When the semi-Beginners show up on Intermediate night...

Wednesday is usually Intermediate English Club night...this week, however, it apparently became high-Beginner night. Needless to say, the lesson plan that I had carefully crafted immediately became null and void. Thankfully, I had my Mary Poppins bag of supplies and my trusty Ira (now, unfortunately, most of you do not have a trusty Ukrainian friend at-the-ready...which is why I'll share her ideas here.).

I had some word searches in my bag. There are about a bazillion free websites where you can create your own word searches and crossword puzzles. I make fairly liberal use of those sites, and students really seem to enjoy the puzzles. The puzzle we used last night was an "Activities and Sports" puzzle. After giving them several minutes to go through and find as many as they could, we went around the table and defined/ described the activities listed. They did a really good job trying to describe how to play different sports, etc. At that point, Ira suggested that we do an activity that she does with her students (she's an English teacher in a public middle school). We taught these phrases:

1. I enjoy...

2. I am interested in...

3. I don't mind...

4. I can't stand...(if I were going to do it again, I'd probably change this one to "I don't like...")

5. I hate...

We gave each student a slip of paper. They wrote the sentences and filled in the blanks with activities. We told them not to write their names on them, had them fold up the papers, and we each drew someone else's. After reading through the list, everyone guessed whose paper they had. It went really well and opened up opportunities to correct word order or tense.

After we officially ended English club, we ended up sitting around for a while and just talking about things we like or don't like. It was really fun.

ALSO: I just added a new link to the sidebar. It's a site full of ESL games, contributed to by ESL teachers around the world. Some are not so exciting and some are SUPER! I'll list my top favorites in another post, but go ahead and have a look. Maybe you'll find some inspiration!

Beginner "Activities" continued...

We continued with the basic activities that we worked with last week. We used the same matching cards that we did last week; I had the students re-match them as a review. After we read through them and defined them again, I divided the students into pairs and gave each group five of the activity cards. They worked to create some simple sentences with the phrases, and then we discussed and corrected. After that, I introduced some new activities:

1. go to the bathroom (clarification: the picture on the card is of the stick man/woman figures from a bathroom sign.) I chose to do this one, because it has been an issue of confusion: in Ukraine, you do not ask where the bathroom is but rather where the toilet is. Most of the time (especially in houses), the toilet is in a separate room from the sink and the toilet. If you ask where the bathroom is, you will be taken to the sink room. Personal experience.

2. brush your teeth

3. take a shower

4. wake up

5. go to bed

6. take out the trash

7. take a bus

8. cook a meal

9. buy groceries

10. go for a run

This actually took up the whole class, even if it doesn't seem like a lot. Next week, we're going to start working on a story from the New Testament.

Last week's beginner club...I forgot to post this one

Last week, I pulled out some old matching cards that I had leftover from a volunteer team that came last March. Half of the cards have phrases on them and half have pictures (clip art) that correspond to those phrases. They made them by printing out the phrases and clip art pictures and attaching them to index cards. The students then work to match the correct phrase with the picture. Here are the phrases that they used:

1. Ride bikes

2. Get ice cream

3. Go for coffee

4. Order a pizza

5. Go to McDonald's

6. Go to church

7. Study together

8. Take a walk or a hike

9. Go to the park

10. Go shopping

11. Take a camping trip

12. Go to the movies

13. Ice skating

14. Play soccer

15. Bowling

16. Play video games

17. Listen to music

We started by each person drawing a card (we ended up doing this a couple of times because there were more cards than people). We then went around and let everyone practice reading the phrases/words and discussing what they meant (as well as any discrepancies between American English and British English). Then, I divided them into groups to match the cards.

After matching the cards, I paired them up and gave each pair a role-play to read through. They aren't very advanced beginners at all, so it took a little while and a lot of practice.

Role-play 1:

1: What did you do last weekend?

2: My family took a camping trip.

1: What did you do on your camping trip?

2: We slept in the forest and went for a hike.

Role-play 2:

1: What will you do today?

2: I am going shopping.

1: What are you shopping for?

2: I am going to buy a new hat.

Role-play 3:

1: What did you do for lunch today?

2: I ate at McDonald's for lunch.

1: What did you eat?

2: I had a hamburger and french fries.

Role-play 4:

1: What did you do today?

2: I spent time with my friends.

1: What did you do with your friends?

2: We went ice skating!

Each pair read their own role-play, and then we kept swapping until each group had been able to read each of the role-plays.

Continued Airport Stuff

We spent part of this week reviewing the airport/airplane stuff from last week. For the class opener, we did a two-minute list of countries. We started with countries of Europe, but they liked it so much that we did two more: Asia and states (of the US).

I took the same matching game (airport terms) from last week, and two teams raced against each other to see who could match them correctly first. They liked that, too. They love a good race around here... We then discussed/reviewed the terms.

I created a worksheet of sentences with fill-in-the-blanks for them to correctly use the terms in context (unfortunately, I cannot find an electronic copy of the worksheet on my computer...can't think of where I saved it...).

