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Kinesthetic learning addresses the needs of learners who learn best through doing. Teachers of younger learners often employ many types of kinesthetic activities, but these same activities can be adapted to meet the learning styles and needs of learners of all ages and levels. Dance is a great kinesthetic activity that offers a change in normal classroom routines. In this week’s Teacher’s Corner, we use dance to reinforce English literacy skills—in particular, the alphabet.

Level

Beginners

Language Focus

Speaking, Listening, and Reading

Goals

During this activity, students will:

  • Work together to create a dance that depicts the alphabet.
  • Perform and teach the class their alphabet dance.

Materials

Alphabet Song
You can download the song and song lyrics here.

Preparation

Before class, organize students into groups of 6 to 8. You can put the groups together from your class list or plan to organize groups at the start of class.

Procedure

  1. Warm up the students by teaching them the alphabet song.
    • Use the audio recording from the American English website.
    • If audio equipment is not available in your classroom, learn the song first and then teach it to your students.
  2. Have students sing the song with you or along to the audio. When you get to the letter Y, make the shape of the letter with your body by raising your arms above your head.
  3. When the song is finished, make the letter Y again, and ask students to guess the letter.
    • Ask learners what other ways they can use their bodies to make the letter Y. How can they make the letter Y with someone else?
  4. Tell learners it is now their turn. Learners will work in small groups to create a dance that teaches the alphabet while singing the alphabet song.
    • They can use only their bodies to create the letters.
    • They will plan their alphabet dance and then perform it for the class.
    • Remind them that since they will be singing the song, they will perform each letter at the same time they sing the letter.
  5. Put students into the groups you planned ahead of class.
    • For more ways to organize learners into groups in class, see this previous Teacher’s Corner.
  6. Give learners time and space to work on their alphabet dances, about 15 to 20 minutes.
  7. Ask for volunteers to see which group would like to perform first.
  8. As each group performs, encourage learners to sing along and copy what the dancers are doing.

Variations

  1. One way to adapt this activity is to have groups learn the routine of other groups. This way, the group performing is teaching their classmates the alphabet and reinforcing the material in different ways.
  2. Another adaptation has learners doing the alphabet out of order and silently. For example, one group performs their letter B without saying or singing the letter. The rest of the class can then try to guess the letter.
  3. For follow-up or extension, call out a letter and have all students make the shape based on their dance. For example, call out the letter H and watch as students make their versions of H with their bodies.
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Activity 3
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Sometimes, reviewing material or lessons, especially for a test, can be monotonous for both teachers and learners. Often we rely on drills, worksheets, and question sessions to clarify and reinforce lessons learned; however, reviewing material can be fun when paired with creative activities. In this week’s Teacher’s Corner, we’ll show you how to combine a review lesson with the fun and creativity of writing and acting out short plays. In this activity, learners will write and perform a play that reviews a chosen topic or lesson. The benefits of this technique are threefold:  learners are invested in the review session because they work together to plan the review session; the writing and performance support multiple learning styles that further reinforce the material for review; and the creative nature of the activity gives learners a new medium in which to use and practice language learned.   

For additional ideas and activities for using drama and plays in the classroom, see the webinar Introduction to Reader’s Theater for EFL Classrooms and the text Design for Drama: Short Plays from American Literature on the American English website.

Level

Intermediate and above

Language Focus

Writing, Reading, and Speaking

Goals

During this activity, students will:

  • Prepare the script for a short play or skit that reviews one of the units/lessons learned in class
  • Practice and present the play to the class
  • Watch and/or listen to plays to identify three things learned from each performance

Materials

  • Paper and pencils for students
  • Any materials for crafting, such as markers, crayons, fabric, and paper for making costumes or masks
  • Template in Appendix A

Preparation

  • Identify the lessons or units that you want students to review
    • Prepare a sign-up sheet so groups can choose the lesson/unit they prefer
    • Alternatively, write each lesson/unit on pieces of paper and have groups draw at random
  • Make copies of template in Appendix A (1 per group) or write the template on the board for students to use as a model for writing their play

Procedure

  1. Explain to learners that they are going to write a short play (sometimes called a skit) and perform it for their classmates.
    • Each play will focus on a lesson/unit that they have worked on earlier in the term.  For example, if you and your students studied simple present tense and family vocabulary, then one group will choose or be assigned simple present tense as the theme of their play and another group might choose or be assigned the topic of family vocabulary.
  2. Put learners into groups. If you haven’t made the groups before class, put students into groups of between four to six students.
    • One way to group students is to have students count off. When you have 20 students, give each student a number from 1 to 5. All of the students given the number 1 work together, students with the number 2 are in a group, and so on. This creates five groups of four students each.
  3. Once students are in groups, ask each group to choose a topic from the list or have them draw a topic at random.
  4. Before students begin working on their play, explain and/or write the following guidelines on the board.
    • Tell learners that everyone in their group will have a role in the play. This means every student will speak at some point. Use the template (Appendix A) to help students plan and write their play. You can also have students give you the completed templates at the end of the activity as part of their assignment.
    • Each play should be about 10 minutes long.
    • Plays are stories made up of speaking (dialogue), so students should prepare what each character will say by writing a script. They do not need to memorize their scripts but should have them written and available if they need them during the performance.
    • Using their own creativity, they must write the play so that it retells and reviews the topic they’ve been given. For example, if their topic is family vocabulary, they can write a play about a family. The story of the family can be about anything the students choose as long as they use family vocabulary throughout the play.
  5. Give students 5 to 7 minutes to brainstorm and discuss ideas in their groups.
  6. Bring all of the students back together and have each group report to the class what they discussed. Answer any questions the students have about the project.
  7. Have students return to their groups to plan, write, and practice their plays.
    • Remember to circulate as students work. Offer feedback on their plans, and make sure that each group member will have a role.
  8. Have groups come to the board and sign up for a performance time. This can simply be choosing if they want to perform first, second, third, or even last.
  9. Provide any available art materials to students so that they can make costumes, signs, or props to use in their plays. Give them time to create with the materials and also practice their play.
  10. Before the plays begin, tell learners that during each play they will have to write down three things that the play teaches them. If paper is not available, have the audience discuss, in small groups, three things they learned when each performance is over.

