Neighbors
Area
Second language learning
Duration
2 sessions
Dimension of the advised group of students
One group of 20-30 people divided in small groups
Specific objectives
- To encourage good neighborhood relationships
- To develop speaking fluency
- To discuss words to describe character and personality
Needed Materials
- Worksheets
If the training is organized online one communication platform will be necessary.
Software
- One online communication platform, such us: Zoom, Google Meet, Webex,
etc.
- In person, no software is needed.
Description
Neutral topics tend to revolve around everyday things but do give everybody chance to
talk. This source is all about neighbors - something nearly all participants will be
familiar with. The fact that participants have an experience of the topic at hand is
more important than choosing an ‘interesting’ topic. Simply, the more interesting a
topic may be to one participant the less interesting it may be to others.
Neighbors are part of life. By and large, we all have neighbors thus also experience of
neighbors and in most cases, this will mean both good and bad.
The activities are focused on centering students and their experiences, so that they
feel motivated by the task and wish to share facts about themselves with the group.
Procedure on how to put in practice
1st session
Duration: 60 minutes
No of participants: 20-30 in small groups
Methods used: group discussion
Competences developed: social skills, critical thinking
Step-by-step description:
1. Ask the group to look at sentences describing neighbors and agree or disagree
with them, giving reasons. Choose the definition which best fits their own
experience and discuss it in groups.
2. Define some words from the sentences using dictionaries and discuss the
different implications of words.
3. Work with words to describe personality and character to describe the types
of neighbors discussed in the previous stage.
4. Discuss questions about own experiences with neighbors in groups.
Debriefing question: If you could, would you change any of your neighbors? We’ll
discuss it in the next session!
