Posted on by karolasenglishblog

Home sweet home

Introduction:

This is an activity to introduce and practise idioms with HOME & HOUSE. Students first complete the expressions with the missing words, match the idioms to their definitions, complete the questions in Exercise 2 and answer the questions in pairs or small groups. 

Level: B2

Time: 50 minutes

Objectives:

  1. To introduce idioms with the words ‘home’ and ‘house’.
  2. To match the idioms to their definitions.
  3. To complete questions with the missing words and then answer the questions in small groups or pairs.

Materials:

  1. Home sweet home worksheet, one per student or if you are currently using Zoom simply display it on the screen.

Procedure:

  1. Write the following questions on the board and ask the students to briefly discuss them in small groups or pairs. Do you like the place where you are living? Where do you feel most at home? What is your favourite room in your house? How have you changed your home since you started living here? How many different homes have you lived in? If you could change anything about your present home, what would it be? Idea: Since we are all currently teaching from home this could be a great opportunity to ask students to “show you around” their homes.
  2. Hand out or display a copy of Home sweet home Worksheet and ask students to complete the expressions with the words home or house. When they are finished ask them to compare with their classmate(s). Always encourage them to justify their answers to each other and if they are sure of their answer, to try and convince others they are correct. 
  3. Check together as a class.
  4. Ask the students to match the expressions to their definitions. The students could first work individually and then compare with their partners, but once they get into groups or pairs they must agree on the answers. It encourages discussions and forces students to engage and defend their answers rather than mindlessly / distractedly doing the task before moving on to the next one. 
  5. Check together as a class.
  6. After the first exercise and depending on how quickly the students complete the first two tasks you could ask them to mime the expressions they have learnt. The other students try to guess the correct expressions and receive a point for each correct guess. You can skip this stage if you are pressed for time, but I find that students love this stage and are always eager to compete and have a laugh 🙂
  7. When the students have finished, ask them to complete the questions in Exercise 2 with the missing words. I usually ask students to fold the paper in half at this stage to try and encourage them to do it from memory which makes the task more challenging. If you are using Zoom simply display page 2 and go back to page 1 when students are finished.
  8. When they have finished, go back to Exercise 1 and ask them to self correct before you check as a class.
  9. Next students answer the questions in pairs or small groups.
  10. At the end of the class ask students to choose two questions and answer them in writing at home. Oops they are probably already home 🙂

Related posts:

All talk and no cider

Cats & Dogs

4 elements

What a zoo

I spy with my little eye

All hands on deck, kids

Money Money Money

Half full or half empty?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

All rise please

Stop beating around the bush

Posted on by karolasenglishblog

Continuously present

Introduction:

This is a board game for A2+ students to review present simple and present continuous. Students complete the board game with their own examples and then answer questions in pairs or small groups of three.

Level: A2+

Time: 45 minutes

Objectives:

  1. To review present simple and present continuous.
  2. To write examples on the board using the target language.
  3. To answer questions containing the target language whilst playing a board game.

Materials (Click on the worksheet below to download the PDF file):

  1. Continuously present board game and one die per group of 3.

Procedure:

  1. Put the students in groups of 2 or 3, and give them a copy of Continuously present board game. If you are using Zoom, display the board on the screen and do the exercise with the students. You could also send the board to the students before the class and ask them to prepare their examples at home.
  2. Students first underline the verbs in all the questions on the board. Again if you are working on Zoom you could ask students to just say the verbs out loud and underline them yourself for everyone to see.
  3. Give students some examples of  present simple and present continuous time expressions to include in their questions. Present simple: every day, always, usually, often, sometimes, once a week, twice a day, in the summer, at noon, frequently etc. Present continuous: now, right now, at present, at the moment, today, this week, this month, currently, nowadays, still etc.
  4. Next, students use the verbs to write a new question in the empty square provided below, changing all questions in the present simple tense into questions in the present continuous tense and all the questions in the present continuous tense into questions in the present simple tense, g. Change the question in Square 1:1Do you read every day? into Are you reading anything interesting at the moment? and write it in square 2:1. Change the question in Square 4:1 Where are you going now? into How often do you go to the cinema? for Square 4:2. The only requirement is for students to use the same verb in their new question.
  5. Check together as a class.
  6. Hand each group a die. You could be in charge of the die if you are using Zoom.
  7. Players take it in turns to throw the die twice – the first throw indicates which column they should use, and the second throw indicates which row, to obtain the question.
  8. When a player lands on a square each player must answer the question from that square in as much detail as possible. Encourage students to ask each other additional questions to obtain more information.
  9. The game continues in the circle going left.
  10. At the end, ask students to choose four questions (2 present simple and 2 present continuous questions) that  they didn’t answer during the game and answer them in writing.

Related posts:

How well do you know your folks?

So, what brings you here?

What ya doin’ warmer

Can you see the error of your ways?

