Teaching Tips Title: Under the Arch Topic: animals Vocabulary: horse, mouse, cat, dog Materials: CD Description: Tell the class the magic word, e.g ‘Dog’ Two children stand facing one another, holding up their arms in the form of an arch and holding both hands The other children form a line leading up to the arch Play the song The horse is happy on the CD: ‘The horse is happy – Neigh, neigh! The mouse is happy – Squeak, squeak! The cat is happy – Miaow, miaow! The dog is happy – Woof, woof!’ As the music plays, the children skip through the arch and then round in a circle to come under the arch again When the magic word (‘dog’) is heard in the song, the two children forming the arch pull down their arms to catch the child underneath Pause the song The caught child and the one behind him/her then form the arch Continue in the same way until the song has been played through several times If you wish, you can change the magic word to a different animal each time Title: Blue trousers – hop! Topic: clothes Vocabulary: trousers, skirt, T-shirt, shoes, colours, action verbs e.g hop, jump, sit down, stand up Description: Call out e.g ‘Blue trousers – hop!’ All children wearing blue trousers hop Then call ‘Stop!’ and they stand still Continue with more instructions, e.g ‘Green T-shirts – stand up!’, ‘Black shoes – sit down!’, ‘Red skirts – jump!’ Children follow the instructions as appropriate NOTE: This game can also be played using physical features, e.g long/short hair and blue/brown/ green eyes Title: Chinese Whispers Topic: jobs and countries or any other topic Vocabulary: photographer, secretary, Ecuador , Great Britain or words from any other topic Materials two pieces of paper, each with a sentence written on it, e.g ‘I want to be a photographer’ and ‘I want to be a secretary’, and then folded up Description: Children play in two teams Each team stands in a circle Hand out the two folded up pieces of paper, each with a different sentence on it, e.g ‘I want to be a photographer’ and ‘I want to be a secretary’, to one child in each team When you call ‘Go!’, the person holding the paper opens it, then puts it in their pocket and whispers the sentence to the person on their left Each child, as they hear the sentence, whispers it to the person on their left They may say the sentence only once each When the sentence reaches the last person in the circle, they say it aloud, and the first child tells them if it is correct or not, bringing out the piece of paper You could play again, using the following two sentences: ‘My neighbours are from Ecuador ’ and ‘My neighbours are from Great Britain ’ English Adventure Website Teaching Tips Title: When I go on holiday, I’m going to… Topic: journeys Vocabulary: countries, transport, useful equipment, holiday activities Materials: a piece of paper for each group of three children and a pen for each child Description: Children play in groups of three Number each child: 1, 2, 1, 2, 3,’ etc Give each group a piece of paper You dictate sentences for children to write down and complete in secret Child in each group begins by writing at the top of their piece of paper ‘When I go on holiday, I’m going to go to (a place, e.g a country or city)’ They then fold the paper so that their text is not visible and pass on the paper to Child Child writes ‘I’m going to travel by (transport)’, folds the paper again so that their text is not visible and passes on the paper to Child Child writes ‘I’m going to go with (person)’ The paper is then passed back to Child 1, who writes ‘I’m going to take (equipment)’ Child writes ‘I’m going to visit (place).’ Child writes ‘I’m going to (activity).’ Then groups pass their text back to Child who writes ‘And when I get home again, I’m going to (activity)’ Finally one child opens the paper and reads it to the others in their group Write the skeleton text (above) on the board for reference Groups pass their text on to a different group to correct and then hand back Title: When’s your birthday? (Later-primary) Topic: birthdays and months Vocabulary: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December Materials: The task is for children to form a circle, going clockwise in the order of their birthdays They this by asking one another ‘When’s your birthday?’ and answering with the month To check they have done this correctly, the children then go round the circle saying the month of their birthday Then go round the circle again, with children saying ‘I’m older than …’ or ‘I’m younger than …’ and naming a pupil to their left or right as appropriate Title: Lipread the word (Pre-primary) Topic: clothes or any other topic Vocabulary: T-shirt, trousers, skirt, shoes or four words from any other topic Materials flashcards or real items of T-shirt, trousers, skirt and shoes or four flashcards from any other topic Description: Hold up the clothes flashcards or real items, one by one Children call out the words, e.g ‘T-shirt’, ‘Trousers’, ‘Skirt’ and ‘Shoes’ Stick the flashcards up on the board or display the real items of clothing, as a visual reminder Point to the clothes items several times, for the children to call out the words Then a child comes to the front and silently mouths one of the four words to the class The class guess which word the child is mouthing The child who guesses correctly then comes to the front to mouth a different word Continue in the same way until all of the words have been mouthed at least once If you wish, children can then play the game in pairs Title: Where’s Donald? (Early-primary) Topic: rooms Vocabulary: bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room Materials Donald puppet, flashcards of bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and living room Description: Brainstorm rooms and write the words up on the board: ‘bathroom’, ‘bedroom’, ‘kitchen’ and ‘living room’ The Donald puppet holds up a room flashcard, with the back of the card facing the class Ask the class ‘Where’s Donald’? The class put up their hands to guess which room he is in Answer ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ The child who guesses correctly can come up to the front to help Donald hold up the next card Continue until all cards have been held up at least once English Adventure Website Teaching Tips Title: Order the story (Later-primary) Topic: Treasure Planet Vocabulary: times, morning activities Materials: a set ofstory sentences for each pair of students, as described below Description: Before the class, type up the sentences from a story, e.g Treasure Planet from English Adventure Pupil’s Book page 22, adding dotted lines to separate each line of text: -John Silver wakes Jim up very early “Wake up, Jim and get dressed,” says John Silva “But it’s dark What time is it?” asks Jim “It’s five o’clock in the morning We clean the floors at ten past five ,” says John Silva “But I’m hungry What time we have breakfast?” asks Jim “Later,” says John Silva “Is it breakfast time now?” asks Jim “No! We clean the bottom of the ship at six o’clock ,” says John Silva Jim is very hungry now “It’s seven o’clock Now it’s time for breakfast!” says John Silva “Here you are,” says John Silva “Thank you,” says Jim Jim looks at the food in his bowl “I’m not hungry now,” says Jim Photocopy the text for each pair of students, cut it into strips, jumble up the sentences within each set and clip each set together with a paper clip Children work in pairs Hand out a set of story sentences to each pair of pupils They try to put the lines in order, placing them one below the other on their desk Go round to monitor and check When they have all finished, the class read out the story, taking turns to read a line Title: Go to the toy (Pre-primary) Topic: toys or any other topic Vocabulary: ball, drum, teddy bear, train or four words from any other topic Materials flashcards of ball, drum, teddy bear, trainor four flashcards from any other topic Description: The children sit in a circle Go round the circle, numbering the children from to 4: ‘1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2’, etc Say ‘Number 1’ and the number children put up their hands Say ‘Number 2’ and the number children put up their hands Do the same with numbers and Place the four toy flashcards face up on the floor in front of the children, each in a different area of the circle Say e.g ‘Number Go to the train.’ The number children run to the train flashcard Wait until all the number 3s have found the correct flashcard and then encourage the other children to give them a round of applause The number children then return to their places in the circle Continue in the same way with the other numbers and toys English Adventure Website Teaching Tips Title: What animal is it? (Early-primary) Topic: journeys Vocabulary: elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, rhino, zebra Materials: flashcards of elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, rhino and zebra, an envelope Description: The children sit in a circle Place the animal flashcards in the centre As you point to each picture, the children call out the words One child then picks up all of the flashcards, comes out of the circle and secretly puts one of the cards into the envelope The child then returns to the middle of the circle, does a mime of the animal and asks the class ‘What animal is it?’ Children put up their hands to guess and the child in the middle answers ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ When someone guesses correctly, the child in the middle takes the flashcard out of the envelope and holds it up for everyone to see The child who guessed correctly then puts a different animal flashcard in the envelope and the game continues until each of the flashcards has been hidden at least once Title: Take one step if you like playing football (Later-primary) Topic: sports and other activities Vocabulary: playing football, swimming, surfing, playing baseball, playing tennis, playing basketball, riding, diving, scuba diving, skydiving, rock climbing, walking, dancing, washing the dishes, cleaning your room, doing your homework, eating carrots, going to bed early, getting up early Description: Children stand in a line against one wall of the classroom There needs to be a clear space between the children and the opposite wall Alternatively, you can mark the end of the game with a piece of rope lying in a straight line across the floor Give the instruction ‘Take one step if you like …’ and follow it with e.g ‘… playing football’ Those children who like playing football take one step forward Continue with other sentences, e.g ‘Take one step if you like … swimming’, ‘… surfing’, ‘… washing the dishes’, ‘… playing baseball’, ‘… cleaning your room’, ‘… playing tennis’, ‘… doing your homework’, ‘… playing basketball’, ‘… riding’, ‘… doing your homework’, ‘… eating carrots’, ‘… diving’, ‘… scuba diving’, ‘… skydiving’, ‘… going to bed early’, ‘… getting up early’, ‘… rock climbing’, ‘… walking’, ‘… dancing’ The first child to reach the opposite wall or to cross the rope is the most sporty member of the class Title: Musical letters (Early) Topic: the alphabet Vocabulary: letters a–z Materials CD Description: Play a song on the CD Children dance around the classroom, singing along When you pause the CD, call out a letter Children attempt to form a ‘statue’ of the letter shape with their body Continue playing until the end of the song NOTE: The game can also be played using numbers instead of letters Title: What’s the animal? (Later) Topic: animals (Unit 5) Vocabulary: giraffe, crocodile, zebra, rhino, hippo, frog, antelope, bug Materials flashcards of giraffe, crocodile, zebra, rhino, hippo, frog, antelope, bug, sticky tack Description: Hold up the flashcards one by one while the class call out their names Then hand out the flashcards, one to each child If there are more children than flashcards, some children form pairs and share a card Each child writes down three clues about their animal, e.g ‘It can swim’, ‘It eats meat/grass/bugs/ fish/fruit/leaves’, ‘It’s green/brown/black and white’, ‘It’s got big teeth/four legs’ (you could write these as prompts up on the board to help them) Go round to monitor and check Children then stand up one at a time and read out their clues for the class to guess the animal If you wish, when each animal has been guessed, children can stick their animal on the board, placing them in order of size, starting with the smallest on the left and working up to the largest on the right English Adventure Website Teaching Tips Title: Dancing animals (Pre-primary) Topic: animals Vocabulary: bird, butterfly, fish, rabbit Materials: The children sit on chairs facing outward in a circle Description: Go round the circle, naming the children as animals: ‘Bird, butterfly, fish, rabbit Bird, butterfly, fish, rabbit Bird, butterfly’, etc Call out ‘Birds!’ and the bird children stand up and dance round the outside of the circle like birds – one hand held up to their nose like a beak When you say ‘Go home!’ they continue dancing in the same direction back to their seat Do the same with the other animals The butterflies flutter their arms like wings, the fish mouth ‘O’s as if blowing bubbles, and the rabbits jump Title: Musical chairs (Early) Topic: any Vocabulary: any Materials: CD Children sit on chairs facing outward in a circle Give each child a name, e.g ‘Wendy, Peter Pan, Lilo, Stitch Wendy, Peter Pan, Lilo, Stitch’, etc Play a song from the CD All the children sing along as much as they can Call out one of the character names, e.g ‘Peter Pan’ All the Peter Pans stand up and skip or walk clockwise around the outside of the circle When you pause the CD, they continue skipping or walking in the same direction back to their seat (they should not run) The last child back to their seat turns their chair to face inward Continue in the same way until you have just four children still facing outward – one for each character (The children facing inward can continue to play, skipping or walking inside the circle Alternatively, if you prefer, they can just join in with the singing.) Title: Step forward and sing (Later) Topic: appearance and family Vocabulary: blond/black hair, glasses, teeth, Dad, Mum, Grandad, Granny Materials CD Description: The children stand round in a circle Play the song Dad’s got blond hair from English Adventure Pupil’s Book page and the class sing along: ‘1 Dad’s got blond hair, blond hair, blond hair Dad’s got blond hair and a big moustache Mum’s got red glasses, glasses, glasses Mum’s got red glasses and earrings too Grandad’s got black hair, black hair, black hair Grandad’s got black hair and a long, black beard Granny’s got no teeth, no teeth, no teeth Granny’s got no teeth, just a lovely smile.’ Children with blond hair step forward for verse Children with glasses step forward for verse Children with black hair step forward for verse The whole class steps forward, bearing a big smile showing no teeth, for verse English Adventure Website Teaching Tips Title: Swap the pictures (Pre-Primary) Topic: food or any other topic Vocabulary: apple, biscuit, banana or three words from any other topic Materials: flashcards of apple, biscuit and banana or three flashcards from any other topic, sticky tack Description: Stick a series of three flashcards in a row on the board, e.g the food flashcards: apple, biscuit and banana Chant the words from left to right to the class, e.g ‘Apple, biscuit, banana Apple, biscuit, banana.’ Then say the chant again, encouraging the children to join in A child comes up to the board and swaps the position of two of the flashcards The class chant the words in their new order Another child comes up and swaps two cards and the class chant again Repeat the process until all children who wish to have had a chance to swap two cards Title: Yuck! A crayon! (Early) Topic: classroom items Vocabulary: crayon, pen, eraser, book, pencil case Materials: Donald puppet, a crayon, a pen, an eraser, a book, a pencil case Description: Hold up the Donald puppet He greets the children, saying ‘Hello’ Then he says ‘I’m hungry!’ Donald goes around the classroom, picking up items and putting them to his mouth, as if to eat them Each time he tastes an item, he says ‘Yum!’ The teacher then takes the object from Donald, saying e.g ‘Yuck! A crayon!’ Repeat this phrase, encouraging the class to join in Continue in the same way, with Donald ‘eating’ and children then taking from him any of the following items around the classroom: a crayon, a pen, an eraser, a book, a pencil case Each time a child takes an object from Donald, the class call out e.g ‘Yuck! A pen!’ Title: Memory Game (Later) Topic: Silvia Maria Clemente Magalhães Vocabulary: Brazil Materials: Flash cards with pictures and words Description: After presenting the cards to the students, put the pictures up on the wall all around the room and give the cards with the names the students Say the name of one picture and the students with the corresponding cards stand up and walk to the picture Repeat until all the cards are used up This activity can also be done without the written words (according to the students’ level) Title: Find someone with long hair (Later) Topic: describing people Vocabulary: long/short hair, blue/brown/green eyes Description: The children sit in a circle, with one child standing in the middle Call out e.g ‘Find someone with long hair’ The child in the middle goes over to one person with long hair, and says ‘Long hair’ These two children then swap places and the game continues Continue with further instructions, such as ‘Find someone with blue eyes’, ‘… red hair’, ‘… green eyes’, etc NOTE: You can also include clothes, e.g ‘Find someone with … a yellow T-shirt’, ‘… a green sweater’, ‘… a dress’, ‘… jeans’, ‘… a blue skirt’, ‘… white trainers’ Title: Pass the picture (Early) Topic: toys or any other topic Vocabulary: ball, doll, boat, teddy bear, car, train, kite, yo-yo or words from any other topic Materials: flashcards of ball, doll, boat, teddy bear, car, train, kite and yo-yo or flashcards from any other topic Description: Children sit in a circle Sit in the circle with them, and hand the child on your left a flashcard of e.g the ball As you pass it to the child, say ‘Ball’ Each child passes it to the child on their left, saying the word as they hand it over Send the next flashcard round in the same way Continue the process until all of the flashcards are back with you Next, play the game again, but instead of handing out the flashcards yourself, give them to different children in the circle to start off the game English Adventure Website Teaching Tips Title: For lunch I’ve got … (Later) Topic: food Vocabulary: cheese, chips, pizza, chicken, fish, sandwich, banana, chocolate, peas, bread, salad, ice cream, spaghetti, milk, milk shake Description: The children sit in a circle The first child says ‘For lunch I’ve got …’ and names a food, e.g ‘cheese’ The child to their left says ‘For lunch I’ve got cheese and …’ and names another food, e.g ‘chips’ The child to their left says ‘For lunch I’ve got cheese, chips and …’ and names another food Continue around the circle in this way When someone cannot Topic: Animals or any other topic Vocabulary: dog, mouse, bird or three words from any other topic Materials: clothes pegs, a washing line, old newspapers Description: Stick a series of three flashcards in a row on the board, e.g the animal flashcards: dog, mouse and bird Chant the words from left to right to the class, e.g ‘Dog, mouse, bird Dog, mouse, bird.’ Then say the chant again, encouraging the children to join in Repeat this several times Then turn over one of the flashcards, e.g the mouse, so that the back of the card shows Look questioningly at the children and ask ‘What’s this?’ The children answer ‘Mouse’ Chant the words with the class again, this time naming just the two visible animals and making a ‘beep’ noise for the one which has been turned over: ‘Dog, [beep], bird.’ Then turn back the flashcard of the mouse, and turn over one of the other two flashcards Continue in the same way until each of the pictures has been turned over and turned back at least once Name: Elenora Chessa Country: Italy Title: Round the World Materials: Flash Cards Description: One child stands next to another child who is sitting at their desk The flash card is shown and the first child to answer gets to move to the next desk and compete against the student If the sitting child says the word first, he/she stands and the other one sits The child who is now standing moves on to the next desk and begins again The first child to go round the whole class without sitting wins Topic: Monsters Vocabulary: face, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair, scary, big, colours, numbers Materials: paper and crayons for each child Description: Give a picture dictation to the class Say e.g ‘Draw a scary monster She’s got a big face … She’s got three yellow eyes … She’s got a blue nose … She’s got a big mouth … and scary teeth … She’s got four black ears … She’s got purple hair … What’s her name?’ Children each draw the monster and write a name underneath Then they compare pictures Topic: numbers 1–5 Vocabulary: numbers 1–5 Description: Hold up the fingers of one of your hands one by one, for the class to count to Then this again, writing each number up on the board as you so Call out the numbers in order, for children to draw the numbers in the air using a finger Repeat this, but calling out the numbers in random order Children then work in pairs One child writes a number on the other child’s back with their finger The other child guesses the number, and the first child answers ‘No’ or ‘Yes’ NOTE: The game can also be played using letters instead of numbers English Adventure Website Teaching Tips Name: Ece Sevil Country: Turkey Title: The Washing Line Materials: clothes pegs, a washing line, old newspapers Description: This is a good vocabulary activity to use with younger learners To teach items of clothing, have your students cut a page of a newspaper in the shape of gloves, trousers, a hat, etc Then, using a washing line and clothes pegs, ask your students to hang their ‘clothes’ on the washing line The students repeat the names of the clothes as they go After teaching the vocabulary of clothes, ask them to close their eyes while you hide some of the clothes Then, ask them to open their eyes, name the missing clothes and then find them This activity is both very useful and enjoyable for the students Name: Susanne Mmattison Country: Denmark Title: Animals Materials: Toy animals - the pupils love to bring them for you to borrow Description: Teach the names of the animals by playing Kim’s Game Put all the toys on a table or a tray, and ask the students to remember what is there Then, cover the table with a cloth and take one toy away Ask students “Which animal is missing?” You can repeat this to cover all the animal names, or to practise colours and sizes Then ask pupils to hide an animal somewhere in the classroom - when all the animals are hidden, ask “Where is the .?” to find them all again Name: Victoria Komisar Country: Ukraine Title: Lost Things Materials: Clothes: jeans, sweater, shorts, dress, socks, cap, skirt, shirt Description: Before the lesson, hide the things in different places around the classroom When children come in, the teacher says that there has been a very messy child (any hero from a cartoon or Longman course book), who has not put their things away The students must find the things in the classroom by saying “Where are (name of character)’s shorts?”, “ Where is (name of character)’s sweater?” This is good for practising clothes vocabulary, possessives and singular / plural of to be Do it in small groups to avoid undisciplined behaviour Good luck! Name: Victoria Komisar Country: Ukraine Title: Picnic Materials: Items of food, drinks, plates and cups, etc Description: Before the lesson, the teacher needs to set out items of food like hamburgers, pizza, apples, biscuits, milk, etc At the beginning of the lesson, students are given plates and cups The students are told that they are going to have a party or a picnic and they need some food in case they get hungry In groups of 3- 4, they must the shopping One student asks “Do you like milk?”, “Do you like bananas?” and so on At starter level, the answer is “ Yes” or “No” At beginner and elementary level, the answer could be “Yes I Let’s take it (them)” or “No, I don’t I hate it (them)” Finally, when the students have done the shopping, you can go on a real or imaginary picnic (A real picnic is more exciting!) While setting the table with the plates and cups, ask the students to find out if everybody has a cup, a fork, a bowl by asking “Have you got a bowl?”, “Yes, I have” / “No, I haven’t” and “Here you are” and “Thank you” this is a good activity for practising Present Simple questions, countable and uncountable nouns, articles and suggestions English Adventure Website Teaching Tips