Tag Archives: fun

Back to School! :)Part 1

General, Pictures, Speaking, , , ,

Here I am again!!!! Summer has slipped  by and I can hardly believe that I am about to start a new school year. This year I’ll be teaching in a different high school and yeeesss,  there are some butterflies in my stomach!! I don’t know the teachers , I don’t know the students… and they don’t know me. It’s hard to start all over again. This year I’ll be teaching lots of different levels (OMG!) mainly due to cutbacks so , sadly, I don’t think I’ll have much time to research new tools or create new materials .

Anyway, these are some of the pictures I’ll be using on the first day to try to make my new students relax and  have a healthy laugh and, then, there also follows some other pictures to get them into more serious thinking. My aim: to make students talk. Is there ever any other?

The World of Games : ESL Games

Funny Stuff, Games, Grammar, In the Computer Room, Phonetics, Vocabulary, ,

Yeahhh! Ok ! Sometimes students deserve a treat! It’s the end of the course and most of them have studied pretty hard for their exams and it’s only fair that you reward them with a class in the computer room playing games!

GAMES??? before you start thinking I’ve gone mad  allowing  teenegers to play games, iiiin the computer room and iiiiiiin the English class, let me tell you that the games are reasonably inside the scope of what even parents would agree with being academic stuff.

The site is called eslgamesworld.com and, even I, would be returning from time to time to play the games and have fun.

You can choose Grammar Games, Games for ESL Classroon Teaching ( you can play here The Wheel of Fortune, Who wants to be a  Millionaire …etc), Vocabulary Games and Pronunciation Games. Take your pick!

Aren’t you dying to try these games?

Predicting the Future : another game

Games, , , , , , , ,

To play this game you don’t need any preparation, which, to be honest, sometimes it’s just what  we -busy teachers- ask for. But if you are like me, you’ll find yourself doing just the same as your students, ie, having lots of fun.

For this game you need to make an origami fortune teller, also called “cootie catcher”( see picture). Instruction on how to make one and how to play here.

Ask students to write 8 fortunes inside the flaps. Encourage them to use their imagination and make sure they use the future simple: will.

Once this task is completed, ask students to stand up and mingle. Time to be a fortune teller!

Ask a student to choose one of the four colors. Spell that color out, while moving the fortune teller in and out. Then ask this student to choose one of the numbers that is showing. Move the fortune teller in and out the right number of times.

When you finish, have the person choose one of the four visible numbers. Open up the flap they choose, and read their fortune.

Have fun! Who said English was boring???? ;-))

Dear Mum

Funny Stuff, ,

Oh My dear Mommy!

When I found this piece of writing I could  hardly believe what I was reading. I had always thought my mother was unique, especially when nagging  or pestering me but after reading this, it suddenly dawned on me that mothers have been using the same  pet words, warnings and threats all over the world .

Useful vocabulary:

♥ To Straighten up= to reform  or become reformed

I used to get into a lot of trouble, but after I had my daughter I straightened up for her.”

“If Derek doesn’t straighten up, his girlfriend is going to leave him.”

♥Osmosis=

1. It means the diffusion of fluids through a membrane

2. A gradual, often unconscious process of assimilation or absorption: learned French by osmosis while residing in Paris for 15 years.

♥ESP means ExtraSensory Perception

♥Barn =A covered building used chiefly for storing grain, hay, and other productions of a farm

Do you have the same impression ?Does your mum tell you some of these things?

OMG! I’m a mother now! I’ll have to pay close attention to what I say to my kids.

Having Fun while Revising Vocabulary

Games, , , ,

Some time ago I took a methodology course in London and I’ve been using this game to revise vocabulary ever since. It’s the kind of game I love playing in class for two reasons: it requires no preparation and it’s lots and lots of fun. Students love it!

♥How to Play: the class is divided into teams and one person from each team sits on a chair at the front of the classroom facing their team. I normally put myself behind the person playing and show the rest of the team a card with the word I want to revise. The team has to give hints about this word using English only. They have 1 minute to guess as many words as possible and I give them as many points as words they have guessed. Then, it’s the turn for the other team.

♥Post-Activity: At the end of the activity and when we have a winner I ask students to write on a piece of paper all the words, used in the revision game, they can remember so we have further opportunity to revise.

♥My humble Tip: I wouldn’t use it to revise a Vocabulary Field because it would be too predictable. It is, on the other hand, perfect to revise vocabulary at the end of a unit.

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