Award-winning routines

P.S. This post is dedicated to my lovely friend Patricia. I can’t wait to sit down with you and chat over some delicious Chai;)

 

 

 

 

Posted on by karolasenglishblog

How well do you know your folks?

IMG_20200323_184632

Introduction: 

This is a board game for A2+ students to review present simple and see how much they really know about their parents☺. You could send the game to the students beforehand to give them a chance to gather some information about their parents before the class. Students answer questions about BOTH parents and move around the board based on the grammatically correct answers they give.

 

Level: A2+

Time: 45 minutes

Objectives:

  1. To review present simple affirmative and negative forms.
  2. To answer questions about students’ parents.
  3. To beat other players, of course, by reaching the end of the game first.

Materials (Click on the worksheet below to download the PDF files):

  1. How well do you know your folks board game

Procedure:

  1. How well do you know your folks? is played by 2 to 4 players.
  2. Give students a copy of How well do you know your folks board game or display it on the screen if you are using Zoom.
  3. To see who starts do rock, paper, scissors.  If you have more than three players do rock, paper, scissors until there is only one person left. Whoever wins answers the first question first: Do they often arrive home late? Example answer: My mother never arrives home late. She arrives home at the same time every day. My father arrives home at different times, sometimes at 6 and sometimes at 8. All the players must answer the question from that square but DO NOT correct any sentences until all the players have finished. The players get one point for each correct sentence (one about the mother, one about the father). If the player receives two points they move 2 spaces, if they receive 1 point they move one space only, but if they have made mistakes in two sentences they stay on the same square and answer the same question in the next round. Encourage learners to give you a slightly different answer to the same question to avoid mindless repetition e.g. She arrives home  just after lunch, whereas my father doesn’t arrive until 8. The only requirement is for the learner to use the verbs in affirmative and negative sentences correctly. Of course take this opportunity to correct other mistakes too and “feed” students new vocabulary. When I did this activity with my students, I introduced some compare & contrast linking expressions e.g. as well as, too, also; but, however, while. You could give students an extra point for using one of the linking expressions correctly e.g. My mother arrives home after lunch , but my father doesn’t arrive home until 8.
  4. The winner is the player who reaches “End” first.
  5. At the end, ask the students to choose three questions and elaborate on them in writing.

Related posts:

Triple Treat

Zooming it

Brace yourselves. Phrasal verbs r bk

Single and ready to mingle

And the Oscar goes to…(Joaquin Phoenix pretty please)

Triple treat makes a comeback

Time to keep up with the times

So, what brings you here?

Also have a look at one of my activities that has recently been published on onestopenglish 😉

http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/lesson-share/pdf-content/lesson-share-my-bucket-list-worksheet/558308.article

http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/lesson-share/pdf-content/lesson-share-my-bucket-list-teachers-notes/558307.article

P.S. This post is dedicated to my mother Bogumiła and my father Robert. Kocham Was.

 

Posted on by karolasenglishblog

Zooming it

Introduction:

This is a board game to get to know your classmates better, disconnect and have some fun. Students ask and answer some interesting questions and if they happen to land on a green field they can either answer a question or perform a dare.

I have given you some dare ideas but please feel free to come up with your own or change them to make them appropriate for your groups or even ask the students to invent some dares, although that could potentially turn ugly very quickly :). I have deliberately chosen the questions that hopefully only evoke positive 🙂emotions from learners to make them feel good throughout the activity and take their minds off things. If you are using Zoom ( which I am guessing you probably are) just display the board on the screen for everyone to see or send it to your students before the class. Also when I use my games on Zoom these days I am the one in charge of the dice:) Hope you enjoy the activity.

Level: B1+

Objectives:

  1. To ask and answer interesting questions and perform challenging dares to inject some fun into our Zoom lessons

Materials (Click on the worksheet below to download the PDF files):

  1. Zooming it board game
  2. 20 dare ideas

Procedure:

  1. Give students a copy of Zooming it board game or display it on the screen if you are using Zoom or any other platform. If you are not currently using Zoom just follow the instructions of my other board games as the idea is pretty much the same although I have added a few twists this time.
  2. The teacher throws the dice twice – the first throw indicates which column they should use, and the second throw indicates which row, to obtain the question. You could indicate who starts and then players continue clockwise or anticlockwise.
  3. If a player lands on a green field they can choose either to answer a question or perform a dare. I have given you some ideas but feel free to make changes. If a player lands on an orange field they answer the question themselves and if they land on a blue one they nominate someone to answer it.
  4. At the end, ask the students to give you three new things they have learnt about their classmates and three funniest dares they have seen their classmates perform during the lesson.

Related posts:

So, what brings you here?

Go Get ‘em tiger!

Know thyself

Triple treat makes a comeback

Also have a look at one of my activities that has recently been published on onestopenglish 😉

http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/lesson-share/pdf-content/lesson-share-my-bucket-list-worksheet/558308.article

http://www.onestopenglish.com/community/lesson-share/pdf-content/lesson-share-my-bucket-list-teachers-notes/558307.article