"Learning a foreign language , and the culture that goes with it, is one of the most useful things we can do to broaden the empathy and imaginative sympathy and cultural outlook of children."

Friday, 18 December 2015

GONNA BEAT YOU :)

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       It's a different type of "rock,paper,scissors" game. Instead of using their hands, pupils are expected to use their whole body in this activity.
  • The instructor should determine a body position for rock, paper and scissors shapes.
  • The pupils are divided into groups of three.
  • They are informed by the teacher about the positions.
  • Each group stands in line and when the instructor gives the start, they shape their body as a rock, a paper or scissors.
  • The rock beats scissors, the scissors beat paper and the paper beats rock.
  • At each turn, the losers are eliminated one by one and the winner keeps until s/he loses.
  • At the end, the group which has the most members wins the game.
       This could be a great energizing warm up idea. I hope you're gonna enjoy it, too.
       Take it easy. See you soon...  McD


Tuesday, 8 December 2015

COME TO MY VOICE MATE!!!

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      Looking for multifunctionality? Here is the perfect fit ;) From team building or icebreaker to warm up, you can use this great activity for many purposes.

  • Determine a specific lexical area to use as group names like colours, animals...etc.
  • Give each student a group name in private, so noone will know the others' groups or group mates.
  • Set up a safe environment. This is vitally important because all the pupils are going to do this activity with eyes closed. So, they have the possibility to harm themselves in an unsafe environment.
  • Now, eyes get closed. With the instructor's countdown, they start shouting the group name they were given. The ones from the same group try to come together as soon as possible.
       I hope you like it. Have it your way :) Take it easy.
       See you soon...
                             McD

Tuesday, 1 December 2015

HEY BUDDY, I TRUST YOU ;)

      Do you want to teach "giving directions"? This activity is a great way to do it especially with the young learners. Your pupils are gonna give both directions and find their way to wherever you wanna take them to.
      How to do:

  • You should first set up a safe environment (preferably garden or xystus with no dangerous or harmful objects around). This is really important because (if not) the students may have some undesired accidents and injure themselves.
  • Now you can set your race circuit one by one from the start to the finish. (You'd better number the obstacles to make them easier to follow.) The ones I used are below:





  • Giving instructions is the next step. The students are gonna work in pairs (One is the navigator:D who is going to give the directions like "turn left, turn right, go straight ahead, stop, walk... etc."; the other one is the blindfolded who is going to make the trust walk and follow the instructions, get to the end.
  • Most of the pairs can complete the circuit, If you'd like to make it more challenging and determine a winner pair, you could use a stopwatch.


         Don't forget to reward the champions :) Take it easy. See you soon...
                                                                                                                        McD

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

FUNNY IDIOMS AND PHRASES - WHAT IF THEY WERE REAL?

          Here are the realistic drawings of funny English idioms and phrases... We had great time doing it :) Good idea for teaching idioms and developing creativity... It worths trying ;)















Wednesday, 11 November 2015

BOSSY CIRCLE

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         If you want to teach "imperatives" or "action verbs", this activity is exactly what you need.

-Prepare a visually supported worksheet for the verbs you're going to use.
-Let the pupils work on it for a few minutes.
-As the instructor, get in the middle of the circle and mime all the verbs one by one and make the pupils act them, too.
-Then, start giving orders: "jump, run, point to the teacher, sleep, swim, crawl, brush your teeth, yawn...etc.". (At this step you'd better not mime, just give orders. Let the students find out what to do themselves.)
-What you do is just a warm-up :) Now, it's the real bosses' turn :) Each pupil comes up, acts like a boss and gives orders to his/her friends and they do whatever s/he wants them to do :)

         I've twenty students. So, it took us nearly an hour to get to the end. However, they never got bored or tired. (To be honest I did after a long tiring day :) )
         Teaching verbs is much more funnier in this way. I hope you're gonna like it :)

         See you soon...
         McD...


Thursday, 5 November 2015

HOT OR COLD?

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             I'm sure you all have tried this classical game many times before. I've added some rules and made it a little bit more challenging.
             We determined three objects beforehand. The one going to be the "it" chose one of these objects; but in order to be able to choose the one s/he wanted, s/he had to describe it (shape, colour, size... etc.) before it was hidden.
             At the next step, eyes got opened and the search began. As the "it" moved away from the object, the others shouted "Cold, cold, cold!" and as s/he got closer to the object, they shouted "Hot, hot, hot!". They kept on doing the same until the hidden object was found.
              Last year I tried the same game with "Physical Appearance" words. The person chosen to be hidden was described ( hair, eyes, weight, height...etc.) and the"it" got him/her.
              These are my variations of this game. I hope you like them or get your own ones.
       Good Luck :)

Monday, 2 November 2015

MI-MI-MI-MI MICROPHONE SHOW



            We have got only one basic rule for this activity: "SHOW MUST GO ON..." under all circumstances :).
             Everyone taking part in the activity should be able to memorize the lyrics of an English song and sing it from the beginning to the end... (Or you can determine the song/s to be sung)
             The instructor chooses the singer who is going to come on the stage. One by one, all the attendants sing their own song, but how?
             The audience (other pupils) take their place in front of the stage. They have the remote control of the singer. As their turn comes, they instruct the one who is singing like "volume up, volume down, fast, slow... etc". You can also use feelings and emotions. Whatever you say or write, the singer has to sing his/her song in that way, non-stop :)
           

             It's a great warm-up idea. We had great time doing it. I hope that it will work with you, too. Have it your way :) Take it easy...