FORTUNE COOKIES
Take a few small pieces of paper and write on them short simple messages like "You will go to the cinema." "You will meet a famous person." "You will get 3 CDs for your birthday." Fold them so that the messages remain secret. Put all the scraps of paper in a box, shake them well and pass the box around for the students to take one and read it out and aloud. Make sure that they say "O-E, O-E ...what will my fortune be?" first! Provided you choose your messages wisely, you will provide the class with some interesting conversation topics and will find out a lot about your students and their interests (fave films, heroes, fave music etc.,) which should help you plan the course ahead accordingly!
VAN GOGH IN ALL OF US
Appropriate for all levels
For those classes who are shyer to speak at the beginning, I like to give them an activity. By the end they find they are speaking merrily away.
You will need a blank piece of paper for each student as well as coloured markers. And most important... your own piece-de-resistance!
Each person needs to draw their name on the piece of paper - in as creative a way as possible, along with 3 things about themselves. It is important to tell them not to just write "tennis", for example, but to rather draw a tennis racquet or balls or someone playing on a court.
At the end of the allocated time they need to introduce themselves to those at their table using this as a springboard.
With not everyone being Van Gogh this brings loads of giggles and relaxes them no end.
Mystery Object
Bring an item that is so unusual that the learners are not likely to recognize what it is. Spend some time eliciting basic descriptions of the item and guesses about what it is and how it's used. If possible, pass the item around. This is an activity in observation and inference, so don't answer questions. Just write down descriptions and guesses until someone figures it out or you reveal the mystery.
Brainstorm
(any level)
Give a topic and ask learners to think of anything related to it. Write the responses for all to see, or ask a volunteer to do the writing. You can use this to elicit vocabulary related to your lesson.
Yesterday
(intermediate)
Have a learner stand in front of the group and make one statement about yesterday, such as "Yesterday I went shopping." Then let everyone else ask questions to learn more information, such as "Who did you go with?" "What did you buy?" "What time did you go?" etc. Instead of a whole class activity, this could also be done in pairs, where one partner makes a statement about yesterday and the other partner ask questions. Then partners switch roles.
Imaginative Listening
(intermediate-advanced)
Read a series of three or four sentences that describe a scene (optional: describe sensations, e.g. sounds and feelings), and have SS form a picture in their minds.
Example: There are broad fields and in the distance there is a low hill. There are trees on the hill. Above is a great sky filled with clouds.
After they sit imagining for a while, have them work in pairs asking each other about their images. E.g., in the field, did you see corn, wheat, something else? Did you see animals, did you hear anything?
Taken from: Ur, Penny and Andrew Wright. Five-Minute Activities: A Resource Book of Short Activities, p. 70.
The Actor’s Voice
(Any level)
Introduction: This activity can be used as a warmer to inject some life into the class. The teacher can model some of the examples first.
1. Say “hello”:
i) in a happy way
ii) in a sad way
iii) in a bored way
iv) in a sexy way
v) to a friend
vi) to a customer
2. Say a person’s name:
i) in an angry way
ii) like you love that person
iii) like you hate that person
3. Say “Come here now”:
i) to a dog or cat
ii) to a kid who has been naughty
iii) to a very shy person
4. Say “So Long or Goodbye”:
i) to a person you are happy to see leave
ii) to your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife
iii) to somebody that you will never see again
iv) to somebody you don’t know well, or you just met
taken from: Thunder Bay Multicultural Association, http://www.tbma.ca/. http://www.tbma.ca/upload/documents/Voice.pdf.
Alphabet Soup
Materials: Chalk and a Blackboard
Level: Any
Prize: Any (my Chinese students love sweets)
Skills Enhanced: Speaking, Vocabulary and Participation
Method: Divide the class into as many teams as you desire. Write Team A, Team B, etc. on the blackboard. Write on the blackboard "Say a sentence using words beginning with the supplied letter. Your team gets one point for each word you use beginning with this letter in the sentence. You must raise your hand before speaking." Write the letter "A" on the blackboard and then choose the first student to raise his/her hand. They must say a grammatically correct sentence or no points. The teacher should correct pronunciation, but give them the point(s). Then write "B" and continue as above. To keep them from getting ahead of you, skip a letter or two and write them later. For example, use "A", then "B", then "D". After all of the letters are used, if time permits, underline a previously used letter and have them come up with more sentences. I love to use "Q", "X", and "Z" repeatedly (just to be a big bad mean teacher). I was surprised to get responses such as "My monkey made me make him a meal." (6 points) And then they throw in "on Monday morning". (8 points) Be sure to ignore students who shout out sentences without raising their hand and being chosen by you - if you don't ignore them, it turns into a shouting match. I, just for interest, write the letters all over the board, in different colors rather than just white chalk with the letters lined up in a row.
Keep up with the points and at the end of the game, tally the points and declare the winning team. Give prizes to the one or two students of each team who participated the most...great motivation for the next time you play this. This works with my worst, I mean "most challenging" classes.
Please give me feedback, suggestions for improvement, etc.
Richard (richardwi2001@yahoo.com) from Dave´s Esl Café
Toilet Paper Icebreaker
Level: Any Level
This activity is used as a "getting to know you", icebreaker on the first day of class.
1. Teacher takes the toilet paper roll and takes several squares of toilet paper, then hands the roll of toilet paper to a student. The teacher tells the student to take some, more than three.
2. After everybody in the class has some paper, we count the squares we have, then we have to tell that many things about ourselves, in English.
This activity works well with substitute teachers also.
The toilet paper is such an attention getter.
Rhymning Words
Put your students in pairs or small groups and have them write lists of rhyming words. Give the class a time limit. At the end of the time see which group had the longest list of words that actually rhymed and they are the winners.
Terrible Telegrams
Put the class into small groups of 3 or 4. Write 5 or 6 random letters on the board. Each group must construct a message using each of those letters as a start to one word. The group with the most creative message that makes sense wins!
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Have some fun activities/ideas? How about worksheets, review sheets or songs?
Send your ideas to malloryforseth@gmail.com. Please include a short summary of the activity along with any worksheets or extra materials needed for the activity.
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