Classroom Activities

English Teaching Materials, Games and Activities

Hi,

Where do ideas for creating teaching materials come from? Sometimes they seem to come from thin air, they just appear in your consciousness as if they've been there, hiding away in some dark corner, all the time. These ideas I like very much as they seem to take so little effort. Most of the time creating new materials is more akin to writers block, so when this happens to me I visit my favourite web site, ESL printables, and gain inspiration from the thousands of creative teachers who inhabit this wonderful online world. I've been an active member for over a year. It has over 280,000 members and there are a little over 6000 members in Japan, but less than 10% have ever uploaded a worksheet and probably only 1% could be considered active; the rest of the world membership is similar.

ESL printables is a site set up by a teacher for teachers. We share our materials with each other. These materials always remain the property of their creator, but by putting them up on the website we give permission to other members to use them freely with their own students. This means they are welcome to use them in their own schools but since the material is not shareware, it should not be distributed, nor sold, to anyone else. If used in the classroom, they should be given to the students (the students shouldn't pay money for them).

Many people join and find that they don't have the ability to create their own materials so they steal materials on the Internet and from fellow members and upload those in the hope of gaining some miserable points, which will allow them to download materials. This is a big problem for this site and there is an active moderators list of volunteers to help deal with this daily and growing problem.

More recently a bigger problem arose. A member of ESL printables a publisher for a publishing company (AFS Yayincilik, also known as AFS English) in Turkey has illegally published some books full of worksheets belonging to ESL printables members. He even invented some fictitious authors and illustrators to make his books seem genuine. The owner of the ESL printables site, Victor Gayol lives in Spain, he reminds me of David Paul somewhat in that he doesn't usually get involved unless absolutely necessary, and now he is trying very hard, along with many other members of ESL printables, to right this wrong. He recently started a Blog to campaign against this "illegal and unethical behaviour". I have great respect for his efforts because the individual teacher can do so little when the problem lies on the other side of the world.

I write about this problem in my column in support of teachers around the world. Please visit Victor's Blog to read more about this problem.

Sincerely,
David Lisgo
ESL printables member

Try asking your students are a few simple questions such as "What's an elephant?", "What's a table?" or "What's a cat?" Last week I asked several university students the question "Where is Japan?" before someone answered "It's in Asia." and that was after we had reviewed continents. How did your students do? Were they shouting out the answers eagerly or perhaps they didn't know how to answer. I have a seven-year old student who will stop me occasionally whilst I'm speaking and say "David, what is a (polar bear)?", then I have other students who would rather give me a blank look than ever ask me such a question.

If you have heard David Paul's story, then you might know that Finding Out was published because one of David's students asked two simple questions of some visiting dignitaries, "What do you do?" and, to the answer "I'm a publisher.", "What is a publisher?" David has incorporated both of these questions into it's Finding Out book 2.

I'm going to look at the second question which is found in unit 5 page 32 in the activity "Aliens", here I quote from the book:

(Alien) "What's an elephant?"

(Boys) "It's gray." "It has a long..."

It doesn't seem like much, but it has great potential.

Unit 5 concentrates on "this/that" so I wanted to create something that would practice these targets as well as the more difficult descriptive language and so I decided on the game "I'm an Alien Zookeeper". Of course, to my knowledge, there was no such game. First of all I created 40 question cards featuring an alien zookeeper asking questions about the animals of this planet. Most of the vocabulary (animals) is taken from my 'animal habitats' cards.

Here you can see the poster from this set.

Then I wrote a simple description for each of the animals using this pattern:

It's...

It has...

It eats...

It lives in...

Notice that a boy or girl gives each description. Initially I wasn't going to put a picture of the animal on the card, but then I thought that the students would take too long in finding the correct card and then everyone would get bored with the pace of the activity. Then I made a set of small flashcards featuring each of the animals.

All these cards have the same backs, which I hope you find interesting.

Here are a few activities which the cards can be used for.

