbook, dictate it to the learners. Better still, ask one (or more) of the learners to dictate the sentences.

Ask learners to rewrite the sentences using as many synonyms as possibles.

Dictate the exercises to the learners and ask them to personalise the sentences so that they are true for them. One example might be:

T: “I get up at seven o’clock”

L: “I get up at seven thirty”

Give the questions or dialogue scrambled up and ask the learners to create or recreate a possible version.

Join the sentences to make a story or add details to the existing prompts.

Teachner reads the workbook prompts to the learners and makes mistakes. The learners have to spot the mistakes. This noticing exercise could also be read by learners.

Learners work in pairs and make three changes to a tapescript and read it back/act it out to the class who try to spot the mistakes.

…can you think of any more?

Thank you Kristina.

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