This is a grammar revision game that alleviates some of the tedium of a gapfill exercise! It revises general verb tenses and forms. You will need: One copy of the worksheet per group of 2-3 students Procedure (20-25 minutes total)
Use your favourite student grouping method to make groups of 2-3 students.
In their group, students fill each gap with any appropriate word. Allow 10-15 minutes.
As a class, check the answers. I like to do this with small whiteboards that students can reveal all at the same time. Groups score 1 point for a correctly used word, and 1 bonus point for a unique answer (that none of the other teams used).
This is an activity I made to practice reported speech. First students listen to fill gaps in Titanic dialog, then they use prompts to create reported speech sentences.
This went down fantastically with my intermediate Cambodian students who love Titanic.
You will need: An audio or movie clip of Titanic where Jack and Rose are clinging to the wreckage of the Titanic (the "I'll never let go" scene).
It's a new year, a new term, and time to teach perfect modal verbs of probability again. What a clunky term for something so straightforward. I usually refer to them as shoulda, woulda, coulda, which is another song, but not the one I've made a worksheet on. I used to use this song as a warmer or lead-in to perfect modals, which was usually met with a lack of enthusiasm. I was about to stop using it but thought I'd move it to the end of the lesson as a last-ditch attempt at making it work, and this time it inspired singing along and some animated discussions. Well, go figure! Lesson plan Time: 35 mins Resources needed: one copy of the worksheet per student. Mp3 or Youtube clip of the song. 1. Gist task. Write the question on the board: Is this song about: a. a happy relationship? b. a relationship that is going to end soon? c. a relationship that has already ended? 2. First listen. Students listen and compare their answers to the gist task in pairs before OCFB. Elicit the title of the song "It must have been love" and check that they understand this structure is referring to the past. 3. Second listen - minimal response task. Hand out the worksheet. Students listen again and circle the correct word. 4. Productive follow-up. Discussing in pairs, students imagine the story of what happened to the couple. Encourage them to use could/might/must have etc. Eg: they must have had a fight. He might have cheated on her. They can't have been happy together. Write particularly good examples on the board.
Process writing can show up as an IELTS writing task, so it's important for IELTS students to know how to describe a process. However, these videos are also handy for reviewing or practicing the present passive with intermediates and up.
Procedure
1. Warmer: I like to use the "X is made from X" warmer. Students in groups of 2-3 have to brainstorm sentences using this model, for example "Cheese is made from milk", "Pencils are made from wood", etc. The group with the most will be the winner.
2. Review the passive form: subject + is/are + v3. Check the meaning. Does the cheese make something or does someone make the cheese? Does it say who makes the cheese? Why not? (The subject does not do the action, but receives it. It is not necessary to say who does the action because we are more interested in the results.)
3. Explain that you are going to watch a video about how something is made. Elicit any predictions or prior knowledge from the students.
4. Students watch the video and take notes on the process, especially any passive sentences they hear.
5. Check unfamiliar vocabulary and watch again if necessary.
6. Students in pairs construct passive sentences describing the process.
7. Have students write their sentences on the board and correct errors with the class.
8. Students write up the process in full to be handed in and marked.
Videos to use
Processes are an ideal context for the present passive, so you can easily find lesson material by typing "how [anything] is made" into YouTube according to your students' interests. Here are some I've tried before.
1. How ice cream is made
A slightly dated educational BBC clip. My students weren't thrilled by it, but it worked for the lesson.
2. How orange juice is made
They liked this one more. Lesson I learnt: don't use clips that are older than your students.
This is an endlessly adaptable grammar practice activity for any level of ESL learners from pre-intermediate upwards. Just make up some prompts that lend themselves to the grammar structure that you want to practice. Print them up on some brightly-coloured paper and make cuts in the paper so that each prompt can be pulled off separately.
For example, here I wanted to practice modal verbs of deduction (could have, might have, must have, can't have):
The louder the colours, the more fun it is.
Model an example on the board and specify how many sentences you want them to write. For example:
My manager looks very tired.
He must have been working all day.
He might not have slept very well.
He can't have had a break today.
Give each group of 3-4 students a grass skirt. You can blu-tack it to the edge of a desk, onto the wall near each group, or on the wall on the other side of the classroom if you want them to be running backwards and forwards. Instruct the students that you have to OK their sentences before they can get the next prompt. You can have each group appoint a writer, or require every student in the group to write one sentence.
This one is for past perfect.
