Activity 58- Free-Association News (TESOL 2012 special post)

                                          picture credits: fraiing.blogspot.com

 In this activity students are challenged  to write a short piece of news using a set of pre-established words.

Level: any

Skill: writing

Materials needed: random pictures and words cut out from magazines

Instructions:

Explain that students are going to be journalists for a day: they have to write a short piece of news! Give each student a magazine picture and a set of cut-out words (about 5) and tell them they have 10-15 minutes to write the news contextualizing the given words. As a follow-up, students can display their works on the wall so that everyone can read them and vote for the most interesting story.

Source: Vinicius Lemos

Activity 57- Dictate The Picture (TESOL 2012 special post)

                                           picture credits: videojug.com

Level: Intermediate and Upper

Skills: Speaking and Listening

Material needed: random magazine pictures

Instructions: 

Show one student a picture of a person (doing something unusual or in a funny pose) or an interesting landscape and ask him/her to describe  the scene to the rest of the class with as many details as possible. Based on what is being said, the other classmates should try to draw it. Tell the students that they are allowed to ask questions about some details in case they want to. Later, students should compare their drawings and check if what they had just done is actually similar to the magazine picture.

Variation: Instead of drawing, students can mime the person's pose being described, turning it into a fun bodily-kinesthetic activity.

Source: Adapted from http://iteslj.org

Activity 56- List 10 Differences (TESOL 2012 special post)

                                           picture credits: tadias.com

Pick up a magazine , cut out any two pictures that have a theme in common and you have an activity ready for your class. Simple as that!

Level: any

Skill: writing and/or speaking

Material needed: pairs of similar pictures (two people, two places, two objects, two situations, etc) taken from any magazines

Instructions:

Pair up students or have them work in small groups. Explain that the objective of the activity is to look at the two pictures and list down 10 differences they are able to spot. Emphasize that the differences might not be very obvious, so that their creativity is going to be essential for the successful completion of the task. The winner is the pair or group that finishes the list first. 

Variations:

- Different pairs of pictures can be assigned to each  group.

- This can be transformed into a speaking activity if different pairs of pictures are displayed around the classroom and students rotate discussing the differences they can spot.

-Instead of listing the differences, students can work on the similarities.

Source: Vinicius Lemos (adapted from iteslj.org)

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