Activity 1:
I learnt this one from my students. It's a good way to brighten up a coursebook exercise. Simply copy the exercise, mount it on cardboard, and cut it up like a jigzaw puzzle. That way, before students can complete the exercise, they have to put the pieces together and have a little fun.
Activity 2:
No time to plan for today? No problem as long as each student has a book (or worksheet)! Simply sit them in a circle, and get them to complete an exercise- but every minute (or less), blow a whistle or ring a bell, and they have to pass their book on to the person on their left- at the same time, they get a book from the person on their right. They then continue where the last person left off.
This way, all students will probably finish at around the same time, and the activity brings a lot of laughs.
NB: Make sure each student has a lead pencil - some students get very upset by having someone else mess up their books!
Activity 3:
This one might sound really dumb, and I don't recommend it to happen often, but sometimes teachers have those days in which there's no inspiration... In that case, choose an exercise from your coursebook, and divide your students in groups of 2 or 3.
Beforehand, for each group, make little papers with the exercise numbers on them: 1a, 1b, 1c...
Then the students work in groups, but don't follow the order of the exercise. Rather, they draw a paper (e.g. 2.c) and complete that sentence first. Then they draw another paper (e.g. 1.b) and complete that one.
Activity 4:
1. Divide the class into 3 or 4 groups (depending on the size of your board). Also, divide the board and assign a section of the board for each group.
2. Tell Ss that they will complete exercise so-and-so on the board, but only one student from each group can go up to the board at a time (one student, one sentence). If that person makes a mistake, the next student who goes up can correct it.
3. The objective is to see which team finishes first. Points can be assigned by giving 1 (or 1000!) points for each correct sentence, plus giving 2 (or 2000) points to the team which finished first, and 1 (or 1000) points to the team which finished second).
Activity 5:
If a worksheet or coursebook exercise has either/or answers, make students stand up if it's one answer, and sit down if it's the other- or any other type of action that's appropriate for your group.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Present passive
Present simple passive:
1. Beforehand, make cards with names of objects written on them, e.g. scissors, shirt, cell phone, pen, pillow, blanket, shoes, computer, broom, paper, etc.
2. Divide the class into two groups.
3. A student from one group comes to the front and picks a card. He/she then gives clues using the present simple passive to help his/her group guess the object.
For example, if the card reads "stapler", sample clues would be: "It's used for keeping papers together. It's made from metal and plastic. It's used in offices and schools."
4. For every grammatically correct clue, the team earns a point. If after three clues the team doesn't guess, the other team gets the chance to guess.
Present continuous passive:
1. Beforehand, make cards with activities in present perfect passive, such as:
-His hair is being cut.
-The floor is being swept.
-A book is being read.
2. Divide the class into two groups.
3. A student from one group comes the front and draws a card. He/she then gestures what the card says, for his/her team to guess. If after 10 secodns the team hasn't guessed, the other team is allowed to guess it.
1. Beforehand, make cards with names of objects written on them, e.g. scissors, shirt, cell phone, pen, pillow, blanket, shoes, computer, broom, paper, etc.
2. Divide the class into two groups.
3. A student from one group comes to the front and picks a card. He/she then gives clues using the present simple passive to help his/her group guess the object.
For example, if the card reads "stapler", sample clues would be: "It's used for keeping papers together. It's made from metal and plastic. It's used in offices and schools."
4. For every grammatically correct clue, the team earns a point. If after three clues the team doesn't guess, the other team gets the chance to guess.
Present continuous passive:
1. Beforehand, make cards with activities in present perfect passive, such as:
-His hair is being cut.
-The floor is being swept.
-A book is being read.
2. Divide the class into two groups.
3. A student from one group comes the front and draws a card. He/she then gestures what the card says, for his/her team to guess. If after 10 secodns the team hasn't guessed, the other team is allowed to guess it.
ESL Football
Instructions here:
http://www.esljunction.com/esl_games/football-print.html
I have used this in small groups (with one or two players per team, plus a referee): Each group gets a board and ball; the referee gets a list of questions, plus answer key, and monitors whether the teams are answering the questions correctly. This way, you can have three or four small groups playing independently, and you can walk around helping them.
http://www.esljunction.com/esl_games/football-print.html
I have used this in small groups (with one or two players per team, plus a referee): Each group gets a board and ball; the referee gets a list of questions, plus answer key, and monitors whether the teams are answering the questions correctly. This way, you can have three or four small groups playing independently, and you can walk around helping them.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Discussion wheels
Discussion wheels
Submitted by Nik Peachey on 23 June, 2002 - 13:00
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/discussion-wheels
Discussion wheels are a good way of giving students time to think and formulate opinions before they do discussion work. They work particularly well with areas of discussion which can have ranges of agreement or disagreement.
