ESL Conversation Topics

Hi fellow teachers,
Try to imagine the following situation: you are sitting at the teachers' room doing your paperwork and the principal rushes into the room saying: "Be ready, you will have to replace ... in 5 minutes".
I am sure you know the feeling but there is no need to panick... When you have no time to plan...the best strategy is to have students talking.
If you are short of ideas I highly recommend this site:

https://www.eslconversationquestions.com/english-conversation-questions/topics/

There you will find sets of questions for a variety of topics. Really worth having a look!

Mirror Mirror Activity!

Hi dear teachers,

This week I was organizing some paper work and I came across an old notebook of mine. There I found a very nice activity I ysed to do with my students some 10 years ago. So I did it again and it was super cool!

A

Procedures
Before class place on the bottom of a box a mirror.
Tell students you are going to show them a picture of a popstar and ask them to say why you admire this person. As they are goung to see their reflection....it is very funny..then you call another student and so on until they found out the person in the picture are them. Super cool!

Warm-up for busy teachers

Hi mates,

If you are on that bad hair day and you cannot think of anything to set the mood to start the class, share this post with your students or display the collage I made with some of my favorite English memes. Just have your students telling their favorite one and say why. I've done it with some of my students and it proved to be a high energy activity. Have a try!

Pronunciation challenge activity

Hi everyone!

Challenge your students with this pronunciation activity!

Procedures:
1) arrange students into groups of 3 or 4.
2) Make copies or display the image below.
3) allow students sometime to search on internet the right pronunciation of the words (3 minutes)
4) students read out loud the sentence according to their pronunciation research.

When I did this activity I could observe they were more aware of the sounds while the other groups were presenting. Also, the pronunciation of some of the words was fully internalized.

Extreme Adjectives warm-up

Hi mates,

I did this simple activity which does not require much preparation except for a list of extreme adjectives and a general understanding on the subject.

Procedures: students have to talk about their weekend using extreme adjectives.
This way they can enrich their vocabulary too.

Materials you will need:

Extreme adjectives are words that give extra emphasis to the subject they describe: For example, "funny" is a normal adjective expressing that something makes us laugh, but "hilarious" is an extreme adjective which shows that something makes us laugh a lot. In other words, "hilarious" means "very funny".

In most cases, it is not necessary to use "very" with extreme adjectives e.g. "This movie's very hilarious", sounds a little strange because "hilarious" is a strong enough word that doesn't require "very" to add extra strength. Here are more examples along with their meanings.

The most important thing in the world activity

This activity is great to be used with teens and adults. It's a very good tool for the teacher to evaluate how students perceive their sef-steem. I like to use it as a warm-up but it can be a good wrap-up too.

Procedures:

1) Teacher asks student to say what the most important things in the worldare for them and give one adjective to describe it.

2) Before the class the teacher will have stuck at the bottom of an empty box a mirror. then, in clas, after this brief discussion, every student in turns will be invited to open the box and see his/her reflection. They should also say one adjective to describe them. Before I invite them to start opening the box, I usually say that inside the box there is something very important for me in the world. 

3) If you want, as a follow-up, you can have them sitting in pairs to discuss how they felt when they saw their reflection and so on but usually the activity is always very rewarding for both students and teacher.

Your Semester Hashtag Activity

####magicteaching#coolactivities#motivated students#positiveresults#lerningtounlearn######

 Many of our students love this symble nowadays, so....why not thinking of a cool ativity to incorporate it to our class. Reflecting upon it, I thought of an activity but before the procedures let's look into some facts about the origin of hash tags. I confess I was taken aback!! I got it from urbandictionary.com:

"Hashtags are believed to have originated on Twitter but, interestingly enough, it is not a Twitter function. Some believe it began when the broken plane luckily landed in the Hudson River in early 2009, some Twitter user wrote a post and added #flight1549 to it. I have no idea who this person was, but somebody else would have read it and when he posted something about the incident, added #flight1549 to HIS tweet. For something like this, where tweets would have been flying fast and furiously, it wouldn't have taken long for this hash tag to go viral and suddenly thousands of people posting about it would have added it to their tweets as well. Then, if you wanted info on the situation, you could do a search on "#flight1549" and see everything that people had written about it."

Suggested activity and procedures:

1) First of all, to introduce the topic, I would have my students discussing about their beliefs regarding the origin of hash tags to see of any of them know about the facts.

2) After I would ask them to carry on a research on the internet to know about the facts.

3) Later on, I would ask them to take a picture (they're free to use their creativity), which would represent their expectations for the semester. Then they would create the hashtag for the picture.

