> Is the idea of an English Corner to get the students to speak English
> or the foreign teachers to answer questions about whether they like
> Chinese food?

I know what you mean. Recently I started teaching at a school in China having never taught before. I always thought I was a creative person but sometimes I've got by riding on the fact that I was a 'foreigner' and hence 'interesting' rather than any actual ability. We started an English corner and at first it seemed quite difficult.

Setting a topic was the first necessity I found. After that it was still obvious that many students were less confident than others and hence some spoke often while others did not. So I spent about half an hour explaining to them that to learn better they should open their mouths no matter how shy they felt. Soon they would feel better, I told them. I asked them to help each other as much as possible. Getting the students to interact with each other in English is a bit difficult. I think they would prefer to talk with the teacher one by one in English and then speak Chinese with each other.

Yesterday I came up with an idea that worked well. I drew a picture of a dragon and asked random students to hold it while other random students asked the dragon questions such as "where to you live?" "what do you eat?". The student would answer to the best of his/her ability from a dragon's point of view. So it was fun and creative at the same time and involved little teacher chin-wagging. I guess I'll repeat this technique often!

Another thing that was useful to control the English Corner situation is to use a pretent microphone. I think will increase the enjoyability of the class and spark imaginitivity also. But I haven't tried this yet!

I will surely reply if I have more ideas! Please share all of yours too, email is always cool! Anyone in Jinan is welcome to meet up.

Ali.