Create Class Culture and Flush Regrets Down the Toilet

To start this activity students entered class with a "to do" list on the board. Each student desk had two markers and two to three squares of toilet paper.

Step 1. The "To Do list" on the board had four steps

• Sit where there is toilet paper (do NOT, crumple, play, or blow your nose with it)
• 2016 review
• Field Trip
• Start 2017

Students took their seats and I explained that I know a lot of them had an amazing 2016, whereas others may have some regrets.


I showed them my piece of toilet paper which said "Procrastination." I explained that procrastination was a real regret of mine and I felt that if I had managed my time better, then I would have had a better 2016. As a result, this year I vowed to get started on things as soon as they were assigned.

Step 2. 

I gave students some time to write down their own regrets and then they had the option to share. Students were invited to share as much or as little as they wanted. Some students talked for quite a bit, and others shared just a word or two.

As they shared, I'd ask who felt similarly, and what solutions we could offer that would help all students.

This is an important part because we are building a class of empathy and helping. We relate to one another and our struggles and share our experiences to improve everyone's life.

Examples:

• They regret eating so much junk food
• Eat more food from home.
• Bring less money to school
• They regret not doing their homework
• Actually writing down assignments in their planners
• A few of my exchange students regret choosing to study abroad. (sad!)
• We talked about why they regretted it. They missed their family. Speaking in English all the time was hard. While some students had some advice, I think overall it was a good chance for them to empathize with another student.
• Less social media
• I shared a few add-ons that I like (like Dayboard which makes them achieve five things before they can access social media)

Step 3. Field Trip!
We headed to the unisex bathrooms right by my class. Everyone tossed their regrets in the toilet and we literally flushed them away.

Step 4. Returning to class, I asked them to remember this and try to stay focused on making 2017 the best time ever!

I love this activity because it's quick, memorable, students love it, it helped build classroom culture, and it was an easy way to ease students back into the classroom after two weeks off for Christmas break.

I encourage you to give this it try in your class. No need to wait until January 2018 to use this in class. Give it a shot after a rough week, a bad unit, or any other time you just want to help students turn over a new leaf.

What's better than starting the new semester with a fresh slate? My students wrote 2016 regrets on toilet paper and then we took a field trip to the toilet! #byebyeregrets #awesomekiddos #fieldtrip

Una publicación compartida de Carissa (@meltingteacher) el 6 de Ene de 2017 a la(s) 5:08 PST

Speed Dating

Here are my students during their most recent speed dating class

Speed dating is not a new trick for teachers. I used to use it a lot for class warm ups or bell ringers. The assignment varies a bit, but essentially, students talk and listen to a partner for a set period of time, then they switch partners and repeat.

Types of Assignments
This works well for grammar or vocabulary practice. These can be the same story thing and over, or you can give each partner a card with a different question. For example, I could have each students give a mini biography of themselves to practice  simple past tense: I grew up in San Diego, I went to Santa Sophia Academy, etc. Or, I could have each student have a question that they ask their partner. Some may ask about family, others about travels, etc.

In the picture above my Speech students are working on practicing their historical speeches (students were each given a speech to memorize and present to the class) Since they didn't need to write a speech, they could focus on tone, gestures, volume, etc This was a great way to have a lot of them practice to new listeners rather than listen to the same speech over and over.

Pros

It is different! Some students may get nervous when they see the new seats (even if they knew it was coming), but in the end something new is good for their neurons and their interest in the class.

It is rather hands off. As a teacher I can walk around and watch almost all of the students. They require very little interaction from me.

It is fast paced. Students don't get bored. They are always on the move.

Cons

For the most part this can be adapted to any number, but on occasion I have an assignment where I need it to work with an even number. In this case, I put a desk in the middle and have a student practice on their own, or work on a reflection. In one case I used it as a chance to have quick mini-conferences with that student.

It doesn't lend itself to an "in-n-out" class. By that I mean, if you have students who are coming in late, or being pulled out in the middle of your class it really messes up the flow of class. Try to keep this for a day that you think things will run pretty smoothly.

