Activities

Activities for the beginner’s general English course Unit 1: Business Cards: Role Play: Introducing themselves: Give Ss one business card each. In order to check that Ss understand who they are, what their jobs are and where they are from, go around the class and ask each one: What is your name? What is your job? and Where are you from? Ss will respond according to the information on the cards. Write on the whiteboard: A: Hello. I’m ___________. I’m a/an _____________. I’m from ____________. B: Hi. I’m _____________. I’m a/an ____________. I’m from ____________. Nice to meet you. A: Nice to meet you too. Have Ss introduce their fictitious selves to the person on the right or left. Go around the class and have everyone do the same. Tell Ss that western people always shake hands when they introduce themselves and show them how western people shake hands. Introducing others: At the end of the class, Give Ss one business card each again. Write on the whiteboard: A: Hello. This is _______________. He/She is a/an ______________. He’s/She’s from ____________. C: Hi. I’m ____________________. I’m a/an ___________________. I’m from __________________. Nice to meet you. B: Nice to meet you too. S-A will introduce the person on his/her left (S-B) to the person on the other side of S-B. S-C will respond, and S-B will say, “Nice to meet you too.” Go around the class and have Ss introduce others. Buzz: Have Ss stand in a circle and tell them that we are going to count, saying one number each, but every time we come to a number that has a seven in it, or a multiple of seven, that S will say buzz. Do a practice round first, e.g. one, two, three, four, five, six, BUZZ, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, BUZZ, fifteen, sixteen, BUZZ, eighteen, etc. If Ss forget to say “Buzz” or say “Buzz at the wrong time, they have to sit down. The last person standing is the winner. Do Interchange activities IC-2 and IC-4. Unit 2: Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 3a - Friends: Asking basic questions with “is”: There are instructions for this activity. However, you might run into a few snags if you don’t prepare for it. After I draw the faces and write the information on the whiteboard, I tell Ss that these are three of my friends and say that first we’re going to talk about Pete. I explain that we have all the information about my friends on the whiteboard: jobs; ages; surnames; etc. and tell them that the first thing we want to find out is Pete’s job. Then I nominate a student and ask him/her to ask me a question to find out what Pete’s job is. Ss usually say, “What is Pete’s job?” Then, I tell them, “OK. That’s a good question, but we know that he’s either an engineer, a doctor or a hairdresser.”, and I point to the jobs on the board. Then Ss usually understand that the structure I’m looking for is, “Is Pete a doctor?” After I elicit all the information about my friends, I give the Ss the handouts and ask them to write about three of their friends, or if they don’t want to write about three of their friends, I tell them they can write about three famous people, e.g. an actor, a singer, a musician, a politician, etc. When they are finished filling out the handouts, I have them exchange papers with another S and tell them to do the same thing we did with my three friends. Do interchange activity IC-3. Visiting Cebu City: Tell Ss that a friend of yours is coming to Cebu City next week. He/She has only three days to spend in Cebu. Elicit from Ss what the best time of year to come is, what kind of clothes he/she should bring, what Flipino food he/she should try and what restaurants he/she should visit, what tourist attractions he/she should see, where he/she should stay and what possible dangers he/she might encounter. Write these examples on the board. Show Ss examples of Lonely Planet, Let’s Go or other travel books and tell them that you are going to ask them to write a page for a travel book about Cebu City. Give Ss handout. Have them work in pairs or groups to write their own page about visiting Cebu City. Have Ss read their pages to the class. Handout on next page. Visiting Cebu City A friend of yours is coming to visit Cebu City for three days, and he/she needs some information. Tell him/her about the best time of year to come, what kind of clothes he/she should bring, what tourist attractions he/she should see, where he/ she should stay, what food he/she should try, what restaurants he/she should visit and what possible dangers he/she might encounter. When to come: What clothes to bring: Tourist Attractions: Where to stay: Food and restaurants: Possible Dangers: Unit 3: Country Game: Asking yes and no questions: You’ll need a good sized world map for this exercise. Give Ss the handout and tell them that you are going to think of a country, but you’re not going to tell them what country it is, and they have to guess which country it is by asking yes or no questions. Tell Ss and write on the board: First, find out which continent or region the country is in. Point to the first question on the handout, say it and tell them that this I a very good question