Shouting Directions   Text Guessing   Mind the Gap!  A Message from Sherlock  Radio Barbados  Grammar Auction  Word Snake  Street Vendor’s Talk  Just for Fun: Traveller’s Tales    homepage barbados

Shouting Directions

The tables in the classroom are arranged in two opposite rows. The students sit opposite of each other (each in a different row) and work in pairs. One of them is given a prepared paper with basic figures about Barbados (for an example see below). The other student gets a paper with the different categories only and has to fill in the missing numbers which his partner tells him. He may shout as loud as he likes or whisper as much as he likes, but he is not allowed to get up from his chair and go over to his partner. The group who has completed the chart first wins. My aim of this exercise is to practise various kinds of numbers.
 
 

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Text Guessing

The teacher prepares a short text about Barbados which includes a great number of details about the island that the students might know or that have been mentioned in class already (for an example, see below). On the black board or transparency, each line represents one word (unlike Hangman, where each line stands for one letter). Numbers as well as punctuation and the title should be given as a help. (In this text you might want to write out Concorde or hemisphere.) The students’ task is to re-create the text by guessing which words might appear in it. The chaotic shouting at the beginning fades away as soon as the initial phase of brainstorming is over and most of the nouns have been mentioned. A more advanced group of learners can even have the task not only to guess the right words, but also to name their exact position in the text.

Barbados Tourism Encyclopedia

Barbados is an island in the Caribbean Sea, to be more precisely, in the South of the West Indies. A wonderful place with rugged cliffs and endless white sand beaches and also 8 to 9 hours of sunshine most days. Barbados is the only holiday destination in this hemisphere with a scheduled Concorde service. But what makes it even more special is the people: Visitors highlight the friendliness of Barbadians as its greatest and most pleasing feature. Interesting to know, Barbados has the 3rd oldest parliament in the world.

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Mind the Gap!

This gap-filling exercise focuses not so much on finding the right word to match the sentence structure, but on choosing  the right possibility to match style and register of the text. It is helpful if you tell the students to read through the whole text first so that they can get an idea of  the language the author uses. As a follow-up task, the students could create their own Mind the Gap! exercises and pass them round in class. This can also be very well done with poems.
 

Barbados Independence Celebrations

After the first English settlement at Holetown in 1627, Barbados remained a British colony until (achieving/ getting/ becoming/ reaching) independence from Britain on 30 November 1966. That first independence (festival/ occasion/ party/ ceremony) was accompanied by the (heaving/ raising/ bringing up/ hoisting) of the Barbados National Flag, and the playing of the National Anthem, for the first time.
November, 30  is celebrated as Independence Day and is a National Holiday in Barbados. The day begins with a(n) (great/ elaborate/ elaborating/ complicated) and impressive parade and ceremony at the Garrison Savannah. Celebrations run throughout November (and/ and as well/ and however/ and either) include sports competitions, fairs, community events, and religious services.
One of the (highlights/ biggest events/ rituals/ summits) of the Independence celebrations is the decorative lighting of Parliament Buildings and businesses throughout the capital Bridgetown, using blue an gold coloured bulbs, which are the national colours. Roundabouts on the (motorways/ roads/ superhighways/ streets) are also lighted, creating a spectacular view at night.
Another highlight of the celebrations is the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA) which showcases the artistic talents of the (people/ guys/ persons/ inhabitants) of Barbados. This festival encourages Barbadians of all ages to match their talents in the fields of music, singing, dance, drama, writing, fine art, (photographing/ photography/ photographics/ snapshot taking) and arts and crafts. The festival runs throughout the month of November and culminates (with /in/ to/ into) a gala presentation in which the finalists are featured.

The correct answers are:
 

1. achieving	6. highlights
2. ceremony	7. motorways
3. raising	8. inhabitants
4. elaborate	9. photography
5. and	10. in

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A Message from Sherlock

Divide the class in teams of 3 to 4 students. Prepare a Message from Sherlock for each group and before the start of the lesson put the messages up on different walls in the classroom or in the near corridor (don't  worry, the messages are all identical). The group selects a runner, and a note-taker, the others are assistants to the note-taker. The runners of each group start at the same time and try to find the message with their team number on. This shouldn't take too long. Once they have found their message, they try to remember as many words as they can, run back to their group, and dictate the message (as far as they remember it) to the note-taker. A different runner is chosen (and a different note-taker from time to time), but he may only start when the note-taker has finished writing. It might be helpful if each runner crosses out what the note-taker has written down already. In the end each group should have one complete copy of the message.  Further instructions are included in the message text. The first group to finish the whole exercise (i.e. to know the name of the murderer) wins the game. An advanced version of your message could run as follows:
 

