Tag Archives: speaking

Comparatives and Superlatives Practice

Games, Speaking, Writing, , , , , , , ,

I wanted to say Happy Tuesday but this weather is really getting me down in the dumps. You might not believe it but it has been raining nonstop for more than two months now and I feel I need some sun to cheer me up. Added to this is the fact that I’ve been working mornings, afternoons, evenings and also two weekends in a row. Only today, I am quickly writing this post to leave again to go to work .

Anyways, these are two activities I’m planning to use with my Elementary students to practise  Comparatives and Superlatives. I found them via BusyTeachers and they are just what I need right now: highly motivating activities which require no preparation . Thank you  so much for sharing,Susan. (see her profile here).

Look Around You Race
Students in groups of four compare students in the classroom. Set a time limit of about 5 minutes and on your signal each group of students should write as many comparative and superlative sentences as they can about the people in their classroom. At the end of the time period, have one group share their sentences. If another group has the same sentence as the first group, both groups should cross that statement off their list. Continue until all groups have read all of their statements and any duplicates are eliminated. The group with the most statements remaining wins.

These Are the People in Your Family
Students are given about 10 adjectives that can be used to describe people: hard-working, tall, young, old, funny, intelligent, tall, fat, happy, pretty… Then challenge them to write a sentence using the superlative form of each adjective about a person in their family. Once the sentences are completed, each person should write a list of the family members who appeared in their sentences. Students in pairs exchange the lists of people but keep their sentences to themselves. Each person should ask questions about their partner’s family and try to match each person to their superlative adjective. For example, a person might ask, “Is Lucas the oldest person in your family?” The other person should answer with a yes or an explanation. “No, Lucas is only four years old.” Give students time enough to ask each other questions, and then see who in your class figured out the most family member qualities!

Let’s go to the cinema!!!

Slides, Speaking, , , , , , , , ,

This is a very simple activity to do some speaking about films I intend to try with my Elementary students. Nothing too complicated but I guess they’ll love to see how  film titles are translated  into English. Who, in the name of God, translated the film DIE HARD  starring Bruce Willis  into LA JUNGLA DE CRISTAL or SOME LIKE IT HOT starring Marylin Monroe  into CON FALDAS A LO LOCO. Was it Google Translator???

Anyways, there is a whole lesson plan about films ( complete with vocabulary, listening, reading and writing) that I created some time ago, if you feel like doing some more practice ( Click on the picture if you are such a hardworking student), otherwise and for the time being we will just focus on speaking.

THE GAME: SPEAKING. The game is easy: the class is divided into two groups. In turns, one member from each group sits on the Hot Chair facing  away from the whiteboard. The members of their group have -like one minute- to describe, without mentioning the title ( that goes without saying, but just in case, I’m saying it), the film being displayed .

They will need to talk about.

Kind of film/ Nationality of the film/ director/ plot/

Some hints:

♥The film ‘_______’ is a(n) _______ film which takes place in _______.
♥The film is set in __(ancient Greece)__.
♥The story is based on __(a popular novel)__.
♥The film is directed by _______.
♥The main character(s) in the film is/are _______.
♥_______ is a character who _______.
♥__(Johnny Depp)__ stars as __(Captain Sparks)__.
♥In the film , __(Jack Black)__ plays __(a rock guitarist)The story is about _______
♥The best scene of the film is_____

Retelling a text using Wordle

Create your own stuff, Speaking, , , ,

This is not the first time I have used this strategy to invite my students to do some speaking but it is the first time I have used it with absolute beginners. It has taken me sometime to bring myself to do this kind of activity with my 12-year-old  absolute beginners. I am always afraid the task may seem to them like a high mountain to climb, but they have been studying with me for four months now and I feel they are up to the challenge.

I really feel that I can insist, until the cows come home, English  is not only about learning grammar, but if students are not actively taking a role in their education, there is little I can do.

So I have used a text, they had previously worked  with, to ask them to retell the story. The text was about Education and it told the story of two children Eduardo from Angola and Nabyrye from Uganda. Easy text and all about present simple, which is what they have been studying. Two texts, so great to do pair work!

I have used a tool I have used other times, Wordle, to create Word Clouds to help students remember the story and retell it.

Two useful tricks when using Wordle

♥ If you want a word to be bigger than the rest, just type it twice.

♥ Insert (~ ) between the words you want to keep together.

I have posted about Wordle to revise vocabulary here and to do  a Writing Activity here

Have a nice week!!

Speaking: Talking about Jobs

Funny Stuff, Games, General, Speaking, , , , , ,

I wasn’t planning on posting right away but my gym is still flooded so I can’t work out. It is still cold and rainy here in Asturias so I don’t seem to have many options but to stay at home looking after my kids.

