A TEFL Reader

Including Games, Activities,

And General Resources

Index

1
1. English Tense Chart & Timeline
Pg.3-4
2. Phonemic Script
Pg.5
3. Pronunciation Information and Tips
Pg.5-6
4. Latin and Greek Word Elements in English
Pg. 6-11
5. The Tongue Twister Database
Pg.12-30
6. Classroom Information for Young Learners
Pg.31-43
7. Tips and Routines for YL Activities
Pg. 44-46
8. Young Learner Games/Activities
Pg.47-63
9. Adult Games and Activities
Pg.64-73

2
Tenses in English

One of the most complex issues for your students will be to master the tenses or time in
the English language. This will be even more critical with students whose native
languages don't put so much emphasis on the concept of "time" in grammar as many
European languages and Arabic, for example, do. A basic outline of the tenses of English
is contained in the chart below.

Simple Tenses Simple Continuous Tenses Perfect Tenses Perfect Continuous Tenses
Simple Present: Present Continuous Present Perfect Present Perfect Continuous:
I go. I am going. I have gone I have been going.
Simple Past: Past Continuous: Past Perfect: Past Perfect Continuous:
I went. I was going. I had gone I had been going.
Simple Future: Future Continuous: Future Perfect: Future Perfect Continuous:
I will go. I will be going. will have gone. I will have been going.

3
English Tenses Timeline Chart
Conjugated verbs are highlighted in bold. Tenses which are rarely used in everyday conversation are marked by an asterik (*).

TIMELINE
PROGRESSIVE /
SIMPLE SIMPLE PROGRESSIVE /
CONTINUOUS
ACTIVE PASSIVE CONTINUOUS PASSIVE
ACTIVE
PAST TIME
^
|
|
^
The painting had The house had been being
She had already PAST I had been waiting for
been sold twice painted for over a month
eaten when I PERFECT four hours when he
before it was before they began to
arrived. | finally arrived.
destroyed. decorate the interior. *
|
^
The book was The problem was being
I bought a new PAST I was watching TV when
written in 1876 by solved when I arrived late
car last week. | she arrived.
Frank Smith. for class.
|
^
The company has
She has lived in PRESENT The students have been
been managed by She has been working at
California for PERFECT being taught for the last
Fred Jones for the Johnson's for six months.
many years. | four hours. *
last two years.
|
^
He works five Those shoes are PRESENT I am working at the The work is being done by
days a week. made in Italy. | moment. Jim.
|
FUTURE They are going to fly to The reports are going to be
INTENTION New York tomorrow. completed by the marketing
| department.
|

4
 V
FUTURE
SIMPLE
The sun will The food will be She will be teaching The rolls will be being
|
shine tomorrow. brought later. tomorrow at six o'clock. baked at two. *
|
V
The project will FUTURE
I will have She will have been
have been PERFECT The house will have been
completed the working here for two
finished by | being built for six months
course by the end years by the end of next
tomorrow | by the time they finish. *
of next week. month.
afternoon. V
FUTURE
TIME

English Phonemic Script

Pronunciation Information and Tips

1. There are three pronunciations for the ending –ED:/t/, /d/, and /.d/.

Final –ED is pronounced /t/ after voiceless sounds. Examples of voiceless sounds are “k”,
“p”, and “s”. Thus, examples of –ED with a /t/ pronunciation are looked, zipped, and
kissed.

5
Final –ED is pronounced /d/ after voiced sounds. Examples of voiced sounds are “l”, “n”,
and “v” and all vowel sounds. Thus, examples of –ED with a /d/ pronunciation are called,
cleaned, and played.

Final –ED is pronounced /.d/ after “t” and “d”. In these cases, the ending adds a whole
syllable to the word. Thus, examples of –ED with an /.d / pronunciation are wanted and
needed.

2. There are three pronunciations for the ending –ES: /z/, /iz/, /s/

3. When teaching the alphabet it is helpful to chunk similar sounding letters together:

/eI/ AJK /I:/ BCDEGPTV /aI/ IY /e/ FSXLMN /ju:/ QUW

Misc: HROZ

Use this similarity to open activities, games, class routines: example: I like to use them in
lower classes as my team names: Team A, Team J.

Latin and Greek Word Elements

English is a living language, and it is growing all the time. One way that new words come
into the language is when words are borrowed from other languages. New words are also
created when words or word elements, such as roots, prefixes, and suffixes, are combined
in new ways.

Many English words and word elements can be traced back to Latin and Greek. Often
you can guess the meaning of an unfamiliar word if you know the meaning.

A word root is a part of a word. It contains the core meaning of the word, but it cannot
stand alone. A prefix is also a word part that cannot stand alone. It is placed at the
beginning of a word to change its meaning. A suffix is a word part that is placed at the
end of a word to change its meaning. Often you can guess the meaning of an unfamiliar
word if you know the meaning of its parts; that is, the root and any prefixes or suffixes
that are attached to it.

Latin Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

Latin was the language spoken by the ancient Romans. As the Romans conquered most of
Europe, the Latin language spread throughout the region. Over time, the Latin spoken in
different areas developed into separate languages, including Italian, French, Spanish, and
Portuguese. These languages are considered “sisters,” as they all descended from Latin,
their “mother” language.

In 1066 England was conquered by William, duke of Normandy, which is in northern

France. For several hundred years after the Norman invasion, French was the language of
court and polite society in England. It was during this period that many French words

6
were borrowed into English. Linguists estimate that some 60% of our common everyday
vocabulary today comes from French. Thus many Latin words came into English
indirectly through French.

Many Latin words came into English directly, though, too. Monks from Rome brought
religious vocabulary as well as Christianity to England beginning in the 6th century.
From the Middle Ages onward many scientific, scholarly, and legal terms were borrowed
from Latin.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, dictionary writers and grammarians generally felt that
English was an imperfect language whereas Latin was perfect. In order to improve the
language, they deliberately made up a lot of English words from Latin words. For
example, fraternity, from Latin fraternitas, was thought to be better than the native
English word brotherhood.

Many English words and word parts can be traced back to Latin and Greek.

The following table lists some common Latin roots.

Basic
Latin root meaning Example words
-dict- to say contradict, dictate, diction, edict, predict
-duc- to lead, bring, deduce, produce, reduce
take
-gress- to walk digress, progress, transgress
-ject- to throw eject, inject, interject, project, reject, subject
-pel- to drive compel, dispel, impel, repel
-pend- to hang append, depend, impend, pendant, pendulum
-port- to carry comport, deport, export, import, report, support
-scrib-, to write describe, description, prescribe, prescription, subscribe,
-script- subscription, transcribe, transcription
-tract- to pull, drag, attract, contract, detract, extract, protract, retract, traction
draw
-vert- to turn convert, divert, invert, revert

7
From the example words in the above table, it is easy to see how roots combine with
prefixes to form new words. For example, the root -tract-, meaning “to pull,” can
combine with a number of prefixes, including de- and re-. Detract means literally “to pull
away” (de-, “away, off”) and retract means literally “to pull back” (re-, “again, back”).
The following table gives a list of Latin prefixes and their basic meanings.

Latin
prefix Basic meaning Example words
co- Together coauthor, coedit, coheir
de- away, off; generally indicates deactivate, debone, defrost, decompress,
reversal or removal in English deplane
dis- not, not any disbelief, discomfort, discredit, disrepair,
disrespect
inter- between, among international, interfaith, intertwine,
intercellular, interject
non- Not nonessential, nonmetallic, nonresident,
nonviolence, nonskid, nonstop
post- After postdate, postwar, postnasal, postnatal
pre- Before preconceive, preexist, premeditate,
predispose, prepossess, prepay
re- again; back, backward rearrange, rebuild, recall, remake, rerun,
rewrite
sub- Under submarine, subsoil, subway, subhuman,
substandard
trans- across, beyond, through transatlantic, transpolar

8
Words and word roots may also combine with suffixes. Here are examples of some
important English suffixes that come from Latin:

Latin
suffix Basic meaning Example words
-able, forms adjectives and likable, flexible
-ible means “capable or worthy
of”
-ation forms nouns from verbs create, creation; civilize, civilization
-fy, -ify forms verbs and means “to purify, acidify, humidify
make or cause to become”
-ment forms nouns from verbs entertain, entertainment; amaze, amazement
-ty, -ity forms nouns from subtlety, certainty, cruelty, frailty, loyalty, royalty;
adjectives eccentricity, electricity, peculiarity, similarity,
technicality

Greek Roots, Prefixes, and Suffixes

The following table lists some common Greek roots.

Greek root Basic meaning Example words

-anthrop- Human misanthrope, philanthropy, anthropomorphic
-chron- Time anachronism, chronic, chronicle, synchronize,
chronometer
-dem- People democracy, demography, demagogue, endemic,
pandemic
-morph- Form amorphous, metamorphic, morphology
-path- feeling, suffering empathy, sympathy, apathy, apathetic,
psychopathic

9
-pedo-, child, children pediatrician, pedagogue
-ped-
-philo-, having a strong affinity or philanthropy, philharmonic, philosophy
-phil- love for
-phon- Sound polyphonic, cacophony, phonetics

The following table gives a list of Greek prefixes and their basic meanings.

Greek Basic meaning Example words

prefix
a-, an- Without achromatic, amoral, atypical, anaerobic
anti-, ant- Opposite; opposing anticrime, antipollution, antacid
auto- self, same autobiography, automatic, autopilot
bio-, bi- life, living organism; biology, biology, biophysics, biotechnology, biopsy
biological
geo- Earth; geography geography, geomagnetism, geophysics,
geopolitics
hyper- excessive, excessively hyperactive, hypercritical, hypersensitive
micro- Small microcosm, micronucleus, microscope
mono- one, single, alone monochrome, monosyllable, monoxide
neo- new, recent neonatal, neophyte, neoconservatism,
neofascism, neodymium
pan- All panorama, panchromatic, pandemic,
pantheism
thermo-, Heat thermal, thermometer, thermostat
therm-

10
Words and word roots may also combine with suffixes. Here are examples of some
important English suffixes that come from Greek:

Greek Basic meaning Example words

suffix
-ism forms nouns and means “the act, criticism, optimism, capitalism
state, or theory of”
-ist forms agent nouns from verbs ending conformist, copyist, cyclist
in -ize or nouns ending in -ism and is
used like –er
-ize forms verbs from nouns and formalize, jeopardize, legalize,
adjectives modernize, emphasize, hospitalize,
industrialize, computerize
-gram something written or drawn, a record cardiogram, telegram
-graph something written or drawn; an monograph; phonograph, seismograph
instrument for writing, drawing, or
recording
-logue, speech, discourse; to speak monologue, dialogue, travelogue
-log
-logy discourse, expression; science, phraseology, biology, dermatology
theory, study
-meter, measuring device; measure geometry, kilometer, parameter,
-metry perimeter
-oid forms adjectives and nouns and humanoid, spheroid, trapezoid
means “like, resembling” or “shape,
form”
-phile one that loves or has a strong affinity audiophile, Francophile
for; loving

11
-phobe, one that fears a specified thing; an agoraphobe, agoraphobia, xenophobe,
-phobia intense fear of a specified thing xenophobia
-phone sound; device that receives or emits homophone, geophone, telephone,
sound; speaker of a language Francophone

The Tongue Twister Database

Developed by: craigstaley@yahoo.com

Six sick slick slim sycamore saplings.

