Make It and Take It
TABLES TO GO
LEVEL: Some basic word processing and keyboarding skills are helpful.
TIME: Preparation time depends on level of skill, about one hour if comfortable with Microsoft Word skills. It may take you longer if you're formatting and adding text. Once created and saved, teacher's can use/reuse them.
FOCUS: Tables can be used for a variety of exercises at all levels of the ESL classroom. They can be used as templates for students to fill in when working on a specific lesson and can help to organize predetermined student-generated language responses. Text can be added to a table for specific exercises.
OBJECTIVES: Participants will build word processing skills that can be used to create materials that enhance instruction by learning how to create a table using Microsoft Word.
MATERIALS / EQUIPMENT: One computer for each participant with MS Word
Printers and Paper
One 3.5 diskette per participant
EXPANSION: Tables can be created and utilized for a variety of ESL activities. Dave's ESL Café has many lessons that are just waiting for a table to be created! Here are just a few ways that I have utilized tables:

- Information Grids

 - Dictation Jeopardy
- Word/People Bingo
 - Information Gap
- Pre-reading Activities
 - Battleship
- Comprehension
 - Matching Activities
- Tic Tac Toe
 - Johari Window
- Word Domains
 - Ice Breakers
- Jigsaw Activities - Story Strips
- Board Games  
TEACHER'S REFLECTION: Make sure to save a blank template and copy the template to create an exercise, and then fill in the table with text. If you have access to a computer lab, it would be a great lesson to teach students how to create a table for a specific purpose such as a People Bingo. Students could then generate the text that goes in the table.

 
The Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center
Available online: http://www.vcu.edu/aelweb
1.800.237.0178
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