Variations

Depending on the language level of the learners, the activity can be adapted to fit their abilities.

  • For lower-level learners: Learners wear nametags with the names of their characters. Learners can write their dialogue with very short sentences. Remember, the goal is for learners to practice their writing and speaking skills using the target language. For example, if the topic is family vocabulary, then have each member of the group choose a family member as a character. For the dialogue of the script, each learner writes (and during “performance” time, says) two sentences about his/her own character and two sentences about other characters, such as, “Hi, I’m Jake. I am the youngest son in the family. She is my mom. She cooks dinner for us every night.” This gives beginning learners a manageable framework in which they can plan and perform.
  • More advanced learners can write a more involved script that has their characters interacting with one another.
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Activity 2
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When learners feel more connected to their classmates and teacher, it is easier to overcome other classroom challenges such as discipline and motivation. Art can be a great way to bring your learners together and create a supportive, nurturing environment that values all learners’ contributions to the language learning classroom. This week’s Teacher’s Corner shows you how to develop a strong sense of classroom community through a drawing version of show and tell. Show and tell is an activity where learners bring in a personally important object or story and share it with their class.   

This is a simple activity that requires little preparation and time, but offers the benefits that come with creating and maintaining a strong and cohesive group.

Level

Any level

Language Focus

Speaking, Listening, and Writing

Goals

During this activity, students will:

  • Draw a picture of three things: their home, something that they are good at, and an important person in their lives
  • Share and explain their drawings in small groups and eventually with the class
  • Prepare and ask questions about their classmates’ stories

Materials

  • Paper and pencils for students
  • Any other art materials such as markers, crayons, magazines, if available
  • Colored paper or stickers

Preparation

  • Prepare your own drawing to use as a model in class.
  • Before class begins, make sure to gather all of the necessary materials.
  • On the board, write the things that learners are going to draw.
  • Fold pieces of colored paper or stickers and put into a bag for drawing. If you have 40 students, you’ll want 20 colors/stickers and 2 of each color/sticker.

Procedure

  1. Tell learners that they are going to express themselves through drawing. Make yourself a part of the discussion and model the activity by sharing your own drawing with the class. Point out parts of your house that are important to you; explain the activity you are good at and what you like about the activity; and share the person that is important to you and offer your own reasons about why you chose this person. Once you’ve shared your drawing, encourage questions from students. If students are unwilling to ask questions, model some good questions.
  2. Give everyone a pencil and piece of paper.
  3. Tell students to draw three pictures on their paper: their home, something they are good at doing, and a picture of someone who is important to them. Explain that they will have to share their drawing and explanations of their drawings with the class.
    • Depending on how familiar you and your students are with each other, you can offer other ideas for their drawings, such as a favorite meal or holiday or something they love to do with their friends. It is important to pick three aspects that are relatively personal, but that learners would feel comfortable sharing with the class.  Remember that the drawings should also encourage questions and discussion.
  4. Give learners time to draw and/or create.
    • It is not important that students draw well, but that they are free to create. This will encourage more discussion and explanation among learners in English.
    • If you have the materials available, give learners opportunities to create these images in ways other than drawing. For example, if learners have access to magazines, they can cut and paste pictures onto the paper. If they have crayons, markers, or paint, they can add color and more details. The purpose is to use the activity as way to express who they are without initially relying on language. The language component of the activity follows this creative part of the activity.
  5. Once learners have finished their drawings, put learners into pairs. One creative way to do this is to have learners choose a piece of colored paper or sticker from a bag. Learners who choose the same colored paper or stickers are put into pairs. Make sure you have enough for every student to draw from the bag and two of every different color or sticker.
  6. Now have learners share their drawings with their partners.
    • For beginner learners, the students, in pairs, label their pictures with words from their vocabulary.  For example, when students label their houses, they can point to things on their drawing that they think are important such as: ‘kitchen; we eat meals as a family here’ or, simply, ‘kitchen’. For beginners, it is a chance to practice communicating what they’ve drawn while also writing down keywords that highlight what they want to say.
    • For more advanced learners, tell each pair to write five sentences about their partner’s pictures as their partner tells them about each picture. One student might describe his/her house and who lives there while the other writes it down on the picture.
  7. When learners have finished explaining their pictures to their partners, have them share in larger groups. To do this, combine two to four sets of pairs together.
    • Learners can share their drawings at the beginning of each subsequent class with a different group of learners until all learners have heard from all of their classmates. This might require five minutes at the start or end of each class for a week or a few weeks, depending on the size of your class.
    • Alternatively, bring all learners together and have each learner share their drawings with the whole class.
  8. As learners share, each student listening must ask one question about each image.
    • Possible questions to ask: Why is this person important to you? You are good at ___________.Do you also enjoy doing ___________?
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Activity 1:
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This week’s Teacher’s Corner features two activities to help students practice prepositions of place. These activities allow you to use everyday objects to teach and reinforce the meaning of prepositions of place for your students. During the Introduction, students create a vocabulary document with sketches to show what each preposition means. In Activity One, teams compete to arrange objects correctly according to instructions with prepositions. In Activity Two, students race against the clock to write sentences using new prepositions.