A box of biscuits, a batch of mixed biscuits

A skunk sat on a stump and thunk the stump stunk,

but the stump thunk the skunk stunk.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers?
If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,
where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Red lorry, yellow lorry, red lorry, yellow lorry.

Unique New York.

12
Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
it would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter--
that would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter,
better than her bitter butter,
and she baked it in her batter,
and the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
bought a bit of better butter.

Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.

Is this your sister's sixth zither, sir?

A big black bug bit a big black bear,

made the big black bear bleed blood.

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.

Toy boat. Toy boat. Toy boat.

One smart fellow, he felt smart.

Two smart fellows, they felt smart.
Three smart fellows, they all felt smart.

Pope Sixtus VI's six texts.

I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit, and on the slitted sheet I sit.

13
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

Mrs. Smith's Fish Sauce Shop.

"Surely Sylvia swims!" shrieked Sammy, surprised.

"Someone should show Sylvia some strokes so she shall not sink."

A Tudor who tooted a flute

tried to tutor two tooters to toot.
Said the two to their tutor,
"Is it harder to toot
or to tutor two tooters to toot?"

Shy Shelly says she shall sew sheets.

Three free throws.

I am not the pheasant plucker,

I'm the pheasant plucker's mate.
I am only plucking pheasants
'cause the pheasant plucker's running late.

Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.

A flea and a fly flew up in a flue.

Said the flea, "Let us fly!"
Said the fly, "Let us flee!"
So they flew through a flaw in the flue.

Knapsack straps.

14
Which wristwatches are Swiss wristwatches?

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better.

A bitter biting bittern

Bit a better brother bittern,
And the bitter better bittern
Bit the bitter biter back.
And the bitter bittern, bitten,
By the better bitten bittern,
Said: "I'm a bitter biter bit, alack!"

Inchworms itching.

A noisy noise annoys an oyster.

The myth of Miss Muffet.

Mr. See owned a saw.

And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See's saw
Before See sawed Soar's seesaw,
See's saw would not have sawed
Soar's seesaw.
So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
Just because See's saw sawed
Soar's seesaw!

15
Friendly Frank flips fine flapjacks.

Vincent vowed vengeance very vehemently.

Cheap ship trip.

I cannot bear to see a bear

Bear down upon a hare.
When bare of hair he strips the hare,
Right there I cry, "Forbear!"

Lovely lemon liniment.

Gertie's great-grandma grew aghast at Gertie's grammar.

Tim, the thin twin tinsmith

Fat frogs flying past fast.

I need not your needles, they're needless to me;

For kneading of noodles, 'twere needless, you see;
But did my neat knickers but need to be kneed,
I then should have need of your needles indeed.

Flee from fog to fight flu fast!

Greek grapes.

The boot black bought the black boot back.

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck

if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
He would chuck, he would, as much as he could,

16
and chuck as much wood as a woodchuck would
if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

We surely shall see the sun shine soon.

Moose noshing much mush.

Ruby Rugby's brother bought and brought her

back some rubber baby-buggy bumpers.

Sly Sam slurps Sally's soup.

My dame hath a lame tame crane,

My dame hath a crane that is lame.

Six short slow shepherds.

A tree toad loved a she-toad

Who lived up in a tree.
He was a two-toed tree toad
But a three-toed toad was she.
The two-toed tree toad tried to win
The three-toed she-toad's heart,
For the two-toed tree toad loved the ground
That the three-toed tree toad trod.
But the two-toed tree toad tried in vain.
He couldn't please her whim.
From her tree toad bower
With her three-toed power
The she-toad vetoed him.

Which witch wished which wicked wish?

Old oily Ollie oils old oily autos.

17
The two-twenty-two train tore through the tunnel.

Silly Sally swiftly shooed seven silly sheep.

The seven silly sheep Silly Sally shooed
shilly-shallied south.
These sheep shouldn't sleep in a shack;
sheep should sleep in a shed.

Twelve twins twirled twelve twigs.

Three gray geese in the green grass grazing.

Gray were the geese and green was the grass.

Many an anemone sees an enemy anemone.

Nine nice night nurses nursing nicely.

Peggy Babcock.

You've no need to light a night-light

On a light night like tonight,
For a night-light's light's a slight light,
And tonight's a night that's light.
When a night's light, like tonight's light,
It is really not quite right
To light night-lights with their slight lights
On a light night like tonight.

Black bug's blood.

Flash message!

Say this sharply, say this sweetly,

Say this shortly, say this softly.
Say this sixteen times in succession.

18
Six sticky sucker sticks.

If Stu chews shoes, should Stu

choose the shoes he chews?

Crisp crusts crackle crunchily.

Give papa a cup of proper coffee in a copper coffee cup.

Six sharp smart sharks.

What a shame such a shapely sash

should such shabby stitches show.

Sure the ship's shipshape, sir.

Betty better butter Brad's bread.

Of all the felt I ever felt,

I never felt a piece of felt
which felt as fine as that felt felt,
when first I felt that felt hat's felt.

Sixish.

Don't pamper damp scamp tramps that camp under ramp lamps.

Swan swam over the sea,

Swim, swan, swim!
Swan swam back again
Well swum, swan!

19
Six shimmering sharks sharply striking shins.

I thought a thought.
But the thought I thought wasn't the thought
I thought I thought.

Brad's big black bath brush broke.

Thieves seize skis.

Chop shops stock chops.

Sarah saw a shot-silk sash shop full of shot-silk sashes

as the sunshine shone on the side of the shot-silk sash shop.

Strict strong stringy Stephen Stretch

slickly snared six sickly silky snakes.

Susan shineth shoes and socks;

socks and shoes shines Susan.
She ceased shining shoes and socks,
for shoes and socks shock Susan.

Truly rural.

The blue bluebird blinks.

Betty and Bob brought back blue balloons from the big bazaar.

When a twister a-twisting will twist him a twist,

For the twisting of his twist, he three twines doth intwist;
But if one of the twines of the twist do untwist,
The twine that untwisteth untwisteth the twist.

20
Untwirling the twine that untwisteth between,
He twirls, with his twister, the two in a twine;
Then twice having twisted the twines of the twine,
He twitcheth the twice he had twined in twain.

The twain that in twining before in the twine,

As twines were intwisted he now doth untwine;
Twist the twain inter-twisting a twine more between,
He, twirling his twister, makes a twist of the twine.

The Leith police dismisseth us.

The seething seas ceaseth

and twiceth the seething seas sufficeth us.

If one doctor doctors another doctor, does the doctor

who doctors the doctor doctor the doctor the way the
doctor he is doctoring doctors? Or does he doctor
the doctor the way the doctor who doctors doctors?

Two Truckee truckers truculently truckling

to have truck to truck two trucks of truck.

Plague-bearing prairie dogs.

Ed had edited it.

She sifted thistles through her thistle-sifter.

Give me the gift of a grip top sock:

a drip-drape, ship-shape, tip-top sock.

While we were walking, we were watching window washers

wash Washington's windows with warm washing water.

21
Freshly fried fresh flesh.

Pacific Lithograph.

Six twin screwed steel steam cruisers.

The crow flew over the river

with a lump of raw liver.

Preshrunk silk shirts

A bloke's back bike brake block broke.

A pleasant place to place a plaice is a place

where a plaice is pleased to be placed.

I correctly recollect Rebecca MacGregor's reckoning.

Good blood, bad blood.

Quick kiss. Quicker kiss.

I saw Esau kissing Kate. I saw Esau,

he saw me, and she saw I saw Esau.

Cedar shingles should be shaved and saved.

Lily ladles little Letty's lentil soup.

Amidst the mists and coldest frosts,

with stoutest wrists and loudest boasts,

22
he thrusts his fist against the posts
and still insists he sees the ghosts.

Shelter for six sick scenic sightseers.

Listen to the local yokel yodel.

Give Mr. Snipa's wife's knife a swipe.

Whereat with blade,

with bloody, blameful blade,
he bravely broached his boiling bloody breast.

Are our oars oak?

Can you imagine an imaginary menagerie manager

imagining managing an imaginary menagerie?

A lusty lady loved a lawyer

and longed to lure him from his laboratory.

The epitome of femininity.

She stood on the balcony

inexplicably mimicing him hiccupping,
and amicably welcoming him home.

Kris Kringle carefully crunched on candy canes.

Please pay promptly.

On mules we find two legs behind

and two we find before.

23
We stand behind before we find
what those behind be for.

What time does the wristwatch strap shop shut?

One-One was a racehorse.

Two-Two was one, too.
When One-One won one race,
Two-Two won one, too.

Girl gargoyle, guy gargoyle.

Pick a partner and practice passing,

for if you pass proficiently,
perhaps you'll play professionally.

Once upon a barren moor

There dwelt a bear, also a boar.
The bear could not bear the boar.
The boar thought the bear a bore.
At last the bear could bear no more
Of that boar that bored him on the moor,
And so one morn he bored the boar--
That boar will bore the bear no more.

If a Hottentot taught a Hottentot tot

To talk ere the tot could totter,
Ought the Hottenton tot
Be taught to say aught, or naught,
Or what ought to be taught her?
If to hoot and to toot a Hottentot tot
Be taught by her Hottentot tutor,
Ought the tutor get hot
If the Hottentot tot
Hoot and toot at her Hottentot tutor?

24
Will you, William?

Mix, Miss Mix!

Who washed Washington's white woolen underwear

when Washington's washer woman went west?

Two toads, totally tired.

Freshly-fried flying fish.

The sawingest saw I ever saw saw

was the saw I saw saw in Arkansas.

Just think, that sphinx has a sphincter that stinks!

Strange strategic statistics.

Sarah sitting in her Chevrolet,

All she does is sits and shifts,
All she does is sits and shifts.

Hi-Tech Traveling Tractor Trailor Truck Tracker

Ned Nott was shot

and Sam Shott was not.
So it is better to be Shott
than Nott.
Some say Nott
was not shot.
But Shott says
he shot Nott.
Either the shot Shott shot at Nott
was not shot,
or

25
 Nott was shot.
If the shot Shott shot shot Nott,
Nott was shot.
But if the shot Shott shot shot Shott,
then Shott was shot,
not Nott.
However,
the shot Shott shot shot not Shott --
but Nott.

