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

Activity 47- Fly Swatters

                                                    picture credits: getridofitall.com

Here is a nice strategy that can be adapted to any lesson, group or level! It is a dynamic warmer to review vocabulary!

Level: any

Skill: Listening

Material needed : two fly swatters and vocabulary slips (words can be written on the board!)

Instructions:

Divide class into two different groups and give each group a flyswatter. Display all vocabulary slips on the board (or write them).Call out a definition (explaining the word or giving out synonyms) and the first student to "swat" the correct word gets a point for the group. in the end, the group with more points is the winner!

Source: adapted from David Malatesta- Activities for the ESL Classroom