4) As students finish creating their hashtags, I would ask them to vote for the most creative one. As an alternative prodecedure, if students have a group on facebook, the teacher can ask them to upload their pictures and there can be a votation online. This way they can show their pictures and hashtags to families and friends! ;)

For more interesting info on the topic you can also check these two links:

http://pt.wix.com/blog/2013/11/o-que-sao-hashtags/

http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashtag

http://top-hashtags.com/instagram/

New Year! New Ideas! Part III

This is the third activity I will share that can be useful for a first class. I call it EGG INTERVIEW. Check out the simple procedures below:

This activity is aimed at elementary up students and groups around 8-14 students.

Give each student 3 strips of paper where they should write down information about themselves (eg. married, university/school, sport). Then students scrunch the strips of paper into eggs and place all their eggs in a basket the teacher is going to provide them with. Later, students unravel an egg at a time and search out the author. Elementary and Pre intermediate students will make sentence like: Julia likes PIZZA. Intermediate and advanced sudents may make questions: Do you like PIZZA Julia?

The student to get more correct guesses (authors) is the winner!

New Year! New Ideas! part II

If you are going to work with beginners, one of the topis you are most probable to be covering in the very first classes is the ALPHABET. So here I suggest a simple activity to introduce or activate the topic. If you are working with other levels (pre-intermetiate or even intermediate) this activity can be great for a warm-up or wrap-up. Hope you and your students have loads of fun!

ALPHABET HUNT

Procedures;

Have participants/students divided into small groups. Tell them you are going to give them 5 minutes to find one item within or outside the room (they may take pics of the objects if they are hard to carry!) that begins with each letter of the alphabet, in order. At the end of the time alloted, ask each team how far they got. The tem that got furthest, wins!!

New Year - New Ideas Part I

On the following days I will be writing about a set of activities I've been designing to start classes with a positive mood. The first activity I will talk about is about the hit Rude by the band Magic. Teachers can play both the videoclip as well as the lyrics because there is no swearing or 'undesirearable scenes for teens'.
Procedures:
Pre-listening activity; in groups of 3 or 4 I woud ask students to make up a list with words related to marriage and wedding party.
While-listening-activity; Ask student to check the words they saw or listened from their lists.
The 'wow' moment for this activity is reserved for the Production Stage. My idea is to separate the class in two groups and ask them to propose the teacher to marry them for the semester or even the year. To do so, they should talk about their strenghts, expectations and what they are going to do to make the relationship work. Lots of fun and creativitity for this first day of class!!!

Quizzes in EFL: personalizing and making learning meaningful

Quizzes and trivia games can make a nice change from more typical EFL style activities and it may give students who aren’t the best at English a chance to shine in another area. It can be the case that some of the least able English students are really good at general knowledge, so tasks using trivia can help to boost their confidence and increase their motivation levels. Needless to say that quizzes and trivia games also expand vocabulary in a meaninful context. The must of the moment are quizzes such as: which dessert are you, which city should you live in, among many others. I think students have a chance to personalize their learning when they take this type of quiz and, as a result, feel more engaged to the other activities you may bring to class. Have a try for warm-up or wrap-up moments or even as an activity to prepare your students for presentation of vocabulary or Grammar topic. I suggest below two sites with very interesting quizzes!

http://bitecharge.com/play/dessert

www.survley.com

The soccer show is about to start! Cool activities for World Cup!

What if you have your students trying this cool warm-up so that they get more acquainted with the show time that is on the verge of starting!!!

WARM-UP: Soccer traffic jam!

Each player stands in a space in the playing area with a ball each. They

         must steer their ball/ balloon safely around the playing area  without

losing control. To make it more challenging the teacher can put some obstacles such as plastic cones or ropes.

Players have to follow instructions called out by coach, starting with:

Green - players dribble around area.

Red - players stop and put foot on the ball.

Amber - players touch ball between insteps of both feet without moving.

Turn - steer ball/balloon to move in a different direction.

 Whilst in green, teacher can also introduce the dribbling mode:

 1st gear - slow jog

 2nd gear - steady run

 3rd gear - quicker run

 4th gear - quick run

         

The Joker and Ace game!

Procedures: Give out 3 Jokers and 3 Aces to each student (it can be a real card or a printed copy). They make a statement while laying one of their cards face down on the table (if the Joker/ Acer figure can be seen through the back of the paper, they’ll need to hide it under a book). If their partner thinks it is false, they can call their bluff by saying “Liar!” If it was indeed a lie, the person who laid the card down takes that card back, and any other cards still on the table from previous rounds. If it was in fact true, the person who made the accusation has to take the card or cards on the table and add them to their own pack. If no accusation is made (people should say nothing if they think the sentence is true), the card(s) stay there for the next round(s). The first person with no cards left in their hand is the winner.