Six slippery snails, slid slowly seaward.

Three twigs twined tightly.

There was a young fisher named Fischer

Who fished for a fish in a fissure.
The fish with a grin,
Pulled the fisherman in;
Now they're fishing the fissure for Fischer.

Pretty Kitty Creighton had a cotton batten cat.

The cotton batten cat was bitten by a rat.
The kitten that was bitten had a button for an eye,
And biting off the button made the cotton batten fly.

Suddenly swerving, seven small swans

Swam silently southward,
Seeing six swift sailboats
Sailing sedately seaward.

The ochre ogre ogled the poker.

If you stick a stock of liquor in your locker,

It's slick to stick a lock upon your stock,
Or some stickler who is slicker
Will stick you of your liquor
If you fail to lock your liquor
With a lock!

26
Shredded Swiss chesse.

The soldiers shouldered shooters on their shoulders.

Theophiles Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter,

in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,
thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.

Now.....if Theophiles Thistle, the successful thistle-sifter,

in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,
thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb,
see that thou, in sifting a sieve full of un-sifted thistles,
thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb.

Success to the successful thistle-sifter!

Thank the other three brothers of their father's mother's brother's side.

They both, though, have thirty-three thick thimbles to thaw.

Irish wristwatch.

Fred fed Ted bread, and Ted fed Fred bread.

Cows graze in groves on grass which grows in grooves in groves.

Brisk brave brigadiers brandished broad bright blades,

blunderbusses, and bludgeons -- balancing them badly.

Tragedy strategy.

Selfish shellfish.

27
They have left the thriftshop, and lost both their theatre tickets and the
volume of valuable licenses and coupons for free theatrical frills and thrills

Classroom Information for Young Learners

Teaching Phonics

Phonics is one method of teaching children how to read. Children are taught how to
"sound out" new words by learning the following items:

• Consonant letters sounds: b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z

• Blend sounds: br, cr, dr, fr, gr, pr, tr, wr, bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, scr, str, sm, sn, sp, sc,
sk,
• Short vowel sounds: a, e, i, o, u
Always teach short vowel sounds first: a - apple, e - elephant, i- igloo, o - octopus,
u - umbrella)
• Digraph sounds: sh, ch, th, wh
Two letters combine to make a totally different sound.
• Double vowel sounds: ai, ea, ee, oa
These pairs say the name of the first vowel.
• Other double vowel sounds: oi, oo, ou, ow
• Silent e: Silent e is bossy, it doesn't say anything but makes the vowel before it
say its own name.
• R controlled vowel sounds: ar, er, ir, or, ur
Notice that er,ir and ur make the same sound.

Phonics is a series of rules that children have to memorize and apply when they are
sounding out new words. Children are taught a rule, i.e. Silent e, and then they practice
reading words with Silent e. Then children do skill sheets at their desk highlighting the
Silent e rule. Children must learn letter sounds to an automatic level - they must be able
to see the letter(s) and say the sound immediately.

Critics point out that the reading/practice materials aren't very interesting, "See Spot run.
Run Spot run. Spot runs fast." It is a contrived atmosphere of reading practice using the
phonic rules.

28
Here's the bigger problem: children who struggle in reading memorize phonic rules, and
then are unable to apply phonic rules to connected print. To remedy this problem, two
things must happen:

1. Only the most important phonic rules should be taught in the least complicated
manner possible. For example, in teaching vowel sounds, it is distracting to talk
about "short versus long" vowels. Instead, a child should be taught the short
vowel sounds first. Then when a child encounters a long vowel as in the word
find, tell him, "That vowel says its own name."
2. Phonics must be taught in a way that allows these children to immediately
practice phonic information in real stories. Every time a child is taught new
phonic information, he should be given a short reading selection that highlights
the phonic rule. Completing a skill sheet is good, but even better is to help the
child practice applying the phonic skill to connected print.

A child cannot learn to read without proper knowledge in phonics. It is the foundation for
success in reading. She will succeed to read if she knows phonics.

Whole Language

Whole language is a "whole - part" method of teaching children to read. (Phonics is a

"part - whole" reading method.) Teachers use connected print to introduce reading to
children. Children are encouraged to memorize words as whole units. They do hands-on
activities such as writing in journals, and analyzing words in context, by using pictures,
for meaning.

Whole language has strengths in that children begin to write early. They are involved in
connected print, and they are using personal language skills making the process of
reading more interesting. The weakness of whole language methods is that some children
never get a full phonic foundation. They are unable to decode unfamiliar words. Research
has shown that good readers always use phonics to decipher new words.

Reading is best taught using a combination of three methodologies:

• Auditory training - training for the ears to prepare the child's brain for phonics.
• Phonics - knowledge of letter(s) sounds.
• Whole Language - immediate application of phonics into connected stories.

Reading begins in a child's ears. When you talk to your child, you are putting the sounds
of the English language into his brain. His brain is properly wired to learn to talk back to
you. Over time his speaking vocabulary grows to thousands of words. The more you talk,
sing, and read to your child, the bigger his speaking vocabulary will become. Here is the
surprise: children's brains are not automatically wired for reading. Your child needs your
help to become a successful reader. Learning how to read begins when your child's ears
are ready. There are several things you can do to get your child's ears ready. Teach him
how to rhyme by playing rhyming games, or reading rhyming poems to him. Play some

29
of the other games presented in this website. His ears are ready when he can rhyme and
play the games successfully.

Teach your child alphabet letter names and sounds. This is the beginning of phonics.
Phonics is learning what letters and letter combinations "say." It is an essential part of
learning how to read. Don't assume that your child learned all the letter sounds in school.
It is likely that she does not know the vowel sounds because they sound so similar. Other
important phonic combinations are listed in the sidebar. When your child learns letter
sounds, teach her to "blend" them together to "sound out" new words. Knowledge of
phonics will help her to read many words that follow phonic rules. The best way to
incorporate phonics is to find a short reading selection that has a lot of "sh" words, for
example, and read those words to him. Ask your child to say some words beginning with
the "sh" sound. Then teach him to read the short selection. Continue teaching phonics by
finding other short reading selections, each highlighting one of the letter combinations
from the phonic list. Please notice that letters and letter combinations appear in different
places in words. Vowels often occur in the middle of words. "Wh" occurs at the
beginning of words and "Ch" appears at the beginning or end of words.

Phonic skills must be put into connected print in order to become useful. Connected print
is short selections in magazines or books. Two books, both by Dr. Seuss, have wonderful
selections to help a child apply a phonic skill by reading connected print.

1. Hop on Pop, an easier selection by Dr. Seuss (1963), has the following selections:
o pages 3-5 short u "Up pup pup is up."
o pages 22-24 short e "Red Red They call me Red."
o pages 26-33 short a "Pat cat Pat sat on a cat." "Dad is sad. Very, very sad."
o pages 40-41 short o "We like to hop on top of Pop."
o pages 56-57 short i "Will is up hill still."
2. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss (1960), has these
selections:
o pages 10-11, 18-19 short u "They run for fun in the hot, hot sun."
o pages 26-27 ea words "Oh dear! I cannot hear."
o pages 30-31 oo words "He took a look at the book on the hook."
o pages 40-43 short i "It is fun to sing if you sing with a Ying."
o pages 48-49 short e "You never met 꿢 pet as wet as they let this wet pet
get."

You should help your child read a new reading selection every other day. This is
incorporating whole language methods of learning how to read. Using "To, With, and By"
teach your child how to read a couple of sentences or one paragraph until it sounds great.
The whole language method helps your child learn to read "sight words." Sight words
must be memorized because they don't follow phonic rules. (Half of all words in the
English language are sight words.)

Best of all, using To, With, and By will improve your child's fluency and comprehension.
The goal of reading is comprehension. When your child is able to sound out new words,

30
has memorized a bunch of sight words, reads fluently and understands what he read, he
has learned how to read!

More Phonics

did some phonics today with elementary stu's in a hagwon. Loads of stuff: keep it easy -
we did -ap and -op words today (tap and top, for example). Indeed, when they struggled
to get the differences it made me realise how much one just relies on context. I haven't
done much with phonics, but I am quite surprised how difficult they find it. A hint here is
to make it absurd the differences by using sentences e.g. you want to wear my cat? My
hat??
1. use picture cues for many games. MANY games! fly swat games (hit the right card),
running games (run to the right cards), guess the number games (stick the pics on the
board, number them, then write a number under your hand and get them to guess - by
saying the word - the right card), write the number games (a good one to start with);
actions, action games, etc.
2. we had writing races today - give 'em a run up and a pen and they have to write the
word or the sentence on the board first..) Often these are more sorta listening based, but
that last one is cool becuase it gives 'em a chance to practice without any performance
anxeity they are just saying the words to help their guy win the race.

3. Drills CAN be fun, and are important. follow up with exercises where they have to
number similar sounding words in the order said, fill the gaps in little rhymes (good
practice before a game of bingo) At the end you might be able to get them to rhyme them
and make funny poems.

4. (reading) I would also recommend the leveled reader, A-Z books. They are great and
give lots of choices. Students can also colour and personalize them. I also recommend
reading together. Even some of the Dr. Seuss, I have on line or the nursery rhymes
powerpoint full of nursery rhymes. This too is phonics!!! Really is and don't let people
tell you it isn't . Phonics is just teaching students to categorize/evaluate text and speech.
Connect the two: reading in a different context.

5. I prefer teaching phonics wholistically, rather than individual sounds and linking /
creating words by syllables. Syllables are helpful but when it comes to communication,
they don't mean a thing other than to a linguist (phony phonemes). One way is to use
flashcards. one side the picture, the other side the word. Children learn to pronounce the
words from other students and the teacher. One good way is to use a set in a PowerPoint,
go over the pronunciation and then print this PowerPoint, 6 slides to a page and cut and
you have flashcards for the children to play games with. Collect/keep and you have great
sets for all vocab. areas.

6. The first main challenge I'm trying to overcome is how to focus more on
suprasegmental rather than segmental phonology. There are many guides and games for
the latter (syllable articulation) but not so many for developing skills that aim for
improving suprasegmental (use of voice frequency, timing and manipulation of pitch, and

31
duration, stress, and loudness of syllable combinations). In the case of young learners
there is much more potential to improve this area, and improvement in this area correlates
heavily to improvement in other areas of language acquisition, but we tend to rely on
mimicking native speakers in class, which can be boring, repetitive, and not targeted on
specific improvements.

