Collaboration

When students work with someone else for a common cause and with shared responsibilities it encourages participation and raises the level of communication. Plan co-operative activities and projects. Whenever possible, have students work in pairs or small groups. Give them structure in the form of a defined task and outcome. This will allow students to collaborate as they develop a plan and work together for a successful outcome. They will use language in a variety of ways and learn from each other.

TEACHER TIP : Collaborative learning is a style of teaching/learning that demands a lot from every student. It requires and develops social skills. Some students will take longer than others to settle, but all students need some time. Consequently collaborative actitivities need to be used for a reasonable amount of time before they are totally successful. Teachers who are patient and persistent in teaching with collaborative activities will find they make a difference.

Examples of effective collaborative activities for pairs:

 * Communication gap: Each student has relevant information that the others don’t have. They work together to complete a task by sharing information and filling in the gaps.
 * Joint Task: An activity with a defined outcome, such as solving a problem or drawing a map that will take the effort of both students to complete

Examples of effective collaborative activities for groups:

 * Skit: Students work together and follow specific guidelines to prepare practice and and present a skit or dialog.
 * Card game: Go fish, old maid, war, and other games can be adapted into interactive language activities for groups of 4 to 6 players.

TEACHER TIP : Collaborative activities are usually more successful when students have a preset amount of time to complete the task. Set a timer, an alarm, or project an electronic clock or stopwatch on a screen. Tell the students before they begin how much time they will have to complete the activity. RESOURCE : []

Techniques for grouping and pairing sutdents.
1. Plan groups ahead of time instead of letting students always pick their partners. (They rarely make good choices.)

TEACHER TIP : Be careful not to always pair the most advanced students with the struggling students. It can lead to frustration for both partners. Instead, pair advanced students with intermediate partners and low students with intermediate partners.

2. Prepare and use "random selection" methods
 * Have students count off. Grouping students of the same number together. (Have students repeat their number aloud as you count off or many will forget it by the time you divide up.)
 * Use a deck of playing cards. Create groups of four by passing out the cards face-down and then telling students to find the other three people who have the same number. (Use only enough cards for the number of students you have.) You can also group according to suit or by color.
 * Ask a question with a limited number of answers. (ie. What is your favorite season?) Designate an area in the room for each answer. (Four corners of the room - Winter. Spring, Summer, Fall) . Ask the question and have the students go to the corner that represents their answer. Each "answer" becomes a group. (Do a sub category if too many choose the same answer.)
 * Have a set of pictures with two copies of each image. Randomly distribute the cards and have the students find the partner with the same picture they have.
 * If you use name cards or name tags, shuffle them and place them randomly on desks around the room before class begins. Ask the students to sit by and work with the new person next to them.

RESOURCE : Creative grouping ideas : http://insights-into-tefl.blogspot.com/2007/03/fun-ways-to-groups-students.html