Level

High beginner and above

LANGUAGE FOCUS

Speaking, reading, and writing

Goals

During these activities, students will:

  • Learn common prepositions of location using real life objects
  • Read prepositions of location
  • Form oral and written sentences using prepositions to describe the location of objects

Materials

  • Chalkboard or whiteboard with chalk or markers
  • Table
  • A group of ten everyday objects, familiar to students, that can be easily displayed and arranged on a table (for example: books, pencils, notebooks, markers, pieces of fruit, a mobile phone, a hat, gloves, a scarf, a coffee mug, etc.)
  • Index cards
  • Markers
  • Two grab bags or containers to hold folded up index cards
  • Paper and pencils for students
  • List of prepositions: above, around, behind, below, beside, between, far (away) from, in, in back of, in front of, in the middle of, inside, near, next to, on, on top of, outside, under
  • Timer or clock

Preparation

  • Collect the objects you plan to use for the activity. Place them in a group on a table or desk where all students can easily see them.
  • Label one of the containers objects and the other prepositions.
  • Write the name of each object on an index card and fold it in half. Put the folded cards in the container labeled objects.
  • Write each preposition of location on an index card.  Fold the cards in half and put them in the container labeled prepositions.

Introduction

  1. Explain to students that the upcoming activities will focus on prepositions of location. Tell students that these words tell where something is located in relation to another object.
  2. Tell the class that you will teach the prepositions using the objects on the table to show what each one means. Students can write down the new prepositions and sentences and sketch the objects to help them remember the definitions.
  3. Start with the word beside. Write the word on the board and have students repeat it. Choose two objects and put them next to each other on the table. Then, form a sentence about the objects using beside, such as “The apple is beside the notebook.”  
  4. Choose different objects to display on the table. Ask students to form sentences about them using the new preposition.
  5. Continue teaching the prepositions in this manner until you have presented each one and given students a chance to practice using the words.

Activity One: Arrange the Objects

  1. Once students are comfortable with the prepositions, inform them that they will play a game to test their understanding. Divide the students into two or three teams and give each team a name.
  2. Show students the two containers you have prepared and say, “This container has all of the names of the objects that are on the table.  This container has all of the prepositions you have just learned.  Two members of your team will come up to the front of the class together. One person will choose a preposition card and the other will choose two object cards. Then you will work together to arrange the objects to illustrate the preposition and use it in a sentence about the objects. Your team will earn one point for correct arrangement of the objects and one point for your sentence.”
  3. Choose two students to come up to the front of the class and model the process of choosing the cards, arranging the objects, and forming a sentence. Provide guidance as needed and give students time to ask questions about the game.
  4. Once students are ready, play the game and keep score. The activity can either be timed, or played until all students have had a chance to participate. The team with the most points at the end of the activity wins!

Activity Two: Describe the Scene

  1. Have the class form pairs or small groups of 3-4 students.
  2. Rearrange the objects on the table if you have just played the game in Activity 1. On the board, list the prepositions you want students to use.
  3. Explain that you will set a timer for five minutes. During the five minutes, groups of students should try to write as many sentences as they can about the objects on the table using each of the prepositions on the list. They must use all of the prepositions once before repeating any.
  4. After the timer has stopped, groups will exchange papers and check each other’s sentences. Students will check for correct use of prepositions and verify that the sentences correctly describe the location of the objects on the table. Groups earn one point for each correct sentence.

Once the sentences have been checked and points have been added up, the group with the most points wins. You can ask groups to share some of their sentences to provide further review. To repeat this activity, rearrange the objects on the table and have students work in different groups.

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Activity 4: Prepositions of Place
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This week’s Teacher’s Corner introduces two activities during which students use prepositions of movement. In these activities, students must use prepositions of movement to write a set of directions for others to follow. Activity One leads students from the classroom to a new location in the school. Activity Two has students create a map of a city and write directions for classmates to follow in order to discover buried treasure.

Level

Intermediate and above

LANGUAGE FOCUS

Speaking, listening, reading, and writing

Goals

During these activities, students will:

  • Discuss ways to give directions with group members
  • Write imperative sentences containing prepositions of movement
  • Read and comprehend directions containing prepositions of movement

Materials

  • List of prepositions of movement: across, along, around, away from, back to, down, into, off, onto, out of, over, past, round, through, to, towards, under, up
  • List of locations in the school (gym, cafeteria, library, courtyard, office, other classrooms, etc.)
  • Pencils and paper/notebooks for students
  • Poster paper/large paper
  • Markers
  • A small reward that can be shared by about 15 students, such as candy, stickers, or individual homework passes

Activity One: School Clues

Note: This activity requires students to move around the school in small groups. If this is not possible, the activity can focus on directions between locations within the classroom or a confined area such as a playground or courtyard. Alternatively, students can write directions from memory and then groups can try to follow them at a time when movement around the school is permitted.

  1. List the prepositions of movement on the board and have students copy them into their notebooks.
  2. Tell students they will work in groups of three. Using the prepositions, students will write a set of directions from the classroom to a different location in the school. After all groups have finished writing their directions, they will trade papers and try to follow each other’s directions to determine the end location.
  3. Model by choosing a place in the school, such as the office. Using the prepositions, give an example of the first steps one would include in a set of directions to the office, such as, “Walk out of the classroom. Go across the courtyard.” Ask students to continue by giving two more steps for the directions.
  4. Divide students into groups. Have each group select one student to be the recorder. Tell the recorder to write the names of everyone in their group at the top left side of the paper. The recorder will also write down the group’s directions.
  5. Assign each group a location in the school. This must be kept secret from the other groups. Each group moves around the school and works together to use as many prepositions as possible to write directions from the classroom to the new location. To keep the activity organized, assign students a time to return to the classroom with their completed set of directions.
  6. When students return to the classroom with their directions, have groups exchange papers. Tell the recorder to write the names of everyone in the group that will follow the directions at the top right side of the paper.
  7. Tell students that they must now follow the set of directions they have in order to arrive at a new location in the school. Once they figure out where the directions lead, they should write the location down on the paper and return to class.
  8. Once all of the students have come back to the classroom, have each group return the set of directions they followed to the group that wrote them to verify that everyone ended up at the correct destination. If there are any discrepancies, review the set of directions with the class to determine any mistakes.
  9. This activity can be repeated with different groups or new destinations. As an extension, have students write directions back to the classroom once they have arrived at the initial destination.