The second challenge is having to rely almost entirely on integrative motivation, as there
are few instrumental motivators beyond students' compliancy to the teacher's wishes.
Improved phonology presents little or no immediate academic award (or failure little or
no immediate consequences) for students. To overcome this I'm trying to put together a
game based on hwa-tu (하투) in which students try to match cards containing phrases
with the same stress patterns. I'm still trying to figure out how to adapt it to the rules of
hwa-tu but when I'm done I'll try to post my new game. I'm also going to try to make a
modified game out an activity using origami that Jinks taught me.

Task Based Learning

First, it is important to understand what constitutes a task. In TBL, a task is a goal-

oriented activity with a clear purpose. It should achieve an outcome and create a final
product. Some examples include: listing, ordering and sorting, comparing, problem-
solving, sharing personal experiences, and creative tasks.

Some say that TBL is like a PPP lesson turned upside down, or as Willis would say "PPP
the right side up". As in PPP, there are three main phases in a TBL lesson. They include
the pre-task phase, the task cycle and language focus.

In the pre-task phase, there is an introduction to the topic and the task, exposure to real
language (which could include tape recordings of native speakers completing the same
task), and the use of texts and activities involving the texts.

In the task cycle phase, a task is completed, then students are asked to engage in a
'planning' stage to prepare for reporting on how they completed the task. During the
planning stage, students can draft and rehearse what they want to say, with the help of the
teacher. In the reporting stage, students report on the task, while others listen and give
comments. There is no error-correction during the task cycle phase.

32
The final phase is language focus, where students analyse language and practice it. Based
on the texts that students used in the first phase, the teacher will set some language-
focused tasks. Here, there is a focus on form.

Activity Props

Using the prop of one activity as the crux of the next activity. I saw this at a demo class
at Bucheon Seo elementary school: The kids were doing a mingler with question cards,
and once they sat down there was a letter on the back of their card. Everyone at the table
would put their letters together to make a word: a transitional element built into the
activity, but the question is how to make that transition without the TTT that was used
during the demo class. Activity with cards  TTT to explain transition  Next activity
with cards (I guess the element of surprise/unknowing is what makes this a transitional
element). I mean the kids might know the cards are just used for two activities, so you
can interpret it as 1 prop for two activities, but if the children are unaware of the second
use, then I think it splits the dynamic into something diverse.

Consolidation

Every class/unit/or semester should have consolidation function that brings together
everything learned. How to do it? When to do it? What comprises a consolidation? are
the questions at hand.

Classroom Movement

When the students need to move, the T can stage it to music. If you have an activity that
gets the students up and maybe sitting in different seats: play a song and have the Ss
move back to their original seats. The basic idea is for Ts to be aware that this is
possible; music + movement.

Material Preparation

Have the Ss paste into their notebook an envelope, so you can assign any cutting or
prepping for homework, and they can store the pieces in their envelope.

Also either have an English folder that the Ss bring to class with them, or take the time to
paste the handouts and sheets into their book: neat little inclusive activity that puts
everything they’re doing in one book.

Using Flashcards in the English Classroom

Most teacher use flashcards in their English lessons when they have to introduce new
vocabulary. Using flashcards with students will allow them to be able to understand the
new vocabulary without any kind of translation. We must take into account that there are

33
lexical fields that cannot be illustrated with flashcards (some abstract words, such as
feelings).

To start with, we will always choose comprehension activities. This means that the
students are not required to say the new words; they should just try to understand them.

After this stage, it is good to introduce activities, which require repetitive production.

Then, they will be ready to develop tasks in which they have to speak without models.

Finally, we will have to introduce interaction activities, which involve contextual use of
the language.

Comprehension

-Saying Hello (only in infant education): Very young children enjoy saying hello to the
animals, the people, and even the objects. We can put the flashcards in different places in
the room and have Ss greet them alternatively.

When the Ss have mastered the main vocabulary, we can make errors like saying, “Hello
kangaroo, how are you?” when we are speaking to the monkey. Children will be
delighted to say, “no, that is a monkey!”.

-The Chain: We put all the flashcards in different places. We choose one student and we
say one word, “donkey”. The S has to find the right flashcard in the right spot. The idea
is to use a repetitive chain of words: Donkey, monkey, horse, cat, dog, and pig. Use the
same chain for each S.

-Point To: T says, “point to the donkey, point to the horse, and Ss have to perform the
actions. Jazz it up by chunking more animals together or making a rhythm out of it: Point
to the turkey, horse, turkey, cat, dog, pig, turkey. Works well with the chain started with
another activity; try to keep the same chain throughout the different activities, and once
Ss have mastered the vocab, then change the chain randomly for spice.

-Where Is It?: T turns all the cards upside down (on the floor/table), and then chooses 1 S
to be asked a question: where is the cat? Use 1 S for as many times as possible, or until
failure. Also, use a chain for this.

-Be Quick!: T puts all the cards in different places in the room, or has Ss hold them up.
T asks 2 Ss to stand. T says one word, “Giraffe”, and both Ss will try and grab it to bring
back to their desk. At the end, the student with the most cards wins.

Repetition

Here are activities with flashcards that promote echoic repetition of vocab.

34
-The Parrots: 1 S leaves the room, and the T hides a flashcard around the room
somewhere. The S comes back into the room, and the other Ss will chant the word on the
hidden flashcard softly if the S is far away, and loudly if the S is close to the card.

-Whispers: Divide the Students into groups. Put all the flashcards on the board. Have a
group representative come to you and then whisper to them one of the words. Those Ss
must return and whisper the word to the S next to them. The group must whisper through
all the students, and the last student will run up and grab the flashcard.

Production

-Mad Pointer: Put all the cards on the board, and point to a series of four/five very
quickly. Ss must pay attention and try to memorize the cards and the sequence. Ask Ss
one by one to see if they are able to say the words in the right order.

-Memory Game: Put all the cards in a pile, and show them one by one noting the
sequence, and then have students tell you the sequence that the cards came out in.

-Upside Down: Put all the cards upside down, and ask Ss, “what is this?”.

-Just a Little Bit: Take one card and hide it behind a book, a folder, etc. Show just a little
bit of the card, and ask Ss to figure out what it is.

-Just a Glimpse: Take one card and show it very quickly, so the Ss can’t see it clearly.
Then ask what it is, and let the Ss figure out.

-The Missing Card: Put all the cards on the wall/carpet, and have students look at them
for 15-30 secs. Then ask them to close their eyes, and the T removes one card. Ss must
find out, which one is missing. The S who picks the right card gets to pick the next card
that will be removed for the Ss.

-On My Back: Put one card on a S’s back, and let them go around looking at the other
Ss’s cards to figure out which one they have. Variations are abundant for this.

-Odd One Out: Put some cards on the board. All the cards should be related to a topic
except for one card. Example: trousers, jacket, cow, shoes, shirt, sweater. Have the Ss
figure out the odd one.

Interaction

Interaction activities require contextual language. For this reason, I cannot suggest any
general activity that could be applied to different lexical fields.

35
For example, if we are learning vocabulary related to animals, we could play the role of
hungers in the jungle.

Teaching Songs to Young Learners

Songs are a good resource for English Teaching:

1. They are funny

2. They promote mimics, gestures, and etc associated to the meaning
3. They are good for introducing suprasegmental phonetics (stress, rhythm, and
intonation)
4. Ss play a participative role
5. Songs can be adapted for comprehension skills, or production skills
6. There are songs for all levels and ages
7. Ss learn English very easily through echoic memory

It is not enough to play a cassette/DVD/VCD or to just say, “Let’s sing a song!” Teachers
must introduce activities to promote student’s comprehension and acquisition of the
rhythm. Furthermore, if Ts want the Ss to sing the song, they, the students, must listen to
it many times. How do Ts do that without the Ss getting bored?

Song Activities To Promote Comprehension

-Hands Up!: Students have to put their hand up when they hear a chosen word. Ts can
increase the difficulty by adding actions with more words: put your hands up when you
hear “car,” and close your eyes when you hear, “tiger.” By adding a new request each
listening, you can create a funny TPR dance that ties the vocab. to an action. It is good to
use meaningful gestures that relate to the word/picture: swing arms for monkey.

-The Chairs: Put chairs in a circle, and have all Ss sit except 1 who will stay in the
middle. Put flashcards under the chairs; you must have two of each card. Play the music,
and when they hear the word, “monkey,” the 2 Ss with a monkey card try and switch
seats, and this is when the S in the middle can try and steal a seat!

-Gap fill: obvious controlled activity, but can be quite useful in conjunction with other
more interactive and free activities.

Song Listening Activities

These activities promote an unconscious learning of the song. They are useful if we want
the Ss to sing the song after awhile.

36
-Pass the Ball: Put chairs into a circle, or use whatever arrangement will work. Have the
Ss sit down, and give 1 S the ball. Play the music, and have the Ss try to pass the ball
with the rhythm of the song. The S who has the ball at the end of the song must stand up
and answer/ask/produce some sort of question/task/etc.

-The Ring: (for very young children) The traditional ring around the posy kind of game
in which Ss dance around in a circle, and then fall down, or something else.

-The Cage: Same as the ring, but with a prop: place a ring that the Ss must walk through
while dancing, and when the music stops, or is stopped, the S in the cage must answer a
CCQ, etc.

Classroom Routines

Routines are very useful for young learners: they will feel confident and it gives them a
sense of consistency. Routines should involve the Ss’s participation as much as possible.
This will give you the opportunity to reinforce the must important content every day,
without the Ss getting tired of it.

Daily Routines

-Make a Calendar and Weather Wall chart: Make a big poster wit the questions, What
day is today?, and What is the weather like?, and other questions too! T makes all the
flashcards and words that Ss might need to answer those questions, and then the T puts
them in a box/container. Every day, the T picks a S to stick the right cards and words on
the wall chart.

-Count the Students and Ask If Someone Is Missing: Practices numbers.

-Ask If There Is A Birthday in the Classroom: Make a fake cake and use it through the
course.

-Dressing the Class Animal: Use a bear, or stuffed animal, and ask the Ss to dress the
animal according to the weather.

-The English Corner: Make an English Corner in the classroom. T can put all the
flashcards, vocab words that have been taught. T can also make and put copies of
tasks/gap fills/matching exercises, and others there for the Ss to choose and do when they
have time.

Discipline and Classroom Control

Don’t accept loud behavior, which means do not talk over the Ss, or continue the
lesson/activity while Ss are acting out. This mismatches what is acceptable in the
classroom and promotes further disruption because the teacher models that it is okay to

37
continue not paying attention while the T is working. To correct this activity, stop and
use body language as a tactic; also, use rhymes, and repeated hand motions that the
students will pick up on. With one class, I would raise my hand palm out, and touch my
elbow with my other hand, and the Ss knew it meant to quiet down. The best way is to
incorporate a few different methods.