1. Scatter card
Language target: "What is a...?" and "This is a..."
Material: animal flashcards and alien zookeeper question cards.
Procedure: scatter the flashcards on the floor or table, pretend to be an alien and ask the students "What is an elephant?", then try and elicit the answer "This is an elephant.", whilst holding and showing the picture, also have the children use the answer "I don't know.", when they don't know. Do this until the students have almost got it and then break them into small groups and one student from each group pretends to be an alien for a set number of questions before passing the question cards to another student.

Alternatively have the children sit around the cards holding fly swatters, then one child, acting as caller, asks the question "What is an elephant?" A child covers or slams the correct picture saying "This is an elephant." and receives the calling card as a reward. Children take turns as caller.

2. Animal mimes
Language target: "What is a...?" and "That is a..."
Material: selected animal flashcards and alien zookeeper question cards.
Procedure: limit the cards to known easy to mime animals. Select someone to be an alien and another person to answer the alien's questions and then deal out the flashcards (face down) to the other students, then the alien asks the question "What is (an elephant)?" All the other players mime an animal, but the player holding the elephant card must mime an elephant. Then finally the student answers the question by pointing to the player who is miming an elephant and says "That is an elephant."

This sounds like an interesting game. I must try it myself.

3. Scatter card: animal descriptions
Language target: "What is a...?", "This is a...", "It's...", "It has...", "It eats..." and "It lives in...".
Material: animal description cards and alien zookeeper question cards.
Procedure: scatter the animal description cards on the floor or table, a player is chosen to play the part of the alien and asks the question "What is an elephant?" A student finds the right card and answers the question using the information given on the card. Play proceeds as in the first "scatter card" game.

After playing such game you should find your students more open to using 'this/that', when asked "What is a...?" and more open to using descriptive language.

"I'm an Alien Zookeeper" is available directly from myself for ¥1500 plus postage; please e-mail your order. The pack contains:

30 picture cards
30 question cards
30 description cards

The cards are the same size and quality as Switchit cards. That is, printed both sides colour, laminated, machine cut and corners rounded, then packed in a sturdy box.

If you want to make your own, then you can either design them yourself or wait until the materials come out on a new Blending a Hand CD. I'm hoping to have a CD covering units 1-7 of Finding Out book 2 available in December.

Just when I thought I had taken care of likes and dislikes, I reach unit 4 of New Finding Out 2 and find that I must now combine 'I like/I don't like...' with colours and plurals. I had this brief inspiration and wrote some notes on a scrap bit of paper and then yesterday I began developing this game not knowing how it would end up. I worked on it for about four hours yesterday and again today, making many changes and adjustments until I was satisfied. I played the game with two classes this evening and it was great, just what I worked and hope for. Here's a picture of some of the finished cards.

It so difficult for Japanese students to grasp the idea of plurals and the idea of countable and uncountable nouns. With this game they get lots of practice with colours, simple expressions of like and dislike and a lot of repetition regarding plurals. This will certainly help them to gain a natural grasp of the language instead of trying to understand everything through a grammatical sense.

Here are the "Rainbow Colors" cards, which are the equivalent of special Switchit cards or jokers.

Individual cards can be used for pairwork in large groups and writing activities, but if possible play the game in small groups. I will describe how to play in groups of 3-5. You need eight of each card, preferably with the backs printed.

Deal seven cards face down to each player, put the remainder of the cards face down in the centre and turn over the top card. If, for example, a card with a red border is turned over, then the player to the left of the dealer must place another red card on the open card and make a suitable sentence, such as "I like purple grapes.", then the next player must play another card with a red border or a "grapes" card If the player doesn't have a card with a red border or picture of grapes, then he can play a "Rainbow Colors" card and change the colour by saying "Rainbow (orange)." And play then passes to the next player on the left who must now play a card with an (orange) border. When a player cannot play a card, then he or she must pick up a card from the face down pile. The winner is the first player to get rid of all of his or her cards.

This is another brick laid in my task of producing another Blending a Hand CD in support of Finding Out and all the teachers who use it.

Long ago I attended a weekend seminar for teachers and remember distinctly being pulled up in front of all the other teachers for saying "I don't like cucumber." I should have said "I don't like cucumbers.", but the thought of just a few slices of cucumber in a sandwich makes me feel ill, then when I imagine cucumbers sticking out of my sandwich, I almost die.