Activity Two: Find it on the map

  1. Divide the class into groups of four or five students.
  2. Tell students that they will work in their groups to draw a map of part of a fictional town/city. They should include street names and major landmarks.
  3. Ask students for ideas about what they can draw on their maps. Ideas include: parks, schools, libraries, stores, markets, police stations, post offices, bodies of water, etc.
  4. After completing the map, each group should choose six locations where they would hide treasure in the city and write them down on a separate sheet of paper. These should be kept secret.
  5. Next, the group needs to write a set of six “clues” that use prepositions to give directions to each of the locations where the treasure is located. A person unfamiliar with their map should be able to follow the directions to determine each of the locations. The clues should be written on a clean sheet of paper. Here is an example:

a. Start at the primary school. Walk north along Orange Street to Green Road.

                 b. Turn right on green road and go around the park.

c. Walk under the bridge. Where are you?

  1. Tell students that once they are finished, they should fold their map in half with the sheet of clues inside. They will trade maps and “clues” with another group. Groups must not open the maps until you tell them to do so.
  2. Explain that groups will compete to be the first to correctly determine all six places where treasure is buried on the map. Tell students that as they solve each “clue” they should write down the location so that the group who created the map can verify the answers.
  3. When you say, “Go!” groups should open the map and begin. As students solve the clues, take note of the order in which the groups finish so that you can determine the fastest two or three groups. The students in winning groups can earn a small reward (see Materials for suggestions) if their answers are also correct.
  4. To repeat this activity, students can exchange maps and clues with another new group.
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Activity 3: Prepositions of Movement
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This week’s Teacher’s Corner presents two activities using the prepositions for, while, during, and since. In these activities, students practice correctly using the prepositions for, while, during, and since to talk about time. In Activity One, students complete sentence frames to write about events using the prepositions. In Activity Two, students listen to sentences that are missing prepositions and move around the room to indicate the correct preposition to complete the sentence. Students should have some knowledge of how these prepositions are used before participating in these activities.

Level

Intermediate and above

Language Focus

Speaking, listening, reading, and writing

Goals

During these activities, students will:

  • Ask questions to collect information about a partner
  • Use the information collected to complete sentences containing prepositions for, while, during, and since
  • Present information about a partner to the class
  • Listen to sentences and determine which preposition to use: for, while, during, or since

Materials

  • Chalkboard or whiteboard with chalk or markers
  • Paper and pencils for students
  • Four large pieces of paper
  • Markers
  • Tape
  • Scissors

Preparation

  • Keep the following sentence frames ready to write on the board:
    • (Name) has __________ since __________. (specific day/date/time)
    • (Name) has been __________ for ___________. (amount of time)
    • (Name) likes to _________ while he/she  __________. (two things at the same time)
    • (Name) would never __________ during __________. (noun that is an event or time)
  • Write one preposition (for, while, during, since) on each of the large pieces of paper and post them in four different areas of the room

Activity One: Interview

  1. Explain to students that they will write sentences about a partner using the prepositions for, since, while, and during.
  2. Write the first sentence frame on the board and provide an example sentence, such as Mr. Ali has been teaching since 1996 or Alex has been a goalie since June 27th.
  3. Ask students what questions they could ask their partner to elicit the information to complete the sentence. Examples include What is something you have been doing for a long time? When did you start? Elicit other questions from students. Write their ideas on the board under the sentence frame.
  4. Repeat this process with the remaining sentence frames until students have a good idea about what questions they will ask their partner in order to elicit the information they need.
  5. Ask students to find a partner to interview, or assign pairs to work together. Tell students to write the sentences on separate lines with some space between each one.
  6. Give the class time to complete their interviews and complete the sentences before having each set of partners present the information to the class.

Activity Two: Four Corners

  1. Have students cross out the prepositions in the sentences they wrote about their partner in Activity One. They do not have to be completely crossed out, but just enough to remind someone reading the sentence to skip saying the preposition.
  2. Once the words since, while, for, and during have been crossed out, have students cut their paper into strips so that there is one sentence on each strip. Tell them to fold up each of the strips. Collect all of the sentences and put them into a box or container.
  3. Tell students you will play four corners with the prepositions since, while, for, and during. Point out the words you have posted around the classroom. Explain that you will read aloud a sentence with the preposition missing and students must move to a corner to indicate the correct word to complete the sentence.
  4. Divide the class into two equal teams and give each a name. Write the team names on the board. Emphasize that students must remember their team in order for the game to work. If necessary, help students remember by giving everyone on one team the same color dot on their hand with a marker. Explain that each team will earn points based on the number of people that are in the correct corner after the sentence is read.
  5. Choose one of the folded sentences from the container to read aloud. Do not read the preposition in the sentence, which will be crossed out as a reminder. Students must move to one corner of the room to indicate the correct preposition to fill in the blank in the sentence. Give students about ten seconds to make a choice and say “Stop!” to indicate that time is up. Anyone that is not in a corner must sit down in the middle of the room, but can join in again for the next round.
  6. Read the same sentence again, omitting the preposition. Ask a student from each corner to justify the preposition they chose before you reveal the correct one to complete the sentence. Review why the preposition is correct if needed.
  7. Before moving on to a new sentence, record points by counting how many of each team’s members are in the correct corner. You can make this easier by asking members of each team to raise their hands. Write the number under each team’s name on the board.
  8. Follow the same procedure for the next sentence. Continue adding to the points until all of the sentences are used. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins!
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Activity 2: More Prepositions of Time
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This week’s Teacher’s Corner introduces two activities during which students practice the prepositions in, at, and on. In these activities, students must act quickly to identify appropriate times to use the common prepositions in, at, and on. In Activity One, students will compete to physically swat the correct prepositions and use them correctly in sentences with times, days, and months of the year. In Activity Two, students ask and answer questions using prepositions in a moving circle. These activities require that students are already familiar with using these three prepositions to discuss time.

