The Mixed Bag

Volume 2

A Collection of
Activities for ESL Classrooms
Canadian Edition

Elizabeth Ganong
Dan Ingram
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Contents
Introduction... i

Heart Health 25

Doubles at home 1

Extenders 26

A Sentence with a Twist 2

Life History 27

Superstitious Questions 3

Weekend Idioms 28

A Mixed-up Story 4

It Might Have Been a Good Idea 29

Lovingly Find Someone Who...5

Talk About the Last Time You 30

Talk About It 6

Idioms by the Foot 31

Dental Words Defined 7

Its a Must 32

In Shape 8

Create the Situation 33

Keeping In Shape 9

How to Match 34

In the News 10

Synonyms 36

Simply Because 10

I Shouldnt But...37

Eating Habits 11

A Ring of Curiosity 38

Careful Shopping 12

Prepositions of Order 39

At the Store 13

Common Parts 40

Past Time Talk 14

Saying Good-bye 41

Li Ying 15

Learn by Example 42

Cat Got Your Tongue 16

Seeing the Sites 43

For Me? 17

Patio Time 43

Preposition Practice 18

Chore Chart 44

Lets Talk About It 19

Charitable Thoughts 45

Have You? 20

Dragon Boating 46

Sentence Finish 20

Number Look 48

Eating Our 21

Numbers One to Ten 49

Eating Manners...22

Gerund or Infinitive Challenge 50

Did You? 23

Weve Kept in Touch 51

Healthy Heart Quiz 24

Changes 52

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At the Bakery 55

Electric Opposites 90

Words of Advice 126

Tag Grid 56

House Problems 91

CLB Index 127

Double Meaning 58

Rose Garden Centre 92

General Index 128

Because and So 59

Word Challenge 95

A Love Story 60

Grocery Shopping 96

Chatting Over Coffee 61

Shopping Tips 97

Question Tag Match Up 62

Family Tell 98

Baby Talk 63

Dreaming of Spring 99

Picture This 64

The Weekend 100

Same Sounds 66

Two-Minute Comparisons 102

A Wake Up Call 68

One, Two, Three Minute 103

Dentist Talk 70

Charting Spring 104

Seeing Clearly 71

Summer Letter 105

Expectations 72

Tic-Tac-Toe Verbs 106

Learning From 74

Talking About Time Off 107

Get 75

My Great-grandfather 108

Phrasal Verbs at School 76

Adjective Finds 110

Winter 77

Adjective Row 111

Request by Occupation 78

Before and After Movies 112

Find Someone Who 79

Food Idioms 114

Lets Talk 80

They Start with C 116

Waiting Room 81

Start Talking 117

The Price Is Right? 82

Pass The Picture 117

New Beginnings 83

Bag of Tricks 118

Hand Me The Idioms 84

Two Tense Talk 119

Correcting Hands 85

Discovering Irregular 120

Question It 86

Irregular Verb Scrabble 121

Talk about Food 87

Regular M Verbs 122

Mistake Response 88

Poems and Chants 124

An Electrifying Activity 89

The First and Last Word 125

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Introduction
Like The Mixed Bag Volume 1, The Mixed Bag Volume 2 is a true grab bag. It enables you to
enhance your program. For example, if you are doing a unit on housing and need to offer your
students further opportunities to work on related vocabulary, youll find the activities you are
looking for. Not only can you work on vocabulary, but you can develop oral language skills
through problem solving tasks and develop written language through following up on the
problem solving tasks.
Housing is one of many topics. Other topics are family, health, community, food and seasons.
Youll find activities that will complement your teaching. Most of the activities include
introductions and extensions to help move the students towards mastery of the targeted skills
and/or subject matter. Youll be reaching for The Mixed Bag 2 when planning for your next
unit.

