oral sentence completion

This activity works well for exercises where students have to complete sentences with their own ideas, such as:

• comparatives and superlatives: ..... is not as interesting as ...
• conditionals: If I were older, ...
• present perfect: I have always wanted to .../ I have never... before

Instructions:

1. You should have a series (about 15- 20 or more, depending on your number of students) of sentences (cues) ready. Put it up on an overhead, or give each student (or each pair of students) a copy.
2. Divide students into groups of no more than 6 people.
3. Have a timer ready.
4. Each group will stand up front, and will have 3o seconds to say as many sentences as they can. Two conditions apply: The same person cannot say two sentences in a row - he/she must give the chance to other members of the group. Secondly, they must produce the sentences in the order in which they are given; they cannot choose their cues.
5. Give one point for each correct sentence.
6. After 30 seconds, the next group comes up and continues producing sentences where the previous group left off.

as ... as (warmup)

Hold out your hand. Ask the students if any of them have a bigger hand than yours, a smaller hand, and if any of them have hands as big as yours (or one of the students' who has gone up). Ask them to come to the front.

You can then make sentences using their (and your) hands as an example:


Arthur's hand is (just) as big as Keita's.
Marlise's hand is not quite as big as Keita's.
Kristina's hand is almost as big as Marlise's.
Kristina's hand is not nearly as big as Keita's.

Bring me... (comparatives and superlatives)

This has worked as a good warmup activity for reviewing comparatives and superlatives (assuming that students have already studied it sometime before). It really brings energy to the class.

Divide students into groups. Then tell them that the first group to bring the objects you ask for, will win points.
You can say sentences such as the following:

"Bring me the thickest dictionary"
"Bring me the messiest folder."
"Bring me the whitest shoes."
"Bring me a cell phone which is bigger than mine."
"Bring me a watch which is smaller than mine."