This week the main discussion topic in our 'Coffee mornings/afternoons/coffee and conversation' -groups was tv, but we had different types of exercises compared to the sessions last week. This week we played the word explanation game Alias using different tv-programmes as the words to explain. I got the impression that people were pretty well able to explain the words to each other, and also got a pretty good grasp of what their partner was trying to explain.
I also made role play -cards, where there was a certain situation or a problem between two characters. Then the idea was that people would pretend to be that character described in their card and talk about the situation or problem given to them. Some people in the groups said that this exercise was nice and a lot of fun, but some said that it was too difficult for them. Luckily, I had prepared a few different sets of cards using different characters, and I was able to change the cards for some pairs to easier ones. That helped the situation a bit!
One of the challenges of being a teacher is trying to find or make exercises that are challenging enough but not too challenging for people. It is a tricky thing trying to figure out what people already know or don't know and act accordingly. Naturally, the skills of different people can vary tremendously, and you still have to try to give something new for everyone. The reality is that you win some and lose some also in this case, but I think all you can do really is to try your best and hope for the best!
Next week (week 42) there won't be lessons because of the autumn break, so we'll meet again for some coffee and conversation the week after that (week 43)!
