Category: Young Learners

Posted in Reading Classes, Young Learners

After School Clubs: Reading & Poster Project

Posted on by Tim Warre

after school club

This is a lesson plan for A2 young learners. Students discuss the topic of after school clubs, do some reading comprehension and then create their own after school club posters. Download the example poster/reading text below:

after school poster

Lesson Plan

Write the topic of the lesson on the board, put students in pairs and give them 2 minutes to think of as many after school activities as they can. Check their answers awarding 2 points for each unique answer (no other group has it) and 1 point if another group has it.

Show students the Theatre Club poster, ask students to predict what activities the children do at theatre club. Give out the text and have students answer the comprehension questions, have them work in pairs.

Check students’ answers. Then students work in pairs or small groups to create their own posters for their own imaginary after school clubs. Refer back to the ideas they generated in the first activity. Encourage students to use the example poster as a model substituting word:

“Do you want to be an actor/actress a famous footballer?”

Put students posters up around the class and have a gallery activity where students move around the class reading each others posters. Have students think of two questions to ask each group about their club, then decide which clubs they’d most like to join.

Posted in Conversation Classes, Uncategorized, Young Learners

After Christmas: Find Someone Who…

Posted on by Tim Warre

Image result for after christmas

Image credit: Odyssey

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is an activity designed with young, low-level teens in mind to get them talking about their Christmas holidays using the classic “Find Someone Who…” format. Download the worksheet below.

after-xmas-find-someone-who

After Christmas: Find someone who…

You may need to model some question structures on the board before students start mingling. Remind them to ask follow-up questions to get details of their classmates’ holidays.

  • Speak to everyone in the class.
  • Ask questions to find a person who did each activity, if they say yes, write their name and ask for details.
  • First write the questions.
Activity Person Details
Went on holiday

Did you go on holiday?

Details: Where did you go?

    
Tried some new food

___________________________

___________________________

    
Had a party

___________________________

___________________________

    
Ate McDonald’s

___________________________

___________________________

    
Got some new clothes as a present

___________________________

___________________________

    
Got an electronic present (tablet, console…)

___________________________

___________________________

    
Visited family in a different town/city

___________________________

___________________________

    
Went to the cinema

___________________________

___________________________

    
Went skiing

___________________________

___________________________

    
Played a board game

___________________________

___________________________

  
Posted in Conversation Classes, Young Learners

Christmas Communicative Crossword

Posted on by Tim Warre

Image result for christmas

Image credit: Pexels

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is yet another Christmas based activity, this one is for low-levels and young learners. Students work together to complete a Christmas themed crossword. Download the lesson plan and handout below:

christmas-crossword

Warmer – Hangman

Play hangman with “Merry Christmas” to go over the alphabet. Then, once they have guessed the word test and teach students ordinal numbers (first, second, third etc.) like so:

  • What is the first letter in “merry”? M
  • What is the sixth letter in “Christmas”? T
  • etc.

Write up the different ordinal numbers and drill pronunciation if necessary.

Christmas Crossword

In the handout above there are two versions of the crossword: The first version is just a standard worksheet that students could complete in pairs. The second version is a more communicative version.

Communicative Crossword

If you choose to try the communicative version, follow these steps:

  1. Put students in pairs, and label them A and B
  2. Give out the A handout to the As and B to the Bs.
  3. Tell students that they MUST NOT  look at each other’s worksheet.
  4. They have to work together to complete the crossword in English.
  5. Student A has all the “across” clues and student B has all the “down” clues.
  6. Student A reads a clue to student B and they try to figure out what the word could be, they then use the letters to get ideas about what the connecting words could be. This is where the ordinal numbers (the 6th letter is an “r” etc.)

Note: This activity works best as revision as it might be too difficult for young learners if they haven’t encountered these words before.

The winning team is the team that completes the crossword correctly first.

Key:

  1. Chimney
  2. Decorations
  3. Wrapping paper
  4. Reindeer
  5. Christmas
  6. Presents
  7. Turkey
  8. Santa Claus
  9. Angel
  10. Star
Posted in Conversation Classes, Video Classes, Writing Classes, Young Learners

Christmas Video: Buster the Boxer

Posted on by Tim Warre

Image result for buster the boxer john lewis

Image credit: ITV.com

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is another Christmas themed lesson based around the latest John Lewis Christmas advert about Buster the boxer. Download the lesson plan and powerpoint below:

buster-the-boxer – Powerpoint

buster-the-boxer – Lesson Plan

Procedure

Put students in pairs, depending on their level show them either the first slide with 4 photos or the second slide with the word cloud. Give them 10 minutes to invent a Christmas story using all of the words or pictures, monitor while they work and feed in any language that is needed.

Students then read out their stories to the class, discuss any language issues that come up. Students can then vote on which story they liked best.

Then show students the John Lewis advert:

Ask students the following questions:

  • Whose story was the most similar to the advert?
  • How different was your story?
  • Did you like the video? If so, what did you like about it?