Tips and Tricks
Have fun with it! Before starting have students sit in front of the class and play "charades." Have them pick dating faux pas like texting on a date, talking over your date, falling asleep on your date, not making eye contact, etc. Include some positive things as well: leaning forward, smiling, nodding your head, etc. Students will love watching one another ham it up in front of the class, and you'll be able to have good behaviors modeled and encouraged.

Give the listener a reason to listen. Either let them know that they will be telling about what they hear, they will be tested on it, or they will need to evaluate their partners. Something to keep them accountable. Real speed dates usually end with people turning in requests for dates, so why not have your students turn in whether or not they'd want to hear the speech again with a quick reason why.

I set up the tables before the students arrive. I put two different colors of tape on the board with numbers with a note to grab a number and sit in the matching seat. This isn't really needed but I find, "inner circle" and "outer circle" confuse the students, but if I say, "read tape" and "blue tape," then they all get it immediately.

Keep everyone moving! Normally in speed dating one group of people (e.g. ladies) will stay seated the whole time while others will rotate around them. My students are all equally antsy. To keep people seeing different partners, I alternate rotations Those on the inside of the circle rotate to counterclockwise one time, and the next time the outer circle moves clockwise.

Concluding Remarks
This is a great highly active way to practice...and we know so much of language and speaking is "Practice, Practice Practice"  

My students' homework is to practice their speech. I like the addition that they made to the board

A photo posted by carissa (@clarissasinel) on May 8, 2015 at 6:02pm PDT

Does anyone else use speed dating in their class? Do you have any other suggestions, tips or tricks? Comment below or let me know on Twitter or Facebook.

Anti-Bullying Pink Shirt Day

February 25th is  Pink Shirt Day in Canada and in other areas that have picked up the trend.

Here's the story behind the name:

In 2007 at a high school in Nova Scotia, a freshman boy was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Two senior students, David Shepard and Travis Price, saw this and decided to do something. They went to their local discount store, and bought seventy-five pink women tank tops. They reached out to their male buddies via social media and the next day they handed out the pink tank tops to all of the other boys who put them on over their normal tops.The bullies were never heard from again, and I am sure you can imagine the love that the bullied boy felt that day.

In honor of these teenagers who took a moment to right the world and do their part to stop bullying, every year on February 25th, people are encouraged to wear pink shirts and do their part to end bullying.

Here are some activities and reading you can do with your classes to celebrate.

• Clean Paper
• Give each student a piece of paper. Have them crumple it up. Rip it up. Scribble on it. My students have jumped u and down on it. Give them about one minute. Then tell them you want the paper back, in perfect form. Give them about five minutes to try and make their paper "perfect" again. 
• Fill the Tube
• Similar to the paper activity, but messier! Give each student a tube of toothpaste and a plate. See how fast they can empty their tube of toothpaste. Now give them a spoon and tell them to put the toothpaste back in the tube.
• What lessons does this teach you?
• Where do you see this in life?
• Were any of you able to get your paper back to normal/toothpaste back in the tube? How long did it take?

You don't need to sacrifice a whole day to anti-bullying activities. You can still do a standard literature lesson with a bullying theme. Check out All Summer in a Day  by Ray Bradbury (You can find it in: A Medicine for Melancholy and Other Stories )

This is a fantastic story at a lower intermediate level. Lower grades may require more  scaffolding, but the

I have some pre-made lessons you can use.

• Have students make their own soundtrack for the story 
• Use a rhyming game to practice the vocabulary 

My favorite question to ask students is what they think happened next. Did Margot forgive the other students? Did she and her family return to Earth? Were the students nicer to her after this day? Was the teacher punished?

If you are focusing on research or nonfiction, have them research Pink Shirt Day and come up with a similar activity their school could do. Have them write up letters to propose to the principal and samples. It would be a great interactive product that I am sure the principal would love!

What about you? What do you do to support anti-bullying in your class?