-If You are Happy and You Know It: Use this to make commands in a proactive way. It’s
discipline without the harsh edge: “If you are happy and you know it close your
mouth/sit down/stand up/etc!” Teach it at the beginning of a course.

-If you have a disruptive S, sometimes it is helpful to choose them and have them come
to you and be your holder/helper. I’ll have them hold my bucket of goodies, or maybe
collect the flashcards for me as I use them. Sometimes I just have the S come up to me
and hang out with me a little up front before sending them back to sit down. The S has
no idea why, and if you do it nicely they have no idea you are disrupting their disruption.

-Make sure to teach the phrases and words that you will use for commands, and
discipline:

Read Look Write Match Listen Work.

One way to teach these is by practicing them in vocab. manners, and then using a
controlled matching exercise.

Asking Questions, and developing your CCQ style.

I had a presentation with a co-teacher one day, and we were passing the locus of control
back and forth in a good manner, but I got to observe his questioning style, and it made
me realize how poor mine was in comparison!

Your questioning style is one of the most important strategies a teacher can have and
utilize says, Douglas H. Brown  look for his book:

From my observation, I noticed these things:

1. His CCQ’s were non-linear (more creative in approach).

2. He paused to redirect the topic to a distant, yet related topic, or he would start
with a related topic and worked towards the target language.
3. He emphasized action.
4. He asked the Ss direct questions that were contextual for their situation, instead of
just questions about the flashcards/objects of learning. Example: He would ask
about the other students, himself, the S’s parents, etc.

Special Notes

38
-I always use teams in my YL classes (not only for games/and activities but for general
rewards, and punishment also. I use a star system for rewards, and the result of having
the most stars is that team can leave the classroom first) Using a star system can aid in
learning and production too. I don’t always use stars, or simple team names. I will pull
vocab out of the lesson and use that as the team name, or as the board point. I might have
Team A, and Team J (similar sound letters, and for their points, I might draw Team A an
ice cream, and then draw team B carrots: this system allows you to ask more CCQS about
preference, amount, size, color, etc, AND it allows you to get them mad/upset. Draw a
small carrot vs. a big ice cream and see what that team does: use it for L2 production!
Crafted teacher mistakes are very useful because the Ss will have a desire to correct the
problem, situation.

-For YL class disruption you can change the seating. I mean sometimes have the Ss sit
on the floor and go on with the lesson. They have less reason to stand up and fidget if
they change every once in awhile.

-When choosing students, don’t just always call someone’s name. Use different methods:
eenie meanie miney mo, or pick a student; have them close their eyes and spin with their
arm and finger pointed out; then say, “STOP,” and whoever that S is pointing at is chosen.
Another rhyme is:

One, two, three, four, five,

This is English, English time.
Six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
Come with me; we’re going to play.

39
40
Tips and Routines for YL Activities
Powerpoint

Use powerpoint slides in your class to introduce many things (pictures, ideas, actions,
sounds), but for this purpose make sure to use some it for introducing song lyrics. The
students need to see them, and you can do many activities with the lyrics before even
getting into the song. The whole class can view them, and it’s easy to manipulate with
the program.

Using Hotseat

When you use hotseat, sometimes use it right after an active listening activity because the
students will be able to employ the gestures they learned for the active listening activity.
I didn’t come up with this; it just happened one time, and my students were giving hints
with the gestures: great stuff!

Queing Choral Repetition

Just simply ask the whole class, “what? I didn’t hear that”

A Hangman Hint

If you think the word/sentence/or construction is too hard for you students, or it is the
first time you play a word guessing game, you can give them a hint in the form of a
mistake: Write the slots for a typical hangman game, but write a letter instead of a slot
“accidentally”. If some students were watching they will see the letter; then you look at
it and make some oops gestures before erasing it; the students will understand what
happened. I don’t play hangman, I just do sentence and word guessing with pattern
practiced question forms.

Comprehensible Input and Questions

EX: I have flashcards with the days of the week. I pick up Thursday and have group 1
count through the letters with me. Then, I ask them about the 5th letter. The counting
gives them a scaffold to understand the question, and even if they don’t know the
questions, they may recognize the similarity between the numbers 5 and 5th. Use this
example to expand your use of CI and prepping of the students.

Whose Left, Whose Right?

When modeling for left/right sides or directions make sure you are facing the way the
students are facing. Many YLs do not recognize the difference between the way you’re

41
facing (towards them) and the way they’re facing (towards you). Cut down the confusion
and show them only their way.

TTT Reduction

Reduce your TTT by queuing choral repetition with your fingers: each finger will
represent a letter in the sentence/saying. 5 words = 5 fingers, plus sometimes the kids
will join with you, and that just adds some physical gestures to their practice.

Frontloading

In some activities the teacher may need to frontload certain information. Frontload
structures and ideas that are infrequent in the activity but are important for learning and
being able to produce the L2 more. EX: a grab bag of pictures: the students must take a
picture and say a sentence about the features of the picture. To keep the students from
repeating the same old and abused features frontload a picture or two that pushes them to
use another feature: I would have frontloaded an elephant and a theatre mask because the
prominent features will push the children to pick them out and use them.

Implying the Rules/Structure for an Activity

A. Before starting a pattern practice activity, the T will put the pattern on the board and
then have the Ss repeat it after the T with the BBB (beep beep beep) sound. Then the T
will say the pattern filled in correctly with a word: the Ss will repeat. The T then
answers/gives the response they would normally give if a S were producing the pattern on
their own.

Example: Letter fill-in activity: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _!

The pattern: Is there a ____?

T = Is there a BBB
Ss = Is there a BBB

T = Is there a Q?
Ss = Is there a Q?

T = No, there is no Q.

T repeats a wrong one again, and then gives the Ss a right letter, so they see how the
activity will unfold.

B. Give the Ss implied structure by putting place magnets under the lesson sections
being done the time: GEPIK curriculum: Let’s Sing, Read and Write, Let’s Play, etc.

42
Transitions

Songs and Chants as transitions, especially while Co-Teaching: 1 T prepares activity

while the other sings/chants with the students. TPR songs: a song that moves fast 
slow, or vice versa, and the students will be able to perform it quickly – 1-2 minutes
maximum. The 2nd T can than do a short activity, etc to fill in the remaining prep. time.

Chat Time

After explaining something difficult, the teacher should check to see of at least 1 student
understood the directions/explanation. The teacher can set this up with the student before
hand, but can also let it flow naturally. The teacher will explain, then the T will leave for
a quick drink, and in that time the student who knows what to do will explain in L1 the
directions, and there is no affective interruption. The class needs to be controlled and
bonded enough to the teacher to allow for a short leave from class: 30 seconds.

43
Younger Learner Games
Finish the Features

This is a read and draw but it’s for the context of drawing faces and features of people, so
it can fit well with a similar lesson, and also shows how the read and draw/listen and
draw can be adapted for content use.

Recognizing Questions

You can use audio, textual, or real input and you can teach the students to listen for
question intonation vs statement intonation, punctuation, and grammatical markers such
as fronted WH words and basic grammatical inversion. You can do active listening
activities, speed games, writing, relay, etc.

Woland’s Activity

Do something like a dictogloss or grammar dictation:

Choose a short text that is manageable for the students. Go over any new vocabulary
ahead of time and do a short pre-reading type of activity on the topic to get students
prepared. Tell the students that you will be reading the text ONE TIME ONLY AT
NORMAL SPEED and that they should write down whatever they hear. Once this is
done (the first time you do this, chaos will occur, and you may have to read again, but in
later uses of this technique, students will be better prepared), tell the students that their
job is to reconstruct the exact text you read them.

More chaos.

Get them settled down to work for a few minutes. They will be unable to do it. When no
one seems to be writing anything, partner them and have them help each other with the
task. When paired efforts break down, put pairs together. Repeat again, moving to groups
of eight.

At this point, the groups should be getting substantial portions of the text. Check to see
which is furthest along and have them write their text on the board. Allow the other
groups to make challenges to anything that they think isn't right on the board.

Finally, re-read the original text, indicating fixes on the board. Then discuss the areas
where they had trouble.

44
This will take 30 to 45 minutes total.

The first time you do this there will be chaos. The second time will be better. The third
time should be all smooth, with the students knowing what the problem is, that they will
be able to succeed when they work together, and having developed strategies for dealing
with the problem.

Communicative Board Game

Divide the white board into 4 squares. Each square is labeled Important/Necessary,
Important/Unnecessary, Unimportant/Necessary, and Unimportant/Unnecessary.

After explaining the words, I ask them to tell me what belong in each category. They can
say anything: books, friendship, the sun, nuclear weapons, etc, as long as they can
explain themselves. If the students tell me something like, "the sun is necessary and
important."
I ask, "why?" "Because if no sun, we die." You can move on to the next student with their
hand up, or you can ellicit more of an argument from the student or students by asking
follow op questions. "What if we lived under the ground?" The students with little
speaking ability can say things like, "garbage is unnecessary and unimportant." Smarter
students can say things like, "gravity, electricity, pollution, etc."

The purpose is to let them use all the vocabulary and grammar that they've already
learned, yet never had a chance to use.

Twister

This is typical twister, but you have the kids make their own mat. Get yourself four large
pieces of poster board. On each piece, draw a number of the following figures: circle,
triangle, square. Ensure you draw them in different colors: red, blue, green. In each
figure, put in an English word. Join the poster board pieces together (2x2). Don't worry
about using a spinner for calling. Have a couple of kids stand at either end. Call out body
part (left hand, right hand, left foot, right foot) and then either a color, a figure, a word, or
a category of word.

Make sure you have the kids do the calling and that they don't try to do it in Korean.

Station Game

Use this station game for scaffolding activities: I was thinking of how to do a scavenger
hunt in the room for my summer camps (they didn't want the kids running around outside
getting hurt or something) and I came up with a simple station game instead: I used 4
stations: one on each wall. I just build a scaffolded series of activities that the groups
must get through: station 1: each students picks a flashcard and pronounces the word,
station 2: they recognize the flashcard word from station 1 and draw a picture of it.
Station 3: read the word/phrase/sentence and report it to the teacher/head student. Station

45
4: A pattern practice, or if their level permits: a general mingler, or Q&A.

Add an extra station for singing. I was surprised how well the students remembered the
songs.

____ and Draw

Read and Draw - Have Ss walk up the board and read a word from a wordlist, and then
go back to their team and draw the word.

Listen and Draw - Have Ss pair off and talk and draw, or use an audio file.

The A/An singular/plural activity

It’s from the GEPIK elementary books, and the T repeats phrases: nose, nose, nose, an
ear, ears, an eye, eye. It’s like Simon says but without Simon says, and it relies on the
right gesture with the right expression. The T might touch their nose but say “an eye;’ Ss
need to follow it correctly, and it focuses on A/An.

