On 21st, 22nd and 23rd April, I held an interesting Joyful English session. The group consisted of three lovely Polish ladies from the University of the Third Age and a Finnish teacher. At first, it seemed like quite a challenge to bring together such a diverse group, with different backgrounds, different levels of prior knowledge of English, and different objectives, it certainly didn’t look easy. By the end of the three-day training course, the group had become close-knit and were thoroughly satisfied, and so was I.
The first day was spent breaking the ice and getting to know one another. Using flashcards focusing on physical appearance and personality traits, we practised the present tenses, and everyone was able to express themselves at their own level, without feeling pressured or judged. We played with linguistic structures using the Grammar Sea Battle game and a picture game in which one person had to choose and describe a simple image, whilst the others had to draw it without being able to see it. It was very funny and the ladies got involved and enjoyed the activity.
On the second day, we covered the past tenses and the topic of travel. We did some speaking activities using flashcards and a short text about various travel experiences, which gave us further topics for conversation. We finished the session with a word search game on the past tenses.
On the last day, we explored emotions with the help of an emotion card game. We discussed the different types of emotions and the situations in which we had experienced them. We covered the future tenses, and everyone created their own weekly planner, explaining their plans for the coming week. To finish off, we played a board game where the squares contained short conversation prompts that we had to respond to, using the future tenses.
The ladies’ cheerfulness, energy, generosity and friendliness swept the group along, helping everyone to bond and enjoy a lovely time together. This also allowed everyone to open up and share amusing personal anecdotes, as well as some more heartfelt ones. I absolutely loved this group!
Author: Vania Mazzei – JUMP Trainer