41st ELT Blog Carnival: Teaching with Humor

Humor is more than just a funny face!

Welcome to the 41st ELT Blog Carnival! For quite some time I have had an obsession with using humor in the class. I find the more my students laugh, the more they learn! It seems I am not alone as this carnival has ten other teachers eager to share how they use humor in the classroom.

My hope is that you go through these blog posts and the descriptions intrigue you enough to click on the blog posts and get inspiration on how to get your students to laugh a little and relax enough to really learn.

Enjoy :-)

 1. Nick has an amazing collection of comedic sketches on YouTube. His contribution to the blog carnival is a list of DOs and DON'Ts when using these clips in the classroom. He uses several examples on different occasions these clips fit well in class and I am sure you'll be excited about using some of them in your classroom. Read more: Using "COMEDY FOR ELT" clips

2. David has a great blog to get you laughing that comes from his lessons in a can series of blog posts. It contains several links with jokes you can use including a slide with 22 jokes! You can have your students listen to these be read, or you can use them as reading activities. As David says, "it can be very funny and it is a good way to lighten up the day/lesson!"  Read more of the jokes for yourself at his blog post with: Funny Jokes

3. Alina has created a super cute blog filled with comics. Each of these comics contains a joke that uses the grammar form her students are learning. What a great way to use visuals to help students really comprehend jokes! I love how she was able to find so many jokes that fit her grammar needs perfectly. Interested? You can read it for yourself at her blog: Grammar With Comix


4. Here is a great oldie by Ivan Sokolov! It was originally published by the Bulgarian English Teachers' Association IAFTEL in 2001! It is a really well researched article on how and why humor is effective in the class. Be sure to read it to get a better idea of how and more importantly why to use Humor in the EFL Classroom

5. Vicki Hollet has created some lovely and informative videos for English Language Learners. This video is a short and humorous example of how to handle a phone call if you are busy. If you are looking for an example to use in class this is perfect! The grammar is simple, the humor is obvious, and the pronunciation is clear. Be sure to watch the video How to Handle Calls When You're Busy


6. I am a huge fan of using short videos in class! The Alltac blog has a great lesson using a funny video about students taking a make-up exam. In addition to the video being funny there are two pages of teachers notes. One page gives you ideas of how to incorporate the lesson, and the other page gives you materials for an activity. See the video and read more at the Alltac Blog.

7. Emily Richardson 's blog covers a plethora of ways to get students laughing in class. From fake mustaches, jokes, stories or just general vocabulary Emily has plenty of ways you can get your students giggling. You can read the rest of her blog post titled "Laughter is the best medicine." (Be sure you check out the cheer-leading video at the bottom of her post! It makes me smile every time!)

8. Roberta wrote a great post for World Laughter day back in May. She goes through the reasons humor is great in class (I agree with every single one of them!), as well as some sites that you can use to find jokes. Finally she goes through a simple way to use jokes in the class that could be adapted to work with so many different levels. World Laughter Day 

9. Raquel has a FANTASTIC lesson that's funny and practical! She uses clips from Friends as a starting point for discussing stress and other medical symptoms. In addition to clips, she also has QR codes set up for infographics. Raquel assures me that this lesson went over really well with her students, and I can see why! See for yourself: Explaining Symptoms

10. How does summarizing a movie make students laugh? When they do it in 5 seconds! It wouldn't be a blog carnival without a contribution from Larry Ferlazzo. I get a lot of my English game ideas from Ellen; Larry seems to get a lot of his from Jimmy Fallon! This is a quick post where he points out that one of the more recent games Jimmy Fallon played with his guests could be used in class. Read his post (and see a video) and I am sure you'll find a way to get your students laughing over this game:  Jimmy Fallon's Game

11. Finally, originally I was going to make a post on some jokes I use for reading comprehension. However, my summer became much busier than I expected. Instead I offer a fantastic doodling activity to do with students. It is a great way to practice adjectives, relative clauses, complex sentences etc. The exciting part about this game is students are ALWAYS interested. They are usually laughing half the class! I love when they have fun and learn! See for yourself: Doodling for Complex Sentences