Hints for teachers: This game can be used to work with any grammar topic or vocabulary as long as the teacher gives them the language chunks to be used. Also, it can be used as a warm-up or wrap-up but then, instead of 3 cards, give them 2, so that the game don’t last more than 10 minutes. If you decide to play with 3 cards the game will take around 15 minutes.

Phrasal Verbs: Wanted Dead or Alive!!!

If you are either an English student or teacher, you may already have the feeling that phrasal verbs are so difficult that you will never be able to learn them. But the thing is: NEVER EVER GIVE UP!

Challenge yourself and your students and try to find below the top 25 most common and used Phrasal verbs and have a chance to practice and improve your English! And remember, native speakers use phrasal verbs all the time in conversation!

addupblowupbringupcalloffcarryoncomeacrosscomeupwithfallapart

getalonggetawaygetovergiveupgoonholdonlookafterlookforwardtolookup

makeoutpassoutpulloverputdownputoffputupwithturnupwatchout

 

For more information go to:

http://www.grammar.net/phrasalverbs

http://www.abaenglish.com/blog/english-grammar-learn-english-with-aba/25-most-useful-phrasal-verbs/

http://learnenglishfromhome.blogspot.com.br/2010/12/top-20-most-common-english-phrasal.html

YES!! Gangnam Style for English classes!!!

The video to the global smash hit song Gangnam Style has become the most-watched clip in YouTube's history. It has had almost 825 million views in the past five months and is moving quickly towards one billion. The video currently has 5,473,726 likes and 338,504 dislikes.

Teenagers seem to like the hit a lot but how can we handle using it for ESL lessons if the song is in Korean? Well, there is this great site http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com that brings lesson plans on every type of news. I just loved it!! The link to Gangnam Style activities is http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1211/121127-gangnam_style.html. Very resouceful site for ESL teachers!

Challenge your students with dartboard games!

Darts is a form of throwing game in which darts are thrown at a circular target (dartboard) fixed to a wall. Though various boards and rules have been used, the term "darts" usually now refers to a standardized game involving a specific board design and set of rules. So why not taking advantage of this well-known game and challenge your students in your ESL classes? I describe below two games I have already tried and they proved to work very well!

Suggestion 1) One game you could do is to draw a dart board on the board and fill the spaces with some of the  alphabet letters. Then, have students throw a paper ball at the board and whatever letter it touches, they must make a word beginning with that letter. How many letters that word has are points; e.g. apple would be 5 points, alphabet would be 8 points and so on.

Suggestion 2) Play and enjoy this simple Question and Answer revision game with your students. It works well with students of all ages and levels. To play this game, draw a target on the board with points on it, much like a dartboard.For darts, you can use  a small soft ball,paper ball or paper airplanes. Divide the class into two teams. Ask a revision question to the class. The first student to answer correctly can throw a dart at the target. Wherever the dart hits correlates with the amount of points won for that team. Another suggestion is to have a student come up from each team and throw a dart. The highest score would then get to answer a revision question, and if they are correct they would keep the points they scored.

Blindfold activities!!! Super cool!

Blindfold activities impel students into working together more closely, promoting interaction and trust building among the students. For the sake of ELT teaching, this type of activity can be great warm-ups or wrap-ups and come very handy when we have to teach how to give directions. Below, I selected a number of activities for you to have a try.

Blindfolds Robot Wars Procedures: Players work in pairs, a controller who is sighted and a robot who is blindfolded. The robot is in the marked zone and scores points by picking up paper balls and then throwing them at the other robots in the zone. The controller is outside the zone and directing their robot verbally as to where to find the paper balls and then which direction to throw them in. 3 minutes per round works well.

Blindfolds route re-trace Procedures: Place a marker on a large grassed area. Stand a player at the marker wearing a blindfolds. Then give them walking instructions along the lines of 2 steps forward, 5 right etc. When they get to the end of the trail give them the reverse instructions. The goal is that they should finish as close to the start point as they can. Work in pairs, one wearing blindfolds and the other sighted to give instructions and check for safety.

Blindfolds line up (by Height order) Blindfold everyone in the group then ask them to line up in height order; (by birthday order) Blindfold everyone, then same as above but in birthday order; (by alphabetic order) Blindfold everyone, then same as above but in order of first name. Afterwards it could be by surname; (by shoe size) Blindfold everyone, then same as above but in order of shoe size.