The first group to get through all the prompts wins the game. You can adapt this for almost any grammar structure and it works with both young learners and adults. Do you use any variations on this or have another favourite grammar practice activity?
Lead in with pictures of members of the British Royal Family, eliciting their names and relationships to one another, and then hand out the worksheet. Students can complete it individually or in pairs.
Follow up with a quiz to revise family words, for example: Who is Prince Harry's aunt? Who is Prince Philip's mother-in-law?
If verbs and nouns are meat and bread, adverbs and adjectives are sauce and pickles. To get my students to spice up their narrative sandwiches I decided to go way back to basics and practice placing adjectives and adverbs. This worksheet could really be adapted for any level by providing more complex sentences and encouraging more sophisticated vocabulary. Sky's the limit! Start by brainstorming adverbs and adjectives. Students can show you what they already know, and you can take the chance to feed in new words.
Students progress to adding adverbs and adjectives to simple sentences.
When teaching a grammar point it's important to think "When do I actually use this structure in real life?". The present perfect continuous often appears in ESL textbooks in contrived contexts such as "Why are your eyes red? - I've been crying!"... which honestly I don't think I've ever said in my life.
Being in a new town and a new job, I've found myself having the same conversation over and over. Within a few minutes the conversation generally runs to "I work at the language school - Oh, how long have you been working there?"
Teaching this usage of the present perfect continuous prepares students to have a natural, normal, real-life conversation. What could be better?
Procedure
First, have each student take a small piece of paper and write the following items. Stress: not your own name and workplace but a made-up one.
Name
Place of work
Small number
Example:
Sopheak
Hospital
3
Take the papers in, shuffle and redistribute. Model the conversation:
"Hello, what's your name?"
"My name's..."
"Where do you work?"
"I work at the..."
"How long have you been working there?"
"I've been working there for X years!"
Now the students mingle around the classroom to practice the questions and answers using the cues on their paper. To give a motivation for speaking to everyone, challenge them to find someone who works in the same place as them. Obviously this may or may not happen depending on what the students have written, but they will have to speak to everyone to find out!
This is a research-project type worksheet where learners are provided with the family tree template and then use the Internet to fill in the information. Click here for the standalone version with accompanying text. Lead in with photos of Royal family members and elicit a small section of the family tree to the board. Then let the learners loose on the computer room, or their smartphones or iPads.
Early finishers can colour in the title or decorate the blank spaces, then display the completed trees on the wall.
I decided to do something a bit different with my intermediates today and take a look at a Shakespearean sonnet. For most of them this was completely new ground and they had some wonderful thoughts about the nature of beauty. Some didn't like it, so it was good food for debate.
William Shakespeare - Sonnet CXXX
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red, than her lips red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound:
I grant I never saw a goddess go,
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet by heaven, I think my love as rare*,
As any she* belied with false compare.
*rare = special, superb (old English usage)
*she = woman (old English usage)
This is a great introduction to sonnets since most of the language is pretty accessible, and the concept is engaging. Maybe that's why it was on my GCSE English syllabus! Since this was only an introduction and not an in-depth reading, I prepared a few simple questions to skim the surface of the form and meaning.
I played this video to my pre-intermediate class of teenagers at summer school for a couple of reasons. I wanted to get them thinking about the different motivations that people have for learning English, and know that video is the most captivating medium for teens.
Video posted with permission from the owner Alexandra Guzik.
This video was perfect to spark some ideas and I think it encouraged the students to see non-native speakers communicating effectively and confidently.
I did this today with two different classes of intermediate teenagers in summer school. The students produced stories ranging from the surreal to the surprisingly complex. A good degree of choice and flexibility means that the students can really let their imaginations run away with them.
Lead in by talking about movies and get a feel for which types of movies your students like.
Brainstorm vocabulary related to that type of movie. I went for horror so recapped some different types of horror baddies (zombies, vampires, werewolves...).
Place the students into groups of 3-4 and have each group design one evil character and one good character, including name, picture, and a short description plus details of any special powers.
Collect the characters, mix them up, and let each group choose a good guy and a bad guy (that they did not design).
Let each group choose a location from a set of 'cards' (aeroplane, school, hospital, beach...)
Each group now writes the storyboard of what happens when the good guy meets the bad guy in the location they have chosen. What happens? Who wins and how? Is it a happy ending?
Each group presents their story to the class and then students vote on their favourite.
Of course this format can be adapted in any number of ways to account for the students' tastes. What would you do differently?