I hope you enjoyed reading this carnival as much as I enjoyed putting it together. As always I encourage you to share the carnival with other teachers you feel may interested. As a special incentive we have FOUR funny items that the carnival contributors have put up for raffle:

• There are THREE Digital Prizes to be won

• From Emily you have the chance to receive a copy of her Pirate Joke book! 
• David's goodie is a PowerPoint with audio filled with Funny Stories, the printables that go with it, worksheets that go with the lesson and a Joke of The Day PowerPoint.
• Vicki has offered the worksheets that go with the amusing video on how to handle phone calls when you're busy.
• In addition to these great digital prizes, to show everyone you appreciate the humor found in English, I will send this, "You've cat to be kitten be right meow" iPhone 4 case you can proudly display. (Note as this will be mailed, only people with U.S. addresses can win. If the winner of the three digital prizes does NOT have a U.S. address, another winner for the phone case will be selected).

The contest will run for one week and then the winner will be announced. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

Doodling for Complex Sentences

Are your students struggling with making sentences more complex?

Many students can write simple sentences, and run-on sentences, but they struggle with writing solid complex sentences.

This written activity is a fun way to get students to sculpt more complex sentences using relative clauses and transition words.

Before ANY of this, my students have learned different transition words, how to use them where to use them relative pronouns, etc.

Pre-Activity:  
I usually start by drawing a few random doodles on the board. describe what a doodle is. If students guess scribble, I also accept this word as appropriate.Then, I ask what they see in the doodles. Once they see how doodles can be changed into different forms, we are ready to start!

Activity: This can be arranged in many ways, but I like to have students sit in circles.

Step One Doodle on different pieces of paper and 

STEP ONE Each student gets a paper with a doodle drawn (Note: To make this a no prep activity, students may make the first doodle, but I find giving them a doodle tends to work out better.)

STEP TWO Each student expands on the picture. I know the picture below vague, but notice how the student turned the doodle into a rabbit!

STEP THREE (optional) Have the students write one or two words describing their picture. Again looking at the picture to the below, the student could write something like, "An animal," or, "A rabbit,"

Have a box of transition words and relative prnounouns

STEP FOUR The students pass the paper to another student. The student will form a sentence describing the picture: "The rabbit is tall"

STEP FIVE Pass the paper again. This time students also take (or are given) a piece of paper with a random connecting word.  They are told to find a way to make the sentence longer using that word, "The rabbit is tall; however, he is fat."

STEP FIVE  There are multiple ways to do this. I like having students pass the doodling paper to the right, and their connecting word to the left. The students then needed to add another word to the sentence, "The rabbit, who is furry, is tall; however, he is fat."

STEP SIX At this point you can continue having the students pass connecting words to the left and doodles to the right, or you can give out new connecting words.

STEP SEVEN Continue step six until students become bored you you have had them make at least four rotations.

STEP EIGHT Finally, the last time students don't add to the sentence. Their job is to read through the sentence, which at this point can be quite complex, and make it coherent.

STEP NINE Students present the final pictures to the class as well as the final description of the picture.

 Why it Works 
Students could get bored by this, but because the pictures are so random almost every time it goes like this:
Teacher: OK pass the paper to the next student please.
Student 1: What is that?
Student 2: What did you draw?
Student 3: Oh my god this sentence is ridiculous.

They are ALWAYS entertained!

This is also a great activity to use with adjectives or any other clauses. Basically, anything where students add onto a basic sentence. If you want students to practice speaking you can have them do this in partners.

This activity isn't directly humorous, but I PROMISE you that your students will laugh at some of the doodles created and sentences written.  On August 2nd the deadline for submitting your blog to be part of the ELT Blog Carnival on Humor will CLOSE! Don't miss out!

Group Collaboration- Crossword Puzzles

This is nothing new, but my students had so much fun on Tuesday, that I wanted to share a more dynamic way to use crossword puzzles in class (rather than making them and passing them out yourself). 