TPR

Use it to teach classroom commands. Turn around, sit, down, but cycle them and make
sure to use it constructively: meaning, use it towards the goal of the students being able to
understand your commands and words.

Computer Backgrounds

Use them as a short introductory way to introduce the topic to the students. If you’re
working on directions, put a map on it. Just use it as a visual reference, a source of
CCQs, and front load it so you can utilize it for making metastatements (statements about
what you will learn), and maybe even use it for teaching metalanguage (words for words,
nouns, maybe even punctuation.)

Combine the background with infrequent/spaced out CCQs, and the expanded games
(games that don’t take a whole chunk, but just one round here and one round later).

Listening Activity

Have Ss listen to a dialogue/text and then have them stick an X/O, YES/NO, or
True/False on the chosen listening point

Clap, Clap

The song goes like this:

46
Clap, clap
Clap your hands
As slowly as you can,
Clap, clap,
Clap your hands,
As quickly as you can.

Karafun

Event changes, color changes, and time as an affect of NLP and Bloom’s taxonomy.

Flashcard Memorization

Make a flashcard series, and have 1 S come up and look at the cards. Go through them
once with the student and focus on the order (in a peripheral manner: not overtly). Have
the S close their eyes and then take 1 card or more away. Have the S open their eyes and
figure out which card is missing. Maybe have the other students ask questions, or help to
elicit the answer.

Team Name Game

Name the teams, I usually use number, or a target set of vocab. Words. Associate an
action with the team names: T looks and makes a beckoning gesture towards group 1, and
in response the Ss are supposed to flash 1 finger, and 2 fingers for team 2, and 3 fingers
for team 3. Now the teacher uses this as an active listening game. The T will drill a few
sequences and then shock a team by looking at team 3 and gesturing, but the T says team
1. The T gives a point to the actual team called.

Guessing Game

This is from the GEPIK curriculum book. Print off small pictures of the vocabulary.
Tape one piece of paper to each S’s back. Have the Ss go around the room and start a
conversation.

Non-guessing S: What’s this?

Guessing S: with paper on back? It’s a book”
Non-guessing S; Yes, it is. No, it’s not.

YL Mingler for Similar Interests

One that works well in a large class and forces Ss in a simple way to use target language
is the chain tag game.

47
You can sue this with any level of target language or any kind of vocab. Just change the
cards.

1. Model the target language  example: Do you like ____? Yes, I do/No I don’t.
2. Choose 6-8 possible responses. Put these on cards.
3. Distribute the cards to the Ss. Emphasize secrecy.
4. Ss circulate around the classroom using the target language. When they meet
someone who likes the same thing, they say, “So do I”, and link arms. They
continue finding all the similarly interested Ss.
5. When the T calls time, the Ss go to a place (integrate Walls and Corners with
this). Then ask some CCQs.

Matching Activity

1. Concentration games where the Ss match the word with the picture.
2. Concentration game where the S matches grammar parts: S  V  O

ZIP ZAP BOING!

It is quite simple and a good idea for the first lesson!

Ask the class to stand in a circle and introduce the Zip. They have to shout 'Zip' and slide
clap their hands towards the person standing to their left. They then pass it on. Once the
zip has passed around the entire circle you can use the zap. Use both hands to gesture
towards anyone in the circle, who can then zap or zip. The “boing” switches the direction
of the movement. Just put up your hands and wiggle them, shouting “boing!”
If any student makes a mistake during the game, ask them a question in English and wait
for them to answer before continuing with the game.

I do variations with ABCs, and 123, and then a combinatorial finisher.

YES/NO Game

This is a great way to encourage the students to pay attention and practise their
conversational skills at the same time.

It works for ANY level of student.

48
Divide the class into teams (as many as you feel like. We usually use 2-6 teams). Draw on
the board a space for keeping score. Then write on the board "Yes: 2 points" and "No: 1
point"
The students will ask you yes/no questions. And you will answer them. If they get you to
say `yes` they get 2 pts, and only 1 pt if you say `no.` For example, I’m often asked `Are
you human?` and `Can you speak English?`
After the get the hang of it... change the points! No can be worth 3 pts, and Yes worth
only 1. Try to encourage the silent teams to speak up. This game is no prep, and works
great if you have an extra 5 or 10 minutes left over after class is over, and nothing to do.

Toilet Paper Icebreaker

Level: Any

This activity is used as a "getting to know you", icebreaker on the first day of class.

1. Teacher takes the toilet paper roll and takes several squares of toilet paper, then
hands the roll of toilet paper to a student. The teacher tells the student to take
some, more than three.
2. After everybody in the class has some paper, we count the squares we have, then
we have to tell that many things about ourselves, in English.

Chain Spelling (Shiri-tori)

Level: Easy to Medium

The teacher gives a word and asks a student to spell it, and then a second student should
say a word beginning with the last letter of the word given. The game continues until
someone makes a mistake, that is, to pronounce the word incorrectly, misspell it or come
up with a word that has been said already, then he/she is out. The last one remaining in
the game is the winner.

This game can be made difficult by limiting the words to a certain category, e.g.. food,
tools, or nouns, verbs, etc.

Bang Bang

Level: Easy

Divide the group into two teams. Explain that they are cowboys and they are involved in
a duel. One student from each team comes to the front. Get them to pretend to draw their
pistols. Say "how do you say..." and a word in their mother tongue. The first child to give
the answer and then "bang bang", pretending to shoot his opponent is the winner. He
remains standing and the other one sits down. I give 1 point for the right answer and 5
extra points if they manage to "kill" 4 opponents in a row.

49
Editor's Note: Instead of saying the word in the students' mother tongue, it would be
possible to use a picture or to say a definition ("What do you call the large gray animal
with a long nose?")

Describing Appearances & Characteristics of People

Level: Easy to Medium (Low to low intermediate)

Each student is then given one sheet of paper. One student sits at the front of a room.
He/she describes a person and the rest of the class draws the person being described.

It is more interesting if everyone knows the person being described. Once the student has
finished describing that person then he/she reveals who it is and each student shows
his/her drawing. The laughter from this is hilarious, as the impressions tend to make the
character in question look funny.

It is a good idea to encourage students to ask the interviewee student questions about who
they are describing.

Sticky Toy/Ball Game

If you have a whiteboard in the classroom, buy one of those small sticky latex(?) toys.
Divide the board into different areas, filling each with a letter, and divide the class into 2
teams. Kids take it in turn to hurl the toy at the board, and the team receives the letter hit.
They score points by making words out of the letters they accumulate, 1 point per letter
in the word.

Variation: Ss stand in a circle, and throw the ball to each other. Whoever gets the ball,
must ask a question, answer a question, perform a language point, or perform a task of
sorts. That S then throws the ball to another S.

Will The Real Sentence Please Stand Up

This is a grammar activity where you put grammatical and ungrammatical sentences on
strips of paper in a bag and tell the students to dip their hands in and take out a strip. They
have to stand (or say something else such as 'me' if you rename it Will The Real Sentence
Please say me). If they correctly identify it as being grammatical or ungrammatical they
get a point and if they can explain why it is ungrammatical or a certain question as to why
the grammatical sentence is grammatical they get an extra point.

Who Am I?

This is a game the students really enjoy. You can practice basic grammar for questions
and vocabulary, although you can use this game for any level. All the students sit around
in a table and each one has to think of a famous or popular person, write it on a post-it
(yellow piece of paper with glue on one end), and then stick it in a classmate forehead.

50
Then students take it in turns to ask questions about themselves to find out their own
identity. These questions can only be answered with a "yes" or a "no", like, am I a
woman? Am I an actor? The game finishes when everybody knows who they are. I also
participate in the game and students have a great time with it.

Gesture Game

This is a gesture game using previously learnt verbs and emotions. Have two envelopes,
one is verbs and one is emotions. Students take one card from each envelope and must
perform the gesture; it is simple and very amusing. The students in the audience must
guess what the emotion is and what the action is. Who ever guesses it gets to perform,
wins a point for team however you set it up. It works well for small groups (5-6) and i am
sure it would work for large groups as well.

Examples:

angry /swimming
happy /hair brushing
sleepy /dancing
afraid/ cleaning
surprised /playing a guitar
we had a lot of laughs with this one, and it allows for creativity.

Sentence Auction

Write 15 sentences on a sheet of paper: some should be grammatically correct and others
should be wrong. The sentences can be relevant to whatever it is you're teaching that day.
Split the students into small groups. The students have to decide which sentences are
correct and which are not. The teacher will be the auctioneer and "auction" off all 15
sentences. The idea is that the students should buy the correct sentences and not the
wrong ones. Correct the wrong sentences.

Blow the Fish

This is a great game to play with large classes Ideal if you are in Korea. Make teams
according to rows. Tell each row to make a paper fish. You place each fish between the
rows. They should all be at the back facing the front. They should also be in the same
position. Using the tile on the floor you can line them up at the starting line. Then you
start asking questions when a student answers the question correctly he gets a chance to
blow on his teams fish. The team that is able to move their fish to the front of the room
wins the game.

Find the Word

Use with a vocabulary list

51
This is a vocabulary game for practicing the pronunciation of new words. I find it
especially useful when doing 'Word Families'. After introducing, explaining and doing
whatever drilling is necessary draw two grids (I generally like to work with two teams)
on the board and have the students fill them in with the required words. You can make
this part of the game by putting two markers in the middle of the floor, indicating a
member from each team, and saying, "GO". The picked students then have to come to the
middle of the floor, pick up the markers and write a word in one of the squares of the
grid. They then have to give, not throw, the marker to another team member and sit down.
This student has to repeat the procedure. It becomes a race and the first team to complete
their grid correctly is the winner. The winning team gets to go first in the next part of the
game as a prize.

Flashcard Jump

Ss stand in a circle and hold flashcards for everyone to see; T says one S name and that S
must jump and say the word. Next, the S says another’s name and that S jumps and says
the word, etc.

Where Am I?

2 Ss stand back to back with their books on the same page. 1 S says a word from that
page, and the other student must find the sentence and read it out.

Student TV

Draw a large TV set on the white/black board and then use it as a stage for real dialogue
following whatever language practice is going on in the class. Use 1 student as a reporter
and 1 student as the interviewee; I stand to the side as the cameraman.

Simple Shapes Activity

Square, Circle, Triangle

Teach them with 1-2-3 because of the syllabic unity. Square = 1, Circle = 2, Triangle = 3.
I first taught the shapes, and then introduced the numbers and the correlation to syllables.
Once the pre-teaching is done, there are various activities to do:

T says a shape and the students show with their hands 1,2,3. T shows a shape and the
students show 1,2,3. Mismatch the shapes and their numbers on the board, and have the
Ss fix it.

