HowtoStartanEnglishClub？

1、Why start an English Club?Use what you learnAn En glish Club is a place for Ian guage lear ners to use En glish in a casual sett ing. Practis ing yourskills in the classroom is importa nt, but it is no t like real life .In the classroom, you ofte n focus on oneskill and one item (for example: gramma

2、r - future tense). After learning the rules your teacher gives youtime to practise using the item. You have your papers in front of you and the rules are fresh in your mind.Will you remember how to use your skills next week, or next year? In an English Club, you get a chanceto practise many differen

3、t skills in a setting that is more like real life. Though your English teacherunderstands your English, your English Club friends will require you to speak more clearly and liste nmore carefully.Make English-speaking friendsStarting an En glish Club is a great way to make new last ing frien dships.

4、It is importa nt to have goodESL friends because your con fide nce will in crease if you do. You will feel more comfortable using English around people you trust and have fun with. Dont limit your friends to the people in your class.How can I start an English Club?Post a sign-up sheetYou can start b

5、y putt ing up a sig n up form in your school lobby or on a local library bullet in board.Write your email address at the top so that people can email you with any ideas they might have. Makesure they write dow n their phone nu mbers or email addresses so that you can con tact them about thetime and

6、place of the club meet in gs.Seek helpDont try to do everyth ing yourself. Each member should con tribute to the club. You may eve n want tofind a flue nt En glish speaker who will volun teer to come to your meet in gs. New teachers or a highschool stude nt may be willi ng to help you for free becau

7、se the experie nce will help them find a job.You can put an ad in a local paper or at the library or supermarket.Hold an introductory meetingAfter you have eno ugh people sig n up (6-10 people is a good nu mber) you will n eed to hold anintroductory meeting. At the first meeting, members can learn e

8、ach others names and you can talkabout what kind of club people are in terested in. One way to orga nize the club is by putt ing onemember in charge of being the leader each week. You can organize the weeks in terms of themes(music/food/travel.), or skills (read in g/writ in g/liste nin g.).Create r

9、ules and routinesAt your meeting you can discuss what types of rules and routines the club should have. For example,En glish Clubs usually have an En glish only rule. Will people be allowed to drink and eat duri ng themeeti ng? What about bringing a friend? It is a good idea to con duct each club me

10、eting in a similar way.When people know what to expect, they are more likely to attend.Who will join my English Club?You can invite anyone to join your English Club, including friends, family members, fellow stude nts,co-workers, and people from other schools. En glish Clubs tend to be more fun whe

11、n they aremultigenerational and multicultural. If your best friend is joining, why not ask her grandmother to join too?English Club members also work well when members have varying English Ianguage abilities. Onemember may be able to teach you something new, and another may ben efit from a skill tha

12、t you canshare. Teach ing some one else a grammar point or explai ning how to use a new word is one of thebest ways to review your skills.Where should we hold our English Club?At an English SchoolThe easiest place to hold an English Club is in a spare classroom at an English school. After classroomh

13、ours, most schools rema in ope n for an hour or two so that teachers can prepare for their classes.This is also a convenient location because some or all of the members will already be in the school andwill have no excuses for miss ing a club meeti ng. You will also have access to materials and tele

14、visionequipment.In members homesYou may want to take your club out of the classroom in order to make it feel less academic and moresocial. If you decide to operate your club from a pers onal home, try to find more tha n one pers on whois willi ng to host the meet in gs. You will n eed to choose home

15、s that are in a cen tral locati on. Withinthe home, choose a room with a lot of space and few distract ions. Dont forget to turn off the teleph one.You may want to serve coffee or tea.At a cafe or restaurantThis type of sett ing will likely in volve a fee. The man ager may allow you to reserve a sma

16、ll room in theback if you choose a time of day when there are few customers. You will likely be expected to purchasebeverages and tip a server (depe nding on what country you are in). Operat ing your club out of a cafemay make it difficult to in corporate movies, music, and other liste ning practice

17、. A cafe is a good opti onfor a small con versati on club (less tha n 6 people).OutdoorsOne of the best places to hold an En glish Club is outside. This may only be possible duri ng certa inwarm mon ths depe nding on what country you are in. Choose a locati on where shelter can be found incase of ra

18、in. Though the beach might sound like a great place to practise your En glish, remember thatyou will probably be using papers and books which will be difficult in the breeze.A park with pic nic tables and shady trees might be better.Consider atmosphereWherever you hold your club, remember that it is