Japanese students of English often have difficulty expressing plurality in English. For them there is usually no difference between "I like chicken." and "I like chickens." Not a huge problem, but when they start saying things like "I like dog." and "I like cat.", then some people may begin to have misconceptions about Japanese culinary tastes.

New Finding Out 2 introduces the concept of plurals, orally, in unit two through games and song, but does not actively teach it until unit six. The game which specifically uses plurals is a chain game which focuses on the words "like/likes". Here I quote partially from the teacher's book:

"Get her to throw the stuffed animal to another child, who says I like (bananas), Maria likes (dogs) and (David) likes (rabbits). Encourage the other children to help the child who is speaking, or get them to say all except the first sentence together. It's fun to make the sentence longer and longer."

It is fun, but many children will make mistakes and say "Maria likes dog." and "David likes rabbit." And in Japan, neither dish is eaten. How do you get around this problem? Well, you could pull up the child and say, "No! Not 'dog', but 'dogs'". But all that will do is take the fun out of the game and upset the child. Let's consider a few alternatives.

1. Do nothing. The focus is on "like/likes" and the minor problem of plural endings will be sorted out in units 6 and 7 where the emphasis is on plurals.

2. Use plurals cards which have words and pictures. Each time a new 'like' is expressed, a child takes a card to match that expression. If a child makes a mistake and says the singular instead of the plural, then encourage him to read the word on his card as he expresses himself. There is a set of NFO flashcards, which includes plurals that the children are quite capable of reading. Initially, all the cards can be kept in view, but once they get used to the game, then cards may be hidden in order to make the game more challenging. Later, you can do the activity without cards.

3. Play the "I like/I don't like..." track race from BAH 4 (not yet published). The focus is now on expressing likes and dislikes of animals, fruits and vegetables.

Here's one way of playing (usually played in pairs):

You need a dice and counters. Jan-ken by saying "What do you like?" The first player rolls the dice and moves forward that number. If a 3 is thrown then she says "I like peas." or "I don't like peas.", whichever is true. If a 4 is thrown, then the dice is thrown again and the child moves forward the number thrown and expresses her like or dislike (unless she lands on the "I don't like..." place). If a 6 is thrown, then she throws the dice again and moves back the number thrown and expresses her like or dislike (unless she lands on the "I like..." place. The winner is the first child to reach the end with an exact number.

The 3 "I don't like..." and exact finish means that there is a good chance of moving backwards in the game, therefore heightening the suspense and giving more practice.

The "song" which is used to practise plurals is a version of an old favourite "Old Macdonald", which David Paul cleverly simplified. The teacher's book has a number of tips and suggestions for its use.

Children love learning animal sounds so I've made some animal flashcards (20 in all) to go with the song. These cards are also useful for practising the expressions "I'm a..." and "You are a...".

Let's play with 'I'm a dog.' and 'You are a dog.'

1. I'm a dog (double chip).
Lay the cards face down in a 4 x 4 grid. The first child says "Quack, quack. I'm a duck", turns the card over, confirms that it's a duck and puts two chips on the card. The next child goes "Cluck, cluck. I'm a frog.", turns the card over, sees that it is a chicken and puts one chip on the card. Played competitively, then the child with the most points is winner. You can also record the individual scores and have them compete against themselves the next time they play.

2. You are a dog.
The game is usually played in pairs. Lay the cards face down in a 4 x 4 grid. The dialogue goes like this:

"Quack, quack."
"You are a duck."
"That's right!"

Or like this:

"Squeak, squeak."
"You are a bird."
"No, I'm not. I'm a mouse."

In both cases, the card is turned over and a point claimed. If the pair get it wrong, then the card remains in play.

Here are some backs:

If you want a full size version of the "I like.../I don't like..." track or the animal sounds flashcards, then please make a request in your comment. Otherwise wait for the disk.

Hello, I'm back! I've been very busy since the beginning of April and haven't had time to do this column justice, but now I'm back and have time on my hands, time which I hope to put to good use.

