Contents:
Conversation and Writing Questions. Games and Activities for Teachers. The only materials the teacher and class need are the board, paper, and pens. The instructions are clear and easy to The authors present 30 lessons at elementary level, each with the same methodological framework. The lessons are explained in clear, accessible language, and none of them require sophisticated resources. Instead, they call on the basic human resources which all teachers and learners bring with them to class. Oxford University Press, , 67 pages.
This book contains 30 activities at elementary level, complete with ideas for boardwork and pictures teachers can copy. All the activities are simple and adaptable. On the third count each child chooses between showing rock, paper, or scissors with their hand. One child wins; rock beats scissors, paper beats rock, and scissors beats paper. If the same gesture is chosen by both children, they simply repeat the game until one of them wins. They have to take turns to say what each picture or letter is as they reach it. The rest of their team can join in by saying each item.
A point is scored for each child that crosses the river. Or you can play for a set period of time, stopping when you choose, and the winning team is the one with the most points or with the player furthest along the line. Rather than using items of vocabulary to be revised, use a selection of letters from the alphabet that your learners are having difficulty with. A picture or flashcard of each vocabulary item None 10 minutes 1 Place the pictures on the board and check that the children know the vocabulary: Is this a pizza? Draw an imaginary line on the floor about a metre from the board and line the teams up behind the line.
The first child from each team races to touch the correct picture. For example, I like cheese. Board races 5 Variations 4 A point is given to the team that touches the right picture first. The runners then go to the back of their line and the next child in each team has a turn. Tell the children that you are thinking of one of the pictures on the board, and they should guess which one.
One child from each team takes turns asking you questions: Is it chocolatef Once someone has guessed the right word, the first child from each team races to touch the correct picture. Choose a structure to practise with the vocabulary items in the pictures: Each team takes turns to ask a question to guess what picture you are thinking of.
Do you like cheese? Have you got a pencil case? Respond to the childrens questions. What do I like? Once they have guessed the correct picture, the first child from each team races to touch the correct picture. In the Variation, any vocabulary set that you wish to revise. Three chairs Place three chairs in front of the board, and create some space around them.
I Variation 18 ors 4 The first child in each team races forward to sit on the appropriate chair for that phrase. For example, if you say June, the children race to be first to sit on the chair labelled in. The next child from each team then has a turn, and this continues. The activity can be done with different vocabulary from three different categories instead of prepositions.
With older children you can focus on parts of speech, labelling the chairs, noun, verb, and adjective. Alternatively, again for older children, label the chairs past, present, andfuture and rather than reading out words, read out whole sentences. In the Variation, a range of verb patterns that you wish to revise. Pictures or flashcards of about 10 food items Prepare enough space for the children to be able to stand or sit in a circle. You should also be part of the circle. Yes, I do, or No, I don't. This continues round the circle, so that they all ask and answer the question.
Then add more questions in both directions so that there are several questions going round the circle at the same time. The questions can all have the same structure, for example, they can all be Do you like? See below for suggestions. There will be quite a lot of noise and chaos! Other grammatical structures and vocabulary sets can be used. For example, use activities or musical instruments to revise Can y o u?
Do as I say, not as I do. Give an instruction, but when giving the instruction you should do a different action. For example, say Touch your toes while you touch your ear. Those children can then act as monitors, or alternatively you could ask them to give the instructions. The last child not to be called out is the winner. A few pictures to represent the key aspects of a short story or a storybook from a previous lesson.
None 10 minutes Remind the children of a story that you have told the class before.
Use a story book or pictures from the story and ask questions to elicit key facts and events. Can you remember the story we read last week? Who was in the story? Oh, yes, I remember now - sorry! He is having a party! If the story comes from a course book or from a graded reader, the children can be following it as you read the text.
This would combine reading and listening. Explain that you are going to draw it bit by bit and that they have to try and guess what it is. Tell them they will have three chances to score points.
Begin by drawing just one line or curve of the item. If they can identify it from just one line, they get three points. If they guess it correctly this time, they get one point. Or ask one of the children to come up and finish the drawing. If you are not good at drawing, or if the words are difficult to represent visually, you can do the same activity with letters. You need to leave spaces for the missing letters to give some indication of the length of the word.
You could put in dashes for the missing letters to make the activity easier. For example, if one of the words you want to revise is excited, the board could look like this: Activity Drill the question a couple of times with the whole group.
Then get them to ask you the questions, so that you provide a model of how to answer. He or she answers and then turns to the person next to them and asks them the same question. This continues all the way round the circle until the question comes back to you. As they learn more questions during their lessons, you can begin using them. Here are some examples: What sports do you like?
How old are you? If possible, they can write their own name cards and decorate them. Place the name cards face down in the middle of the circle. Choose one card, and ask that child a question. This child then chooses a name card and asks that person a question. This continues until all name cards have been used.
They then pass the chalk or board pen to the next person in the team who has to write the next letter. This continues until one team has the full word written on the board. The players are allowed to help each other in their team by telling each other what letter comes next. All the teams must stop writing.
If the word is spelt correctly, the team gets a point. Alternatively, you could say a synonym or antonym.
Alternatively, they can be used at the end of the lesson to fill an unexpected five or ten minutes when another activity has run short, or maybe it has run long, not leaving enough time to do whatever else was planned. Conclusion I hope you and your children enjoy the activities in this book. Draw a circle next to the square. The children could also name the cats. If this is not possible, the activity will still work.
For example, if you say cheap, the children write expensive. What time do you get up? How do you get to school? Have you got any brothers or sisters?
Small squares of paper Cut some paper into small squares to make about 20 pieces for a group of three children. Choose one of the following ways to do this. Divide the class into pairs or small groups and ask them to write down as many questions asking for personal information as they can think of. Monitor the groups as they are writing in order to help with any mistakes.
If you are working with a course book, encourage the children to lookback through their course books and notebooks to find suitable questions. Brainstorm possible questions with the class and write them up on the board. You can either elicit the questions from the children, or ask them to come up and write on the board themselves. Activity 2 Choose one question to demonstrate with, and show the children how to write down each word of the question on one square of paper.
Each question should be written in the same handwriting. Divide the class into pairs or groups of three and ask each pair or group to choose two to four questions from the list prepared in Activity 1. Give each pair or group about 20 small squares of paper. Ask them to write their chosen questions on the paper squares - one word per square, as demonstrated. Ask the children to mix the pieces of paper together and then pass them on to another pair or group.
Personal questions Variations 12 6 Once the questions are made, they can ask and answer the questions in their pairs or groups. Divide the class into larger groups and ask them to work together to re-construct all the questions. Then time them again to see if they can make the questions faster than the previous time. Once a group has made their questions, they should go and help another group. This keeps the task cooperative, with everyone working together. Time the children as they re-make the questions.