Friday's activity

Food from my country

Over the last week I've posted a range of activities, each with a different aim. Today I am posting an entire lesson so there are multiple aims. As you read about the lesson, think about the aim(s) of each stage of the lesson.

Lesson aim: To practise listening, reading, writing and speaking skills

Age: Ages 10 and up

Level: Pre-intermediate and above

Time: 30-50 minutes (depending on whether you extend it to writing)

Preparation:  Choose a dish from your country. Prepare how to describe the dish to someone and to explain how to make it. Get some pictures of the dish and ingredients if possible.

Procedure

1. Tell the students that you will describe a typical meal in your country.  Write 3 sets of words on the board in these categories: Ingredients / Ways of cooking / Taste. Depending on the students’ level include 5-8 words in each category. 3 of the words (at least) will be words you will include in your talk. Ask students to copy them. Check the meaning of the words.
2. Explain to students that they should listen to your talk and circle the words they hear you use.
3. Deliver your talk and students do the task.  They can compare in pairs before you check with them.
4. Now hand out (on one piece of paper each student as jumbled sentences, or preferably on cut up strips that you give to groups of 2/3 students) sentences that describe the procedure for making the dish. Ask students to guess the order of the sentences (stages of making the dish).
5. Explain the procedure and students listen and check their order.
6. Clarify any vocabulary as necessary.
7. Ask students to work in small groups to choose a dish from Vietnam. They should plan how to tell a foreign visitor about the dish.  Show them how to brainstorm (ingredients, ways of cooking, taste, procedure for cooking).
8. One student from each group should prepare to explain their dish to the class. (This can be done in another lesson).

Extension

This procedure can be followed to prepare students to deliver talks on all kinds of topics (a celebration, New Year, a custom etc). Basically, you give a model which provides listening and reading practice for the students and they produce their own talk which gives them writing and speaking practice. This is an integrated-skills lesson with multiple aims.

Thursday's activity

Fast, freaky animals

Here's an activity for those of you with younger learners but it could be adapted into a pictionary style task for older learners with words rather than pictures.

Aim: To practise vocabulary and basic questions in the simple present

Age: Ages 6 and up

Level: Elementary and above

Time: 10 minutes

Preparation: You'll need paper and coloured pens or pencils and a small picture card of an animal for each child (or sets for the children in each group).

Procedure:

1. The object of the game is to draw an animal as quickly as possible, but so that it can be recognized by the other students.
2. Give each child a piece of paper. Put the pens in the middle.
3. Deal a small flashcard face down to each child. On the word Go! the students look at their flashcards, being careful not to show them to the other students. They then have 15 (or 30) seconds to draw a picture of this animal on paper.
4. When the time is up, call Stop! and all pens must go back to the middle immediately.
5. In turns, the students now try to guess what the pictures of these animals are, by asking, for example, Is it a….? or Does your picture show a…..?The child who drew the picture answers. The child who guesses correctly gets two points and the player who drew the picture gets one point.
6. If a picture is unrecognisable, the artist gets no points.

Variation: 

This could be used with almost any set of vocabulary which can be represented by pictures (vehicles, fruit, household objects…..).

Wednesday's activity

Creating a profile

Learners are going to interview each other in order to write profiles for their school website.

Today I've chosen an activity that practises writing skills and which you can use with older learners - even university students.

Aim: To practise writing skills and the language of future plans

Age: Ages 12 and up

Level: Pre-intermediate and above

Time: 30-45 minutes minutes

Preparation:  Write a sample profile of yourself for the school website. 

Include details of your current situation and future plans. 

Procedure

1. Write up or project the sample profile of yourself. Focus on useful vocabulary or structures.
2. Students write five questions to ask their partner about themselves and their future plans.
3. Students compare questions in pairs.
4. Students sit in pairs and interview each other, making notes. They must quote one thing that their partner says for the profile.
5. Students work independently to write up the first draft of the profile of their partner.
6. They check and edit their work and show it to their partner. The partner reads and confirms that the information is correct.
7. They produce a final version which you could display in the classroom or put together in a book.

Tuesday's activity

Reading skills with younger learners

Primary: Read and draw

Aim: To practise reading skills, prepositions of place and furniture vocabulary.

Age: Ages 7 and up

Level: Elementary and pre-intermediate

Time: 10-15minutes

Preparation:  Download the worksheet from the link below.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-print-ideal-room.pdf

Procedure

1. Warm-up with a vocabulary review of furniture in a bedroom. For smaller classes you could have flashcards of the furniture stuck up around the room. Call out the furniture words and students must move to the appropriate picture. Larger classes could match pictures and words on a worksheet. Any class size could play 'Bingo' with furniture pictures.
2. Do a quick check of prepositions of place. Ask students to get a pencil and put it on the table in front of them. Give them instructions what to do with it. Put it on your desk. Put it under your desk. Put it in front of your desk. Put it inside your bag. Put it next to your book. Then students can give each other similar instructions in pairs.
3. Hand out the worksheet. They need to read the short texts and then draw the room described. 
4. It is helpful to have a finished version on a large piece of paper or project onto the board to check.

Extension

You can use this activity concept of 'read and draw' for other sets of vocabulary.