Activities, games

Activities

• Superlatives

Activity: The coldest place I’ve been to

The superlative can regularly go with the present perfect (as in The best film I’ve ever seen was…). You could use this sentence stem to make a questionnaire. Make a worksheet with several examples. Here are some based around the theme of ‘weather’.

• The coldest place I’ve been to was…
• The hottest place I’ve ever visited was…
• The worst storm I’ve ever seen was in…
• The strangest weather I’ve ever experienced was…

Put students in pairs and tell them to interview their partner. To do this they must make questions, e.g. What’s the worst storm you’ve ever seen? They can also ask follow-up questions to find out more information. Do feedback on this as a whole class. Other thematic questionnaires of this kind could be:

Emotional experiences

• The most frightened I’ve ever been…
• The happiest moment I’ve ever had…
• The most nervous I’ve ever been…

Musical experiences(better with teens):

• The best concert I’ve ever been to…
• The worst song I’ve ever heard…
• The longest time I’ve ever danced…
• The best CD I’ve ever bought…

Places in your life

• The most dangerous place I’ve been in…
• The cheapest restaurant I’ve eaten in…
• The most boring town I’ve ever visited…

 Activity: Award ceremony

You can also practise superlatives by organizing a class awards ceremony. Have awards for different categories:

• the student with the nicest smile
• the friendliest student
• the hardest working student
• the earliest student
• the best-dressed student
• the most talkative student
• the quietest student etc. (try to have only nice categories!)

You could either decide on the winners yourself or put the awards to a secret vote. Make sure that everybody gets an award for something (meaning that if you have 20 plus students you might have to have more than one recipient for an award). Make the awards on little stars. Hold a ceremony in which you distribute them to great fanfare. This activity works best at the end of the year, or the end of a Anchor Point:bottomterm.

You can also ask your students to find out:

Examples:                                                       

the driest desert
the biggest planet     
the smallest planet
the smallest animal
the oldest person
the largest continent
the smallest continent
the tallest building
the longest river

• Conditionals
  

Two tasks for conversation concerning the 2nd conditional. In the first part, students have to answer what they would do in the given imaginary situations.
Example: If you were invited to a fancy dinner with the president or a celebrity, who would you choose and why?

In the other part (starting with the idiom "to be in someone's shoes"), students deal with a list of their friend's problems and have to make up sentences stating what they would do.
Example: “My friends have no time for me.” (Answer starting with "If I were you, I'd...)

WHAT IF…

• If you were planning a big party for all your friends, and had all the money you needed, what would you have at the party ?
• If you were planning a party on a very small budget, what would you do to make it a great party?

• Food?
• Entertainment?
• Extras {like baby sitting}?

• If you were invited to a fancy dinner with the president or a celebrity, who would you choose and why?
• If you could have any job in the world, what would you like to do and why?
• If you were a rich person, where would you go for the next holiday?

IF I WERE YOU…

Your friend has many problems. Think about what you would do if you were “in their shoes”:

      “I have no boyfriend.”

      “I’m fed up with my job.”

      “I can’t get to sleep at night but I am sleepy in the afternoon.”

     “My family doesn’t understand me.”

     “My neighbours are too noisy.”

     “My friends have no time for me.”

     “I’m fat and ugly.”

     “My children are naughty and spoilt.”

• Where Have You Been? 5 Perfect Tips for Practicing Present Perfect

6 Simple Class Activities for Practicing Relative Clauses

1. The Longest Sentence

   How much do your students know about world-famous people? You might find out in this simple game which requires students to use relative clauses. In each round, two students will face off to find out who knows more information about a given person. Have the youngest person of the two go first and make a simple statement about a famous person. (For example, Albert Einstein was a scientist.) The next person must then add a piece of information to the sentence (using a relative clause) without changing what the first person said. (For example, Albert Einstein, who discovered the theory of relativity, was a scientist.) Play goes back to the first person who must add another piece of information to the sentence, and so on. When one player can no longer add a true piece of information to the sentence, the other person scores a point. If you like, divide your class into two teams and have one person from each team come to the front of the room each round. You can play this game orally or in writing.

