Write many ideas / vocabulary on the board, all over the board. 

ex.  A girl in pjamas,  a ball,  Thursday,  green,   Last night,  the President,  kill,  Oh, it is beautiful.  etc…. 

Start by telling the beginning to any story. Just a few lines. 

ex.  There was a man who was walking down the street. He was very poor and unemployed. He was thinking of moving to N.Y. to get a job. Suddenly …. 

Ask the Ss to finish the sentence using one of the items on the board. X it off and then continue the story, connecting to another idea.  Then stop, ask a student to continue the story using an item on the board, and so on …… Connect the ideas with a line and arrow. 

After all the ideas are connected, have students in small groups, take turns to retell the story.  Then, time permitting, have the groups retell the story but backwards! 

This idea works well with Story Dominoes. See the ppt and materials for it HERE.  Also, here are some other narrative lesson ideas. 

This post was submitted by David Deubelbeiss.

This is a real recipe!   Students use English for a real purpose, explaining to a partner or fellow group members, how to do something. 

I usually start listing numbers on the board and writing a title – How to ……………..  

I ask students to explain the steps of how to do some simple activity.  ie. tie your shoe, boil an egg, get money from a bank machine, mail a letter etc… 

Then, we watch a video about this and students get the language in context. Replay the video, pausing with the sound off and have students narrate. 

Works like a charm! Also, see the How to course on EnglishCentral for some great videos!

This post was submitted by David Deubelbeiss.

Watch the video and find out how a one time lifetime supporter donation gets you access to the group and lots of additional supporter resources!

Here’s a pdf sample of the pages (links not working).

Enjoy and happy teaching and learning to all,

David
creator of Teaching Recipes and EFL Classroom 2.0

Give each group of students some card board strips of paper. Also some tape. 

Students brainstorm the names of all things in the classroom (in English!). 

Then, ask them to go tape the names up around the classroom. First come, first server.

After, take up the names. Student will learn the words over time, as they see them in class and use them. 

Next: why not give each group a chart sized piece of paper and get them to make a month calendar. Put everyone’s birthday’s on it and use it throughout the year! 

This post was submitted by James.

1. Write numbers or letters on the back of a student/classmate by using your finger.

2. The classmate guesses the number/letter.

3. Make it more advanced. Larger numbers / words. 

You can also do a variation of this by doing the same on the palm of the person. 

Really “visceral” and kinesthetic way of teaching basic content. 

This post was submitted by John.

Take a look – many levels and a recipe for each one

This post was submitted by David Deubelbeiss.

This post was submitted by David .

This post was submitted by Ana Maria Menezes.

This post was submitted by Sarah Martins.

Ask students to think of a word they’ve learned previously. They have to make sure they know how to write it.

Students come to the front of the class and write the word in the air using his index finger. Then, students write down they word and say it out loud. The student who wrote the word in the air gets 1 point for each player who got the word right and the players who get it right get 1 point too. 

This post was submitted by Ana Maria Menezes.