Level

Intermediate and above

Language Focus

Listening, speaking, and reading

Goals

During the activities, students will:

  • Listen to information and determine which preposition to use: in, at, or on
  • Form oral questions and statements using the prepositions in, at, and on

Materials

  • Chalkboard or whiteboard with chalk or markers
  • Two fly swatters or sturdy pointers
  • Index cards
  • Container to hold the index cards such as a hat, box, or empty coffee can

Preparation

  • Prepare the index cards with the following (one per card):
    • Days of the week
    • Specific dates, such as June 26th, January 1st, etc.
    • Months of the year
    • Years, such as 1982, 2012, 2001, etc.
    • Times of day or night, such as 12:00pm, 7:30am, 10:45pm, etc.
    • Time phrases: ___ the morning, ___ the afternoon, ___ the evening, ___ night

Note: Each card will be used for one turn in the game, so be sure you make enough cards for your whole class to participate.

  • Fold the cards, mix them up, and place them in the container.
  • Review when to use each of the prepositions with your students, if needed.

Activity One: Swat it

  1. Tell students they will play a game to review the prepositions in, at, and on. Divide the class into two equal teams.
  2. In the middle of the board, write the prepositions in, at, and on in a column.  Leave a bit of space vertically between each of the words.
  3. Say, “In this container there are cards with days, months, dates, years, or times on them. To play the game, each team will send one member at a time to the board. Each person at the board will get a fly swatter/pointer to use. I will pull out a card and read what it says. The goal is for you to decide which preposition goes along with what I have said, and be the first person to hit the preposition you think is correct with your swatter/pointer. I will decide who hit the preposition first, and that person must then form a sentence correctly using the words on the card and the preposition. If you choose the correct preposition and use it correctly in a sentence, you will earn a point for your team.”
  4. Choose a student to help you model the procedure at the board. Ask another student to choose a card from the container and read it aloud.  
  5. Explain to students that if they choose the wrong preposition, a player from the other team will have a chance to make a sentence to earn a point for their team. If the player on the other team also does not create a correct sentence, the card will be placed back into the container. After both teams have attempted to answer, the students at the board sit down and a new player from each team comes up.
  6. This game can be played until all the cards have been used, or until all students have had a chance to participate.

Activity Two: Inside outside circle

  1. Split the class in half. (If you have a very large class, you may wish to model the procedure beforehand and use four groups for the activity.)
  2. Have one half of the class form a circle with everyone facing out. This is the inside circle. Give each one of these students one of the cards containing a date, time, month, etc.
  3. Have the second half of the class form another circle around the inside circle, with everyone facing in. This is the outside circle.
  4. Tell students, “Those of you in the inside circle have a card with a time, date, day of the week, or something similar on it. You are also facing one person. Your task is to ask the person facing you a question using the time on your card and the appropriate preposition.”
  5. Provide some examples, such as:
  • Can you come to my house on Wednesday?
  • Are you going to travel in June?
  • Did you eat breakfast at 7:30?
  1. Say, “Those of you in the outside circle must answer the question you are asked. You must include the time and the preposition.” Give examples, such as:
  • Yes, I can come to your house on Wednesday.
  • No, I am not going to travel in June. I am going to travel in July.
  • I did not eat breakfast at 7:30. I ate breakfast at 6:30.
  1. Tell students they will have thirty seconds to complete the task (asking and answering questions) before the inside circle moves. After thirty seconds, the inside circle should shift one person to the right so that everyone has a new partner. The outside circle does not move.
  2. When everyone has a new partner, students in the inside circle should ask their new partner a question using what is written on their card and the appropriate preposition. New partners should answer and then the inside circle shifts again.
  3. Once everyone in the inside circle has had a chance to speak to all of the students in the outside circle, the roles should change. Collect cards from the inside circle. Distribute new cards to the outside circle and inform those students that they will now ask the questions and the inside circle will provide answers. The procedures for moving should remain the same.

During this activity, partners can provide feedback and corrections about how to use the prepositions if necessary. The circle can be repeated multiple times using different cards.

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Prepositions: In, At, and On
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Level

Low-Intermediate to Advanced

Language Focus

Speaking, writing (primary focus); Reading (secondary focus)

Goals

Students will increase their speaking and writing abilities through a task-based activity on preventing and responding to natural disasters.

Materials

  • Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, world map, a timing device, a computer lab.
  • Students: pencils or pens, notebooks or writing paper.

Preparation

Bringing world affairs into the classroom provides students opportunities to explore real world issues and consider how these issues may affect their own countries and towns. These types of classroom activities can get students thinking about the issues in their own communities and prepare for real-life events such as natural disasters.

In this week’s Teacher’s Corner, students will learn about natural disasters and disaster prevention.

