warmupavtivities.doc

Warm-up activities (General)Before giving these activities to the students, try to do them yourself, pretending youre a student. This will give you a clear idea of how easy / difficult they are. Dont forget to give time limits for many of these activities. Warm-up activities should take 5-10 minutes only. GradesThis refers to what grades these activities are suitable for. Most are suitable for all grades, but some of the more complex activities should be done at grades 8 or 9.InteractionThe first time you introduce new activities to your students, it will be necessary to let the studentsknow how the activity works. Explanations are usually not enough. The best way is to demonstrate it by using some of the stronger students in the class. Ask a few questions at the end to check whether students understand. Suitable questions are : What is the first thing you need to do? What do you do after that?Once you are convinced that students have understood how it works, they can continue the activity in pairs / groups. There are 3 main types of interaction in these warm-up activities : Pairs ( 2 students working together ) Groups ( 3 or more students working together ) Class ( teacher conducting activity in front of class for everyone to see ) Mill ( students walking around the class, asking eachother questions )PreparationIf the activity requires the teacher to prepare something before the class or at the start of the activity, the notes in this column will explain what to do.RationaleThe reason behind the activity.Follow-upAn optional activity to do at the end.SPECIAL NOTEThese warm-up activities have been selected as they : need no or little preparation are suitable for large classes are adaptable to many different topics are simple to explain / demonstrate are easy to set up are shortDictogloss ( sentences )GradesAnyInteractionIndividual groupsLanguage FocusAnyPreparationPrepare some 5-6 sentences you would like to review.Tell students that you will read some sentences one by one. You will read them twice only. The first time they should simply listen, while the second time they should write down the full sentence.Procedure1. Read the first sentence. After reading it let students think about it, but do not let them write anything.2. Read the sentence a second time. Afterwards, allow students to write the sentence from their memory. 3. Repeat stages 1-2 until all the sentences have been read.4. Students work in groups and compare.5. Choose some groups to write their sentences on the board and check for mistakes. Students compare their own or their partners work with the answers on the board. Points could be awarded.Dictation activitiesGradesAllInteractionPairsPreparationPrepare sentence to dictate using language you want to review.Blank dictation1. Dictate sentences containing blanks. For example :Teacher reads : He goes to school blank bus.Student writes : He goes to school _ bus.2. Students should write an appropriate word in the blanks once they have written all the sentences. Mistakes dictation1. Dictate sentences containing mistakes ( e.g. not enough words, wrong word, too many words, tense, etc. ). E.g. He go to school by bus.2. Students correct the sentences once they have written all the sentences.Scrambled dictation1. Dictate sentences, but read the words in the wrong order. For example : by he to bus school goes. 2. Students write down the words and then out them in the correct order.Mystery object / personGradesAllInteractionPairs / groupsPreparationNoneLanguage FocusPresent / past simple ( yes / no questions )Procedure1. A famous character from movies, politics or sports is chosen either by a student in a group. The other students must guess who he or she is by asking questions. The student being questioned may only answer yes or no. Either the students have to guess the name in fewer than 10 or so questions. Or set a time limitThis can also be done with jobs, animals, or objects.Examples of questions for a mystery object : Is it heavy? Do you find it indoors? Do you have one? Variation 1Stick a piece of paper on all the students backs with the name of an object / person / job. Students have to go around the class asking yes / no questions until they find out what / who they are. Add the rule that you cannot ask someone more than 1 question. This encourages them to change partners. Sit down after a questionGradesAllInteractionGroups of 5-6PreparationNoneLanguage FocusAnyProcedure1. Tell students what structure you want them to focus on. They should write one true statement about themselves using the structure ( e.g. Present perfect : I have visited the Great wall ).2. Groups stand up. One student sits down and reads his / her sentence. The others members of the group ask that student one question ( e.g. When did you visit the Great Wall? ). Once a student has asked a question, they can sit down. 3. When all students have sat down, a different student reads out his / her sentence, and the process is repeated until all students have read out their sentences.RationaleThis method encourages students to ask questions as few want to be the last student remaining standing!Remember the last classGradesAllInteractionPairs / groupsPreparationNoneLanguage FocusAnyProcedure1. Ask the class what the topic was of the previous lesson. If they cant remember, tell them to have a quick look inside their books.2. Ask students to write down everything they can remember from the previous lesson ( words / phrases ) without opening their books.3. Ask a few students to come out and write on the blackboard what they can remember. 4. When you have your blackboard full of words and phrases, stop the class and ask everybody to look at it and check if the spellings are right and to remember the meanings or to try to use in an example sentence.RationaleThe final stage of using the board means there is a sense of shared memory in the class and a clear focus for the activity.TeapottingGradesAllInteractionPairs / groupsPreparationNoneLanguage FocusPresent / past simple questionsProcedureA student thinks of a verb and the other students have to discover the verb by asking questions using the word teapot or something similar instead of the verb. eg: Did you teapot at home yesterday?Pass the BallGradesAllInteractionGroups of 4-5PreparationLanguage FocusAnyProcedure1. Students stand or sit in a circle. A student holding the ball speaks a selected grammatical structure such as I like.but I do not like. or I can.but I cant.Then the student throws the ball to another student. 