About the Authors

Dan Ingram and Elizabeth Ganong met while teaching adult ESL at the Canadian Cooperative for
Language and Cultural Studies (CCLCS) in Toronto in 1992. It was within this LINC and teachertraining environment that the idea for sharing teaching materials formed. In 1995, they started
The Grab Bag, a newsletter of ESL teaching ideas. Over the past few years they have facilitated
workshops at numerous conferences, including TESL Toronto, TESL Durham, TESL Niagara, TESL
Ontario and TESL Canada.
Dan had his BRE and M.Miss when he was introduced to ESL in Ecuador. When he returned from
this overseas experience, he got his TESL Certificate from CCLCS and started teaching in the
LINC program at CCLCS. Dan is currently teaching at CCLCS.
Elizabeth had her B.A. when she started working at Humber College in 1985. There she was
introduced to ESL. After receiving her TESL Certificate from Humber, she taught ESL as a parttime and sessional instructor. She also has experience working with Humbers Summer
Language Program, and extensive experience with LINC at CCLCS. Elizabeth currently teaches
with the Peel District School Board. In addition, Elizabeth has her B.Ed, M.Ed, and ESL Part 1.

Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge those who have supported Grab Bag Publications through the
years since our start in 1995. There are so many! Your compliments and words of
encouragement have meant so much over the years. Thanks to Thane Ladner for taking on
our publications and making them even better!

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Other Titles in the Grab Bag Series

The Grab Bag of Socializing (2000)
The Grab Bag of Telephone Activities (2000) (Second Revised Edition)
The Grab Bag of Canada (2001)
The Grab Bag of Health (2003) (Second Revised Edition)
The Grab Bag of Work (2004) (Second Revised Edition)
The Mixed Bag Volume 1 (2004)
The Grab Bag of America (2004)

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Doubles Around the Home

Part One:

Look at each picture and name the object. What do all of the objects have in
common? (Clue: Whats the double in each word?)

Part Two:

Circle the objects you can find around home in the puzzle below. Each word has
double letters. All of the words run across or down.
m

Extra:

Have students
think of clues to
describe one of the
objects for their
classmates to guess.

For example,
1. You open it.
2. You close it.
3. It has a handle.
4. You walk through it.

Challenge:

Can you think

of any more objects around
home?

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A Sentence with a Twist

Instructions:

Read each clue and fill in the blank with a word that starts with P. When
you finish, put the words in order to make a sentence. The sentence is a tongue twister. Try
saying it 10 times.

1. Its a occupation. This person works with water and pipes.

2. This is how to ask for what you want, nicely.

3. Its a verb for giving something to someone. For example,

salt at the dinner table.

4. Its an occupation. They must serve and protect.

5. When someone wins a game or contest, he or she may get one.

6. Its a delicious fruit grown in Canada.

7. Its a vegetable that people carve for Halloween.

8. Its a popular dessert. They have crusts and are often filled
with fruit.

Sentence:

Answer: The plumber politely passed the police his prize peach, pear, plum and pumpkin pies.

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Superstitious Questions
Instructions:

Write the present perfect question for each of these superstitions. Is each
one good luck or bad luck? Then, interview your classmates. Follow up each Yes answer with
a Did question to find out if these superstitions might be true.

Question

Name of
Person Asked

Persons
Answer

find a four-leaf clover

break a mirror
cross your fingers
blow out candles and
make a wish
drop a spoon
walk under a ladder
have an itchy palm
step on a crack
hear an owl at night
see a red sky in
the morning
Extra:

What are some other superstitions? Discuss them with a small group.

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A Mixed Up Story
Instructions:

Look at the story below. It doesnt make any sense.

Make changes to the story.

