Performance-Based Activities for the EFL Classroom

By Kristy Dolson

A language is best learnt and practiced by using it. Textbooks and rote memorization drills can only take a student so far. Performance-based activities must be brought into the classroom to give students more opportunities to practice using and negotiating their target language. These activities also build confidence and provide exposure to real-language contexts.

In this article, I aim to introduce some performance-based activities that can be used in the classroom to great effect. As you read, please keep in mind that these activities must be adapted for your particular environment and learners. Be sure to assess the needs and levels of your students before attempting any activity. I have chosen activities that can be completed within one classroom period, although many of them can be made into longer activities for an after-school class or camp.

Activity 1: Stranded!

This is an activity that can be easily modified for your learners. The basic idea is to tell the class that they are stranded on an island. Hook them with a dramatic story, using visual aids, and encourage them to play the part of adventurers. They can work in pairs or small groups. For younger learners it is advised that you teach 8–12 survival items and practice the vocabulary before allowing them to choose 4–6 items. Older learners can be encouraged to think of their own survival items, using dictionaries or asking the teacher for translation help. The speaking part of the exercise is for the students to explain their final choices of survival items. Taking this activity further, the teacher can tell the students to give up half of their items (they were stolen, got lost in a storm, etc.), and ask them to again give their reasons. Another variation is to have two groups merge, but they can only bring 2–3 items each. Here the groups are encouraged to make their decisions using English, before again explaining their choices.

Activity 2: Scavenger Hunts

Scavenger Hunts are wonderfully adaptable. They can be simple and extremely complex. Simple hunts include activities like people BINGO (also known as Find Someone Who…) where students must ask questions to their classmates in order to fill in a 9 x 9 chart. I like to use this as an icebreaker activity, but it also works well in units about hobbies, chores, experiences, and home life. Sample questions include “Do you like to watch movies?” and “Do you wake up at…?”

More complex hunts include reading clues and finding objects and/or further clues. These hunts can be done within the space of a classroom, but it is better to have a larger range. Students can work in larger groups, but it is more manageable if only 2 students from each group are hunting for clues at a time. Student pairs can take turns in order to give all students the opportunity to hunt. Clues can direct students to certain locations and to look for certain objects. Groups must read the clues carefully in order to find the correct clue or object. The found object could be a word or an envelope containing multiple words. Once groups have retrieved all the words, the next task will include making a sentence, which students will then read out loud. Another idea is to have students search for people: the clues use descriptive vocabulary, and students must return with the correct persons. If their language level is high enough, groups can then make a story about the people they have found. This can then be shared with the class.

Activity 3: Drama Warm Ups

I love using drama in my classroom, and I have adjusted several activities for EFL learners. A great activity for practicing and expressing different emotions and intonation is called Open Scenes. These are very basic dialogues for partners, consisting of two lines. An example would be:
A: Help me.
B: I can’t.

Or:
A: What are you doing?
B: What does it look like?

Students are given the dialogues and an emotion. After performing, the class has to guess the emotion. Students can practice a variety of emotions before choosing one to perform. For higher levels, student A and B could have different emotions that they have to guess from each other, or have the class guess both. Usually the lines are repeated several times, going from quiet to loud to express the emotion from subtle to extreme.

Another warm up activity is called “This Is a Watch”. This is an excellent activity for concentration and intonation. Students make a circle, and the teacher has one item, not a watch. I usually use a board marker. The dialogue exchange for this activity goes like this:
A: This is a watch.

B: A what?

A: A watch.

B: A what?

A: A watch!

B: Oh, a watch. (At this point student B takes the item and turns to the next student, becoming student A and repeating the dialogue.)

Students continue saying the dialogue and passing the item. If your learners are very young or lower level, one item would be enough. But the concentration part really comes into play when you introduce a second item. The dialogue remains the same, but the item name is changed. I usually pass a board eraser and say “This is a pencil.” Then there are two items being passed around (from opposite directions), and students must focus on what the items are being called in the dialogue, especially when a student finds him- or herself in the role of student A and B simultaneously. For higher levels, I make this an elimination game for students who lose focus and slip up on the dialogue. In that case, we continue until only 4–5 students are left in the circle. For larger class sizes, divide the class into 2–3 smaller groups.

I hope this article has given you some motivating performance-based ideas that you can adapt for your learners and classroom situation. Happy learning!

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Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL Monthly Meeting

Date & Time: June 11 (Saturday)

Place: Gwangju National University of Education

• Workshop: Collaborative discussions on ELT topics of interest
• Reflective Practice morning session. 

For more details:

Website: http://koreatesol.org/gwangju

Facebook: Gwangju-Jeonnam KOTESOL

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The Author

Kristy Dolson is a member of the Gwangju-Jeonnam Chapter of Korea TESOL (KOTESOL). On behalf of the Chapter, she invites you to participate in the teacher development workshops at their monthly meetings (2nd Saturday of the month). Kristy is an English teacher at the Hwasun Foreign Language Center. She has bachelor’s degrees in both integrated art and education from Brock University. Her main topics of interest are performance-based education and integrated curriculum design. Presenting and participating in KOTESOL events aids her continuing professional development.