Finish the Sentence

2 Ss stand back to back and 1 S starts a sentence, and the 2nd S finishes it.

52
Hot Seat

S sits facing the class (their back should be to the board). T writes a vocab word on the
board, and the class must give the hot seat S clues. The class cannot read the word to the
hot seat S, but can use body language, noises, words, phrases, etc. The hot seat S must
guess what it is, and then I have the S make a sentence or spell it, or some other language
activity.

Feather Game

Make a prop (for this one I used a paper feather) and have Ss pass it around while the T
closes their eyes and counts down from 20. Then the T must find the feather with CCQs:
Who, Where, Does, Do?

Alphabet Sounds

This focuses on teaching similar sounding letters: B, C, D, E, G, P, T, V, and Z.

1. Put on the board and play a bit: have the students list some words that start with
the letters, play with pronunciation and voice level (I use my hands for this: my
hand down by my knees means a whisper, and up above my head means a
scream/shout). OR, elicit the letter list by starting with B, and modeling/pulling
the others from the Ss.
2. 1-9 (or how many ever letters there are) and make a board matching exercise.
3. I teach/or review favorite with the Ss, and once having gone over oral production,
I have the Ss write: “My favorites are ___, ___.” this makes an opening for
minimal pair practice. I then have the Ss read and recite their favorites, and
maybe ask them some CCQs: Tell me a word that starts with B?
4. Have the Ss memorize them with chunking and sing song rhythm: fun, and it
works, and Ss realize they can do it!

Running Relay Jigsaw

Cut up a dialogue for as many groups in the class and place them at the back of the class.
Have 1 student be the runner, and the other group members will be the sorters. T reads a
word/sentence from the dialogue and the runner gets it from the back of the room and
brings it to the sorters. When the first runner is back, the teacher reads another line, and
so on. At the end, the sorters must put the dialogue into correct order. Don’t read the
dialogue in the correct order from the start; mix up your reading, so it is a little harder!

Tic-Tac-Toe

Use teams for this and use relevant CCQs, and language production as the game’s task.

53
Survey

1 S uses a language point and goes around taking a survey of the other Ss, and then
comes and reports their findings. I have done this with 3-4 reporters asking about
different sets of questions, and then paired it with the TV activity.

Blind Person

Pick a S to be the blinded, or a T can be the blinded. The blind person sits in a chair at the
front of the classroom. A S picks something out of the room and then describes it to the
blind man, OR the blind man is given something (realia) to describe.

* A description game that can easily modified, so play with it!

Count the Bubbles!

When teaching couting, use bubbles! Pick a S and have them come to you. Blow some
bubbles and have the S count them, and pop them, or play with them.

Word Halves

Use this as a student made controlled activity. Pick a set of words, or let the Ss pick a set
of words, and then have them create on their paper a word halves list with the given
words.

Once done, have the students trade papers and work on it together.

* You can have all the words on 1 paper, and just split the words along the two margins,
or you can have the Ss cut them apart and make a mix and match activity out of it.

Pass the Baton

This is a relay game that I use with 2 or more teams. A S from each team comes up and
does the language practice/activity and then passes the baton on to the next team member:
the team that finishes first gets the points.

English Karaoke

One S writes a line on the board, and picks a S to sing it. Once the S sings it, the whole
class judges with: thumbs up, thumbs between, thumbs down, and if S has a good score
they get to write the next line. If they don’t get a good score, they have some
punishment: language production, exercise, silly TPR.

Using Words

54
See how many other words are within one word. ROMANTICALLY: I had a class that
came up with over 50 words in about 8-12 minutes.

Flashcard Hide and Seek

This works with any realia, but also with flashcards. Hide the flashcards after pre-
teaching about questions and lesson vocab, and then have a S come up to you and
practice the specific question, and then let S loose to find the object/flashcard by asking
not grabbing/looking!

Picture Map/Mind Map

Put an occupation, a flash card, a picture, a name, a word, and etc on the board and then
have Ss build relative chains of language around it. Put as much of it on the board as
possible.

Stop the Bus

Draw the back of a bus on the board, and then three, or more blank slots around it: _____
Put a letter in a Box inside the bus and then have students tell you an animal, a place, and
a food that start with that letter. Of course modify it and change it to fit your needs,
ideas!

Basic Line Game

A line game consists of any activity that has Ss run through a line. 2 teams line up
together and face off by answering/asking CCQs. A line game has many, many, MANY
variations! Blow the fish is almost a line game as it has a sequential order.

Charades

Have a S come up and act as an animal, worker, etc and the other Ss must guess what the
actor is doing, or is.

Walls and Corners

Tape flashcards or words of places/names/rooms/foods to the wall and then call them out
and have the Ss run to them. You can spice this up by closing your eyes and making the
Ss be as quiet as possible so you don’t hear where there are. Once you finish counting
down, call out a flashcard name and the Ss at that card must sit down/perform a task/etc.
Last team/S standing wins.

Cambridge English for Schools exercise list

55
-Put the Letters in the Right Order: Choose some words and mix up the letters.

Example: Football  albofotl

-Put the Words in the Right Order: Choose some sentences and mix up the words.

Example: 1. How much is this cassette?  1. is much cassette how this?

-Match the Words with the pictures or the meaning: Choose some words and draw some
picture or write the meaning in L1. Match the words with the pictures or the meaning.

-Find the Words: Choose some words and hide them in a square of letters. Write some
clues.

-Put the Sentences in the Right Order: Choose a dialogue or a paragraph. Mix up the
sentences. Have Ss put the sentences in the right order.

-What’s the Question?: Write some questions and answers. Copy the answers. Leave
space for the questions to be filled in.

-Fill in the Missing Words: Choose a paragraph and take out some words.

-Answer the Questions: Choose a paragraph and write some questions.

-True or False?: Choose a paragraph and write some true/untrue sentences.

Chosen CES workbook activities for use within YL EFL classes

-A Picture Dictionary: Find pictures of the vocabulary set and arrange them on paper
with word blanks that can be filled in by the students. Give the Ss some hints, or way of
figuring out the correct way to spell.

*Note: use this activity with all kinds of words and subjects: nouns, verbs, animals,
rooms of the house, etc. Use variety!

-A Circle of Words: Write out a list of related vocab words, but don’t write it in a linear
way; write it in a circle, or other shape. Have the Ss find all the words that they can by
asking them a simple question: How many _____ can you find?

-Word finds: Change the nature of a word find by using a list of pictures instead of just
the typical word list.

VCD/DVD/Video Ideas

56
Before Viewing

-Brainstorming: Brainstorming can help stimulate the Ss’s interest and expectations
about what they will see. To do this, you can simple write the topic on the board and
write, ‘what we know’ and ‘questions we have’ in two circles.

-Outlining: Before the Ss watch the video, you can give them a brief overview of what it
is about. This can help them follow the VCD more easily. It can also help by reducing
the amount of language decoding they have to do, which makes it easier for them to
acquire the language that they hear.

Student Research: A few days before you watch the video, you can tell them what topic it
will be about. You can then ask them to do some research to see what they can find out
about the topic. Go over the S.R. before delving into the video lesson.

Viewing the VCD

-Cultural Comparison: You can ask the students to focus on the cultural differences that
the video presents. You could ask them to find 5 or 6 things that would be different in
their own country. To guide them in this, you could give them some headings:

What people say to each other

What people wear
What people do
What objects/places are different

You could build up a poster on your classroom wall showing the differences that the
students notice between countries, and maybe even English speaking countries.

-Half the Screen: If you put a piece of cardboard over half of the screen, you can ask Ss
to speculate what they think is happening in the other half.

-Language Search: To focus the Ss’s attention on the language used in the video, you can
write on the board some key phrases or sentences from the video in their mother tongue.
Ss then have to watch the video to find the English equal. Also, you could put the
beginnings and endings of some key sentences on the board in English, and Ss must
watch the video to complete the sentences.

-Narrative Recall: After all the students have watched the video, you can ask them
exactly what happened, what the people said, what the places looked like, and so on. Ss
can also write a short summary of what happened.

-No Picture: The first time you play the video, you can play on the sound (turn the
brightness and contrast down completely, or place a card over the TV). You can ask the

57
Ss what they think is happening, where the people are, how many are speaking, how old
the people are, what they look like, etc.

-No Sound: The first time you play the video, you can show only the picture. You can
then ask the students what they think the people are saying. If you put their suggestions
up on the board, you can then play the video again section by section to see if they were
right.

-Observation: After you have worked with the language in the video, you can ask the
student to look for particular visual information in the video. This can also be used to
draw out cultural information: ask the Ss questions about the people/things (obscure and
obvious) in the video, and allow them to ask each other, and the T observation questions.

-Pausing: If you play a short section of the video, you can then pause it and ask Ss
questions about what they think will happen next and what has just happened.

-Search for Information: Try and pull out real life information from the Ss by asking
related questions depending on the video material, example: How far is Miami from
California?

-Student Questions: After the students have worked with a video sequence, you can ask
them to write some questions for each other about what they have seen. Students can
then exchange questions and you can play the video again so that they can find the
answers and write a reply the questions.

-Student Tasks: After the students have done various VCD tasks, you could simply play a
video segment for them and then ask them to devise practice exercises about it. You can
divide the Ss into small groups, play the extract, and then give them 10 minutes or so to
discuss what tasks they would like to invent for other Ss. After 10 minutes, play the
extract again so that they can focus their discussion.

-Visual Skimming: Visual skimming is a way of playing the extract to Ss so that they can
first get a general idea of what it is about. You can then discuss with them what they
think happens in the video and what language they will hear when you play it again.
There are two main ways you can do visual skimming:

1. Play the video on ‘fast forward’. This runs at double speed with no sound.
2. Fast-forward the tape and then play a few seconds at normal speed before you run
it forward again.

Watching Video: The most natural thing to do with a video is watch it! Simply, let the Ss
watch the video all the way through and then ask them what they thought about it/learned
from it/found difficult about it.

* Note: It can often be VERY frustrating to have tasks to do every time a video is used!

58
Follow-up

-Role-Play: Video provides a very good stimulus for role-play after the Ss have seen a
segment. There are a number of possibilities here:

1. Ss can re-enact a sequence of the video in their own words.

2. Ss can prepare and act out a familiar sequence
3. Ss can prepare and act out a sequence which is similar in content to the video but
in which something goes wrong

-Video making: If you have video-making facilities in the school, then you might like to
encourage the students to devise and produce their own video sequence. This can involve
the students in a lot of useful language work: preparing a script, choosing location,
selecting content, and the tape production as well!

