ELT News Think Tank

This Month's Think Tank Panel

Marc Helgesen

Peter Viney

Setsuko Toyama

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Setsuko
Date: September 2000

Topic: "What warm-up exercises would you recommend for a new class?"

Peter Viney

I approach this with trepidation.

Personally, I would use deep breathing exercises for relaxation and to improve voice control. I'm fully aware that some teachers and students will feel uncomfortable with this. Remember that students who have studied martial arts, yoga, singing, dance, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique or athletics will probably be familiar with breathing exercises, even if you're not. There are many variations, and you can encourage students to show you other exercises too.

In Handshake we got around some of the problems by using breathing exercises to demonstrate the language of instruction We showed two sets of instructions for the same exercise. One was much clearer than the other. They were both recorded. Wherever possible I always do breathing exercises myself before a lecture or seminar. Ice-breaking between the students is also vital, and I would want them to find out some basic facts about each other, working in pairs. It goes without saying that pair work and group work is essential in a class of thirty, particularly if it's called a 'conversation' class. With beginners / elementary students, there is no reason why this vital ice-breaking activity should not be done in the mother tongue. In the very first lesson, the initial aim will be to establish communication between the students, even if this does not take place in English.

Panelists: Marc | Peter | Setsuko

Peter Viney, Freelance ELT Author

Co-author of New American Streamline & Grapevine. Peter's Web site

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