• Most Useful Word: Just a few minutes before the bell rings, call on your students to choose the ten most useful words they came in contact with during this class period, then have them narrow it down to the three most useful words.

• Adjacency Pair Substitutions: Write a common adjacency pair (Thank you./You're welcome. OR I'm sorry./That's alright.) on the board. Ask students if they know of any expressions that could replace one of the ones you just wrote. Write any acceptable answers on the board.

• Learn from Other Texts: Copy pages from various ESL textbooks (at an appropriate level for your students), put them on the walls, and have students wander around the classroom and learn a new phrase. Then have them teach each other what they learned.

• Pictures at Dawn Pre-teach target vocabulary, then split class into two teams. One student from each team stands in the middle of the classroom back to back. They each hold one picture, then each take three steps away from each other before quickly turning around, "pistols at dawn" style. The two students then have to shout out what's on the other one's picture card, with the fastest one being the winner. Keep a score on the blackboard.

• Clothes Find a fashion magazine and label as many of the different styles, materials, patterns, and colors as you can in ten minutes. (from Touchstone)

• Physical Appearance Look at three different people. What do they look like? Think of how to describe them. Write sentences.(from Touchstone)

• Parts of the Body Before you go to sleep at night think of the name of each part of your body, starting with your head and going to your toes. Can you think of each word in English before you fall asleep? (from Touchstone)

• Broken Objects Look around your house. Find problems with things in your home (stained, ripped/torn, cracked, etc.). Put the problem (in English) on a post-it and attach it to the broken object. Remove the label when the problem is fixed. (from Touchstone)

• Health Problems Go to the drugstore and make a mental note of some of the medications you see on the shelves. What health problems are they for? Can you remember the names of the health problems in English? (from Touchstone)

• Word Scramble As a warm-up, write about 10 vocabulary words with the letters out of order on the board. The first student to unscramble the letters and figure out each word wins.

Pictionary

Students divide into two teams. Each team selects a representative or ´artist´. The two artists (one from each team) approach the instructor, and are given a vocabulary word, e.g., Soda, Stethoscope, etc., from the course. This word must either be whispered into their ears, or shown to them on a piece of paper, so that no one from either team can see it. The two artists then try to draw the word (NO writing is permitted, nor any speaking on their part), and their teams must try to guess it (in English of course). The first team to correctly guess (pronunciation counts!) receives a point. The game can continue for as long as the instructor sees fit (to 10 points, for instance). Note, however, that the words used must be ´draw-able´, i.e., the students must be able to draw them. Nouns and verbs would likely be easiest (e.g., Trolley, or surfing), but for a challenge instructors could try more complex or abstract words such as ´corruption,´ ´satisfaction,´ ´dedication,´ ´disappointment,´ etc.

PET PEEVES

What is a Pet Peeve? What are your Pet Peeves? T writes some examples on the board. Ss then write down a pet peeve of theirs or something they love on a small piece of paper, leaving the subject blank (I hate it when……… calls me late at night.) T collects the papers and passes them out again randomly. Students have to read the note out loud and put in a classmates name. Using example from the class, fill out these charts: Sub – Verb - It ¡ “when” situation I don´t like it ¡ when people are late to class. Tio doesn´t like it ¡ when the bus drivers drive like maniacs. Clause with “it” – Adverbial Clause with “when” = “How am I bothered?” an incomplete thoughtwith “it” It – Verb – Who ¡ Emotion ¡ “when” situation It bothers me ¡ ¡ when people call me “teacher” It drives/makes my mom¡ crazy ¡ when I come home at 7am.

Pg 5 Ex 8A Read out loud and if students they stand on their chair. Ss then check off what annoys them. Discuss new vocab.

Tic Tac Toe

The teacher draws a Tic Tac Toe chart on the board, but fills in the spaces on the board with vocabulary words (hardest word in the middle). Students are put into two teams, one ´X´ team and one ´O´ team. The teams, in turns, choose a word from the board. They must give a correct definition of it, and then say a correct sentence using that word. If they can do this, their mark (either an X or an O, depending on the team) is placed in that space. Continue until there is a winner.

Speed scrabble

Bring in a Scrabble set. Get students into groups of three. Give each group four scrabble tiles. Each team must try to make a word with their letters. The first team to do so yells, ´finished´, and all teams must collect another four tiles. They continue in this fashion until all the tiles are used up. The team with the most CORRECT words wins the game. Obviously, the best strategy is to make as many SMALL words as possible.

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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.