  1. Read through all the materials carefully.
  2. This activity utilizes resources created by the United Nations’ Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR). You can find out more about the UNISDR here.
  3. During the activity students will play the UNISDR game Stop Disasters! The game requires players to implement safety measures in a community before a disaster strikes. Play the game before class to learn the rules to provide students help as needed.
  4. The third part of the activity uses the website Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System. Prior to class, view the website to ensure it works on your Internet browser software.
  5. For larger classes, consider having students work in pairs or small groups. Having students work in pairs or small groups is recommended because it encourages speaking and communication.
  6. This activity can be used in one class or across several class periods. Decide which approach is best for your classroom goals and objectives.
  7. This activity uses the computer game Stop Disasters! Playing the game requires an Internet connection. If computers with Internet are not possible, consider assigning the game as homework prior to doing this activity in class. If only a teacher computer with Internet is accessible, consider playing the game in class. Students can, as a group, make decisions in the game.
  8. Students may have questions on vocabulary such as hurricane and tsunami. Encourage the students to play the game first to discover the vocabulary in context. After playing the game, check for any vocabulary they may not have understood.
  9. This activity has disasters as the major theme. When using serious subjects in the classroom, be sensitive to student experiences and their age, and consider if such material is appropriate for your classroom.

* The game Stop Disasters! uses the English word hurricane. However, in English the terms typhoon and cyclone are also used depending on where the storm originates. According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:

Hurricanes, cyclones, and typhoons are all the same weather phenomenon; we just use different names for these storms in different places. In the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific, the term “hurricane” is used. The same type of disturbance in the Northwest Pacific is called a “typhoon” and “cyclones” occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean.

Depending on your location, you may want to use typhoon or cyclone as the in-class vocabulary.

 

Procedures

Part 1 – Stop Disasters! Game

Using video games in the classroom requires allowing students time to understand the rules of game. In this part of the activity, students may seem unfocused and appear to click on everything in the game during the first five to ten minutes of playing the game. This is a normal part of learning how a game’s rule structure works, so be sure to plan for this time accordingly. If time is limited, consider having students play the game prior to class so they come to class with an understanding of the game.

  1. Place students in pairs or small-groups and have them play Stop Disasters! Encourage the students to play at least three scenarios if time permits.
  2. Instruct the students to have a pencil and notebook available. In their pairs/small groups, one student should act as note-taker. Their responsibility is to take notes on the decisions their pair/small group makes during gameplay.
  • During gameplay, remind the note-taker to document the score their pair/small group receives.

Part 2 – Disaster Debriefing

Video games work best in classroom practice when students are allowed to make choices and see the results of those choices. In this section of the activity, students will engage in sharing their decisions with other teams.

1.     After the pairs/small groups have finished playing Stop Disasters!, have them review their notes on the decisions and choices they made.

a.     Encourage students to think about their gameplay by asking them, “How successful was your team?”

2.     Next, have the pairs/small groups partner with another pair/small group to form larger teams. Have these teams share notes and discuss their in-game actions. On the board, write the following questions for the teams to discuss:

a.     Which scenarios of the game did you play?

b.     Why did you choose those scenarios?

c.     How well did you complete the scenario?

d.     What would you do differently next time?

3.     If time permits, have the students play again. Instruct them to replay the scenario in which they did the worst. Prior to playing the game again, encourage the students to think about the discussion they had with the other pair/small group and have the students write out a brief plan of action.

a.     These plans of action will vary from group to group. What is important about the plan is the students take time to reflect on the decisions they made during the first play through, the conversation with the other pair/small group, and the notes they took. The goal here is for the pairs/small groups to develop a strategy before playing the game a second time.

Part 3 – Disaster Management

Video games can be an effective part of classroom practice when used to provide experiences to students. This experience can then be used as a resource for follow-up expansion activities such as the one below. Stop Disasters! is an example of a serious game. In serious games, the goal is to use the digital experience to draw attention to real world issues and events. This part of the activity uses real natural disasters around the world, so consider this before bringing this part of the activity into your classroom.

1. In the game Stop Disasters! players are asked to prepare communities for the following types of disasters. Begin this section of the activity by asking the students which disasters are shown in the game. As students name the disasters, write the names on the board:

a.     Floods

b.     Wild Fires

c.     Hurricanes

d.     Tsunamis

e.     Earthquakes

2. Have the students form teams of three or four students each.

3.  Ask the teams to organize the disasters in order of most critical to least critical. Instruct the students that they must also be able to explain why they ranked the emergencies in the order they did.

a.  Important – There is no correct answer to the order of most to least critical. The goal of this section of the activity is to encourage students to think critically about disasters and to understand the challenges of providing disaster relief around the world.

4.     After the teams have made their rankings, have them share their ordered lists and the reasons for the order of disasters that they selected.

Part 4 – Disaster Response

  1. Instruct the students that their teams work for the United Nations Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System and they must respond to disasters around the world.
  2. Have the teams visit the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System website and check the Open Emergencies. This is a list of current global natural disasters.
    a. Students may notice the dates on the website can be old, in some cases up to a year. If students ask about the date, inform them that these dates refer to the initial event and that people in the region are still in need of assistance. These dates should influence their decision-making process in the next step.
  3. Have the students check the recent emergencies and make critical decisions on where to send help. Inform the teams that they have only enough resources to assist in three natural disasters or disaster recovery situations. Each team must decide where to allocate their resources. After each team has decided the disasters to which they will allocate resources, have them present their decision to the class. Instruct them to explain their decisions.
  4. The goal of this activity is to help students understand how decisions can be influenced by real world events. As students decide which natural disasters are in need of the most attention, have them check the list they made in step #8 and think critically about how that list was made. Encourage them to consider decisions made about the disasters shown on the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System website and how those compared to that earlier list made in step #8.

 

Possible Follow-up Activities

This activity requires students to make decisions about real world disasters. It is important to encourage students to consider how disasters can affect their community. Here are some possible follow-up activities to encourage students to consider disasters in their community.

Poster Presentation

For homework, have teams make disaster prevention posters. The teams should design the posters to teach classmates how to prepare for disaster that could possibly occur in their community.

Disaster Relief Debate

How should disaster relief be decided? An in-class debate can be organized in which students debate the statement: Disaster relief is a global responsibility. In the debate, students should take two sides: one that supports the statement and one that refutes the statement. 

