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.

Thanksgiving lesson

Because I'm going to be out of town next week, I went ahead and did a lesson on Thanksgiving tonight. I think their favorite part was the pumpkin bread that I took, but I'm not above bribing students with pumpkin bread. :)

1. Vocabulary introduction with the spelling game: pilgrims, Indians, crops, to die/died, to bless/blessed, plenty, winter, thanksgiving, feast, to provide/providing
2. I read a story about Thanksgiving to the class, allowing them to listen and see what they could understand:

The pilgrims had a hard first year in America. The crops did not grow well, and many people died. During the second year, God blessed the crops. The Indians that lived in the area helped the pilgrims with the crops. There were fruits, vegetables, fish, and meat. They had plenty of food to save for the winter. In 1621, the pilgrims and Indians met together for a feast. They thanked God for providing for them.

3. After reading through once, I read through again and had the students take turns translating, line by line.
4. I gave each team/group a fill-in-the-blank copy of the story to work on together. After they completed their stories, we read it aloud, checking their answers and practicing pronunciation.
5. I passed out pumpkin bread to the students to snack on while I talked about different Thanksgiving traditions. In keeping with a tradition my family has, we went around the room and listed things we were thankful for.
6. I took a moment to talk about many things in my life that I'm thankful for, sharing my story.
7. We then discussed our verse for the week: “I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will remember all of your wonderful deeds.” Psalm 9:1
8. We read in English, translated, discussed meaning, and re-read several times.

I am thankful for my wonderful ESL students!

Swine flu! Week 2

I promise that I'm not obsessed with the Swine flu; I've just learned that it's often a really good idea to reiterate previous lessons. I did this for both the Intermediates and Beginners.

Intermediates
1. Review last week's terms by doing a "worksheet race." I divided the class into two groups and gave each a worksheet to complete, based on what we covered the previous week.

1. I have such a terrible _____________! My head has been hurting all day.

2. I need another tissue. I have a _____________ nose.

3. My throat hurts because of my _____________.

4. I’m very hot; I think I have a _____________.

5. Let me take your ______________ to see if you have a ______________.

6. I’m so _____________ today. All of my muscles are hurting and sore.

7. I hope the doctor doesn’t give me a ______________. I’m so afraid of needles!

8. I think I have a ______________. These are my symptoms: my nose is ___________, I have a ______________ (very hot), and a ____________ (throat).

9. I can’t breathe through my nose. I’m _____________.

10. In America, people say, “Bless you!” when you ______________.

11. Most children don’t like to take their ______________ when they are sick.

12. My mother always reminds me to take my _______________ to prevent becoming sick.

Word bank:
Sneeze

Congested

Temperature

Runny

Fever

Vitamins

Symptoms

Headache

Cough

Achy

Shot

Cold

Medicine

2. Check together and correct.
3. I reused the role-plays from the previous week's Beginners' class. The Intermediates read through them and translated them. THEN, I gave them the assignment of writing their own role-plays. For this, I divided them into 3 groups and assigned them topics for their role-plays: a) a student who feels sick with a fever and aches at school b) a patient with congestion and a cough at the doctor's office and c) a small child with a runny nose and a fever who wants to go outside (and his mother won't let him). They did a great job!
4. We reviewed the quotes from last week, focusing on the Bible verse. I had the students translate it again, and we discussed how this can be a part of our lives.

Beginners
1. We started reviewing by playing Hangman. After each word was guessed, we reviewed what they meant and used each in a sentence.
2. We, again, used the role-plays from last week. However, this week, I gave them the role-plays with some of the words removed. I divided them into two teams, and their task was to fill in the blanks with the correct words.

“I don’t feel good”
Child: I don’t______ good. I don’t think I should go to school.
Mother: What doesn’t_____ good?
Child: My_____ hurts, and I’m hot.
Mother: Let me take your______…No, you don’t have a______. You need to go to school.
Child: I don’t like school.
Mother: I know, but you’re not_____. Have a good day at school.

“Doctor”
Patient: I think I’m______.
Doctor: Tell me what is wrong.
Patient: I have a fever, a headache, and a_____ nose.
Doctor: I’m going to give you a_____ to make you feel better.
Patient: Thank you.
Doctor: I’m also going to give you some________ to take for 10 days.

3. After checking the answers, I assigned each group a few "sick" vocabulary words to create sentences with. We checked and corrected as we went along.
4. To wrap up, we reviewed the verse from last week, reviewing vocabulary from the verse, translating, and discussing what it meant. Some of the students had even taken time to memorize the verse!
5. We finished with candy. :)