-Project Work: A video sequence can also be used as a starting point for larger project
work. After students have watched the sequence, you can discuss with them what other
work they can do in connection with the video topic.

59
60
Adult Games
Two Truths - One Lie

This is a great game for people who are trying to get to know each other. Everyone sits in
a circle and takes turns telling 3 things about themselves; one of them is a lie.

Example:
I have been to every continent in the world.
I won't use green towels.
I once had a ferret but my cat killed it.

Then everyone else guesses, or votes on which is the lie. It's really funny to see what
people come up with for a lie and you learn a lot of funny truths too

Who’s The Expert?

Skills: Speaking
Levels: High-beginner through advanced
Materials: Double-sided copies of the Classroom Handout, one for each student (You
may have to cut this sheet to get "page two" on the back.)
Preparation: 5 minutes
Time: 60-90 minutes

Directions: Introduce the lesson by writing the word "expert" on the board and eliciting a
definition. The write the expression “jack of all trades," and provide a personal example
of someone you know. I use my brother for this one. I say something like, "My brother
really is a jack of all trades. He's interested in a lot of different things. He knows a lot
about a lot of different things. For example, he went to university for nuclear
engineering, so he knows a lot about science. He worked for the government as an
engineer. Later, he got an MBA, so he knows a lot about business. He's certified to
scuba dive, and has thought about opening his own diving shop. He likes to ski. He can
cook. He makes a lot of different types of food. He can fix things in the house when
they break. Also, he likes to travel, and he's been to more than 40 different countries, and
he really enjoys history, especially American history. So there's a lot of different things
my brother is good at." By now, the students understand what the expression means (and
the women are asking whether or not my brother is single).

Next, call on individual students. Ask them if they are jacks-of-all-trades. Ask what
they've studied, what they're interested in. After you've asked a few students, tell
students to think of five things they're interested in. Remind students that these things
should be varied ("Playing soccer, playing tennis, and swimming are all one category:
sports.) At this point, you may want to do a brief grammatical review on the use of

61
gerunds to describe activities. Next, pass out the copies. As the students are writing,
circulate and check for correct grammar. Encourage variety on the responses.

Now, tell students to turn the paper over. They should choose three of these things to
rewrite on the other side. They are going to be the classroom expert on these three things.
The handout is on the next page.

What are you an expert at?

List five of your interests/hobbies below:

62
 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.
Now, choose three of your five interests:

1.

2.

3.

Once students have finished listing their three areas of expertise, instruct them to fold
their papers in half so that the papers can stand up on their desks. Now divide the class
into As and Bs. As will be the first group of classroom experts. Bs will be the first group
of questioners. As will remain at their desks. Bs will circulate.

Have all the Bs put their papers aside and stand up. Ask them to arrange the desks so that
every student who is still sitting has a desk directly facing him/her. Now, tell the Bs to
wander around and sit down in front of an A. They should read As topics and ask about
something they're interested in.

63
You should find that the conversation gets going immediately. If you're class is an
uneven number, you can play too. Otherwise, you can just join different pairs and
monitor.

After 5-7 minutes you call "Change!” The Bs stand up again, circulated, and choose a
new partner for conversation.

Halfway through the time for your lesson, the As sit down with their sheets. They are
now the classroom experts. The Bs get up and circulate, asking questions of the As.

Allow 3-5 minutes at the end of class for synthesis. Bring the class back together. Call
on individual students to report on what they've learned. Encourage them to continue
their conversations outside of class.

Do You Know Your Classmates?

Skills: Speaking
Levels: Intermediate through advanced
Materials: Copies of the Classroom Handout, one for each student
Preparation: 5 minutes
Time: 45-60 minutes

Directions: Introduce the topic by asking the class how much they really know about
each other. How much do they know about their teachers? Which student has a tattoo,

64
for example? (Don't tell--even if no one has a tattoo, it will get their imaginations
going.) Pass out copies of the classroom handout and go over any unknown vocabulary.
You may also want to do a brief grammatical review of present perfect vs. simple past.
Remind students that conversation is quick and fluid. (I actually teach the no gap/no
overlap rule.) Tell students that they are going to find out which of their classmates have
had these exciting experiences. They can ask anyone in the class any question; if the
person says "yes," they need to ask at least three follow-up questions to get the story.

Instruct students to get up and start asking questions. They do not have to start at number
one, nor do they have to get through all of the questions on the list. Instead, they should
choose the ideas they find the most intriguing and use these as the starting point for good
conversations.

Students should very quickly become engaged in telling their personal stories. During
this time, you can circulate and encourage individual students to elaborate on their
experiences.

With about ten minutes left in the lesson, call the class back together. Ask individual
students to report on the most interesting/surprising/exciting story that they heard.
Encourage students to retell the story, asking the original classmate for clarifications if
necessary. You could also ask for a report back on one of the topics. For example "Did
anyone find a classmate who has a tattoo?"

Find out if someone in your class:

1. has had a problem with the police

2. has almost died

3. has met a famous person

4. has had a frightening experience on an airplane

65
 5. has had a premonition or experienced ESP

6. has had a dream that later came true

7. has fallen in love with a person they could not have

8. has been on a terrible date

9. has gotten a tattoo

10. has performed a daredevil act

11. has backpacked in a foreign country

12. has been to a gay bar

13. has eaten something disgusting (outside the US)

14. has won something (for example, the lottery. a contest)

15. has been to a casino

I’ve Never…

Level: Intermediate-advanced
Grammar: Present perfect and simple past
Directions: First, do a model round. Instead of using alcohol, I've heard you can use
pennies or nickels to make this one fun. Start out by telling the class something you've
never done. For example, "I've never been to India." Anyone who has been to India must
tell the story. After they tell the story and their classmates ask follow-up questions, they
receive a penny. Play continues to the right as the next person says, "I've never..." Again,

66
students who have done this receive a penny. Once the students have gotten the idea, put
them in groups to continue the activity. (You could continue to play as a whole class, but
there's more time for language production if they're in groups.) At the end, see who has
the most pennies and joke about this person being the most experienced.

Variation: A much faster version may be better for grammatical review than
conversation practice. Play this as a whole class game. Start with everyone standing
up. Students sit down if they've never done something. Those standing should tell their
stories to the whole class. The person with the most experience is the only one left
standing. That person wins the game.

Speaking for 1 Minute

For small groups. You have a list of subjects to talk about. i.e., Football, the sex life of the
inside of a ping-pong ball, cooking. etc. You choose one person to start talking about the
subject. If the person repeats a word, hesitates or makes a grammatical error, another
person in the group can take over by saying error, hesitation or repetition. It is the
teachers job to decide quickly if the interruption is valid. The person who interrupts them
must continue. The winner is the person talking at the end of the minute.

Call My Bluff

You need a big (bilingual) dictionary for this one. A student looks in the dictionary and
finds a word which seems very obscure. That student gives a definition of the word to the
others. The definition must be either 100% true or 100% false. When the student has
finished the others must decide if the definition was bluff or true. The student receives a
point for each person who is deceived.

Variation

Instead of using definitions. The students must tell the others something about themselves
which is 100% true or 100% false. i.e. I always tell them that my second cousin was the
tallest ever woman to live in Britain and tell them some things about it. This happens to
be true. This is an excellent game for compulsive liars.

Finishing the Conversation

Imagine you have found an old sound recorder with a tape in it. Almost nothing can be
heard, but the very last sentence of a conversation. What were they talking about; who
were they, why were they talking, etc?

67
Idiom Translation

Have one S with an L1 idiom, and have that S read it to another S. The 2nd S must
translate it into English and give a description of it if possible.

Basic Translation Activity

Have Ss work in pairs and translate simple L1 phrases/sentences into English.

Tongue Twisters (T.Ts)

T.Ts are great for teaching pronunciation, as they focus on only one sound, or related
sounds, or the distinction between similar sounds.

Sentence Starters

Write a list of sentence starters and have Ss finish them. You can do this many ways:
orally, on paper, partners, T-S, etc.

Idioms

Give your Ss a list of Idioms and have them work out what they think the meaning is by
themselves, and then in pairs, and then in groups. Then tell your Ss that there are a
certain # of false idioms, and have them figure out which ones they think are not idioms.

IRC

Have your students use Internet Relay Chat for L2 practice: homework, etc.

Cloze Activities

A Cloze activity is when a certain number of spaces is between each gapped word.

Example: I am the man _____ thought the world was _____.

Using closes are good as part of reading comprehension, but they can be quite difficult,
even for higher-level students. To combat this innate difficulty, the T should pre-teach
the gaps that they excluded from the text. Since the T knows the missing information, it
is a little unfair not to prepare the Ss for the exercise. Give them help in some manner of
preparation.

Songs

Here are some pre-listening activities:

68
-Speculation: Put the title/a picture of the band/etc on the board. Have Ss make guesses
about what the song is about/when it is from/where it is from. Ts can make a group
guessing activity by have the Ss write their guesses down and passing them to another
group. Does the 2nd group agree, disagree, what happens to the guess?

-Pictures: Get a picture of the band, and have Ss make up a story about them. Or, get
picture that relates to the topic and have the Students guess about the song.

-Vocab: 1. Put vocab. from the song on the board, and have the Ss get up and ask each
other what they mean. 2. Have Ss in groups write a quick story that uses the words. 3.
Play the song, and have Ss shout stop anytime they hear one of the new words.

-Strip activity: Cut the song into strips and have groups of Ss work to put the song into
order.

-Song Gap Fill/Blank Activity: Print the lyrics out and take some of the vocab. out and
put a blank in its’ stead. Have the Ss work to finish the worksheet.

* You can also focus on grammar points, example: for past tense practice the T might
blank out all the past tense verbs in a song and only write the base form; the Ss must
write the correct past tense in the slot.

The best thing is to have a varied approach to teaching songs. Just listening to a song is
not teaching, and the Ss will know something is lacking! My current approach to
teaching adults songs is this:

1. On the board: name of the song, name of the band, era, and some pictures of
artists of which one is the real band
2. Discuss this information in speculative manners about sound, looks, speed,
instruments, topic, meaning, etc, and ask some questions that will later be found
out to be true/false
3. Play the song once
4. Discuss what the Ss can infer from the song, and touch on any related topic from
part 1: who is the band, were the Ss assumptions correct
5. Pass out a gap-fill, and read through it once before playing the song again
6. Play the song again twice.
7. Go over the gap fill and expect many slots to be left open; collect the gap fill with
the Ss name on it
8. Pass out a sentence strip activity that has an appropriate length! (a whole song can
be too tedious to finish many times)
9. Play the sentence strip part of the song until the groups are finished.
10. Pass back the Gap fill and work through the remaining missing slots
11. Summary discussion about likes/dislikes in the music, initial assumptions, the
pictures, etc.

69