Recipes for August, 2009
Foldables are a great way to make your lessons "active" and also more about fostering thinking skills.
They can be of all sorts. Just start with a piece (or pieces) of paper and get the students folding and labeling. Like HERE.
They can be as elaborate as Accordion Books or as simple as a 4 square graphic organizer. Go
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- Tags: camp, crafts, organizers, SCC, writing
Describing People from Memory Information Gap
In: Beginner| Elementary| False Beginner| High School| Middle School| Recipe
27 Aug 2009
Here's a way to practice vocabulary and sentences related to describing facial and body features, but it can be modified to include clothing and colour vocabulary, too.
First, practice the vocabulary and language: Stand at the front with a whiteboard and marker, and secretly draw a figure on the whiteboard to prompt the target language (e.g. "He is tall," "She is wearing a red blouse," "He has blue glasses," "He has…
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- Tags: clothing, description, drawing, information gap
Following Instructions from a Special Guest on Video
In: Beginner| Elementary| Intermediate| Middle School| Recipe
27 Aug 2009Here's an activity that's a fun way for students to practice listening to instructions and following them. All you need is a large TV in your classroom that can play videos, and a friend or family member from "back home" willing to help out.
Explain to students that you have a "special guest" who's going to help us a bit later, but we need to practice first. Use this practice time…
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- Tags: instructions, prepositions, TV
Where the Hell is Matt?
In: All Ages & Levels| Elementary| High School| Middle School| Recipe
24 Aug 2009These series of videos are amazingly effective for classroom instruction. They also give students a view of the world and are a great global issues primer. Matt "danced" his way around the world. Here are several ways to use these videos in the classroom ...
Download all the Matt videos or stream in high quality on EFL Classroom in our A/V player. See my best list of videos for…
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- Tags: geography, music, technology, video
Finish it!
In: Advanced| High School| Intermediate| Middle School| Recipe| University
21 Aug 2009
This discussion activity really ceaches students to listen to each other.
Start the activity by making statements for the class but "coughing / mumbling or saying "blablabla". Ex. I went to the &&)))*** last night. Students ask for clarification using the prompt on the board.
Low: Excuse me, what did you say?
High: Excuse me but who/what/where/when/ ..........?
The teacher then repeats the statement but finishing it…
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- Tags: conversation, discussion, grammar, questions
Who Am I ?
In: Advanced| False Beginner| High School| Intermediate| Middle School| Recipe| University
19 Aug 2009
This is a nice way to get students to know each other.
Make a quick organizer for writing. Have the students fold an A4 "hamburger" like, 4 times. They will have 8 lines for writing when they unfold it.
They must write 8 sentences about themselves, all beginning with "I am....". Teacher monitors.
Next, go around the class with students reading their poem in total or…
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- Tags: icebreaker, SCC, self, writing
Mr. X – Story book writing
In: Elementary| False Beginner| High School| Intermediate| Middle School| Recipe
19 Aug 2009
Writing storybooks is a great way to reinforce grammar and vocabulary. It also gives students confidence and pride in "producing" something visible and tangible to measure their English language learning experience.
There are several steps to making a storybook and I'll use my own Mr. X's incredible Day/Yesterday as an example. Get the ppt/video here for use with students.
1. Tell the story…
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- Tags: lessons, SCC, stories, vocabulary, website, writing
Using a timer in class is really something that is invaluable and maybe even a MUST for a teacher.
Students need to know how long a task will take and a timer is a perfect way to let them know! Especially for writing exercises and tests.
Further, I've even seen teachers use it as a classroom management tool. Simply set the time for the…
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- Tags: advice, classroom management, first week, l1, methodology, tips
Usually the FSW (Find Someone Who ) games entail students asking questions AND writing in names to form sentences. (find a whole pile of pre made ones on EFL Classroom 2.0)
ie. (name) loves dancing.
However, there is another option and one that even is stronger cognitvely and pedagogically. (Go here for an explanation and part 1)
Give students a bingo card with…
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- Tags: activity, game, resources, task
Silent Speaking
In: Advanced| High School| Intermediate| Middle School| Recipe| University
16 Aug 2009
This is an excellent activity for students to gain awareness of pragmatical competency and pronunciation problems they may have.
In pairs, students silently "mouth" very slowly, the questions from a handout. Simple questions. Go here for many lists - use the simple ones like "Favorites" or "Getting to know you". The other student responds with one or two simple sentences.
Students see if…
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- Tags: activity, listening, pronunciation, website
About Teaching Recipes
What's a teaching recipe? It's a step by step guide or general description of the ideas you use to keep your classes exciting and educational. It can be a lesson plan, a numbered list of steps, a game idea, or whatever you like! We invite you to share your teaching recipes, and browse the ones other teachers have shared.
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- Luke Martin: I like it! [...]
- Luke Martin: This is a great way to get students to participate in a conversation exercise! It's fun and sassy! [...]
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