Show the word cloud again, have students write out the story of the advert again from memory using the words as prompts. Students then read out their different versions.

Follow up

For homework, students write the next part of the story, what did the girl do next? How did the foxes and the badger spend Christmas day?

Posted in Young Learners

Drawing Dictation: A Christmas Card

Posted on by Tim Warre

Image result for christmas cards

Image credit: Dots and Spots

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is a Christmas themed lesson plan for young learners. Students will learn some Christmas vocabulary then put it to use in a drawing dictation exercise. You will need and A4 piece of white card for each student and this quizlet set. Download the lesson plan below:

drawing-dictation-xmas

Warmer

Put students in pairs and give them 1 minute to come up with as many English words related to Christmas as they can. Check in open class, award 1 point for each correctly spelt word and two points for any unique words (no other group wrote it down).

Introduce Vocabulary

Use a projector and the quizlet set to introduce the Christmas target language. There are 23 words in the set which is probably too many for most groups, use the star function to select the ones you want to study. When introducing each word, associate it with a different action i.e for “bells” you could mime ringing hand bells. For slightly higher levels, introduce the word as part of a sentence: “I ring the bells”

Games

You can then play the “match” game on quizlet on the projector. Put students in pairs and have them take turns to play “match” trying to complete the game faster than the other teams. If you don’t have access to a projector, you could print out two copies of each flashcard and play a giant game of “memory” or “pairs” on the board or on the floor at the students’ feet.

Prepositions

Quickly revise the most common prepositions of place (next to, behind, under, above, on, at the top, in front of etc.) you could do this a number of ways:

  • Use a chair – you stand next to/behind/in front of etc. the chair and say “Where am I?”
  • Use a pen and paper – put the pen under/in front of/behind etc. the paper and say “Where’s the pen?”
  • Use a picture – show the picture of the Christmas tree below and elicit where the things are: “the presents are under the tree”

Image result for christmas tree santa

Drawing Dictation

Give each student an A4 piece of white card folded in half like a Christmas card. Tell students that they are going to make a Christmas card for their parents, but they have to listen carefully to your instructions. You then start describing a festive scene: “In the middle there is a big Christmas tree.” “Next to the tree I can see Father Christmas.” “Under the tree there are lots of presents!!” Monitor and check that students are following your instructions correctly.

You can then dictate a message for them to write inside the card and let them colour and decorate the card however they like. While they’re colouring play some Christmas music to get them in the festive spirit!

Posted in Vocabulary Classes, Young Learners

Vocabulary Memory Game

Posted on by Tim Warre

memory game photo

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is a fun memory game for young learners similar to my “there was/there were” activity.

Stage one

Put students in teams of 2-3. Project the image above onto the board and give students 1 minute to memorise as many of the things as they can. Then give students a pen and paper, they have to write as many of the things as they can in complete sentences:

There was a pen on the table.

There were some coins next to the ping pong ball.

The winning team is the one who remembers the most things. Award extra points for correct use of there was/were and prepositions of place: next to, between, on the right/left of…

Stage two

Give each group a sheet of blank paper, give them two minutes to fill the paper with little drawings of objects. The objects must be easy to identify and they have to know the name of the object in English.

Groups then swap their pieces of paper and they have 1 minute to memorise all the things the other group have drawn on their paper. They then write out the sentences like before and the team with the most correct is the winner.

Posted in Reading Classes, Young Learners

Mini Halloween Plays for Young Learners

Posted on by Tim Warre

Image credit: cartoon-clipart.disneyimage.com

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

This is a Halloween themed lesson for young learners. There are two spooky short stories for students to act out in small groups. Download the stories here:

Halloween Stories

Depending on the time and the student’s level there are two procedures for this lesson.

  1. For lower levels: Read and act out both stories for the class and then split students into groups to recreate them with the text.
  2. For higher levels: Split the class into groups, give out texts and have students read them in their groups and then rehearse and perform them.

Students should work in groups of 3-4, designate 1-2 strong students to act as narrators. Help ss with vocabulary and pronunciation problems.

Give ss 10 minutes to practice and then have them perform their stories to the rest of the class.

The Stories

The Werewolf

Once upon a time there was a farmer. One day he went walking in the forest. He was very tired so he decided to go to sleep under a tree. When he woke up it was dark and he was very cold. He looked in the sky and he saw a full moon. Suddenly, he heard a wolf howl very close.

There was a huge wolf behind him! He was very scared and he screamed. The wolf attacked him and bit him on the arm. He felt very strange, he ran to the river and looked in the water, his face was transforming into a wolf’s! Hair covered all his body and his teeth grew very long. He tried to shout but a long howl came out of his mouth.

Now if you go into that forest on the night of a full moon, maybe you will meet him…..

