Search and Share Homework Exercises for English Language Learners: Fluency Focused Homework Activities and Excerpts from Compelling Conversations - Japan

by Eric Roth, Shiggy Ichinomiya, Brent Warner

This communicative internet homework activity encourages (requires) English students to take an active role in their English classes. The students find their own videos and newspaper articles that match their interests, summarize the material, and evaluate its quality. Search and Share also allows English students to share more of their personal interests with their classmates in a safe, focused manner on various contemporary topics and themes. Since students select their own authentic articles and videos for each class, no two class sessions will be the same. This flexibilty leads to more lively classrooms and prevents the lessons from becoming stale or routine. It also encourages students to develop a bespoken English vocabulary and closer relationships with classmates. The authors have used Search and Share activities as homework in intermediate and advanced high school and university English classes for years. The popular activity can be used for supplemental speaking exercise or extended into an entire class. Students share the information they have collected (job interview advice, review of a favorite film, product information/review, a TED talk, restaurant review, local tourist destination, favorite charity/non-profit, etc). Students begin in small groups of 3-5 students. Everyone presents their "research", and the other students proceed to ask at least one question each. Each round usually takes 15-20 minutes to finish a search and share in university classrooms. Teachers can also move students into new grouping, and deepen the communicative activity. Students can present their "research" again, but this time they must include all the information that they were asked in the first round. So the second telling provides more details. It's also usually tighter. Once again, however, every student asks every presenter a question. In a 50-minute class, we usually only have time for two rounds. Yet in an 80-minute class we usually have time for three rounds and a class discussion. As a teacher, I circle around in different groups, ask questions, and take notes. I usually summarize some good mistakes at the end of class. Sometimes students will be asked to develop a PPT presentation and prepare a class presentation for the following class. Students consistently praise this assignment on their course evaluations - and students speak almost the entire class. These "Search and Share" homework worksheets come from Compelling Conversations - Questions and Quotations for High-Intermediate English Language Learners.

14 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 17, 2015

About the author

Eric Roth is an American screenwriter.