As some of you know, I'm busy developing Blending a Hand 4, a digital data disk full of support materials for New Finding Out 2 (NFO2) by David Paul, which I hope to publish before the end of this year. I have already created many of the materials, but have yet to sort them and write about them. Perhaps writing about them in this column will be beneficial for us all.

Let me start off in unit 1 of NFO2, where the main targets are "I'm..." and "Where do you live?" To teachers who have no experience with these books, then the targets may seem a little sparse, but after NFO1, then on your students should have some good reading, writing, pronunciation and spelling skills and be ready to tackle NFO2 with gusto.

The pronunciation "I'm" or "I am" is usually not easy for Japanese children as they often don't touch their lips together when speaking these words. I will help the children practice by using songs such as "I am five." from (American) Get Ready! published by OUP. My version of the song goes like this:

I am five. Yes, I am. I am.
I am five. Yes, I am. I am.
I am five. Yes, I am. I am.
I'm a little (big) boy (girl). I am five.

We also sing a version of the song "Are you hungry?" from Super Simple Songs.

These songs really help the children focus on the pronunciation of "I am". Page 5 of NFO2 has the children doing simple introductions such as "I'm David." I like to expand on this and have the children do some easy introductions using "I'm...". For example:

Hello!
I'm Mayu.
I'm seven.
I'm from Japan.
I'm happy.
That's me.

For older or more experienced children then I have them fill in a worksheet and practise self introductions. Here is the worksheet:

This can also be used to introduce a classmate and for pairwork when one child asks the questions and the other answers. I sometimes have the children memorise and practise their introductions; this is great for impressing parents or surprising ALTs.

NFO2 is designed as a student centered course, so you'll find very little overt drilling and repetition. The "drilling and repetition" is built into the many games and activities which David Paul writes about in the Teacher's Book. So, in developing support materials I also try to look at the book from a child's perspective and create materials which children will enjoy. If they only want to play the game once, then the game needs scrapping or redesigning. A game or activity needs to be fun, every time it is played, and needs to practice or review/preview target language.

There is one more game from my up-and-coming disk which I would like to share with you, today. It is the "I am track.", which can be done competitively or cooperatively. Here is the game:

1. Played competitively
There are two tracks, the blue track and the red track, and the target is to be the first one to reach the end of your track. The two players start in the bottom left and right hand corners and say:

"Hello! I'm Takashi." (or "Hello! I'm a boy.")
"Hello! I'm Satoshi."

Then they each race along their tracks saying "I'm a cat. I'm a rabbit. I'm a cow. Etc. (I'm a dog. I'm an ant. I'm a mouse. Etc.). When they meet in the middle, they 'jan-ken' by saying "Nice to meet you." and the loser goes back to the start. Once someone wins the game, they reverse positions and play again.

2. Played cooperatively

"Hello! I'm Takashi." (or "Hello! I'm a boy.")
"Hello! I'm Satoshi."
"Woof! Woof! I'm a dog."
"Meow! Meow! I'm a cat." Etc.

You can of course throw in "Nice to meet you." If you like. When they meet in the middle, they reverse positions and do the activity once again. You and your students can probably think of other valuable ways to use these materials.

If you want a full size version of the board or worksheet, then please make a request in your comment. Otherwise wait for the disk.

• Big Kids
• In My Book (6)
• Kids (5)
• Little Kids (2)

• ESL printables
• I'm an Alien Zookeeper
• Rainbow Colors
• I don't like cucumber!
• I'm David. Nice to meet you.
• Read! Spell! Say!
• Blending a Hand: Switchit Junior
• Blending a Hand: Introduction
• dog dog dog
• Alphabet Tracks

• Alphabet Tracks
    - Sally
    - Mark
    - Peter Gresham
    - Daniela
    - Lena
    - Angie Lee
    - Sue
    - Susan
  
• Rainbow Colors
    - Siva Nagaiah Bolleddu
    - Corinne Shinozaki
  
• Clockface
    - Mari Nakamura
    - Jody Friberg
    - Eli
  
• dog dog dog
    - Connie Scuderi
  
• Read! Spell! Say!
    - Connie Scuderi