Elimination games with young learners | Super Simple Learning Blog ♫ One potato, two potatoes… ♫ Many of us remember playing elimination games like Musical Chairs and Simon Says when we were young. These are games where you start with a group, and each round, one or more players is “out” and eliminated from the game. As you get closer and closer to the end of the game, the tension builds, and it can be a lot of fun (and beneficial for young learners). However, for some very young learners, these kinds of elimination games can be very upsetting. There are a few ways to handle this. 1) Demonstrate how to “lose” positively If you do play a game where participants get eliminated, be sure, as the leader, to eliminate yourself first. 2) Make getting “out” fun When a child does get eliminated in the game, give her a high five, let her sit in a special chair, make a silly noise, maybe even give her a sticker. 3) Eliminate the elimination For very young learners, often there is no need to have a winner or any sense of competition to make the activity fun.
Icebreakers Archive | Classroom Icebreaker Activities | Ice Breakers | Back to School | First Day of School Check out these articles on everything from preparing for the first day to dealing with homework woes, coping as a new teacher and ensuring smooth sailing for substitute teachers. Be sure to explore our 12 volumes of icebreakers and first day of school activities that help students and teachers get to know each other. Icebreakers Archive | Classroom Icebreaker Activities Best of the IcebreakersVolume 1: Tell Me About You ActivitiesVolume 2: 14 Activities for the First Days of SchoolVolume 3: Engaging Activities for the First Days of SchoolVolume 4: Activities for the First Day of SchoolVolume 5: All-About-You Activities for the First Days of SchoolVolume 6: Get to Know Your Classmates ActivitiesVolume 7: Getting to Know One AnotherVolume 8: Who's in the Classroom? Tools for Teaching: Starting the New School Year On the first day of school, the first question in students' minds is, "Who are you?" Fun Activities Get the School Year Off to a Good Start! Party! Ten Games for Classroom Fun!
Beginning the School Year: It’s About Connections Not Content Most classes, starting with about middle school, begin the school year with reviewing the content to be covered, expectations regarding grades, and other academic information provided by the teacher or instructor. The human or social element is often disregarded. What is interesting is that most learners enter the classroom wondering who is in the course. Because of this belief, I begin all classes focusing on having the students make connections between themselves and me. You are the focus of the class not me.You are important as a learner in this class.You will be expected to engage in the learning activities during class time. Based on age/grade level, I have begun my classes in a variety of ways. Team Contract Class members meet in small groups to develop guidelines for making the classroom a safe place to learn and to take risks. Team Building Games There are tons of team building games that can be used in the classroom. All About Me Activities Some example activities I have done:
Warm-up Ideas Warm-ups help your learners put aside their daily distractions and focus on English. If they haven't used English all day, they may take a little while to shift into it. Warm-ups also encourage whole-group participation which can build a sense of community within the group. For new groups, see the list of ice breakers further down. Brainstorm (any level, individual or group) Give a topic and ask learners to think of anything related to it. Write the responses for all to see, or ask a volunteer to do the writing.
12 ways of creating stories with your EFL students I’ve been reading a fair amount recently about the value of storytelling – and, in particular, the telling of vivid and emotionally-engaging stories – to memory in general, and vocabulary-learning and grammar practice more specifically. It certainly seems that learning new words from a list is a duller and less efficient alternative to acquiring and retaining new vocabulary than involving your learners in narratives using the target words. With this in mind, here are four ways you can involve your learners in creating stories around particular lexical or grammatical themes, and a list (and brief descriptions!) of eight other methods from various corners of this site: Stories from boxesDraw eight rectangles on the board, with space between each one.Invite student volunteers to come and draw one thing, each in a different rectangle. Note: The two ideas above come from Creating Stories with Children by Andrew Wright. Stories from blank paper Show your students a blank sheet of paper.
Icebreakers that Rock We’re coming up fast on the beginning of another school year. That means a new batch of students to get to know, students who need to be made comfortable in your classroom, and who need to get to know each other. It’s essential to start building relationships with your students right from the start. And how to accomplish this? I planned to create a nice big post with dozens of icebreaker ideas you could choose from. They require students to take massive social risks with people they barely know. So I have scrapped my plan to curate good icebreakers from the Internet. In my own classrooms, with middle school, high school, and college students, I have played all three of these games with great success. Each of these will likely sound familiar to you, although the names may not be exactly what you’ve known them as. Blobs and Lines Here are some sample prompts you can use for this game: Concentric Circles Do you play any sports? This or That Sample questions for This or That:
The 35 Best Web 2.0 Classroom Tools Chosen By You 100 Web 2.0 Tools Every Teacher Should Know About 44.24K Views 0 Likes We're always trying to figure out the best tools for teachers, trends in the education technology industry, and generally doing our darnedest to bring you new and exciting ways to enhance the classroom. But I wanted t... 20 Free and Fun Ways To Curate Web Content 23.98K Views 0 Likes What's the best way to organize it all into at least some reasonable manner? It’s Time To Crowdsource Your School’s Social Media Policy 12.53K Views 0 Likes Every school has a different policy when it comes to social media. 360 FREE Warmers, Ice-Breakers and Fillers For The ESL Classroom Planning a lesson is no easy task, especially if you're about to introduce a difficult topic. Sometimes, you need a little bit of something extra to really make your lesson flow. For this reason, ESL teachers usually use warmers and fillers. The beauty of using warmers and fillers is that very little planning goes into using them. These warmer and filler worksheets can be used in several ways. Another great feature of these warmer/filler worksheets is that most can be used for all levels. Don’t worry about registering or subscribing, since all worksheets on BusyTeacher.org are free to download, and there's no limit to how many you can download! If you have some worksheets of your own that you've found useful in your lessons, why not share them with other ESL teachers to use in their lessons as well? Make BusyTeacher.org your number one online resource for worksheets by bookmarking us today.
