Special news about March posts!

March is a joyful and fruitful month for English teachers worldwide. Two of the most important events are taking place in the upcoming weeks: the IATEFL Conference in Glasgow and the TESOL Convention in Philadelphia. To keep the festive spirits up, our blog has a special gift for you all: Vinicius Lemos is presenting a solo project in Philadelphia (poster session: Achieving Excellence in EFL Classroom Language Practice Through Magazines) and has decided to share some of his ideas first-hand  before anyone else has a chance to learn about them at the convention! And that`s not all: this month we are going to post 2 activities every week! So, collect all those old magazines you were about to throw away and learn how to utilize them creatively in your English classes! We hope you enjoy this month`s special!

Activity 55- What would you do? (TESOL 2012 special post )

                                          picture credits: themothersofinvention.com

Here is a great opportunity for students to practice the Second Conditional in a very authentic way using random pictures taken from magazine articles or ads!

Level: Intermediate

Language Focus: Second Conditional

Skill: speaking

Material needed: random pictures taken from magazines (people, situations, places)

Instructions: Write on the board: "What would you do if you were there? What would you do if you were him/her/them?" Then, explain that students are going to work in pairs and answer the questions based on the pictures that they are going to see . Display the pictures around the classroom and ask students to rotate as they discuss each picture. Encourage them to support their answers with reasons and detailed explanations.

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 54- Mini Drama

                                          Video snippets taken from Youtube

Here is a great strategy that can be adapted to different short video segments. Students will definitely have a ball!

Level: Any

Skill: speaking

Material needed: short video segments from popular tv series 

Instructions:

Show the video segment with no sound on. Then ask students to work in groups and create the lines for the scene. After groups have prepared and rehearsed the lines, volunteers go to the front and speak the lines as the scene is being shown in the screen. 

Tip: write on the board the number of times each character speaks so that the group can work on the necessary number of lines properly.Example:

 Everybody Hates Chris

GREG

CHRIS

GREG

CHRIS (students can invent a line for the moment Chris is screaming)

Glee

SANTANA

FINN

SANTANA

RACHEL

SANTANA

FINN

SANTANA 

FINN

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 53- 2012 Audi Superbowl Commercial

Here is a short activity that can be done with groups of teens using one of the traditionally creative Superbowl adds.

Level:  basic/intermediate

Skill: speaking

Material needed: Youtube video

Instructions: 

Show the first 25 seconds of the video (moment right before the vampire in the car actually arrives at the party) and elicit what students know about vampires (things they like to do, eat, drink, limitations, habits,skills,etc). Then, continue showing the rest of the video until 0:45 (after all vampires at the party have been destroyed) and ask the students "WHAT HAPPENED? WHY DO YOU THINK ALL THE VAMPIRES WERE DESTROYED?". Ask students to sit in small groups and give them some time to discuss and speculate what might have happened. Elicit their ideas and then show the rest of the video so that they can check what really happened and if they were right about their guesses. Follow-up discussion: Ask students " HOW DO VAMPIRES TODAY DIFFER FROM THE ONES IN THE PAST? HAVE THEY CHANGED MUCH?" This is a nice wrap-up question that can get a lot of students engaged, specially if they are fan of the Twilight saga.

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 52- Ask Me If You Can!

                                                  picture credits: clivejones.com.au

In this activity, students exercise spontaneity and creativity as they practice questions and answers using common question words. This activity is easily adaptable to different levels and verb tenses.

Level: Basic or Intermediate

Skill: Speaking

Materials needed: as many cards with different question words as the number of students and 2 balls

Instructions:

Give each student a card with a question word and ask them to make a circle, so that they can see each other. Explain that the card they are holding has the question word the other classmates are going to use in questions directed to them (for example: if I am holding a card with the question word WHAT , it means that people are going to ask me questions using WHAT ). Give a student a ball and give another student a different ball (other objects can be used). Decide with the students which ball represents the questions and which ball represents the answers. Just like a hot potato game, play some music and ask them to pass the balls around. When the music stops, the student who has the ball representing the questions should ask a question to the student with the ball representing the answers. After playing it for a while the cards can be shuffled and redistributed.