19、 a club, not a class. To cha nge the atmosphere in aclassroom you might want to ope n win dows or have backgro und music or can dles (if the schoolpermits). A pot of coffee or a bowl of popcorn can also make the meeting feel more like a club than aclass. Why not en courage members to take off their

20、shoes whe n they walk in the door, or sit on thefloor in stead of chairs. Remember, the purpose of the club is to use En glish in a life-like situati on. Dowhat feels n atural and comfortable.When and how often should we meet for our English Club?About once a weekSome clubs fail because they expect

21、too much of the members. It is hard to find time to commit tosomething outside of school, work, and family. Meeting once a week for about two hours is a good start.Some En glish Clubs also meet for an additi onal excurs ion once a mon th. As you make friends youwill probably beg in to get together i

22、n pairs or smaller groups outside of the club meeti ngs.The best time of dayChoose a meet ing time that is convenient for the group. Usually late after noons, evenin gs, orweekend days are chosen so that the meetings dont conflict with work or school. The time that youchoose will also depend on when

23、 the room/space is available. During your introductory meeting find outwhen the most convenient time is for the majority of the members. If you make your meetings too earlyor too late you may find that people come to the first few meetings and then drop out.Stop and begin againStart a new club sessi

24、 on approximately every three mon ths. This will keep the club alive! Ano thergood time to take a break is during holiday times, such as New Years or Spring Break. Some memberswill return and others will move on to other thin gs. In vite new people to join to fill the empty spots.Change activities/t

25、hemes that did nt work the first time. Keep addi ng new ideas, but try to maintain aclub identity.What can we do in our English Club?Establish a warm-up routi neYou will notice that teachers often start class with a game or conversation exercise. They do this towake you up! They also want to help yo

26、u focus on a classroom activity that will follow. In a club thattends to have more of an academic focus the warm up could be three new vocabulary words. Theleader could teach a noun, a verb, and an adjective each sessi on. The group practises making sentences with the new words. In a club that is mo

27、re social in n ature, find an activity that makes people laugh.This will bring positive energy into the room. Here are ten fun warm-up activities that are guara nteed toturn your brains to En glish quickly!Themes or SkillsYou can organize your club in many ways. Some clubs will be full of members th

28、at only want to practiseone skill, such as conversation. Conversation club meetings are often very casual and require little planning. Every one can write dow n a topic that they want to debate, or you can talk about popular cultureand curre nt even ts. Some on e can bring in a n ewspaper article an

29、d every one can read it togetherand discuss it. Readi ng clubs are ano ther type of En glish Club. Each pers on reads the same book(outside of group time) and the club discusses aspects such as what they liked about it, who theirfavourite characters were, etc.The majority of English Clubs, however,

30、are designed for people who want to improve their En glish inall skill areas. If this is the type of club you want to create it is useful to divide the meeti ngs in terms ofthemes or skills. Each member of the club can choose from a list of dates. You can suggest topic ideas,or ask members to come u

31、p with their own. Always give members the option of bringing in their ownidea (leave a blank space for OTHER on the theme/skill schedule). See sample meet ing schedule forideas for your own club. The leader for each meet ing is in charge of everything including the warm-up,the focus, and the dividin

32、g of members into groups or pairs. This gives every one in the group an opportunity to show their leadership and creative skills. If some one is extremely shy and un willi ng to be aleader, you can still allow them to join the club. Perhaps they will agree to be a leader a few mon thslater in the n

33、ext sessi on whe n they have more con fide nee in En glish.H ave backup ideas on handWhat if your leader for the day does nt show up? In a classroom, you usually get a substitute teacherwhe n your in structor is sick or un available. This should be the same in a club. If members know theyare going t

34、o miss a meet ing that they are supposed to lead, they should call ano ther member and givethem in structi ons about what was pla nn ed. However, it is likely that a day will come when no leadershows up at all. It is a good idea to have a back up plan in case of this problem.The easiest thi ng to do

35、 is keep a list of discussi on questi ons in the locati on of the meet in gs. Put themin an en velope or in the classroom, or give one to each member to keep in their no tebook.You can cut them up and put them in a hat and take turns pick ing questi ons. Ano ther idea is to get outa dictionary and learn ten new words. The group can practise using them and then write a group playthat