Activity 41- What`s the Story?

                                                    picture credits: bobfoote.com

Do you have some English language magazines and you don`t know what to do with them? Here is a great tip for you!

Level: upper intermediate or advanced

Skills: reading,speaking, listening and writing

Materials needed: a magazine and writing paper

Instructions:

Bring a magazine to class and show the students the picture of an article. Tell them that the objective of the activity is to guess the content of the article. Split the students into small groups. Display on the board some key questions to trigger their creativity (the teacher needs to prepare some interesting questions beforehand to help students give some direction to their stories). Give them some minutes to brainstorm all the ideas. Later, have groups report their ideas to the whole class. Provide students with a copy of the article and have them read it. As a follow-up, the class can briefly discuss the similarities and differences between their versions of the story and the actual one.

* If time allows, students can write their version of the story before they actually get to read the original story.

* Variation: instead of using a magazine, visit a news website and print a recent article or story.

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 40- Slave of Fashion

                                           picture credits: fashionclothingguides.blogspot.com

 Are you teaching vocabulary related to clothes? He is a very meaningful way to practice it!

Level: Beginners

Skills: Speaking + writing

Materials: Clothes of all styles such as dresses, bellbottoms, jackets, shorts, coats, skirts of all patterns and colors. It would also be good to bring some personal accessories such as rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets, hats and caps. 

HOW TO PLAY:

1. The teacher places the clothes on the wall or table. He/she asks students to choose clothes which would fit the following styles:

a)    Hippie

b)    Gypsy

c)    Skater

d)    Surfer

e)    Conservative

f)     Fancy

And so on.

2. The teacher should have cards with family members and verbs such as like, wear, hate, dislike, go, and put on.  
3. Then, the teacher places the cards on the board and asks students to come up with conversations, using the Simple Present tense.

E.g.:  Do you always wear baggy pants?

         Yes, I do. I like to wear… every time I… or No, I don’t I sometimes wear…

Does your mother wear jeans and a jacket?

Yes, she does. // No, she doesn’t.

Source: Vânia Rodrigues- Adapted from “Virando a Página” – SBS.

Activity 39- M&M`s Make Students Talk

                                               picture credits: wellsphere.com

Here is a very fun strategy that is very effective with kids and teenagers. The best thing about it: it can be adapted to several different grammar points!

Level: Any Level

Skills: Speaking

Materials: A bowl of small candies

HOW TO PLAY:

1. Pass a bowl of candies around.
2. Ask students to get as many pieces of candy as they would like, but don’t let students eat them yet.
3. Ask students to say something about themselves in English for every piece of candy that they have taken.

Variation: The teacher should also say something about herself/himself for every piece of candy left.

Source: Vânia Rodrigues

Activity 38- Site Words

                                          picture credits: tripletdiaries.com

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Skills: Speaking and Writing

Materials: Laminated folders with double grids, vis-à-vis markers or a copy of two identical grids for each player.

OBJECT OF THE GAME: To be the first player to identify all three of the opponent’s words.

HOW TO PLAY:

1. Using the markers or pens to be used on the photocopied grids, each player writes one 3-letter word, one 4-letter word and one 5-letter word (they are the secret words) on top grid folder (horizontally and vertically only – not reversed or diagonally).
2. First player names a letter-number combination to specify a square on the grid.
3. The opponent repeats that letter and number (to clarify location) and must tell what letter is in that square or reply with a negative response. The first player then fills in the letter or, if no letter is in the location, draws a small dot to indicate that the space has been called out.
4. The players continue to alternate guessing locations until one player is able to identify all three of the opponent’s words.

TO MAKE SITE WORDS:

1. Two identical grids are glued inside of a file folder. Numbers and letters are written across the top and side of the grid so that locations can be pinpointed.
2. The folders are laminated so that students can write on them and erase after the game (optional if you are using a photocopied sheet of paper with the grids).

TIPS FOR SITE WORDS:

1. Use any letter-number combinations that you want for the pairs of folders.
2. Players must choose words that the opponents will know. This is a good activity to review the target vocabulary of a Unit (a glossary of a picture dictionary can also be used to help students locate the words). The teacher should also check spelling before the game begins.
3. The teacher should advise students that proper nouns should not be used.

Source: Vânia Rodrigues

Activity 37- In One Word

                                              picture credits: astronlogia.com

Here is an idea for a simple idea that can be used as a speaking or writing activity. Moreover, it`s a great opportunity to break the ice and promote some interaction in class.

Level: intermediate or upper 

Skills: speaking or writing

Materials needed: none

Instructions:

Ask students to think of a word that  best represents their last weekend. Have students write the word on their notebook or just say it out loud. Students sit in groups or pair up with a classmate and explain why they picked that word.

