Thank you notes with Barack Obama - an end of semester activity

Saying goodbye is never easy (OK, I guess there are some exceptionally terrible groups where it would be easy...). I always become quite emotional and I just don't know how I'll get used to saying goodbye to at least 40 people all at once... At least, it's quite difficult for them as well. I mean, if you have a great group, they will miss each other for sure.

Here's an activity which is perfect for a last lesson - it will make them feel great about the time they spent together and about themselves as well.

Level: B1 on

Time: 10 mins

Materials: this video and slips of paper (little cards, optionally)

Procedure:

1. Show them the video. (Little background story: it was shot after Trump's election... you might say some words about it)

2. Tell the students that they'll have the same task: They will have to write thank you notes to 3 people in the classroom: one to the person sitting on their right, one sitting on their left and one to anyone else in the room. (So that you guarantee that everyone gets a thank you note.)

3. Give them 5 minutes to write their notes.

4. You can ask them to read them out OR ask them to exchange the notes. (I asked my students which one they would prefer and they wanted to exchange them.)

5. If they feel so they can share what they received... but I'm not sure you absolutely need to know...

Comments:

Now, I deliberately wrote step 5... I'm a control freak and I'm extremely curious, so I would have wanted to know what they had written. This was my feeling during the time my first group was writing their notes... Then, I did this activity in two more groups and I got over it... It was enough for me to see their happy faces and eventual tears in their eyes. It was quite a touching experience for me and for them as well.

At this point I just have to add: if you have time and your group is very close to you, write a thank you note to every single one of them - they will appreciate it a lot. It will stay with them for a long time...

One more thing, which made this activity particularly memorable for me: some of them gave me a note as well ("one to anyone else in the room"). I got one of the best appreciation notes in my career: Thank you Rita for making me step out of my comfort zone.