For more information on using both video games and debates in the English classroom, check out the September 2015 Teacher’s Corner.

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Calamity - Natural Disaster Preparation Activity
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The Lighter Side Activity with Answer Key
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LEVEL: Beginner and Upper Beginner

TIME REQUIRED: 30 minutes, plus time for students to present

GOALS: To practice common greetings; to use appropriate greetings with different community members; to understand when to use informal and formal greetings

MATERIALS: Paper cut into strips (enough strips for each group to have four during the activity), two different colors of pens or

markers, two large cups or containers, pencils and paper for students

OVERVIEW: This activity will allow students to practice using greetings by creating a brief skit. Students should be familiar with common greetings and know whether they are considered formal or informal. Students should also understand appropriate register, meaning the use of language that is suitable in particular social situations. Creating a skit can be a useful practice activity for students from varying proficiency levels, especially when addressing pragmatics. The procedures outlined below make the task accessible to beginning-level students, but the variations can offer more advanced students a challenge.

PREPARATION: Find two containers that can be used as “grab bags” for students to draw from. Cut paper into strips, sized so that you can write one word or phrase on each strip. You can use either two different colors of paper or two different colors of markers or pens.

PROCEDURES:

  1. Ask students to help you brainstorm a list of formal and informal greetings as a warm-up for the activity. If necessary, remind students of the difference between formal and informal greetings by saying, “Remember that formal greetings are those you would use when speaking to someone older or to an important person in the community such as an elder or a professor. Informal greetings are those you would use with friends or close family members. Think about the different ways you can greet these types of people.” If students need assistance, you can start the list by providing an example of each type of greeting, such as “Hey” for informal and “Good afternoon” for formal.
  2. Ask students to help you brainstorm a list of people they greet in their everyday interactions. These could be members of their family, friends, people at school, or anyone in their community. As your students provide ideas, list them on the board while a few students copy them onto the strips of paper you have prepared. People from the list should all be written on the same color of paper or in the same color ink. Some people your students might come up with are:

•          mother

•           father

•           sister

•           brother

•           grandmother

•           grandfather

•           aunt

•           uncle

•           friend

•           teacher

•           store clerk

•           restaurant worker

•           seller at a market

•           taxi or bus driver

3. Ask students to think about people they may not interact with often but that they still have to greet sometimes. Students can also list people they have not interacted with before. One option is to provide one or two examples from the list below and then give students time to discuss their ideas with a partner or small group before asking the whole class to share. Record these people the same way as in Step 2, by writing them on the board and having a few students copy them on the same color paper or using the same color ink. Ideas for people students greet less frequently are:

•           doctor

•           nurse

•           priest/imam

•           dentist

•           headmaster or principal

•           community elder

•           government official

•           police officer

•           the president or prime minister

•           movie star/actor

•           popular singer

•           famous artist

•           religious elder/member of the clergy

•           judge

•           potential employer

•           boss or manager

•           work colleague (same rank or higher rank)

Note: Be sure that you create enough slips with types of people on them for your whole class. For the skit, each group will draw three slips from the “grab bag” of people, so you may need to create multiples of some types of people in order to have enough slips. For example, you might have three slips with judge, three slips with grandmother, etc.

4.  After you have created slips for many types of people to greet, ask students to think about the places where these interactions might take place. These can be actual places where students have had interactions or their ideas about made-up situations. The goal is to get your class to come up with a variety of places. Some examples are:

•           in your home

•           in your neighborhood/village

•           on the street

•           at a market or store

•           in your classroom

•           in the hallway or around the school

•           at the doctor’s office

•           at a restaurant

•           at a shopping mall

•           on a bus or train

•           at work

•           at the bank

•           at a coffee shop

•           at the post office

•           at a place of worship

Create slips for the places the same way as you did for the people in Steps 2 and 3, but use a different color of paper or different color ink.

5.  When all of the ideas about people and places have been written on slips of paper, create two grab bags using the containers. Attach a label to each container, marking one “people” and the other “places.” Students can assist you by folding each slip of paper and putting it into the appropriate container.

6.  Let your class know that you will show them an example of how the activity will work. Ask for three volunteers to act as your group members for the explanation. Then, choose three slips of paper from the “people” container and one from the “places” container. Write the people and the place on the board so that students can see them.

7.  Model a discussion with your group of volunteers. For each of the slips you drew from the “people” container, you will need to decide how the person should be greeted. Ask the class and your group of volunteers questions such as:

•           How would I greet this person?

•           Can I speak to them the same way I would my friends at school?

•           Do I need to speak to them in a different way?

Try to get the class to give you ideas about exactly what greetings they would use for each person.Write these on the board under the names of the people.

8.  Once you have discussed each of the people and written some ideas, model how to act out a scenario in the place you chose. Assign each volunteer one of the people drawn from the container and explain that the volunteers will have to act out those roles during the skit. You can even create a sign for the students to wear or hold up, or write each student’s name next to his or her role on the board so the class will remember who that person is. Tell the volunteers that you will greet each of them as if you are meeting in the place that you have drawn from the container. For instance, if your place is the market, have the group members act as though they are carrying shopping bags and looking for items to buy. If the place is a coffee shop, students might be waiting in line to order or sitting at a table sipping coffee.

9.   Act out a quick version of what the skit should look like by encountering each person individually and greeting him or her appropriately. Each student volunteer should respond by returning your greeting accordingly. They can get ideas from the list of formal and informal greetings on the board from Step 1 if needed. The purpose of this example is to model what students should do in the activity and to remind them to use formal and informal greetings appropriately. Once you have completed your fast example, give students time to ask any questions they may have, and offer any further explanation you think is necessary.

10. Inform students that they will be working in groups of four. You can use any method to group your students, or allow them to choose the classmates they will work with.