Plenty of time in the afternoon to prepare classes  and still so hooked on Picture Trail that I have decided to use it again, and this, only when I have used it for the first time on Monday. Addictive!!

ACTIVITY 1

Funny!!!  Students are given a job and they won’t know what it is. They are given a worksheet with questions about their job  to ask the other students in the class, see worksheet here. Read the instructions on the worksheet, go through the questions and possible answers.

Ask students to come to your desk to get the jobs stuck on their backs (post-it). Students walk around the classroom mingling freely, asking each person  a couple of questions and writing down the answers. Stop the activity after 10 minutes of questioning or when the first student has correctly guessed their job. Ask the rest of the students to sit down and write down what they think their job is.

Source : InsideOut Resource Pack

ACTIVITY 2.

Students in pairs talk about the questions  in Picture Trail

Some nice activities to practise Reported Speech

Games, Lesson Plan: Intermediate, Lesson Plan: Pre-Intermediate, , , , , ,

I love teaching reported speech. I don’t know if students can feel when a teacher enjoys teaching something though I have the impression that somehow it shows. Here are some ideas to get my students “love” (well, maybe I’m getting a bit carried away) reported speech. Hopefully, some of them will do the trick.

♥Video: How to tell  if your boyfriend is a slob from the British Council

How to tell if your boyfrid is a slob

This video is great to practise statements, questions, orders and suggestions!

Setting the context: tell students they have had a big argument with their boyfriend or girlfriend and they are going to meet their closest friend to tell them all about it. Divide the class into “girls” and “boys” and ask each group to focus on what the girl or the boy says in the video. Ask them to write down as much as they can using the exact words said in the video. Working together within their groups, they’ll need to report in as much detail as possible the conversation to their closest friend (the teacher).

For weaker students I would  do the whole lesson plan as presented by the British Council. Click here

♥ Song: My name is Luka by Suzanne Vega. A song about child abuse. It tells the story of a frightened boy who is forbidden to talk about what he’s going through.

The idea is the same as above. I´ll let the students do all the work (we, teachers, need a break from time to time, don’t we?). The song is quite easy to understand and though they might not pick up everything, they will still be able to come up with some good reported statements. The idea is:

  • Students listen to the song once and write down whole sentences. (ex. My name is Luka, I live on the second floor…)
  • Students in pairs share with their partners.
  • Students listen a second time and pair again one last time.
  • Correct using the video+lyrics and ask students as a class to report the sentences one by one. (For ex. He said his name was Luka)

 

 

♥ Gossiping about the teacher (from Begem Tonyali -original post here)

Students think about 10 things they want to know about their teacher and ask the questions, which are written on the board. The class is divided into 2 groups. The first group leave the class and wait outside. The first group members take turns in asking the teacher the questions and write down the answers. Now, they leave and the second group does the same thing. However, what they do not know is that the teacher is honest and gives correct answers to only one group, but lies to the other. It’s a good idea not to tell them beforehand. Then, students pair off as 1st and 2nd group partners. The activity goes like this and one of the students tells his partner “I asked the teacher how old she was and she told me she was 16.” Then the other partner goes “I asked the same question, but she told me she was 36.” etc…until all the questions are reported. Here they have to pay attention to the usage of the reporting verbs and have fun in finding which group the teacher lied to.

♥ A funny idea from A Journey in TEFL. Kids will adore me! 😉

Preparation: before the game, students have been taught the following reporting verbs: ask, tell, warn, advise, suggest and offer.
Students are given some scrap paper and asked to write a yes/no question, a Wh-question, a request, a warning, a suggestion, a piece of advice and an offer .

When they finish, they are asked to make balls from the papers. And the fun begins….Time to play snowballs!! Allow them to play snowballs for some time and play some music. Tell them they can play snowball for as long as there is music. Stop the music and ask students to open the ball of paper and report the things written on it. Remember, the bigger the ball, the easier it will be to catch it! You don’t want to be looking for missing balls!

♥ Indirect into Direct Speech Cards.

Not so funny, maybe, but still worth doing! Students love competitions- me too, if you want to know the truth- so I’m planning to disguise this exercise as a competition with the students  getting the card and scoring points for each correct answer. Now, this activity requires some preparation on my part, namely writing on one side of a card reported speech and, on the other side, direct speech of the same sentence. I’m planning to include statements, questions, commands, suggestions, offers…etc. Show the students the reported speech side of the card. The student who guesses the direct speech sentence, gets the card and the point.

Have a nice week!

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