At my school, we recently started holding a conversation hour to give language learners listening/speaking practice. For the first week, our theme was holidays. For one part of the event, we did this activity designed to get people talking about their favorite holidays. It sparked a lot of discussion and gave people a chance to learn about holidays from different places. Whether you’re leading a conversation hour or working on a unit about holidays in your class, this activity is perfect.
Category Archives: discussion
Portraits
Pictures are essential in the language classroom. They’re interesting, they spark discussion, they provide a purpose for tasks, and they relate to people. They can be used in so many different ways. Having a bank of pictures on hand is as essential to a language teacher as a painter having a paintbrush. Continue reading
Which One – Ask and Switch
Do you want a new activity to get your class up and talking? Check out this great resource. It’s a new twist on an old game, the ask and switch. You can use it to practice new vocabulary, questions using which, or just to get students talking and learning more about each other. Click to learn more. Continue reading
Book Materials to Improve Comprehension Strategies and Expand English Vocabulary
The feeling of reading your first book in a new language is truly amazing. I remember after I read my first book in Spanish, I felt such a sense of accomplishment. Words that would have previously been unintelligible shapes on paper had become a whole new world of meaning. It was exciting and very motivating. It also really helped me improve my language skills. Adding a full-length book to your ESL curriculum can be a great way to add authentic and engaging material to your class. Check out this article get all you need to use the book I Have a Dream by Margaret Davidson in your class. I used it in my low intermediate class with adult learners and it went really well.
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Health Vocabulary Activities and Role Play
I’m using the book World English Intro by Cengage learning in my beginning integrated skills course. I love this book because it has engaging material and photos by National Geographic. I just completed unit 10 which covers health and illnesses. The unit introduces expressing feelings such as “I feel sick” as well as using should and shouldn’t for advice. This article contains all of the material I created for this unit, but if you’re teaching illnesses, remedies, health, or advice with should and shouldn’t, you’ll get great ideas and materials no matter what book you’re using. Continue reading
How Much / How Many Bingo Activity Sequence
In my opinion, teaching is the perfect profession for the creative mind. Teachers are constantly faced with the challenge of creating new and exciting materials that are interesting and useful. Sometimes this process of creation runs us into challenges, which is exactly what this activity did for me, but in the end, I created an awesome and interested activity sequence that I can use in future semesters. We’ve been working on count and non-count nouns and food vocabulary in my class. This week I introduced how much and how many. I wanted to give my students an interactive way to practice this topic, so I came up with an idea for a modified bingo activity that would get students to Continue reading
Some and Any Grocery Shopping Activity
I’m currently in the middle of a unit on food in my beginning ESL course. One of the topics of this unit is using some and any in questions and statements. I created this grocery shopping activity to give students a chance to ask and answer questions using the target grammar. There is also a hint of competition in the activity, which I find always gets students excited and active. This activity also works to reinforce food vocabulary because students will get food vocabulary cards with pictures on them. Continue reading
Things in My House – To Have Practice
Learning irregular verbs can be challenging, especially for beginning students. I like to give my students guided practice with new structures by getting them to write out their answers and then having them ask and write their classmates’ answers. This gives them a chance to prepare what they will say, so the discussion part isn’t so daunting. This is especially important for beginning students who are yet very comfortable with using the language. Continue reading
Stick Figure Speaking Exercise
Some activities are very specific while others are quite versatile. The stick figure activity is one of my favorite speaking activities because it can be used for so many things at all levels. I’ve used it in my low-beginning – intermediate ESL courses, as well as my composition courses with native speakers. Continue reading
Color Cards Discussion
This is a great activity that can be adapted for many different discussions. Whether it’s a discussion about a book students are reading in class or a first-week community building activity, these cards are great. Students get half of the questions in advance, so they can think about what they will say. As the discussion progresses, a grid of questions forms on the table. Continue reading
Picture Collage
I love using pictures in my classes. They can be interesting, engaging, and also give students a starting place for talking. One great way to use pictures in your classroom is to use a picture collage. This activity gets students up out of their chairs and talking with different classmates. Continue reading