After the worksheet, I assigned each group a country. Their assignment was to create a packing list for a trip to that country. One team had Jamaica and the other had Switzerland. The first thing on both lists was "money." Ha.

Our "theme" for this week's quotations was "direction."

1. "Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction." -John F. Kennedy

2. "The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life." -Plato

3. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not trust your own wisdom. In everything you do, acknowledge Him, and He will give you direction." -Proverbs 3:5-6 (Bible).

Great discussions followed these quotes. They really got into discussing them and figuring out how they would apply to life.

Airplanes and Security

Last night was the first night back to English club after all the holidays. I borrowed some of my friend Wendy's ideas for one of her classes and then put my own twist on things. Since traveling is so popular, this lesson focused on airports and airplanes and all that entails.

We started out by making paper airplanes in small groups. Each student in the group wrote his or her name and dream destination on the plane. We then went around the group for introductions. For fun, we tested the planes to see whose would fly the farthest. The all-girl group actually won that contest.

Next item on the agenda was a matching game. I made a few sets of matching game cards and each team got one. Cards with the words written in blue were the vocabulary cards and cards written in red were the definitions. The task was to match the correct vocabulary word with the correct definition. The students were familiar with some of the terms and then had to deduce the remaining ones. After they matched what they could, we discussed and defined the words.

Here are some of the words that we discussed:

terminal

check-in counter

security

baggage claim

boarding pass

overhead compartment

passport control

customs

pilot

flight attendants

gate

passengers

After discussing these vocabulary words, you can introduce phrases/ actions:

to go through customs

to land

to go through security

to wait at the gate

to get bags from baggage claim

to go through passport control

to board a plane

to check bags

to check in

For kicks, you can play charades with some of these phrases (to get bags from baggage claim, to go through passport control, etc).

For our discussion part of class, we read, translated, and discussed the following quotes, focusing our discussion on airport security measures and security/safety in life:

1. Happiness has many roots but none more important than security. - E. R. Stettinius

2. There can be no security where there is fear. - Felix Frankfurter

3. The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? - Psalm 27:1

Christmas, week 2

This lesson is a continuation of the first part of the Christmas story. We started the lesson with a warm-up: Starburst game. The questions we used were: 1) What is your favorite holiday and why? 2) What is your favorite holiday tradition and why? 3) What is your favorite part about winter? and 4) What is your favorite holiday memory?

Next, we checked to see who could retell the first part of the Christmas story from the previous week. This is GREAT for checking comprehension and triggering active thinking. I brought candy for the student who was brave enough to tell the whole thing. Everyone was rather sad that they hadn't tried. :)

We continued with more vocabulary and the spelling game:
1. Angels
2. to appear
3. Shepherds
4. (to be) afraid
5. Flocks
6. Savior
7. Nearby
8. a sign
9. Peace
10. Company
11. Terrified
12. Glory

Some of these they knew, others they didn't. We translated all of them and created sample sentences. After going over the vocabulary, we read through the story.

There were shepherds out in the fields nearby, watching over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord was around them. They were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in Bethlehem a Savior has been born; he is the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly, a great company of angels appeared, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men."

We read, translated, discussed, etc. After going through this part of the story, we retold the first part and then added this part. They did a great job!

As a grammar section (I know, so fun!), we did a secondary activity of preposition fill-in-the-blank:

There were shepherds out ___the fields nearby, watching____their flocks___ night. An
angel of the Lord appeared___them, and the glory___the Lord was around them. They
were terrified. But the angel said___them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of
great joy that will be for all people. Today__Bethlehem a Savior has been born; he is the
Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped___cloths and lying in a
manger." Suddenly, a great company___angels appeared, praising God and saying,
"Glory to God in the highest, and___earth peace to men."

To finish up, we played a rousing game of Hangman. They love it. :)

Christmas, week 1

I started teaching Christmas lessons a few weeks ago, but I forgot to update about them! I've been doing the Christmas story in parts, so as not to overwhelm everyone with vocabulary. Here's the first part of the story that I used with the Intermediates:

In those days Caesar Augustus ordered that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, and everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth to the town of Bethlehem, because his family came from King David. He went there to register with Mary, his fiancée, who was expecting a child. While they were there, it was time for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Here's some vocabulary that we went over:
1. Census
2. to order
3. to register
4. fiancee
5. to expect a child
6. to wrap
7. cloths
8. Manger
9. inn

You can play the spelling game, have students create sentences or a role-play, play Charades, or play Pictionary. After going through the story, we discussed comprehension questions, practiced reading aloud. After discussing it for a while, I got the students to try to retell it. Based on my own language-learning experience, this is pretty effective.

Here's the story for the Beginners (you can adapt it as needed):

In those days Caesar Augustus ordered that citizens should be counted. Everyone went to his own town. Joseph went to Bethlehem. He went there with Mary, who was expecting a child. While they were there, the baby was born. It was a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger. There was no room in the inn.