Preparation :
1. To create a discussion wheel you simply need 8 or 10 contentious sentences based around a theme which you would like the students to discuss.
2. Draw a circle on a piece of paper and draw lines through the circle (one line for each sentence) so that the circle is divided into segments.
3. At the end of each line, write one of the sentences, then make sure to copy enough so that each student has one.
Discussion wheel template 49.9 KB
Procedure:
1. Give each student out their own discussion wheel and get them to look at the sentences and put a cross on the line next to the sentence according to how much they agree or disagree with it. A cross near the centre of the circle indicates strong disagreement and one near the edge of the circle can indicate strong agreement. A cross half way along the line can mean they are undecided.
2. Once your students have had time to put crosses on each of the lines they can then start to discuss. This can be done in a number of ways. The easiest in terms of classroom management is for you to give them a partner to discuss with (the person next to them or on the table in front of them).
3. If you have the space though, you can ask the students to connect all the crosses so that they form a shape and then stand up and mingle round the class to find the person in the class who has a similar shape to their own. (This has no real pedagogical value, but can be a nice way to get students up and moving and get them to talk to other people in their class.)
4. Once they have a partner to talk to, get them to discuss and explain their opinions and see if they can convince their partner to change the position of the crosses.
5. This approach gives the students more of a supportive framework and a goal for their discussion. If you have time and the students are doing well they can discuss with a number of partners, or you can show them your own discussion wheel with your crosses and see if they can convince you to move your crosses.
This is an idea that I first saw in a book called 'Short stories for Creative Language Classrooms' by Joanne Collie and Stephen Slater (P 52).
Nik Peachey, teacher, trainer, materials writer, British Council
Submitted by Nik Peachey on 23 June, 2002 - 13:00
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/activities/discussion-wheels
Discussion wheels are a good way of giving students time to think and formulate opinions before they do discussion work. They work particularly well with areas of discussion which can have ranges of agreement or disagreement.
Preparation :
1. To create a discussion wheel you simply need 8 or 10 contentious sentences based around a theme which you would like the students to discuss.
2. Draw a circle on a piece of paper and draw lines through the circle (one line for each sentence) so that the circle is divided into segments.
3. At the end of each line, write one of the sentences, then make sure to copy enough so that each student has one.
Discussion wheel template 49.9 KB
Procedure:
1. Give each student out their own discussion wheel and get them to look at the sentences and put a cross on the line next to the sentence according to how much they agree or disagree with it. A cross near the centre of the circle indicates strong disagreement and one near the edge of the circle can indicate strong agreement. A cross half way along the line can mean they are undecided.
2. Once your students have had time to put crosses on each of the lines they can then start to discuss. This can be done in a number of ways. The easiest in terms of classroom management is for you to give them a partner to discuss with (the person next to them or on the table in front of them).
3. If you have the space though, you can ask the students to connect all the crosses so that they form a shape and then stand up and mingle round the class to find the person in the class who has a similar shape to their own. (This has no real pedagogical value, but can be a nice way to get students up and moving and get them to talk to other people in their class.)
4. Once they have a partner to talk to, get them to discuss and explain their opinions and see if they can convince their partner to change the position of the crosses.
5. This approach gives the students more of a supportive framework and a goal for their discussion. If you have time and the students are doing well they can discuss with a number of partners, or you can show them your own discussion wheel with your crosses and see if they can convince you to move your crosses.
This is an idea that I first saw in a book called 'Short stories for Creative Language Classrooms' by Joanne Collie and Stephen Slater (P 52).
Nik Peachey, teacher, trainer, materials writer, British Council
Song: my time's running too fast
This song leads to interesting discussion.
My Time’s Running Too Fast (performed by The Real Group)
INSTRUCTIONS:
As you listen to the song, on the blank spaces write the number of the order in which each section appears. Some sections appear more than once!
1 .
My time's running too fast
I tell you my time's running too fast
Today the future becomes the past
Somehow the tempo is way too high
Somehow the tempo is way too high
I can't see any reason why
Somehow the tempo is way too high
____ ____ ____ _____
Think of all the time
… that you can work
to make more money
to buy you things you need
to save time that......