Minefield Procedures: Lay a large number of soft objects to be avoided on a grassed area. Amongst them place some soft objects to be retrieved. Then in each pair one person is blindfolded and must be guided by the other to retrieve the targets without touching any of the mines.

Peg the Partners Procedures: Students partner up. One person gets blindfolded and is given a softball. The other player in the pair leads her around by the arm and gives her instructions on how to throw the ball to hit another blindfolded person. The blindfolded player who receives a hit picks up the ball and throws it at another person with a blindfold on and so on. The seeing partner can guide his teammate with his voice about how to defend herself. If a team is hit twice, that pair is out of the game. The last team standing wins.

 

Mobile phones as pedagogical tools: a taboo or a trend?

Reviewing research projects on the pedagogical use of technology and  mobile learning, Göth (2009) argues that mobile devices distract rather than support students to reach their learning goals.  On the other hand, other researchers approach this problem in from an interaction design perspective.  (Eliasson, 2010). They argue that the right use of technology as a pedagogical tool would foster lifelong learning as a means of providing students with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world. As educators we know that it is not feasible to equip learners at school with all the knowledge and skills they need to prosper throughout their lifetimes. Therefore students will need continually to enhance their knowledge and skills, in order to address immediate problems and to participate in a process of continuing vocational and professional development. The new educational imperative is to empower people to manage their own learning in a variety of contexts throughout their lifetime (Bentley, 1998). Educators have to see mobile learning and personal technology in a positive light because it may create a variety of educational possibilities although, it is crucial teachers be aware of what to consider when designing learning activities for these cutting edge tools. Thinking of it, I propose below some classroom activities that were the outcome of my reflection! Have a try!

1)   Cell phone dictation: this is a simple variation from the traditional dictation. Instead of using paper, students would write the words as text messages. It could be also done as competition: the teacher dictates a word and the first one to type it correctly scores a point.

2)   Numbers dictation: the teacher asks all students to write their cell phone numbers on a piece of paper. When they are done, all the pieces are put in a box. The teacher raffles a numbers and reads it aloud. Students are supposed to call this number. One of the cell phone is going to ring and the number on the income call is the winner. Important: students are not supposed to answer the calls!!!

3)   Calculations dictations: the teacher dictates a calculation and the first student to say aloud the right result scores a point.

4)   Pronunciation Challenge: the teacher may select a list of words that are frequently mispronounced. Students are supposed to get in groups and record on their cell phone the way they think the words are pronounced. After, when all the groups are done with the voice recording the teachers goes to freedictinary.com or any other online dictionary and play the right way to pronounce. They play their recordings and compare to the right ones.

5)   Adjective pics contest: students are split into groups and they are given a list of adjectives (eg furious, lazy, smart, stubborn, kind, sleepy…) then they are supposed to take pictures showing these adjectives. After all the pictures were taken, students from other groups or even teachers are invited to vote for the ones they like the most.

THE RING GAME! Let’s play!

Objectives of the Game: Catch the person with the ring. This game can be used to practice or review vocabulary or grammar. If the teacher wants a more controlled practice he may prepare some questions in advance. If he wishes to use for warm-up or wrap-up than the students’ production can be free.
Items Needed: 1 ring, any kind.
Directions: Pick one person to be "it" and everyone else makes a circle around the person. The "it" person closes their eyes while they count to 10. The others pass the ring to the student beside him, hiding it in their hands, and the "it" person, after counting, opens their eyes and tries to guess who has the ring. It the “it” person guesses who is holding the ring, he chooses the next person to be “it”. If the student doesn’t guess he has to answer a question or perform a simple task like: say a word you learned from today’s lesson. Then the person who was actually holding the ring will be “it”. I love playing this game as wrap-up but it can be easily adapted to any other moment of the lesson. Hope you have lots of fun with your students!

Magic Painting - kids must-do activity!!

en.wikipedia.org

INVISIBLE PAINT


Materials:
60ml  of water
60ml of  baking soda
Cotton swab
Sheet of white paper
Purple grape juice







Procedures:
1.  To make the paint, dissolve the baking soda in the water.
2.   Dip the cotton swab in the cup and paint a picture. Hard to see?
3.  Simply brush over the picture purple grape juice. The picture mysteriously appears in blue-green colors.

Suggested Activity:
All teachers know how much kids love activities which involve magic and surprise!!! My suggestion is that they paint a picture and hand it to the teacher. After, when all pictures are mixed up, they have the revelation moment altogether. Students then, have to find out who painted and the author has to explain why he chose to paint that. Lots of surprise and interaction in your lesson!!!