A woman goes into the grocery store. She picks up some lumber because she wants to build a
deck. She also gets a barbecue so she can have her friends over for a fondue after she
finishes her deck.
After dropping the lumber and barbecue off at home, she decides that she had better drop
into the bank because the mosquitoes are bad out in her backyard and it will take her several
hours to build her deck. She buys some sunscreen too.
On the way home from the bank, she feels a little hungry so she gets some take-out from the
dry-cleaners. Then, she remembers that she needs to pick up her pictures from the bakery.
She picks at her pictures and leaves her shirts for them to develop. They give her a ticket so
she can claim them.
Once in her car, she realizes that she is low on gas. Her tank is almost full. She stops at the
drugstore and fills her car down. There is no line at the post office so she also gets her car
washed. After this, she spends a few hours vacuuming her car.
By the time she gets home, the sun is starting to rise. She decides to start the deck yesterday.

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Lovingly Find Someone Who

Instructions:

Ask your classmates questions to find someone for each statement. When
you finish, use the statements to make other questions and learn about each other.

____________

____________

____________

____________

____________

got married
before
turning 18.

has received
flowers from
an admirer.

doesnt
believe in love at
first sight.

parents didnt
approve of
his/her marriage.

has written
a love poem.

____________

____________

____________

____________

____________

has been
married for more
than 10 years.

wouldnt get
married again.

believes in love at
first sight.

met his/her
spouse at a
dance club.

has given a
bouquet of flowers
to someone.

____________

____________

____________

____________

____________

would rather
receive
chocolate than
flowers.

thinks that
Valentines Day is
only a way for
some businesses
to make money.

comes from a
country that
doesnt
celebrate
Valentines Day.

doesnt think that

knew his/her
romance is
spouse for less
important.
than a year before
getting married.

____________

____________

____________

____________

____________

is romantic.

has a favourite
love song.

has received
a love letter.

was engaged
for more
than a year.

had a
childhood
romance.

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Talk About It
Instructions: Provide each small group with a set of question cards to discuss and then
report back.

Is garbage a problem in
Canada? Why or why not?

How can you improve

the quality of water
in a lake or river?

How can you encourage

people to leave their
cars at home?

Do you recycle?
If yes, what?

Does emissions testing of

vehicles help clean the
air? Why or why not?

Do you compost?
Why or why not?

Is recycling common
practice in your first
country? Why or why not?

Why do people throw

litter on the ground and
out of their cars?

What can we do to
improve air quality?

What environmental
problems does
Canada have?

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Dental Words Defined

Part One:

For each one, match the word with its definition.

Words
1. cap

__ set of artificial teeth (not real)

2. cavity

__ removable structure with a false tooth (or teeth)

3. crown

__ an operation

4. bridge

__ teeth that arent real

5. root canal

__ something used to straighten teeth

6. post/pin

__ something you put over a tooth to cover it

7. dentures

__ structure that involves at least three teeth

8. plate

__ hole in your tooth

9. filling

__ something that covers a tooth

10. false teeth

__ something that fixes a cavity

11. braces

__ something that holds a filling or cap in place

Part Two:
1
in

Definitions

Discuss the following questions with a partner:

Have you ever had any major dental work done? If yes, was that in Canada
or in another country? What did you have done? If no, do you need to have
any major dental work done? If yes, what?
Is going to the dentist in Canada more or less expensive than going to the dentist

your first country?

Do you have dental coverage? If no, do you know where you can work done
for a lower fee?

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In Shape
Part One:

Using the provided verbs, fill in the blanks. Use the simple present.

Steve is in great shape. He (work out) ________________________ at a health club every day.
First, he (warm up) ________________________ for 15 minutes. Then, he (get on)
________________________ the treadmill for 40 or so minutes. After that, he (lift) __________
some weights. Finally, he (cool down) _______________________ by stretching. It (be) _______
a lot of work to stay in shape.

Part Two:

Answer the questions. Write complete sentences.

1) Where does Steve work out?

______________________________________________________________________

2) How often does he exercise?

______________________________________________________________________

3) What does he do after he lifts weights?

______________________________________________________________________

4) Is he out of shape?
______________________________________________________________________

5) What does he do before he uses the treadmill?

______________________________________________________________________

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