Last week we looked at some ways in which you can incorporate change into your teaching. Here are some more suggestions.

• Use an approach or technique which is new for you, such as a dictogloss, a transformation exercise, a mumble drill (where students just repeat the target items repeatedly ‘under their breath’).

• Put students in radically different groupings, eg in larger groups or with (a) different partner(s), so that students are out of their comfort zone.

• Employ a different approach to clarifying language, eg student-lead, where students research the language and then teach one another; using a mini power-point presentation (facilities allowing); using a ‘situational’ presentation, perhaps with visuals; using translation.

• Avoid the coursebook / any handouts (select the one here which you usually rely on most!).

• Exploit something which is very current either locally or (inter)nationally, eg something which you have done or seen recently, even on the way in to work; a hot-off-the-press local or international news item.

• Focus on a (sub)skill in your lesson which is typically neglected in your teaching, eg intensive listening; oral fluency; scan reading.

• Surprise students by doing something unusual. If my students seem a little tired, I sometimes get them to do some exercises in class, eg walk twice around the room or turn around three times.

• Connect with the students in a personal way. If you generally tell little about yourself to your students, why not try bringing a little of yourself in for a change? You could try doing this at specific points, eg when you are chatting to students at the start of the lesson or perhaps when clarifying lexis: Personally, I find it very frustrating when the buses don’t come on time.