Describing Physical Appearance

 This is a speaking activity where the students need to create their "cardboard dolls" and describe them using adjectives for describing physical appearance ( tall, short, fat, slim, big eyes, small eyes, long hair etc.) and also using have got / has got . They are expected to say sentences like: He is tall and fat. He has got short, dark hair and big blue eyes. In order to change the atmosphere in the classroom and make the students more comfortable, I asked them to sit in a circle on the floor. I put the props in the center and the students created the "cardboard dolls". This is a great way for the teacher to grade students' speaking abilities and also for the students to listen to their peers first and then provide their own description so that they don't feel insecure and not able to perform the task. 

Asking questions using gerund (presentation and practice)

The aim of this lesson is introducing gerund for making questions.

This lesson follows the one posted previously when the students were introduced with the affirmative and negative form of gerund.

1. I started the lesson by delivering the flash cards to the students from the previous lesson in order to revise affirmative and negative sentences using gerund. Then I introduced how questions are made for each person respectfully. Make sure that you elicit as much as possible from the students while writing down the examples on the board.

2. In order to practice asking questions I decided to do a class survey. I gave the students the instructions and then allowed them to stand up, walk around and interview each other. Once they finished with the survey we put the results on the board. Be sure to expect a bit of a noisy classroom but it's all part of learning and having fun :)

3. In the end we practiced some more speaking by playing a game. I made this paper crown by myself and the cards used in the game too. I got the idea from the game Hedbanz, but I adapted it to my students' needs. It's fun and serves the purpose right. The good thing about it is that you can use it with different questions (tense) and different vocabulary. 

Presenting Gerund ( affirmative and negative)

The aim of the lesson is to present the gerund used in forming affirmative and negative sentences.

1. Warm-up activity: I gave the students flash cards showing the verbs that we studied in one of the previous lessons and that we are going to use throughout this lesson. Each student got a card and just named the verb/ activity on the card. ( run, jump, swim...)

2. Then as a lead in to the presentation of gerund we listened to a dialogue from the text book that I use in the fifth grade. We listened, read the dialogue and discussed. I used sentences from the dialogue to present the gerund. Make sure to elicit as much as possible from the students before giving them the full explanation.

3. After the students were presented with the way gerund is used I gave them the same cards from the beginning of the lesson for them to say simple sentences about themselves using I like and I don't like.

4. Finally I prepared these really simple speaking cards to help students practice the use of gerund for the third person singular.

You can find the speaking cards here:

http://www.eslprintables.com/powerpoint.asp?id=90770#thetop

SHAPES AND VEHICLES

To revise shapes and vehicles vocabulary we got down to some creativeness. We decided to create vehicles out of shapes and then describe them using there is / there are.

 

Vocabulary revison - Food

Teaching young learners means that you constantly need to find different ways to engage your students and keep them busy:) This is one way we revise vocabulary - we create food out of paper. Then students use "I like...." to present the food they like.

Healthy food vs Junk food

We managed to revise food vocabulary and raise awareness of the importance of healthy food.

Follow the link to see what we did on the class and watch the video to see what the students had to say:)

http://www.slideshare.net/emilijana1985/healthy-food-vs-junk-food-41292521

TOYS - games and ideas - Learning can be fun!

I gave my students Mr. Potato head parts of the body. They worked in groups, put the pieces together and described the toy using parts of the body and have got/ has got.

Food, containers and money vocabulary - Learning can be fun!

The photos say it all:) We practice dialogues with the target vocabulary - and of course we use toys :)

Food - Do you like? - Learning can be fun!

If you work with very young students I believe that you need to find a way to be very patient and keep them busy. This is how I decided to make them spend some time creating something on their own and at the same time practicing questions in the present simple - Do you like?

What you would need for this class is:  several plastic plates or paper plates, glue, scissors, color paper, and some thread or whatever you come up with that might be useful. Students work in pairs or in groups, it depends on the number of students you have in class. They create their favourite food and then they ask each other questions. 

Weather / Seasons - Learning can be fun!

Posters can be a fun way to learn and practice vocabulary. I use the posters from the books Welcome 1 and Welcome 2, but of course you can use any picture you find that is big enough and colourful enough or you can make on on your own. I usually print and cut and then laminate small pictures of: sun, rain, clouds..... The students need to choose a picture, put it in the correct place on the poster and make a sentence - It's cold in winter....

Face vocabulary - Learning can be fun!

I use English Adventure B, with the second grade students. When we learn about the parts of the face and the body this is how we usually do it.
1.  I play the song from the CD that goes with the book and students work in pairs so that they need to show the part of the face they hear but on their partner's face.
2. Then I put pictures on the board with the target vocabulary and I play a CD ( you can say the words yourself) and the students need to point to the correct picture.
3. Next, I read them the story Is this my nose? ( A lovely storybook you can order here, they don't charge delivery : http://www.bookdepository.com/Is-This-My-Nose-/9780764161537) , and we use the mirror at the end of the book. Look in the mirror and name the parts of the face.
4. Finally, we use some toys - Mr. and Mrs Potato head - students create their faces and then describe them.

Clothes - Learning can be fun!

In the 3rd grade I use English Adventure 1. When we learn about clothes vocabulary I always use the cards in the back when it's time for revision. You can make your own cards or students can draw and make the cards themselves. So this is the idea. Each student chooses 4 cards ( or more, or less) and he/she needs to make sentences using present continuous and clothes vocabulary. This is how we did it.

Expressing preferences - Learning can be fun!

Students use play dough to create their favourite food. After they finish they present their food and use sentences with like/ don't like to express their preferences. 

Alphabet - Learning can be fun!

This is how we learn the English alphabet - students make paper headbands with each letter and then choose their favourite word - Listen to what they have to say:)

Introducing family members - Learning can be fun!

This is what I usually do with my students when we learn about family members. We use some pictures and straws to make puppets. Students can even bring their own family photos. We enjoy cutting and making the puppets and then each student should present his or her family. They use personal pronouns, third person singular of the verb to be and possessive adjectives. not bad, ha? :)

Domestic Animals - stepping stones - Learning can be fun!

I'm sure you have heard of the game Stepping stones, so this is just an idea how to use it in the classroom. It doesn't take too much time to prepare. Just make sure you draw or print several pictures of domestic animals - the ones you learn in class. Put them on the floor - use some tape so that they don't move when the kids step on them. It's as simple as that. You create the rules of the game. I usually ask my students to step on the pictures, say the word and try not to make a mistake. If they do, they have to go back and do it all over again. The winner is the student who manages to name all the animals without making a mistake. Sometimes there can be more than one winner. The point is that we practice the words in a fun way - it's not who gets the prize! Here's a video on how we do it in the class.