to ask. Then ask them, “Can anyone give me an example of a continent?” Write the continents and regions on the board as you elicit them from the students. First, find out which continent or region the country is in. Europe, North America, South America, Central America, Africa, Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, the Carribean Ask Ss what countries are in North America, Central America, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Oceania and the Carribean. Do interchange activity IC-5. Running Dictation: The American Flag: Tape one or two copies to the wall or place them on chairs outside the classroom. Pair Ss up and tell them that one of them is going to write, and the other one is going to go outside, read a sentence and come back and tell their partner. The partner will write it down. Then, they will repeat the process. Write, “How do you spell that?” on the whiteboard and remind the Ss that they can say this. After the dictation, give the Ss copies of the text, so they can correct their mistakes. Think of some follow-up questions you can ask the Ss. Tell the Ss about the 13 original American colonies. Then ask the Ss about the Korean/Japanese flag, etc. What color is it? What is on it? Etc. Unit 4: Side by Side, Book 1, pp. 25-27 – Present continuous Side by Side, Book 1, pp. 50-51 - Directions Do interchange activities IC-6 and IC-7. Review – Units 1-4 – Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 9 – Habits Unit 5: Lifelines Pre-intermediate Student’s Book, p. 12 – Listening and speaking – Telling the time Lifelines Pre-intermediate Student’s Book, pp. 14, 15 – Extension: Reading and listening – Facts of life Have Ss say the numbers on page 14. Then, have them do the listening on page 15. After that, have them answer the Qs on page 14, exercises 4, 5, & 6. Do interchange activity IC-8. Unit 6: English Sentence Structure, pp. 12, 13 &14 Do exercises 3, 4 & 5 Do interchange activity IC-9. Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 10 – Sentences in a hat Unit 7: Side by Side: Book 1, pp. 53, 54, 55 & 56 Do interchange activity IC-10. Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 12 - Travel Unit 8: Side by Side: Book 1, pp. 72, 73 Do interchange activity IC-11. Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 17a – Health survey Review – Units 5-8 - Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 18 – Poor Fabio Unit 9: Side by Side: Book 1, pp. 8, 9, 10, & 12 English Sentence Structure, pp. 17, 18 &19 – Adverbs of frequency Do interchange activity IC-12. Unit 10: Agreeing and disagreeing Write on the whiteboard: Do you like to swim? Do you like swimming? Tell Ss that you have written two questions on the white board: Do you like to swim? And Do you like swimming? Ask Ss if these two questions have the same meaning? Hopefully, they will say, “Yes.” Tell them that’s right, that we can say, Do you like to swim? using the infinitive “to swim”, and we can also say, Do you like swimming? using the gerund form “swimming”. Write this on the board. Ask Ss what a gerund is. Hopefully, someone will say, “It’s the ‘ing’ form of a verb when we use it like a noun.” Write on the whiteboard: Do you like to swim? - infinitive Do you like swimming? - gerund Then, write on the whiteboard: Do you like to swim? - infinitive Do you like swimming? - gerund Would you like to swim? Ask the Ss if this question has the same meaning as the other two. Hopefully, they will say, “No.” Then, ask them what this third question means. Tell them that this is a very polite way to ask the question and ask them, “What is another way to ask this question using different words. Try to elicit, “Do you want to swim.” You can ask Ss, “What am I doing if I ask you, ‘Would you like to swim?’ or ‘Would you like to come over tonight?’” Hopfully, they will say, “inviting”. Say, “Yes, this is an invitation.” And write: Do you like to swim? - infinitive Do you like swimming? - gerund invitation Would you like to swim? Then, underline “like” in “Do you like swimming?” Ask Ss what “like” means in this question. Hopefully, they will say “enjoy”. Tell them that’s right and remind them that we use “enjoy” with gerunds like “swimming”, but not with the infinitive, e.g. “to swim”. Write: Do you like to swim? - infinitive Do you like swimming? - gerund enjoy invitation Would you like to swim? Then, erase the bottom part and “infinitive” and “gerund” and write: Do you like to swim? Do you like swimming? positive enjoy negative Say, “Now if I ask you, ‘Do you like swimming?’ the answer is – positive,” and nod your head. Hopefully, they will say, “Yes, I do.” Then say, “Now if I ask you, ‘Do you like swimming?’ he answer is – negative,” and shake your head. Hopefully, they will say, “No, I don’t.” Write: Do you like to swim? Do you like swimming? positive enjoy negative Yes, I do. No, I don’t. agree agree Say, “Now if I ask you, ‘Do you like swimming?’ and the answer is, ‘Yes, I do.’ How would I agree with you?” Hopefully, they will say, “I do too.”, “So do I.” or “Me too.” Say, “Now if I ask you, ‘Do you like swimming?’ and the answer is, ‘No, I don’t.’ How would I agree with you?” Hopefully, they will say, “I don’t either.”, “Neither do I.” or “Me neither.” Point out to the Ss that “Me neither.” isn’t really good grammar, but lots of people say it, and it’s becoming more common. Write: Do you like to swim? Do you like swimming? positive enjoy negative Yes, I do. No, I don’t. agree agree I do too. I don’t either. So do I. Neither do I. Me too. Me neither. disagree disagree Say, ““Now if I ask you, ‘Do you like swimming?’ and the answer is, ‘Yes, I do.’ How would I disagree with you?” Hopefully, they will say, “I don’t.” Say, “Now if I ask you, ‘Do you like swimming?’ and the answer is, ‘No, I don’t.’ How would I disagree with you?” Hopefully, they will say, “I do.” Write: Do you like to swim? Do you like swimming? positive enjoy negative Yes, I do. No, I don’t. agree agree I do too. I don’t either. So do I. Neither do I. Me too. Me neither. disagree disagree I don’t. I do. Copy and cut out the pictures in the Reward Pre-intermediate Resource Pack, Activity 4 and give one to each S. Tell each s the name of the activity and have them repeat it. Choose a picture yourself, e.g. swimming. Ask the S on your left, “Do you like swimming?” Wait for the answer and agree or disagree to give the Ss an example. Ask the S on your left to do the same thing. Go around the class and have all the Ss do it. Repeat the activity until all the pictures have been handed out. Interchange Intro Video Activity Book, pp. 38, 39& 41 – What sports do you play? Tell Ss that in exercises 1B and 8 that they can do the same as above with other verbs too, e.g. “can”. Do interchange activity IC-13. Unit 11: Play Buzz again. Then, have Ss play it using the ordinal numbers. Make sure they pronounce the “th” sounds correctly. Do interchange activity IC-14. Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 22 – Find someone who… Unit 12: Reward Pre-intermediate Resource Pack, Activity 29 – What’s the matter? Write on the board: A: What’s the matter? B: I have a ________. A: Oh! That’s too bad. You should _______. B: Thanks. Then, elicit what you should do for each ailment or injury. Have Ss practice the dialogue with the cards. Do interchange activity IC-15. Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 28 – Ouch! Review – Units 9-12 - Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 26-30 – Think of a word Unit 13: Side by Side, Book 1, pp. 50, 51 - Directions Side by Side, Book 2, pp. 56, 57, 58 & 59 - Directions Spread these activities out over two classes. Do interchange activity IC-18. Unit 14: English Sentence Structure, pp. 26, 27 Activity: Pronunciation of the past tense: Read the first sentence to the Ss: “In regular verbs ending in t or d, the ed is pronounced as a separate syllable.” Tell Ss that in English we have two basic kinds of verbs, regular verbs and irregular verbs. Ask the Ss, “What is a regular verb?” or “What do we do to a regular verb to make it simple past?” or “What do we add to a regular verb to make it simple past?” Hopefully, they will say, “Add ed.” Tell them that’s correct and point out the difference between regular and irregular verbs. Then give them the examples: “count ends with t, so we say count(ed), etc.” Then, read the second sentence. I always give them a rule: No “t”, no “d”, no “id” sound. Now do the activity. Do interchange activity IC-17. Unit 15: Reward Pre-intermediate Resource Pack, Activity 11-15b – Food, glorious food!: Crossword puzzle Write on the board: Write your own clues. Think about these questions when describing the food items: What is it? meat, vegetable, fruit, drink? What size is it? What shape is it? (Give examples of shapes.) What color is it? When do you eat it? breakfast, lunch, supper, dessert? What do you eat it with? salad, sandwich? How does it taste? sweet, sour, salty, spicy? What is it like (similar to)? What is it made from? Number (or letter) the Ss: A B A B A B etc. If it’s a large class, break them up into groups of three or four. Tell them, “As on this side, and Bs on this side.” Tell them to write their own clues and tell them, “Top Secret. Don’t talk to the people in the other group.” Give them examples of what you want them to do. Say, “Students A, for example no. 1: Italian food. You eat it with tomato sauce. No. 3: It’s a fruit. It’s long and round and yellow. It’s sweet. Monkeys like to eat them.” Students B, for example no. 1: you buy tea or biscuits in it. No. 2: It’s a drink. It’s like coffee. You drink it in the morning. When the Ss are finished writing their clues, pair them up, one A with one B. Have them tell each other their clues and guess what the words are. Do interchange activity IC-20. Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 37 - Predictogram Unit 16: Reward Elementary Resource Pack, Activity 31-35: Crossword Write on the board. Write your own clues. What do you do there? What do you use it for? Instructions similar to the last crossword. Do interchange activities IC-19 & IC-21. Reward Pre-intermediate Resource Pack, Activity 1-5 – Sentences in a hat Review – Units 13-16 - Reward Pre-intermediate Resource Pack, Activities 6a & 6b – A romantic meeting