This week we learnt a lot about how we ‘survive’ day to day.
In my B1 group I asked the question, ‘What’s the most exciting thing you’ve done since we last met, two weeks ago?’ [1] The learners wrote their answers on slips of paper, then gave them to me and Gwendy read them aloud one by one; we tried to guess who wrote what and asked follow-up questions. These are the things we learnt:
Ruth and her family visited Vistabella two Sundays ago. They took a picnic and ate it there. They visited Sant Joan. Gwendy went to Gandia to celebrate her granny’s birthday. They went to a hotel near the port just to do something different. Elizabeth went to a spa. It was a present for her birthday. Carmen enjoyed playing games on her iPad. She loves it. Games are very good for your brain. She does lots of activities to stay healthy. But she sleeps very little. Vicent went to a friend of his wife’s wedding in Benicassim. Maria Angeles just enjoyed doing simple things with her family, like watching cartoons. Olaia went climbing in the Pyrenees. She does rock climbing. She’d love to climb Mont Blanc. Amalia really enjoyed telling her children a tale before going to bed last Friday. M José climbed Penyagolosa peak. She took five hours to climb to the top and come back down to Sant Joan. Miguel went to Majorca with friends. They rented a car and drove around the island. M Jose went to Soria with her family. They found a cottage in a little village near Soria. She wanted to pick mushrooms, but you have to get up very early, otherwise when you get there all the mushrooms are gone. Mafia Jesus’s favourite moment was this morning when she and her daughter woke up her son singing happy birthday. They’re planning to go to the countryside and cook a paella. Marisa went to her niece’s birthday party. She got her plasticine. Sara went out for dinner with her friends. They went for drinks first then to a restaurant. Alejandro played a game on his X-Box. He usually plays golf or darts. Carlos had lunch with his sister and the family on Oct the 9th. It was really special because they celebrated three birthdays on the same day!
With my B2 group, I wanted to do another activity to help us remember each other’s names, so I told the learners, ‘Think of a word in English that starts with the same letter as your first name. Now write a sentence starting with “I’m [your name]”, and then follow something that incorporates that word. Example: “I’m Amadeu, and once I visited Amsterdam”’. We got examples such as ‘I’m Sara and when I’m happy I smile; I’m Cristina and I like Christmas; I’m Carmen and I can cook; etc.
Then I stuck this poster [2] on the wall and asked people to talk in groups and discuss the question, ‘What does surviving mean to you?‘ 
For Pilar surviving means teaching at secondary school plus dealing with two daughters at home. She said ‘You always have to help them with things’. Bea’s unemployed, so she basically wants to find a job. She’s retraining (does some courses, tries to improve her English, etc.) Carmen asked her ‘Have you thought about going abroad?’ I also offered have you considered….?. Ximo has a glass of muesli with malt for breakfast. Marta tells us Ximo’s wife got annoyed because his static bike was in the living room; it was in the way, so she made him put it in the garage. Now he’s got a mat in front of the telly and does weight training while he watches TV. Antonio spoke about going abroad (P) He makes a travelling checklist But he still forgets things! Ximo reveals he lost five slips when he went to France to do voluntary work. Santi says that an important part of surviving for him is his social life. Cristina said she wouldn’t survive without her children. For Cristina surviving is just coming to wor*; getting to work on time. For Pepa surviving is about staying alive and being happy.
[1] I owe the idea for this activity and many more I’ll be using to the fabulous book Teaching Unplugged by Luke Meddings and Scott Thornbury, Delta Publishing 2009.
[2] Thanks, Thomas, for the image!
Unplugged Observed 