Variations: 

a)Students can think of words that best represent their : day, last vacation,mother,personality, work, country,etc.

b)Instead of sitting in groups to talk about their words, students can write a short paragraph.

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 36- Real Life Questions

                                            picture credits: high-output.com

 Here is a good idea to use with adult learners as an ice-breaker in the beginning of the class. 

Tip: Students can answer the questions orally or in paper. Questions can be displayed on the board. 

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

Skills: Speaking

Material needed: To guide the students, a piece of paper with the questions below 

Instructions: 

1. Name three things that can be attractive.
2. What is something your boss can take pride in or be proud of?
3. What did you hear in the few weeks that was surprising or that you were surprised about?
4. Describe a situation during which you felt confident about it.
5.  Why is it believed that “the wicked stepmother is always ugly”?
6.  Name three desirable characteristics.
Source: Vânia Rodrigues

Activity 35- Draw the Sentence

                                          picture credits: markandrews.edublogs.org

 

Practice the Present Continuous with a fun and engaging game! Teen students will definitely have a blast!

Grammar point: Present Continuous

Level: Basic

Skill: speaking

Material needed: slips with sentences

Instructions:

Divide class into 2 teams and explain that they have to pick a slip and draw the sentence written in it. 

Reinforce the idea that all sentences are in the Present Continuous and that the possibilities are "He is _____ing/She is _____ing/They are _____ing"

Reming the student who is going to draw on the board of the basic rules: no miming, no speaking, no writing words!

Each team has one minute to shout the correct sentence (and remind them that to get the point they have to shout the sentence as it is written in the slip!).

Suggestions of sentences to be used:

 They are speaking Chinese

He is cooking chicken pizza

She is kissing a frog

They are dancing hip hop

He is going home

She is writing an email

They are playing handball

He is riding a pony

She is washing an elephant

They are drinking lemon juice

He is doing the homework

She is singing opera

They are cleaning the swimming pool

The more complex and odd the sentences are, the more fun the students will have!

Source: Vinicius Lemos, inspired by Paul Seligson and his book English File

Activity 34- What Do I Know About My Group?

                                              picture credits: wealthworld.blog.com

Here is a nice idea to build up rapport in class by discussing what they know and remember about their classmates.

Level: any

Skills: writing, speaking and listening

Material needed: slips of paper

Instructions:

Before class write the name of each student on a slip of paper. In class, give each student a slip and make sure the student doesn`t get the slip with his/her own name. Explain to the students that they are going to have 5 minutes to write down up to 5 things they remember about that person. Collect the slips, read them aloud and ask students to guess who that student is. As a follow up, you can ask students to sit in pairs or in groups and talk a bit more about the information in their slips.

Source: adapted from eslsite.com

Activity 33- Mime the Picture

                                          picture credits: getasecondlife.net

Here is a simple but interesting activity to practice fluency in the classroom! The best thing : students will definitely have fun!

Level: advanced

Skill: speaking

Material needed: pictures of people in different poses.

Instructions:

Ask students to pair up with a classmate and decide who is A and who is B. Student B should turn around or close eyes. Show student A a picture of someone in a specific pose. Tell student A that the objective of the activity is to make student B do the same pose as the one in the picture, however student A cannot touch student B or do any body language so as to help him or her; the only thing student A can do is give directions and explain what student B should do with the body to look exactly the same as the person in the picture! After 2 minutes , student B freezes and teacher compares the picture with the poses. Students can vote for the most similar pose. Then, students switch roles and do the activity again with a different picture.

Source: unknown

Activity 32- If you objects could talk, what would they say to you?

                                                       picture credits: money.cnn.com

This works beautifully with older teens and adults and can be used as a starter to break the ice.

Level: low intermediate or upper

Skills: Writing, speaking and listening

Material needed: none

Instructions:

Ask students to open their notebooks and grab a pencil. Ask students to imagine what their personal objects would say to them if they could talk. Provide them with some examples (shoes : "please, wash me more often" "I wish you would go out with me more often" "Can`t you see I`m old fashioned nowadays?") and tell them they are free to choose the grammar structure they are going to use to write their sentences.

Some suggestions for this activity:

PAIR OF SHOES

CELLPHONE

CREDIT CARD

PILLOW

CAR

MIRROR

BACKPACK

WALLET

BIKE

VIDEO GAME

NOTEBOOK

REFRIGERATOR

After the students have written their sentences, ask them to pair up or sit in small groups and ask them to read their sentences and take advantage of this situation to explain and discuss a little bit why their objects would say such a thing. To wrap up the activity, have some volunteers share some of their sentences and explanations with the whole group.

Source: Unknown