A Message from Sherlock

It has regrettably come to my attention that a horrible murder has taken place. I was shocked to hear that a ___________ (enter name of your school) teacher was gruesomely strangled while he was on holidays in Barbados. Those imbeciles the police have no clues about the identity of the murderer. As usual, their extremely narrow-minded approach to criminal investigating has turned up very little evidence. Two suspects, _________ and __________ (enter names of two girls from the class) were arrested last Wednesday. They were questioned intensely about their movements on the night of the murder, but their alibis proved rock solid. Of course they did!! How could the police have imagined that two lovely girls should have committed such an evil crime?
Anyway, my old friend ______________ (enter your name) has appealed for my help in catching the villain. I visited the scene of the crime and almost immediately discovered some very important clues that the bumbling police had missed. I can reveal that I, Sherlock Holmes, know the identity of the perpetrator of this crime. The information is very close to you at the moment. Find an envelope which has your team number on it and follow the instructions.
                                                                                                                                                    Sherlock

! Answer the questions and discover the identity of the murderer !
!!! When you know who the murderer is, don't shout it out !!!
Give your answers to your teacher when you have finished.

1. What is the name of the capital of Barbados? B
2. In which month do the Independence celebrations take place? N
3. What is the Official Language in Barbados? E
4. Can you play golf in Barbados? Y
5. What is celebrated on 1 January? N
6. Who is the murderer?
 

Radio Barbados

In this exercise the class will split up in different groups and each group will write an interview with a person who is somehow involved in the story. Furthermore, a radio presenter is needed. I suggest this role is taken up by the teacher, but in advanced classes it can also be done by a student. The incident, theme, ... with which your radio programme will be dealing can be anything that is related to the topic of Barbados. You can for example take the plot of a short story you have read recently or the case of Sir William Tufton who was executed for high treason in Barbados in the seventeenth century and whose Judge Captain William Kitterich was also executed for murder. Make sure everyone is familiar with the content of the story. Think about who could be interviewed by a radio reporter in your story and form a group for each character (about 2 to 5 students per group depending on the level of proficiency). You should have a cassette recorder and a spare tape to record on. When the groups have finished their work (or when the time limit is up), all groups come together to record the programme. If the students like the result, offer to make a copy of the cassette for everybody to take home. I am sure you will find at least one occasion to present your work to the parents or fellow students or the class’ teachers or ...
The groups’ tasks could be something like this:

Radio Barbados (or the name of your school if you like)

? Think about how your character might have experienced the whole situation, what does he/she know, on whose side does he/she stand, what is his/her point of view etc.?
? You can invent a story around it, e.g. where has he been, what has he done before, was he alone when the incident occurred...
? What would you like to know from the person, formulate questions that you would like to ask him/her. (Remember that a radio reporter would not ask a question that can be answered by simply saying “yes” or “no”)
These questions might serve you as a guideline:
? “Mr./ Mrs...could you tell me from your perspective what happened on ... “
? “Has something like this ever happened before? How do you explain what happened?”
? “Does the incident change your opinion of / feelings towards ...?”
? “Why did you do ...?”
? Now as a group think about the answers that the person might give to your questions and write them down. Select one person who wants to be the radio reporter and one who wants to be your character and answer the reporter’s questions in the following radio transmission.
? The interviewer should introduce himself and his partner before they start the interview
Helpful phrases for the interviewer might be:
? "Hello. Thank you ... (name of the radio presenter). My name is ... and I am here in ... and with me is ... who..."
? "This is ... and now back to the studio"
? "This was an interview with ... live from ..., my name is ... and now back to the station"
? "This is ..., Radio Barbados, returning you to the studio"

The Radio Presenter

Co-ordinates in which sequence the interviews are recorded and thinks about how to introduce the topic of today’s programme to the radio audience and how to link each interview.
Example:
“Hello and welcome. You are listening to 106.3 Radio Barbados and I am ... I am sure you have all heard today’s breaking news: ... We sent our reporters to ... and in the following programme ... (give it a name!) you will hear exclusive interviews with all the people who were involved in the incident ... My colleague ... knows what really happened: (Interview 1) And now to ... (Interview 2) ... Thank you for listening. My name is ... and now the news. See you tomorrow”
 