The hunter and the witches

Once upon a time there was a brave hunter. One day he was chasing a rabbit in the mountains with his dogs. They ran to the top of the mountain where they found 2 witches making a magic potion. The rabbit ran past the witches and the dog chased it. The dog crashed into the magic potion and it fell onto the floor. The witches were extremely angry and shouted at the hunter as he ran away after the rabbit.

The witches were very angry so they made a plan. One of the witches transformed herself into a rabbit. The other witch made a very powerful potion and put it in a little bottle. The rabbit witch ran to the hunter’s house, knocked on the door and ran away. The hunter and the dogs ran out of the house and chased the rabbit witch up the mountain. But at the top the other witch was waiting. When the hunter arrived she threw the potion at him and his dogs and they all turned to stone!!!

If you go to the top of the mountain you can still see the stone hunter and his dogs.

Follow up

Do you know any traditional scary stories from your country?

Halloween Quizlet set:

Here’s a good quizlet set to practice Halloween vocabulary.

Posted in Games, Young Learners

Playing around with tekhnologic’s templates

Posted on by Tim Warre

tekhnologic

Follow me on twitter @RobbioDobbio

Download tekhnologic’s amazing game templates from here. This week I’m going to play jeopardy with my teenagers and a like/dislike boardgame with my young learners. Try out my completed ones below or download the templates yourself and make your own.

like-dislike-boardgame – target language: I like/don’t like/hate/love/don’t mind. Ss in groups role the dice, move round the board and make sentences about the corresponding picture.

jeopardy-trivia-1-Put ss in teams, they roll a dice to decide which category they answer: Sport, art, geography, science, music, literature. They decide how difficult a question they want on a scale of 1-5. They are given the answer to a question, they have to guess what the question is, for example:

Answer: Usain Bolt

Question: Who’s the fastest man in the world?

If they get it right they get the corresponding number of points depending how difficult the question was.

https://tekhnologic.wordpress.com/downloads/

Posted in Conversation Classes, Games, Young Learners

Christmas Trivia Quiz

Posted on by Tim Warre

This is a fun Christmas trivia quiz for the last day of term. Bring prizes for the winning team.

Split the class into small groups and get them to come up with a festive team name. There are two rounds, the first is the picture round. Show the pictures in the picture round handout, students have to name the items they see.

The second round is the trivia round. Read out the questions below one at a time, students write their answers on a piece of paper. You can download the list of questions here. Christmas Trivia Quiz

Trivia Round

  1. What are the names of these dates? 24th + 25th, 31st of December, 1st of January. Christmas eve, Christmas day, New Year’s eve, New year’s day.
  2. What do people traditionally do under the mistletoe plant? Kiss
  3. Where do children hang their stockings on Christmas Eve? Next to the fireplace.
  4. Which English author wrote the book ‘A Christmas Carol’? Charles Dickens
  5. In Charles Dickens’ novel A Christmas Carol, how many ghosts visited Ebeneezer Scrooge? Extra points for their names. 4 Jacob Marley, Ghosts of Xmas past, present and yet to come.
  6. Name 2 of Father Christmas’ reindeer apart from Rudolph. Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Donner, Blitzen, Alternative question: Which of these names is NOT one of Father Christmas’ Reindeer? Comet, Cupid, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Chaser, Vixen, Donner, Blitzen
  7. The character Jack Skellington appears in which 1993 Tim Burton film? The Nightmare before Christmas
  8. What are the names of the three wise men said to have brought gifts to the baby Jesus? Balthasar, Melchior, Caspar (or Gaspar – Interestingly the Bible does not states state their names, nor even the number of wise men: “…there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem… and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense and myrrh…” from Matthew 2:1 and 2:11. Thanks A Russell.)
  9. What is New Year’s Eve called in Scotland? Christenmouse, Hogmanay, pigmany
  10. In which modern country is St Nicholas’s birthplace and hometown? Turkey (St Nicholas, bishop ‘Nikolaos of Myra’, 270-343AD, was born a Greek, i.e., of Greek parents in Patara, Lycia. He lived in and was bishop of Myra, Lycia. Patara and nearby Myra, in Lycia, or fully Lycia et Pamphylia, were then technically provincial territory of the Roman Empire with no specific country name. Patara became ruins centuries ago. Where the ancient town of Myra stood, now stands the Turkish town/district of Demre, Antalya Province, Turkey)
  11. From which country does the poinsettia plant originate? Mexico
  12. How many points does a snowflake have? Six
  13. What is the name of the cake traditionally eaten in Italy at Christmas? Panettone
  14. Which country does the tradition of Christmas trees come from? Germany
  15. What do people in England do at 3pm on Christmas day? Listen to the Queen’s speech.
  16. Name 3/5 traditional English Xmas dinner ingredients. Turkey, potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts, sweet potato, parsnip, broccoli, cauliflower, sausages with bacon.
  17. What 3 things do children leave next to the chimney for Father Christmas on Christmas Eve? A drink, some food, carrots for the reindeer.

Thanks to Business Balls for some of the questions.