This can be used for almost any grammar point, but we were reviewing relative clauses on Tuesday, so those are the examples you'll see. We use Passages Student's Book 1, which teaches defining and non-defining clauses by discussing different cities and overall travel.

After my students and I worked our way through some grammar activities, it was time for them to produce some sentences, in a collaborative and (I hope) fun way!

My board work

Setting it up (5 minutes): I wrote some sentences/ phrases using relative clauses on the board.

1 Down Something that you use to eat

1 Across _________, which is the capital of Japan, is the birthplace of Joan Fontaine.

2 Across When in Japan, you speak _________

I asked students for the answer to 1 down. One student shouted, "Spoon,! At this point I drew crossword boxes to the side. We quickly solved the puzzle (Chopsticks, Tokyo, Japanese).

Dividing the class (3 minutes)

I have a small multicultural class right now. I have five Japanese students, three Taiwanese students, and one Brazilian student. I don't really love having nine students, but at l east in this case it made the decision to divide the students into groups of three easy. I "randomly" assigned each student a group (A, B, C) to be sure that each group had as many different nationalities as possible.

The Assignment (3 minutes): You can do this many different ways, but this is how it went Tuesday in class.

Teacher: "With your group you need to come up with a theme. What was the theme of my puzzle on the board?"

Students: "Japan."
Teacher: "Yes! You're all so smart! We have been discussing traveling, so what other themes could be select?"

Here is a student making her clues

Students: "Asia" "China" "Barcelona"
Teacher: "Good, you can also do other themes like: 'Things you pack in a suitcase,' or 'Different ways to travel.' The FIRST thing you need to do as a group is  agree on a theme. The SECOND thing you will need to do is come up with some clues. How many clues will you need?"

Students: "Ten" "Five teacher" "Twenty"
Teacher: "There are three of you so 15 clues, but only 10 of them need to have relative clauses" (Note: I thought this would take 30 minutes, but students took about 50 to complete their puzzles. Looking back I would change it to 10 clues.)

Students: "How many clues?"
Teacher: *Writes on the board* "15 clues 10 relative clauses"

Students: "Does it matter how many across and how many up?"Teacher: "Nope. You may do this however you like. When you finish, you must give me TWO blank cross word puzzles. Each group will receive a crossword puzzle from every other group" (With larger classes you could have them photocopy for homework, or just make it so they trade with another group).

Students: "Can we use our phones?"
Teacher: "You can use the textbook, or your cell phones to get information. Please TALK to your partners, but don't talk too loudly, or the other teams will hear your answers."

The Work:

As students worked in groups I heard a lot of English! Some of it was the grammar point (What about, "The woman who is the queen of England?") and some of it was the task based English, "No it doesn't fit there." "That question is too different. Not our theme." etc. I originally was going to give 15  minutes to create the questions and then 5 minutes to make sure everything fit on a crossword puzzle. Maybe with an extra five minutes to actually write out the two final copies for the other groups.... the groups ended up needing about 30 minutes to make the clues and another 15 to assemble the puzzle. However, they were speaking English THE WHOLE TIME! Because they were on task, I told them they could take as much of the class as they needed.

In the end they needed all of my class-time, but I feel it was well worth it!

Complete the Puzzles

Give groups a crossword puzzle(s) from another team. Allow them five minutes to work on it as a team WITHOUT CELL PHONES. Just see how many they know. 

Then, because this isn't the main aim of the class, give them the option of using cell phones or textbooks to find answers. 

The first group to finish both crossword puzzles wins! Since my students are just visiting America for the Summer I give them American paraphernalia (there was an after Fourth of July sale where I got tons of bracelets, pencils, necklaces etc. for less than $1.00 each!), but anything works! If nothing else they win bragging rights!

