Ho Ho Ho, Christmas is coming. And because it’s 6th December tomorrow, I have a little Mikołajki present for you. I know oral matura exam is not compulsory this year but isn’t teaching a language about practising communication skills after all (no matter the exam structure and requirements)? I prepared a version for a teacher and student so your students can actually work in pairs. I hope you will have a lot of fun, I mean 'Christmas is coming’ fun.
This is a presentation on the revision of the following Past Tenses: Past Simple, Past Continuous and Past Perfect. It’s in the form of Mind Maps to be completed by your students. The students have to think about the usage, structure and characteristic words of each tense. Then there is some speaking practice after each tense.
This is the second part of the series. The first part is entitled Present Tenses and it’s already on my blog. The last part on Future Tenses is about to be published soon. Hope you’ll like the whole pack.
This is a presentation on the revision of the following Present Tenses: Present Simple, Present Continuous and Present Perfect. It’s in the form of Mind Maps to be completed by your students. The students have to think about the usage, structure and characteristic words of each tense. Then there is some speaking practice after each tense.
I hope you will like it cause I’m preparing (with my students) the next parts on Past and Future tenses. Let me know in the comments if you would like me to share the other parts with you too.
https://sklep.dealwithkinga.pl/produkt/tenses-present-part-1/
It’s almost the beginning of the school year. I hope you are relaxed and enthusiastic about new challenges. I do love the first lessons – making new relationships, students revealing secrets about their passions, observing different personality types in one group, a little bit of stress but also new opportunities. There is some mystery and promise in the first days of September.
In order to make the whole year successful, you need to get to know your students and let them learn a little bit about one another and you. Here are a couple of activities I’d like to share with you today which you can use during the first lessons with your teens and adults. I love those exercises because they are simple, they are fun, they make your students speak English from the very first minutes of the lesson and they demand little or no preparation. They are perfect icebreakers that can lead to or follow the needs analysis.
THIS IS ME…/THIS IS NOT ME… – THE POWER OF PICTURES
All you need is a set of photos. I love using Dixit or Imaginarium cards because they are less obvious, more abstract, and thus more fun. But if you have an elementary group or teach smaller children, you may use less mysterious photos. Each student chooses two cards: one which says 'This is me’ and the other one which says 'This is definitely not me’. And then he/she explains how the cards are connected with their personality or passions or the other students have to find out the connections by asking the student questions about the chosen cards. You probably already know this exercise but have a look at my variation of this activity below.
THIS IS ME…/THIS IS NOT ME… – THE POWER OF THINGS
This time the students bring two items to school. The idea is exactly the same as in the previous activity. The students’ task is to prepare a short story or description connected with those items. You may also ask the other students to predict what those items could mean and which one completes the phrase 'This is me’ and which one is an example of the phrase 'This is not me’. Encourage your students to bring less obvious objects so that it was not so easy to guess the meaning. Once I brought a needle and some thread to class. On the one hand, it meant I am not an artistic kind of a person, I can’t embroider, knit, crochet, sew, etc. But on the other hand, it meant I’m not a very patient kind of a person, I hate waiting, I make up my mind very quickly. And I told my students a story illustrating this personality trait of mine.
THIS OR THAT?
This is a well-known activity but I love it because it makes your students move, it is a lot of fun and students always look backwards to see who is similar to or different from them. You ask your students to stand one behind the other facing you. And then you ask them questions such as: Tea (pointing to the left) or coffee (pointing to the right)? Mountains (pointing to the left) or sea (pointing to the right)? And the students (and you) move one step to the right or left (or stay in the middle cause they love or hate both). You may also ask more serious questions in order to analyse the students’ needs such as: Homework or no homework? Book or authentic materials? Speaking or writing (with a scared face)? Listening or reading (with a happy face)? I usually end this activity with: Stay at school or go home? The bafflement on my students’ faces – priceless!
LIE, LIE, LIE
This is a variation of the game 'Two truths and a lie’. Students pick a question or topic. Their task is to answer it in 1-2 minutes but they can only lie, nothing they say can be true. Although it seems quite easy, in fact it is not because in 2 minutes they have to give many details. Give it a try, I’m sure your students will have a lot of fun.
WHAT QUESTION DO I HAVE ON MY BACK?
It is a task for definitely more advanced students because they will have to try to answer the questions not revealing much information, not answering them directly. You will need one question per one student in class or group. You attach one question to each student’s back so that they couldn’t see it. The students walk in class and answer the questions on their friends’ backs not mentioning the key words. The task of each student is to guess their own question on the basis of the answers given to him or her by a couple of students. You could ask questions such as:’ Would you like to have your tattoo made, why, what kind and where?’ The answer could be: 'Black because it’s classic. The place is not so important but I’m afraid of pain so it can’t be a very sensitive area. I’m not interested in any quotations, that’s for sure. So maybe the face of Hemingway? I love his books.’ The other questions could be: Who is the most difficult person to buy a Christmas present for in your opinion and why? Do you agree that a real man should never cry? Why/Why not? What book would you take to the desert island and why?, etc.
