Tea+Party+and+Clock+Buddies



Ms. Tian and Me

Peach Tea What is presentational communication?  Tea Party as a warm up game 

 Today we had the warm up activity called “ Tea Party” introduced by Ms. Tian. The activity based on the tea change ( ideas exchange). Back to the past, tea was very expensive to be purchased, therefore, people would bring their own tea to the party and exchanges them. In the Tea Party activity, we got a card written different kind of tea on one side and different questions on the reversed side. Through the activity, we needed to exchanged our tea three times that meant we had three chances to answer the questions and listen to others’ opinion while we were doing the tea exchange. Those questions are related to the previous class. I think it is a fun way to take it as a transition and it also helps us to review the previous lessons and let us think, talk and learn from others. 

Venn Diagram

 Venn diagrams are that show hypothetically possible logical relations between a finite collection of sets. It can help students understand or explain relationships. Students can compare and contrast information from any area. For example,Ms. Tian showed us a video about a teacher teaching Chinese language and then she asked us to compare the passive teaching methods and passive teaching methods and something in between by using the Venn diagram. I think the Venn diagram can not only help us see the similarity and differences between things but also help us to think critically.

 Clock Buddies as a pair up activity

Clock Buddies is a quick and easy way to create pairs for partnered activities while avoiding the problem of students always having the same partners. It begins with a clock face, with slots for names extending from each hour. Students are given a blank handout with a blank line next to the clock hour. Each student then goes to classmates to find their clock buddy. The student can ask " Can you be my 2 o'clock buddy?' If they two agree, they write down the name on each other's 2 o'clock slot. Students can not use the name twice. They need to fill all the hours ( if students are not enough, one empty slot is OK). Each student has their classmates' names in the matching hour slot on each of their clock sheets. When the teacher needs to quickly pair up students without it always being the same partners, the teacher can say to the class: "Get with your 2 o'clock buddy." Each student will pull out his or her clock buddies sheet, look at the 2 o'clock slot, and then join the partner indicated.