Activities for the ESL Classroom
LESSON PLAN 1
Theme: Classroom texting
Level: Beginner
Objective: Practice speaking and writing
Time: 45 minutes
Skills: Writing, speaking
Background grammar: Use of relative clauses
Preparation:
Make a vocabulary list about movie types: romance, comedy, drama, western, science fiction, thriller, horror, animation, documentary, musical, action, adventure, fantasy.
Procedure
As a warm up, write the list on the whiteboard and ask students about their most liked and disliked types of movies.
After students have identified the new vocabulary, divide the class in four groups and have them write definitions of each genre, model an example on the whiteboard:
This is a type of movie that takes place in space or somewhere in a distant future (science fiction)
Remind students to use relative clauses with the words that, which, where or who in their definitions. Each group has to come up with their own definitions. Walk around the class, supervise and offer help as needed.
This is where the texting begins: After the groups have written their definitions, make sure there is at least one cell phone for each group, in turns, a member of each group will read out a definition without giving the movie genre; the 3 remaining groups will guess the genre.
Once decided, the answer must be texted to the teacher; the first correct answer that is received by the teacher will get the point. You can do this until each group has had two turns, this will give more students the opportunity to participate. Given the case you have a dominant group or you want to untie the score, you can go another turn.
Remember to set some ground rules for a fair game, for example no one should start texting until a whole definition has been read, take into consideration that the phone service provider might play an important part regarding what message gets received first.
The use of the cell phone can be a new addition to your class and students will
Theme: Classroom texting
Level: Beginner
Objective: Practice speaking and writing
Time: 45 minutes
Skills: Writing, speaking
Background grammar: Use of relative clauses
Preparation:
Make a vocabulary list about movie types: romance, comedy, drama, western, science fiction, thriller, horror, animation, documentary, musical, action, adventure, fantasy.
Procedure
As a warm up, write the list on the whiteboard and ask students about their most liked and disliked types of movies.
After students have identified the new vocabulary, divide the class in four groups and have them write definitions of each genre, model an example on the whiteboard:
This is a type of movie that takes place in space or somewhere in a distant future (science fiction)
Remind students to use relative clauses with the words that, which, where or who in their definitions. Each group has to come up with their own definitions. Walk around the class, supervise and offer help as needed.
This is where the texting begins: After the groups have written their definitions, make sure there is at least one cell phone for each group, in turns, a member of each group will read out a definition without giving the movie genre; the 3 remaining groups will guess the genre.
Once decided, the answer must be texted to the teacher; the first correct answer that is received by the teacher will get the point. You can do this until each group has had two turns, this will give more students the opportunity to participate. Given the case you have a dominant group or you want to untie the score, you can go another turn.
Remember to set some ground rules for a fair game, for example no one should start texting until a whole definition has been read, take into consideration that the phone service provider might play an important part regarding what message gets received first.
The use of the cell phone can be a new addition to your class and students will