LET ME SEE…
This is a variation of the game 'Personality test’ that you can find in one of the books with the 'Recipes for tired teachers’. You show your students the following or similar table (slide 1), you ask them to draw 9 separate pictures not connected with each other but including the given elements in their notebooks. The pictures don’t have to be beautiful or very detailed but they must present something that can be identified. Once every student has finished, put them in pairs, tell them that one of them (in each pair) is going to be a psychologist and interpret the personality of the other one on the basis of their pictures. Only then do you show them slide 2. Tell the students their task is to interpret, so if someone draws a flower in the space 'This is how you see yourself’ it’s not enough to say 'You are like a flower’ – they have to think what it could mean – maybe you are cute, gentle, it’s easy to hurt you or you are full of energy when it’s hot and sunny. Then students swap roles – the other one is a psychologist. At the end you ask your students to share one idea with the rest of the class about what they have learnt about themselves from their psychologists. They may choose the interpretation they totally agree or disagree with, the one which was the most surprising or the most freaky one or the one they would like to be true. In this way the students decide what and how much they want to reveal about themselves. I’ve tried this activity with teens and adults, with different level groups and with new and old classes. Always had a lot of fun!
No matter what activities you choose to start your new year with, I do hope you will succeed in making and developing strong and friendly relationships with your students. Because that’s what the first lessons are all about – not teaching, giving homework, testing or assessing but getting to know each other, having fun and tightening bonds. Have a great year everyone!
I’ve always been fascinated with the cockney rhyming slang. It is simply so much fun. And this is what learning and teaching English is actually about, isn’t it? I know cockney is not the most useful thing in the world but it’s almost the end of the school year so what about just having a little bit of relax and pure joy of playing with the language? I hope you and your students will simply enjoy this lesson. Let me know if you liked it.
This is a huge revision set which you can use with your teenagers before different kinds of exams (E8, basic and extended matura, FCE, etc) as well as with your adult students. It consists of 14 parts, each one corresponding to a different exam topic: Man, House, School, Work, Social Life, Food, Shopping, Travelling, Culture, Sport, Health, Science and Technology, Nature, Crime and Society. In each part you will find 4 tasks: – SNAP: a picture connected with the topic, – VOCAB: eight words or expressions connected with the topic, – CREATE: a photo and a question or writing task – STORY: a topic for story telling
This is a very universal set. And because of it you can adapt it easily to the level of your students and your needs. You may use a certain part as a warm-up only or use it as the basis of your whole lesson. The SNAP and VOCAB tasks are just photos and words or phrases on different levels. So it’s totally up to you and your creativity what you decide to do with them.
I hope this will help you have very effective and enjoyable revision lessons with your students. Let me know whether you have found the ideas useful. So help yourself and bon appetit!
The set is available in the shop: https://sklep.dealwithkinga.pl/produkt/revision-set-genially/
Surprise your students and take them on a spree to some British Public Houses. Do they know how to behave there? What to say? Are they keen on learning interesting facts about those undoubtedly remarkable places? Enjoy our new quiz and… bottoms up!
I’ve just gathered a few of my Christmas activities in one place for you to enjoy during your last lessons before or first lessons after Christmas. All of them can be found on wordwall. Short, quick, can be used as warm-ups, energizers or fillers. Suitable for teens and adults on different levels.
CHRISTMAS CATEGORIES
Students have to put the words and expressions into 4 different categories: Christmas decorations, traditions, food and winter time.
CHRISTMAS MATCHING
Students have to match the pictures to Christmas expressions.
CHRISTMAS QUIZ
Students have to choose the correct answer. It’s a typical vocabulary game.
CHRISTMAS PHRASAL CRAZE
This time we deal with grammar, and to be more precise with phrasal verbs. Definitely for more advanced students.
CHRISTMAS SPEAKING
And the last exercise is devoted entirely to speaking. Could be used as a typical work in pairs or speed dating activity.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
I hope you will find those activities useful, still this year or maybe in the future. I’d like to wish you all the best. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
This lesson was created during The Women’s Strike when I cancelled all my lessons and at last had some time to make a lesson which I was thinking about for quite some time. It is definitely a conversational class which deals with the current situation in our country. It focuses mainly on the ways women were and are still perceived by men, by other women and by themselves. The video (the link of which is included) is quite strong so if you want to have this lesson with your teen students, you’d better skip it, especially if you teach in a public school. I tried to smuggle a little bit of grammar and vocabulary here, all wrapped in speaking activities. The topic is so universal you may use it whenever you want. You don’t have to talk about it right now (if you are fed up with all the discussions in social media). Women’s (or Human) Rights will always be a hot topic worth discussing.
This is a lesson inspired by Sylwia Clayton’s Lesson Starters. Since autumn is coming, the days are getting colder and it’s harder to warm up a little bit, I guess coffee is a perfect lesson topic. You will find a lot of questions for discussion, a Kahoot game on how much you know about coffee and some quotations about coffee that your students will be able to reflect on. Your students will practise mainly speaking but also a little bit of grammar (conditionals). I hope this lesson will cheer you and your students up during the gloomy days of autumn.
https://sklep.dealwithkinga.pl/produkt/coffee-time/
So why don’t you spark your students’ curiosity, enhance their language skills, and make learning an espresso-licious adventure! Don’t miss out—grab your brew-tiful coffee-themed lesson today and inspire your students like never before!