11.  Tell students: “You will draw slips of paper from each of these containers and then use them to plan your greeting skit. You will choose three people and one place. In your group, you will have to assign one person to play the role of a student your age. The other three group members will act as the people you draw from the container. The skit will take place in the location you pull from the other container.”

12.  Once the students are in groups of four, they will need to choose their people and their place for the skit from the containers. This is probably easiest if each group selects one representative to go to the front of the classroom to make the selections and then return to the group.

13.  When all groups have selected three people and one place, give the following instructions: “Think about the three different people you chose from the container. Your group needs to discuss how you would greet each of these people. Remember to think about exactly what you would say to each person if you met him or her in the place that you chose. Think of what the people would be doing in the location of your skit. Are they shopping, eating a meal, or sitting on the bus? Try to show what is happening in the place you chose. Your group can write ideas on paper if you want to.”

14.  At this point, circulate around the room and listen to the groups’ discussions. Answer any questions students may have, or offer assistance if they need it.

15.  Once the groups have had enough time to discuss their ideas for how to greet each person in their skit, you can say: “Now you need to decide who will take on each role in your group. One person will be a student like you. The other three will act as one of the roles you chose from the container. Then, you need to create your skit. Remember, it should happen in the place you chose from the container, and each person needs to be greeted appropriately.”

16.  Give students time to plan and rehearse their skits. They can write a script if they find it helpful, or if you want to have a written assignment to use for grading purposes. Otherwise, students can perform the skit from memory. Again, move around the room to help groups that need assistance.

17.  Before asking students to present their skits, give them guidelines or questions to think about as they watch the different groups. You can say: “As you watch your classmates present their skits, I want you to think about a few things. This way, when everyone is finished, you can give each other feedback or advice about how you used the greetings. I will write questions on the board for you to think about as you watch each other’s skits.”

18.  Write on the board: Did you think the greetings you heard were good ones to use with the people in the skit? If yes, why? If no, what greetings would you use? Explain these questions to students, and model how to give feedback to their classmates by saying: “For example, I watch a skit where someone greets the principal of our school at the market by saying, ‘Hey, Principal Rousso, what’s up?’ I do not think this is the right greeting, so I would tell the group, ‘I think that you should use a more formal greeting to say hello to the principal,’ and give my idea for something different to say.” You can also have students write the questions, give a written response to each one, and then hand in their papers at the end of the activity. Or, you could have students use a checklist (see Extensions) to give the groups feedback on their skits.

19.  Once all the groups have had time to plan and practice their skits, they can present them in a variety of ways. Depending on the size of your class, one option is to have each group of students present to the whole classroom. Or, if you have a large class, you can split the class in half and have each group present to its half of the class. Another option would be to pair groups and have them present to each other. Depending on how the groups present their skits and how you ask students to provide feedback, you can monitor the presentations and also participate in the discussions.

 

VARIATIONS

1.  This activity can also be used to give students practice with other kinds of speech acts. Using the same procedures, you can assign your students a skit to practice apologies, introductions, closings, or any other speech acts you have been teaching them.To challenge students even more, create a third “grab bag” container and allow the class to brainstorm additional types of interactions they could use to create their skit. Here are some ideas:

•           apologize

•           give advice

•           make a request

•           ask permission

•           order a meal in a restaurant

•           make introductions

•           make an excuse for being late

•           close a conversation and say good-bye

 

2.  For higher-proficiency students, you can assign the skit without going through the brainstorming (Steps 1–7). Instead, allow students to choose any speech act to use in their skit.Tell students that the goal of the skit is to show how one would interact differently, using the chosen speech act, with people in varying roles and relationships.The groups can choose their own people and place for the skit and even create a detailed scenario. As an added challenge, groups can write down the people in the skit, the speech act, and a short description of the scenario and then exchange their ideas with another group.Then, groups of students would have to act out the skit according to the guidelines they receive. Here are examples of the types of scenarios students might come up with:

•  apologizing to your boss, a coworker, and a client for being late to a meeting                                           

•  making an excuse to your classmates, your teacher, and the headmaster for missing a group presentation in class

•  inviting a coworker, your boss, and your friend to a dinner party

EXTENSIONS

  1. Provide a checklist (as mentioned in Step 18) for students to use to assess and give feedback to their peers. Here is an example that you can write on the board for students to copy and use during the activity.
  2. If you want to extend this activity, the feedback students give to each group about their skit can play a bigger role. Groups who received suggestions about how to change their skit can use the feedback to make changes and improve their work. If some groups received only positive feedback, they could choose another set of people and a different place to plan a new skit.Then, all the groups can present again, showing either their improved skit or a new one.
  3. This activity also allows for some repetition to give students more opportunities to practice and reinforce their skills. For example, groups could keep the same people in their skit but change the location by drawing a different place from the container. Groups can also repeat the process with a different speech act or a different group of four students from the class.
  4. As students learn more ways of interacting, they can continue their skit. Because the original activity focuses on greetings, there are many possibilities for adding to the dialogue. If students work in the same groups, with the same people and place, they can add more speech acts to form a full conversational exchange. For example, after students learn about making introductions, they can practice introducing a friend to each of the individuals in the skit. Of course, this will require that students take on multiple roles by acting as the friend when they are not the person greeting or being greeted. Once students learn different ways to end a conversation and say good-bye, they can continue by adding a closing to the interaction. Any of the speech acts listed above in Variations, or others your students are learning, can be used to continue the skit and give students additional practice with using appropriate register in different situations.

 

This activity was written by Amy Hanna, who has taught ESL to students in primary school, university, and adult education classrooms, trained teachers in TESL methods, and developed materials for English language programs in the United States and abroad.

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Try This: Luck of the Draw Game (Forum pages 43-48)
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