 

Alternatives:

• Provide each student with a different text from which to find their answers and clues (a short article about safaris in Africa for examples)
• Use this as a literature assignment. Have students each create a crossword for a different character, or chapter.
• Make it about the school, or the teacher!
• I know there are many crossword puzzle generators on computers, but part of the reasons I like doing it by pen and paper is because students get to talk about where to put the boxes. While you could have them use an online tool, I would avoid it.
• The options are pretty close to limitless :)

There it is! A simple, and dynamic way to get students to work together, practice the target language, and create a little fun for all the students. How do you use crossword puzzles in the class?   

Circle of Life - First Day Activity

This is a simple, "Getting to know you," activity that I have also incorporated into my literature classes.

While it was not designed to focus on grammar points it does fit nicely into:
Questions"Is it _________?"
"Do you ____________?"
"Are you _____________?"
Tag Questions (if you wish)
"You're 21, aren't you?"
Simple Present / Simple Past
You have three cats.
You learned to ride a bike at 15. 

To start I make a large circle on the board and put random numbers in it. For example 32, 29, 4, 1, 18, etc. To add some variety you can add words or sketches as well.

Then I have students guess what these numbers are. A sample interaction could go like this:
Student 1: "You are 32 years old."
Me: "Great guess, but nope. I am not 32 years old yet."
Student 2: "You have 32 boyfriends."
Me: "No, that's far too many."
I let this continue as long as students are interested. If the questions start dying down, and no one has the correct answer, I tell them "I've travelled to 32 countries"

Then we continue with the next number.
29- I am 29 years old
4- My parents had four children.
1- I have one cat.
18- I crashed my car at 18.

Make sure your example has variety! If everyone just has their address, and how old they are it gets old very fast! However, if you have some unique experiences, it makes this a lot more fun.

Some numbers my students used:
How many times they had been to the USA.
How old they were when they first left the country.
How many years they have studied English.
When they started studying English.
How old their pet is.
How many languages they speak.
etc.

I have students first make their circle at their desk on a notecard or scrap paper. Then I ask for volunteers who would like to present.Note: When I do this it is very rare that the entire class presents. You could also do it in small groups if you want to make sure everyone presents, but I don't like forcing students to the front of the class on day one. This is a good way to see what students will be volunteering, what students will be asking questions and what students may need a little prodding.

Students like this way of getting to know one another. It is more dynamic than just standing up and introducing themselves!

This is also a great activity to use when talking about characters. Students (or the teacher) can use it to get the rest of the class to guess what numbers are significant for any character from a novel, or an author. I like to put students in small groups and assign each group a different character. This lets them collaborate.

This activity is great because it creates disequilibrium. The random seemingly unrelated numbers and words don't make a clear patter. Students are forced to create equilibrium by creating sensible patterns and associations for them. Even when students guess incorrectly they are still forced to reason and more likely to remember the real numbers significances. This process makes the answers stick in their brains more effectively than if they were simply told all the facts at the beginning.

You can adapt it in MANY ways. Get specific. Tell them that they have to make the circle about their family, school, summer vacation, favorite movies, etc. Students will be able to do this on almost any topic if you give them guidance.

What's your favorite, "Get to know you" activity to use with your students?

Cut a worksheet for a change of pace!

What is my student doing at the window? Admiring the view? Taking a break? Trying to get warm by leaning against the window heated by the sun? Actually he's working on a worksheet!

There are a lot of people who feel that worksheets for the most part are no longer needed in class. It is an interesting and environmental idea, but sometimes I just like having my students use worksheets.

However, I do think worksheets can become a crutch. Like PowerPoint, webquests or any classroom tool, if we use it the same way too much, it doesn't provide the variety our students need.

This blog is not about a brand new technique. I think teachers were doing this back when I was in elementary school! However, it is an easy technique to use a worksheet in class, but vary the format a little. Students tend to like the fact that get to move, and I like the fact that they are getting work done.

Step 1. Select the right type of worksheet. In this case I used a "correcting" worksheet. It had 25 different sentences that were not parallel. The students needed to re-write the sentence to make the sentence parallel. If also you teach parallelism in writing here are 15 sentences your students could fix.