2. Puzzle It Out

   Help your students review the structure of sentences containing relative clauses with this hands on activity. Write several sentences using relative clauses in the middle. Then cut apart your sentences into three pieces – the beginning of the sentences, the relative clauses, and the end of the sentences. Shuffle all the pieces together and give them to a group of three or four students. They must then work together to assemble each of the sentences correctly with the pieces you have given them using context clues.

3. Chain Writing

   You can have your students work together to write a funny story in this pass the paper activity. Have each person in your class start with a blank piece of paper. They will write one sentence on the paper that begins with the following: It was the day that… They will then complete the sentence, fold over the top of the paper, and then pass it to the next person. That person completes this sentence: There was a girl/boy who… They then fold over the top of the paper and pass it to a third person. That person finishes this sentence: She met a girl/boy who…

   When the fourth person gets the paper, they finished this sentence: They had to defeat a monster that… The fifth and final person finishes this sentence: The outcome was something that…. When all five people have finished their sentences, have them give the papers to you. You will then unfold each paper and read the completed story. Your students are sure to get a laugh from these silly, multi-author stories.

4. Clues for You

   In this game, students will give clues to an object as the class tries to guess which object it is. Divide your class into two teams. Have each team take turns choosing an object in the room to give clues about. Each clue should start with, “This is something that/which…” Each team will give three clues for its chosen object. If the other team is able to guess the object after just one clue, they score three points. If they need two clues to identify the object, they score two points. After three clues, they only score one point. If they are unable to guess the object after three clues, they score zero. Play until one team reaches twelve points.

5. It’s All Balderdash

   Balderdash, by definition, means a lot of nonsense. It also happens to be a board game which is great fun to play in class. If you don’t have the game itself, you can play this modified version, which will give your students a chance to practice using relative clauses. Start by printing off a list of unusual holidays and observances that your students will probably not be familiar with. Your entries should include the date and the reason for the observance. Then cut your list into small slips of paper and put them into a hat. Have students draw one from the hat without showing it to their classmates. They will then use that slip to write three sentences about that date. One of the sentences should say the date and what the true observance is. The other two sentences should say the date and give false observances. For example, one person’s sentences might read as follows:

   July 4^th is the day that Americans drink and wear green.
   July 4^th is the day that Americans celebrate their independence.
   July 4^th is the day when Americans remember their deceased loved ones.

   Each student then takes turns reading their sentences to the class. The rest of the students try decide which statement is true.

6. Apples to Apples

   This simple game is popular with players of all ages. In the game, each person gets five cards with random words on them which they must link to another random word logically. You can make your own modified version of the game by writing vocabulary words and common English words on index cards. (The more cards you have for each group of three to four players, the better. You can even have students make their own cards before starting the game.) Have groups shuffle their cards and then deal five to each person in the group. On a player’s turn, he lays one of his cards face up on the table. The other players must then choose one of the cards in their hands that they think best connects with the one their classmate played. Once everyone has laid down their cards, players take turns explaining the connections between the cards using relative clauses. For example, if I had the cards holiday and mug, I might give this explanation: People drink mugs of eggnog on the winter holiday which is Christmas. The person who played the first card chooses which connection he likes best, and the person who made it scores a point. Keep playing until everyone has had at least one opportunity to lay down the first card in the round or until one player scores five points.

From site: busyteacher.org

Games

Yes-Or-No Games

Загадки, приведенные ниже, можно с успехом использовать для так называемых "Yes-Or-No Games". Ведущий рассказывает короткую историю (часто детективного характера) с непонятным завершением, а участники игры, в свою очередь, задают ему наводящие вопросы, требующие ответа "да" или "нет", постепенно приближаясь к разгадке. Подобные игры являются весьма эффективным talk-тренажером (правда, не для ведущего), так что советуем вам не переключаться на русский язык в процессе игры. Если же вам лень задавать вопросы, можете попробовать отгадать эти загадки "с первого захода". (Для того, чтобы увидеть правильный ответ, выделите скрытый текст.)