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Grammar Auction

You can use the Grammar Auction to review the mistakes in almost any kind of written work or oral presentation. Prepare a paper with the most common mistakes and also put in difficult but correct sentences that you want to sell. Make a copy for each student. Divide the class in groups of about 4 students and give them a few minutes time to read through the paper. Each group has about £ 500 at their disposal, depending on the how many items you want to sell (you don’t need toy money, simply tell the groups to keep a note of what they bought at which price). Now present each item as though you were selling it at an auction. Begin with £ 100 and go down in steps of 10. If one item does not sell, keep it to the end and then try to persuade the groups by offering it at a bargain price. The game is over when (almost) every item has been sold. Now the groups count the money that they have left and the correct sentences that they have bought. They add the price of each correct sentence to the money that they have left. The group with the most money left wins.
 

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Word Snake

Word Snake is a game that can be played in a number of different variations. But, however, it is generally not suitable for introducing a topic. The students should have at least some knowledge of the topic. You can prepare it and use it as a starter for your lesson (it’ll take about 5-10 minutes). But the students can also create a word snake and give it to their classmates to solve. Furthermore, it is possible to use Word snake as an oral class competition (in this case the student who hasn’t said a new word within a certain time limit is out).
The rules are simple: All words used have to be related to the topic (in the written word snakes only). The starting word is “Barbados”. The next word has to begin with the last letter(s) of the previous one. So we could go on with “sugar plantations”. Then: “Sandiford” (prime minister since 1987) ... Write all the words (around 30) in a creepy line and draw a snake’s body around it. When you hand it to the students, tell them how many words you used. Usually they find even more because there are shorter words hidden in the longer ones, e.g. “do” in “Barbados”.

My Word Snake looks like this and consists of (at least) 28 words:

BARBADOSUGARPLANTATIONSANDIFORDIALECTENNISUNIQUENGLISHORESTATESPRINGGARDENATIONALAN
THEMISPHEREASTCOASTROPICALYPSONGULLIESPRITUALSEASTERROLBARROWINDREAMPLEDGEOGRAPHY.
 

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Street Vendors’ Talk

Any written text can serve as a basis for this exercise. Just rearrange the paragraphs and let your students put them back in the original order. Theoretical texts are good if you are dealing with essay writing and want to focus on how to structure a such a piece of work. As a follow-up exercise to this text you can ask the students to formulate rules that describe the grammatical and lexical system of the dialect that the inhabitants of Barbados, the Bajans, use.

Barbados Street Vendors

1. you coming to buy some tropical sunripe banana?
2. Debro’s banana done fresh pick by hand off we very own tree, just yesterday, plenty fresh and nice, and bring here with love and care, just for you darling.
3. Come from we Island probably.
4. Hello DoDo Darling,
5. Full and firm and ripe with vitamin.
6. So come by me any time you in Barbados, Tropical Fruits and Vegetables Vendor.
7. Dem import / export fruit is cut green, ship like cargo and force ripe, it can’t taste the same like we home grown banana,
8. just like you love my island.
9. But dey can’t taste the same like tree ripe tropical fruit.
10. left to ripe ‘pon de tree and carry here with love and care.
11. No chemical and artificial fertilisers messing up we soil, das a fact.
12. Yes, yes I understand you get Banana in de supermarket back home, and dem is good.
13. You gonna love my Mango,
 

The right order is: 4, 1, 5, 12, 3, 9, 7, 10, 2, 11, 6, 13, 8.
 

Travellers' Tales

Two signs from a Majorcan shop entrance: English well talking: Here speeching American.
In a hotel in Athens: Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours o 9 and 11 am daily.
In a Japanese hotel: You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.
On the menu of a Swiss restaurant: Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.
On the menu of a Polish hotel: Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef rashers beaten up in th country people's fasthion.
In a Bankok dry cleaner's: Drop your trousers here for best results.
Outside a Paris dress shop: Dresses for street walking.
In a Rhodos tailor shop: Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will execute customers in strict rotation.
A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest: It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site that people of different sex, for instance, men and women, live together in one tent unless they are married with each other for that purpose.
In a Zurich hotel: Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the opposite sex in the bedroom, it is suggested that the lobby be used for this purpose.
In a Rome laundry: Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon having a good time.
In a Swiss mountain inn: Special today - no ice cream.
In a Bangkok temple: It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.
In a Copenhagen airline ticket office: We take your bags and send them in all directions.
In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian Orthodox monastery: You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian an Soviet composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.

This is just a small selection from:
Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong
Richard Lederer: Anguished English