Suggestions of question words to be used:

WHO

WHAT

WHERE

WHEN

HOW MUCH
HOW MANY

WHOSE

WHY

HOW OFTEN

HOW LONG

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 51- Writing a Simile

                                              picture credits: libestpvlearners.blogspot.com

 Level: advanced

Skill: writing

Material needed: 2 piles of cards

Instructions: 

Put two sets of cards on the table. One set contains abstract words and the other set contains concrete words.  Ask students to pick a card from each pile and write a simile. Example: DRAMA     MONEY   “Drama is like money, the more you have it the more people you attract” “ Drama is like money, sometimes you keep it for a long time and suddenly you feel like showing the world you have got lots of it”

Suggestions of abstract words:

LOVE 

FEAR

HAPPINESS

FRIENDSHIP

HATE

COMPETENCE

DRAMA

SADNESS

PASSION

Suggestion of concrete words:

MOTHERS

A BALL

A CAR

DOGS

MONEY

SUGAR

A PHONE

A MIRROR

THE SUN

Source:  Vinicius Lemos

Be ready for more in 2012!

                                          picture credits: whitesandvacationrents.com

Dear teachers,

Summer vacations are over in Brazil and we are ready to start the year with great ideas to share with you all. Stay connected and learn about all the exciting new things taking place in our page in 2012! New posts begin in February, you don`t wanna miss them! Cheers , Vânia & Vinicius

Activity 50- The Dictionary Game

                                          picture credits: thefastlife.org

This is an interesting suggestion to work with vocabulary in more advanced groups.

Level: Intermediate/Advanced

Skills: writing, listening, speaking, reading

Material needed: English dictionaries

Instructions:

Divide class into different teams and give each team a dictionary. Ask the groups to find 2 different words in the dictionary and write a correct definition for them (students can copy the definition from the dictionary or adapt it). Then ask them to come up with 2 more fake definitions for the same word. Each team should then read the word and the 3 definitions (in no particular order) while the other teams should vote for the definition they think is the correct one. Every time a team guesses the correct definition, they get a point. In the end, the group with more points is the champion. As a follow-up, teacher can ask students to make up contextualized sentences using the learned words.

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 49- Balloon Storytelling

                                                     picture credits: mom-101.blogspot.com

Here is a fun activity that should appeal to children and teenagers. The principle behind it is very similar to a previously posted activity (Colored Balloons) but it is a lot more challenging. Great warmer to start your class, specially if the students are learning the simple past.

Level: basic or upper

Skill: speaking

Material needed: a balloon

Instructions:

Tell students that they have to keep a balloon in the air at all times. The teacher begins telling the story by throwing a balloon in the air. Students have to say a word/phrase/sentence as they knock the balloon upwards. If they cannot think of a word to say, they must say 'er''urn' etc. If they let the balloon touch the floor or a piece of furniture, they are out. A student can start a new story every time someones gets eliminated.

Source: britishcouncil.org

Activity 48- Write the News

                                           picture credits: topmagazines.wordpress.com

Writing can definitely be fun if the teacher varies the techniques and get students to work on different and creative tasks. Here is a nice idea to get your students writing with no pain!

 Level: Intermediate or upper

Skill: Writing

Material needed: an English-spoken magazine and copies of the article to be used

Instructions:

Bring to class a magazine that would appeal to the audience you have and write on the board the headline from an article appropriate for their age and general interests. Tell them that they are going to write a short magazine article based on the headline displayed on the board. Students can work individually or in groups and they can share their stories after they are done. As a follow up, give students a copy of the original article, read it with them and discuss how similar their versions were to the original piece as far as content and vocabulary is concerned.

Source: Vinicius Lemos