2. The catching student must first report what the student said Sam likes but he does not like. or Sam can., but he cant. Then the student adds his own sentence and tosses the ball. If a student cannot remember or makes an incorrect sentence, they are out. The last remaining student is the winner. Variation 1To make it more challenging, ask students to name items in alphabetical order( e.g. he doesnt like apples, but he likes bananas ).Make a SentenceGradesAllInteractionClass groupsPreparationNoneLanguage FocusAnyProcedure1. Demonstrate this activity first as a whole class activity, by dividing the class into 2 teams. Make a table of 5 x 5 squares on the board, and write a different word in each square. The students must make a sentence using a word in the square. You can specify what grammar structure the students are to use such as present continuous or present perfect. You should also specify the minimum number of words required in each sentence. If a team makes a sentence without any grammatical errors, they OWN that square. They must own 3 or 4 squares in a connected diagonal, horizontal or vertical line to win the game. The other team tries to block them from winning.2. Eventually, this activity could be played in groups. If some groups are not sure whether or not a sentence is correct, they can ask the teacher to come and check.Truths and liesGradesAllInteractionMillPreparationPrepare 3 simple statements about yourself using the structures ( e.g. present perfect tense ) that you want to practice or review. Some should be true, while others should be false. e.g. I have travelled by airplaneI have met a famous person.I have visited the Great Wall.Language FocusAnyProcedure1. Tell students you will read some sentences about yourself and that some sentences are true, while others are false. After each sentence they should guess.2. Reveal the correct answer after each sentence. Students give themselves 1 point if they guessed correctly. For the false statements, tell them what the true answer is ( e.g. I havent visited the Great Wall, but I have visited the Summer Palace! ).3. When students have guessed all your sentences tell them to write 3 sentences about themselves, including some true and false ones, just like in your example. Give the students the structure(s) or sentence stems you want them to use in their sentences.4. Students walk around the class reading their statements to other students who have to decide whether each one is true or false. If they guess correctly, they get a point. To make it more interesting give out fake money, which students can win for correct guesses.5.At the end, students should count up their points, and the student wit the most is the winner.Variation 1To make the activity faster, tell students they should write two true sentences and one false one. When students guess, they simply have to guess which one is false.Variation 2With higher levels, leave out the writing stage. However, make sure you give them enough time to think of some true / false statements about themselves! To make it even more challenging, allow the people guessing to ask questions. For example : When did you travel by plane? or Which airline did you travel with?Variation 3For lower levels, this could be played in teams of 3. Teams work together to write some true / sentences about the people in their group ( using the target language ) and read them to another group who guess whether the statements are true or false.2 things in commonGrades8,9InteractionMillPreparationNoneLanguage FocusChoose one or more language structures to focus on. Procedure1. Students they must walk around and find 2 things in common with as many people as they can using the structure ( e.g. Present simple for routines & can for abilities ) set by the teacher. Each time they find something in common, they should write a short sentence ( e.g. Xia and I both usually get up at 6am, Xia and I can both swim.2. When they have found 2 things in common, they should change partners, but they are not allowed to ask the same questions ( e.g. What time do you usually get up? Can you swim? )3. Feedback - ask 3-4 students for the most interesting things they found out. Turn left, turn rightGradesAllInteractionClassPreparationLook at some of your students common mistakes and prepare a list of sentences related to the language you have taught. Some sentences should be correct, while others should be wrong.Language FocusAny Procedure1. Students stand up. Read out the sentences one by one. After each sentence, students turn left if they think the sentence is grammatically correct, and right if they think the answer is wrong.2. Reveal whether the sentence is correct or wrong. Students give themselves 1 point if they got the answer right.3. For the sentences which have a mistake, give students a minute to correct the sentence. Reveal the correction, and students can give themselves a bonus point if they were right.At the end, students should count up their points, and the student wit the most is the winner.RationaleThis is more interesting than students simply writing the answers. Standing up makes students more active, and it gives students a break from sitting passively.Question dictationGradesAllInteractionClass pairsPreparationLook at the words the class has been studying ( e.g. widowed, nationality, retired religion ) and write out about 8 questions which include the words either in the question or in the answer. Is Prince Charles widowed? What nationality is David Beckham?One could also include personalized questions : Is your father retired? Whats your religion? are most Malaysians?Language FocusAnyProcedure1. Explain youll be reading out 8 questions twice and theyre to write down the answers only. The first time, read them out with pauses between each question to allow students to think about both the question and their answer. The second time read them out without the pauses.2. Students compare with their partner3. Go through the questions & answers one by one. For ersonalizedquestions, ask several students to give their answers. RationaleThis flexible, simple, and highly effective activity allows students to see vocabulary and grammar structures used in different contexts. FollowupAsk students to look at their answers and reconstruct the questions.Team quizGradesAllInteractionGroupsPreparationPrepare question to askLanguage FocusAll ProcedureCall out questions ss answer them in groups reveal answer after each one. ( teams could write answers )e.g. What is the past tense of .? How do you spell.? What is the job of someone who works in a hospital and looks after patients?Turn left / rightGradesAllInteractionClassPreparationPrepare question to askLanguage FocusAllProcedure1. Ask students to stand up. Call out questions with 2 choices ( yes / no, true / false, or correct / wrong ). Students turn left for one answer ( e.g. yes ), and right for the opposite answer ( e.g. no ). 2. Reveal the answer after each time. Students should count up how many correct answers they have. The winner is the person with the most correct answers at the end.RationaleThis could be simply done with the students sitting down and writing the answers down, but the physical movement of turning left and right makes this activity more motivating and fun.First letter guessingGradesAllInteractionMill / groups / pairsPreparationSelect some language that the students have studied. For example, if the students have studied vocabulary about animals, like & don.t like, and the modal can, write the following on the board :Favourite animalDLikeTCanSLanguage FocusAllProcedure1. Tell students to copy the table and in the second colu