All Things Grammar - Home Banish Blithering Blabber: 6 Must Have Components to a Perfect Conversation Lesson There is little worse for a teacher than walking away from class feeling as though your lesson has been a flop. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. And perhaps the most challenging ESL class to feel good about is conversation class. How do you know if students really got the point of the lesson? 5 Must Have Components to a Perfect Conversation Lesson 1A Clear GoalWhat do you hope to accomplish in your lesson? Feedback- the 6th Element You want to make sure your students know how they did in a conversation lesson. You can feel confident about your conversation class when you make a point of including these six elements. That way you will know what you want to accomplish, you will give your students the tools to accomplish it, and you will see them reach the goal right before your eyes. Enjoyed this article and learned something? Want more teaching tips like this? Get the Entire BusyTeacher Library Warning: only if you're serious about teaching English. Show me sample pages →
Giving Opinions - ESL EFL Teaching Resources Really? ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Elementary - 35 Minutes In this enjoyable group activity, students play a guessing game where they give true or false opinions about famous people or things. After reviewing how to ask for and give opinions, the students are divided into groups of three or four. Really.PDF Exclusive Controversial Statements ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 40 Minutes In this challenging teaching activity, students give opinions and argue for or against a set of controversial statements. Controversial Statements.PDF Exclusive Four Corners ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 25 Minutes In this fun class activity, students practice expressing and defending their opinions. Four Corners.PDF Free How to improve your English ESL EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 Minutes This engaging activity helps to teach students how to express opinions and ask others for their opinion. How to improve your English.PDF Exclusive Our Opinions I think that...
Directions to a Restaurant: ESL Role-play Purpose and Audience: The purpose of these materials is to get the students to practice giving directions to a restaurant based on street names and other buildings in the vicinity: It's on Pine Street next to the post office. This is a fairly simple role-play intended for false beginners (or perhaps even beginners). In short, students will call up their classmates and ask if they want to go for a bite. The student who receives the phone call will suggest a restaurant and give directions on how to get there. This activity also reviews the superlative (best, tastiest, hottest) and nationality adjectives (Korean, Italian, Japanese). Warmup or Preclass Activity: Go over the pair worksheet for directions. Class Set-up: The class is divided into two groups: callers and receivers. As a challenge, have the receivers face away from the callers (callers tap them on the back and say, "Bring!
ESL Lounge: Songs for English Teaching. Song Titles A to B Front Page Home esl-lounge.com Premium Site Guides Levels Test Prep Other Materials Reference Also On Site Song Lyrics A to B ABC - The Jackson FiveGreat chorus for kids classes! A Day In The Life - The Beatles Daily routine, the news. A Rush of Blood to the Head - Coldplay Across The Lines - Tracy Chapman Across The Universe - The Beatles Gerund form, poetic English. Aeroplane - Red Hot Chili Peppers Against All Odds - Phil Collins "A" You're Adorable - Perry Como Ain't Got No, I Got Life - Nina Simone Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross Ain't No Sunshine - Bill Withers All My Loving - The Beatles Futures Always - Bon Jovi Always on my Mind - Elvis Presley Past Modals Always on the Run - Lenny Kravitz Worksheet sent in by Ktia Martins Pereira teaching in Brazil. Come and join esl-lounge Premium. High quality PDF lesson plans. Premium Home Page | Free Samples | Why Join | FAQ | Sign Up! ★ Summer Coupon Discount★$8 off Lifetime Membership. America - Simon and Garfunkel Past Simple Angel - Sarah McLachlan
GRAMMAR-QUIZZES and Explanations Grammar-Quizzes › Noun Phrases › Nouns › Irregular Plural Nouns Irregular Plural Nouns Recognize nouns marked with plural forms: -ee, -i, -en, -a, -es, -ae Mid-vowel Change vs. No Change ¹Plural form varies Fruit – plural form ²Plural form varies: Br-Eng shrimps / US-Eng shrimp Also see Unusual Singular/Plural Nouns (people, police, pants, measles, means). Irregular Plural Nouns (less common plural markers) Borrowed words -i, -en, -a, -es, -ae IPA Pronunciation Key *man— before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English man ( n ); cognate with German Mann, Dutch man, Old Norse mathr, Gothic manna; (V) Middle English mannen, Old English mannian to garrison **woman— before 900; Middle English womman, wimman, Old English wīfman, equivalent to wīf female + man human being; see wife, man1 octopus (The Greek plural is octopodes.) "Subversive Facts: Describing language objectively need not meaning doing so dispassionately." Plural Varieties *Yellow highlighted words are examples of incorrect usage. Practice 1