Step 2. Cut the worksheet up into strips (with each question / sentence being a different strip).

Step 3.  Tape the strips everywhere around the classroom.... I mean everywhere! On desks, on windows, on walls. With little ones putting them under tables and chairs is fun, but my high schoolers care too much about their clothes to crawl under a chair. If you write in a really big font you can tape it to the ceiling and have them look up find that sentence.

Step 4. Give the students a set amount of time (I gave 20 minutes for 25 questions) to walk around the class and try to fix as many sentences as they can. Encourage them to work with a partner as long as they keep the communication in English.

Step 5. Give a final 5 minutes to compare their answers with another person / pair.

Step 6. As a class go through the answers. If they can't fix a sentence try to lead them towards the answer, but don't give it to them. If they still can't find it skip it and go to the next sentence. Sometimes they just need time away from the sentence to see the mistake. Normally they figure out all of the sentences, but when they don't I prefer to assign the ones they don't have as homework rather than to give them the answers.

Things to keep in mind
Control: You need to make sure the groups are controlled. If they start aren't actively working give them a warning and then have them sit down on their own with the worksheet.
Type of worksheet: Make the answers easy(ish) to write. You don't want to do this if each answer requires a two paragraph answer. On the other hand, just having them write down A or B doesn't get much writing practice in (nor does it help them study later)! Short answers are your best bet.
Time: Set a time limit and stick to it Some students are faster than others, that's fine. I like to give way too many problems. For example I may give 25, but I think getting 20 done is good. IN the last minute I encourage students to check with other groups and finally go over it as a class. This way even if they didn't get to all of them they have the answers in the end and there (usually) aren't fast finishers.

Like I said, nothing new, but always fun! Enjoy :)

Is your class addicted?

What do you think of when you hear about an addiction?

Have you ever been addicted to something?

What are the most common addictions?

Most of your students can relate to the concept of having an addiction, so I find this is always a nice topic to use with a conversation class, and since there are lots of related news articles you can find it is also nice for a reading or listening class.

You can start with some of the questions above. I normally give my students a blank chart. On the board we discuss different things people can be addicted to, be sure to include some "soft" addictions like shopping or working out.

Students pick ten and write them down in their chart. Then we try to figure out how many times a
week makes it an addiction.

For example, does being on the internet for 10 hours a week make you an addict? What about 20? What about 40? Are there exceptions? What if your work requires the internet?

How many alcoholic drinks can you have a week before you become addicted?

How many video games can you play before you become addicted?

etc. etc.

As a class have the students defend their answers and keep tally of the amounts (showing the class average at the end is always fun!)

I tend to pick one news article to read in class depending on their maturity level and interest. One my students normally like is about the boy who died playing video games.

After the reading we come up with solutions. How can we help people with addictions? Students answers tend to be very interesting!

In the end I have students pick an odd addiction (the TV show "My Strange Addiction" is available on YouTube and has some great examples). They then pretend to interview that person and write a news article.

You can learn more about Internet addiction and other process addictions by reading through the following infographic. Created by Valiant Recovery, treating the roots behind addiction not just the surface problems. For more ideas check out the infographic below.
You can also see some possible topics for mini-debates. Have students argue both sides of the topics that follow (be sure they know the vocabulary first!): 

THE BEST WAY TO GET OVER AN ADDICTION IS TO GO “COLD TURKEY.”

WORKAHOLISM IS A SERIOUS DISEASE AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH.

ALL ADDICTIONS ARE BAD.

ADDICTIONS ARE A SIGN OF WEAKNESS.

ADVERTISERS ARE GUILTY OF MAKING PEOPLE ADDICTED TO THEIR PRODUCTS.

NO ADDICT CAN EVER BE COMPLETELY CURED.

COCA COLA IS JUST AS DANGEROUS AS COCAINE

I hope you enjoy these ideas in your class! My students usually find the concept that you can be addicted to something that isn't a drug really interesting and they enjoy talking about it.