One of the main problems with most lesson planning material is adapting it to specific classroom needs.
Over several articles, we will list the typical problems which normally make activities unusable for a teacher's specific class, and how to get around the problem by adapting the way the activity is presented.
We will identify principles for adapting activities to allow nearly any lesson plan to be usable, regardless of your class profile.
To illustrate the these principles, and how they can be applied, we will take a simple warmer activity: Name of activity: Chinese whispers.

• Divide the students into two equal groups.
  
• Have the members of each team sit in a line, with opposite teams facing each other.
  
• There should be as much distance between the two lines as possible.
  
• The teacher sits at the head of the two lines and whispers a sentence to the first person in each line.
  
• This student has to pass the sentence on to the next student by whispering, and in this way the sentence is passed down the line.
  
• When sentence reaches the last student, he/she stands up, runs to the teacher, and repeats the sentence to the teacher.
  
• If it is the same sentence the teacher said to the firststudent and is correctly repeated, the team wins a point.
  

Part I.
The problem of student numbers in a class.
Here are solutions and principles to adapting activities to all the different variables in student numbers: 1) A class with only one teacher and one student! Here, there are no students to pass the sentence on.
Impossible to adapt? No! Solution: adapt the activity by creating 'virtual' students:

• The teacher says a first set of sentences (between three and seven) to the student.
  The number of sentences depends on their complexity and the student's competence.
  
• The student listens and then repeats them into a voice recorder.
  
• The teacher then says a second set of sentences, which the student then also repeats into the voice recorder.
  
• The teacher then plays back the first set of sentences that the student recorded.
  
• The student listens and is recorded repeating them again.
  
• Then the teacher plays back the second set of sentences that the student recorded.
  
• The student listens and is recorded repeating them again.
  
• Finally, the student repeats the sentences for the last time, without recording, and sees how much variation from the original teacher's sentences has been created.
  

Principle: Here, the recorder has 'multiplied' the number of students, allowing the information to be passed on (like in the original activity).
Use other supports (recorders/the written word/role play cards etc.
) to replace the fact there are no other students, and have the single student multitask! Note: If you try this activity, you will find it is very revealing in terms of identifying the more ingrained mistakes that the student suffers from.
2) A class with between 2 to 5 students.
In this case, there are not enough students to create 2 lines of competing students (a minimum of 3 students per line is needed for the game to work well) Solution: Make the sentences slightly more complex, and simply have the original teacher's sentence travel from one student to the next and back to the teacher.
The students are thus playing against themselves to see how many they can get right.
Principle: When an activity requires more students, it is always possible to scale down or simplify the system the activity needs.
3) A class with an odd number of students.
The problem here is that one of the two lines will have an unfair advantage - the one with the least number of students! This is a big 'no, no' in competitive classroom games.
Solutions: a) You need a minimum of 3 students per line to make this activity work, so if you have 7 students, ask one to volunteer to take the teachers place.
Students often enjoy this role more than joining in the activity! b) With nine or more students, work with a combination of an odd number of lines, and the above suggestion of replacing the teacher until team numbers are balanced.
Principle: The teacher can always be used as an 'expendible' part of an activity, being included, or not.
Passing on the teacher's role to students is also a valuable teaching technique in its own right.
4) A large class.
The ideal number of students in a line is about five.
But for groups of 30 or 40 students (not uncommon in many countries), large numbers of students returning simultaneously to the teacher with the repeated sentence can make it impossible for the teacher to declare a winner, as students talk over each other! Solution: Make the sentences considerably more complex.
This slows down the rate at which it travels down the line and effectively staggers the rate at which students come to you.
You may also include queuing up before repeating the sentence as a rule.
Principle: Adjust the complexity required of the students to pace an activity, and include peripheral rules to overcome problems that crop up.
They can be invented n the spot - the students never mind! 5) A group with students of an uneven level.
Here the problem could arise from a less competent student/s causing a disadvantage to a team due to slowness or a high level of inaccuracy.
Solution: a) Instead of a 'first past the post' approach, set a generous time limit for the sentence to reach you.
This will increase the chances of a weaker student performing well.
b) Instead of having individuals pass on the sentences, have pairs of students passing on the sentences.
This is actually a very fun alternative to consider anyway - particularly with large student numbers.
Principle: Decide if a race or a time limit activity is best for your purposes.
Always use student pairs to overcome differences in capabilities.
Part II on this subject will talk about adapting lesson plans to different age groups.