A Man In The Elevator

A man lives on the tenth floor of a building. Every day he takes the elevator to go down to the ground floor to go to work or to go shopping. When he returns he takes the elevator to the seventh floor and walks up the stairs to reach his apartment on the tenth floor. He hates walking so why does he do it? (Одна из самых известных классических загадок подобного рода. Несмотря на то, что "подогнать" под нее можно несколько ответов, только "канонический ответ" считается верным.)
[ The man is a dwarf. ]

A Man Who Hanged Himself

There is a large wooden barn, which is completely empty except for a dead man hanging on the central rafter. The rope around his neck is ten feet long and his feet are three feet above the ground. The nearest wall is 20 feet away from the man. It is not possible to climb up the walls or along the rafters. The man hanged himself. How did he do it?
[ He climbed on a block of ice, which has melted. ]

Anthony and Cleopatra

Anthony and Cleopatra are lying dead on the floor of a villa in Egypt. Nearby is a broken bowl. There is no mark on either of their bodies and they were not poisoned. How did they die?
[ Anthony and Cleopatra were goldfish whose bowl was knocked over by a clumsy dog. ]

Heaven

A man died and went to Heaven. There were thousands of other people there. They were all naked and all looked as they did at the age of 21. He looked around to see if there was anyone he recognized. He saw a couple and he knew immediately that they were Adam and Eve. How did he know?
[ Adam and Eve were the only people without navels. They were not born by women. ]

Push That Car

A man pushed his car. He stopped when he reached a hotel at which point he knew he was bankrupt. Why?
[ He was playing Monopoly. ]

From site:http://www.fluent-english.ru

7 Best Games for Vocabulary Class

1. Charades

   Write vocabulary words on individual index cards. Break your class into two teams, and have one individual from each team act out the same word. The team to correctly guess the word first scores a point.

2. Pictionary

   Write vocabulary words on individual index cards or use your set from charades. Break your class into two teams, and one individual from each team draws a picture on the board. Drawers cannot use letters numbers or symbols in their drawings. The first team to guess the word correctly scores a point.

3. Memory

   Create your own memory game using vocabulary words. Write each word on individual index cards. For each existing card, make a matching card with the definition, a synonym or an antonym. Students shuffle the cards and arrange them all face down on a table. Students take turns flipping over two cards. If the cards make a set, the student keeps the cards and takes an additional turn. The person with the most cards at the end of the game wins.

4. Modified Catch Phrase

   Write each vocabulary word on an individual index card. Students sit in a circle with a timer set for a random amount of time (3-8 minutes works well). Shuffle the cards and give the deck to the first person in the circle. That person draws a card and tries to get his classmates to guess the word by giving verbal clues. He cannot say the word or any part of the word. When someone guesses the word, he passes the stack to the next person who takes a turn with another word. The person holding the stack of cards when the timer goes off loses.

5. Scattergories

   Choose ten categories with your students or before class starts (e.g. types of pets, city names, sports, items in a kitchen, etc.). Use an alphabet die to determine the letter for each round of play. Set a timer for three minutes, and students must think of one word for each category that begins with that round’s letter. Students score one point per word, and the person with the most points at the end of three rounds is the winner.

6. The Dictionary Game

   Choose an unusual word from the dictionary and spell it for your students. Each person creates a fictional definition for the word and writes it on an index card. You write the actual definition on another index card. Collect and shuffle the cards, and then read all the definitions. Students must try to guess which definition is the real one.

7. A-Z Pictures

   Using a picture with many elements (I-Spy books work great), students attempt to find an object in the picture that begins with each of the letters A through Z. After about five minutes, students compare answers. The person with the most correct answers wins the round.

From site:busyteacher.org