____
On the highway of life
l find no place to rest
By the high speed of light
I'm completely impressed
____ ____
Every time I decide
to slow down and shift gear
I can hear all these voices
repeat in my ear;
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Run run run
If you want to have fun fun fun
Life has only begun gun gun
Go ahead and just run run run
You can never stop
_____
I just want to get out
I know that I just want to get out
Today I see what life is about
I know that I just want to get out
I try to cool down and lower the pace
____ ____
Don't look back
Stay on the track
Don't ever slow down
My Time’s Running Too Fast (performed by The Real Group)
INSTRUCTIONS:
As you listen to the song, on the blank spaces write the number of the order in which each section appears. Some sections appear more than once!
1 .
My time's running too fast
I tell you my time's running too fast
Today the future becomes the past
Somehow the tempo is way too high
Somehow the tempo is way too high
I can't see any reason why
Somehow the tempo is way too high
____ ____ ____ _____
Think of all the time
… that you can work
to make more money
to buy you things you need
to save time that......
____
On the highway of life
l find no place to rest
By the high speed of light
I'm completely impressed
____ ____
Every time I decide
to slow down and shift gear
I can hear all these voices
repeat in my ear;
____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____
Run run run
If you want to have fun fun fun
Life has only begun gun gun
Go ahead and just run run run
You can never stop
_____
I just want to get out
I know that I just want to get out
Today I see what life is about
I know that I just want to get out
I try to cool down and lower the pace
____ ____
Don't look back
Stay on the track
Don't ever slow down
Pronunciation/ listening games (minimal pairs)
These ideas help give variety to what would otherwise be a boring pronunciation drill.
1. For open vowels, mouth them, so students "lip-read" by noticing the shape of you mouth. This will raise awareness as to how the sounds are produced. For example, you read out "I need a ..."
and then you either mouth "pin" or "pan".
2. With minimal pairs, such as /i/ and /e/, get them to raise their left hand if you say a word with /i/, and their right hand if you say a word with /e/.
Alternatively, divide the class into two groups, each group standing up when they hear one vowel.
3. Dictate (and get students to dictate) sentences such as "Draw a hut next to a track", while the SS draw. They might just end up drawing a hat next to a truck! This helps make them more aware of how improtant it is to pronounce clearly.
4. Picture cards: There are so many ways to use cards! One is to give out pictures representing "pin", "pen", "chick", "cheque", then get students to find their "partner"- a word with the same consonants but different vowel. Then, you can dictate sentences containing those words, and the students put up their picture when it's mentioned. Other Ss can also read out sentences.
You can also have a mad dash, with all the cards in the middle, and students trying to be the first to grab the cards when you call out the word.
While not all these activities get students pronouncing, they do raise awareness and improve receptive skills. This is important because many of the pronunciation problems are due to a lack in listnening ability rather than in production - students can't "hear" the right sound in the first place, let alone produce it!
Thanks to http://www.eslflow.com/pronunciationlessonplans.html for some of these ideas!
1. For open vowels, mouth them, so students "lip-read" by noticing the shape of you mouth. This will raise awareness as to how the sounds are produced. For example, you read out "I need a ..."
and then you either mouth "pin" or "pan".
2. With minimal pairs, such as /i/ and /e/, get them to raise their left hand if you say a word with /i/, and their right hand if you say a word with /e/.
Alternatively, divide the class into two groups, each group standing up when they hear one vowel.
3. Dictate (and get students to dictate) sentences such as "Draw a hut next to a track", while the SS draw. They might just end up drawing a hat next to a truck! This helps make them more aware of how improtant it is to pronounce clearly.
4. Picture cards: There are so many ways to use cards! One is to give out pictures representing "pin", "pen", "chick", "cheque", then get students to find their "partner"- a word with the same consonants but different vowel. Then, you can dictate sentences containing those words, and the students put up their picture when it's mentioned. Other Ss can also read out sentences.
You can also have a mad dash, with all the cards in the middle, and students trying to be the first to grab the cards when you call out the word.
While not all these activities get students pronouncing, they do raise awareness and improve receptive skills. This is important because many of the pronunciation problems are due to a lack in listnening ability rather than in production - students can't "hear" the right sound in the first place, let alone produce it!
Thanks to http://www.eslflow.com/pronunciationlessonplans.html for some of these ideas!
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