SOME USEFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES

True of false? The students sit in two rows of chairs, one in front of the other, and they are numbered in

pairs. There are two more seats, one for TRUE and another one for FALSE. The teacher reads a statement and then says a number. The two students that have this number (and who

belong to different teams) must run and seat in the corresponding seat. The first one (if correct) gets a point for his/her team.

Vocabulary revision Working in groups, you have to recall all the words that we learnt yesterday in one minute.

Only one person will write them for you, and the first group who finishes wins. Find your partner

The teacher gives different expressions and definitions to the pupils. We must move around and explain them to other students. If any of them has the same word, we just go snap (you

move forward and find another person) Mumble drill

In order to practice pronunciation and memorize new vocabulary, everybody repeats the same word, but softly and using their own time to do it. It is different to a drill, when all students

repeat the same word aloud and at the same time. Jigsaw reading

The class is divided into two groups – A and B. Each A student gets the first half of a text, and each B student gets the second half. First, each student must quickly read its corresponding half of the text. They must read it

quickly, without stopping in the difficult words, just to get a rough idea of the content. They must also answer some questions about it. The pupils should read the questions first, in order

to focus on the basic information they must look for in the text. After answering the question individually, all A students meet and discuss their different answers, trying to find an agreement. B students do the same.

Later, A students explain their passage to B students, and the other way round. After that, students read the text again, but this time they do it slowly, trying to find specific

information. Then, they explain this piece of information to the other student. Touching your ear to make the students listen

When the teacher wants us to listen to her pronunciation, she just touches her ear, so we know that we must keep quiet and listen to her.

Role playing The students work in groups. The teacher gives them a handout with different situations –

they will act playing their roles, using the words we have learnt in a natural dialogue

Individual silent reflection Spend two minutes thinking individually about all the words you learnt during this week. This is a silent activity, and it can be used to make students feel calm and relaxed at the

beginning of the session.

The ball The students stand up in a circle and a ball is given to them by the teacher. The pupil who has

the ball must remember the words that they have learnt, giving a precise definition. After that, the student throws the ball to another pupil. If they can't remember a new word, they are out.

If they are really good, the teacher can give them just 3 or 4 seconds to recall a new word, so that the game goes on. This is a competitive activity that engages students and is very useful in order to revise the vocabulary that has been used in the previous lessons.

Personal links

The teacher talks about her children, her favourite sports, their hobbies… she brings her pictures and some objects that they use. She uses facts about them to prepare her lessons and to make sentences which include the words we are working with. In order to revise the

sounds, she selected some words that are connected with her children. To make it easier for us to remember these sentences, she also presents us some images which are connected with

them. I think it is a great way to connect her life with her teaching! Snapping your fingers to show the stress

In order to show our students where the stress of the sentence goes, we can use clicking snapping our fingers, and we can also write the words and point at the syllables that have the

stress. Mimic and gestures to teach how to pronounce

The teacher uses specific signs to show the students when they must listen and when they must talk or pronounce a certain sound.

For and against The teacher gives every student a letter, A or B, and also shows us a certain statement.

If you are A you must write at least 3 points in favour of this position, even if you personally disagree. If you are B you will do the same against this position.

Mushrooming group technique: We will go from talking to 2 people, to talking to 4, and then talking to 8, and so on. This helps us to get more ideas and rely on our own position, getting ready for the debate. In these groups we have to discuss our ideas, using polite ways to

express our disagreement.

Find the information by yourself Instead of lecturing us about the English education system, the teacher asked us to find the information by ourselves and to present it to the rest of the class.

Think of 6 questions (open and closed) to ask a person on the campus about education (in pairs). You will write these questions down and we will have to use diplomatic language to

ask the person if they mind answering your questions. Ice-breaking activities

A warmer activity, used to wake the students up. These ice-breaking activities can also be used in the middle of a session, just to activate the pace of the lesson. They usually involve

movement and action, and they are very useful if you want to make your class more motivating and engaging.

Follow the music Music is playing and students move around the room. When the music stops, the students

must stop and talk to their peers. Our objective will be to elicit a specific word describing

them to our partners. We should confirm that our partner has correctly understood the information, but it might not be very wise to ask 'Do you understand?'. This question is

usually answered with a 'yes' because they don't want to look silly, or because they think they understand even if it is not the case. Instead, we should ask concept questions: specific

questions about the piece of information we have just given to them, focusing on the core elements that define this particular word. This kind of questions might help us to know that the other person has correctly grasped all the nuances of the word. After doing the previous

activity, each group nominates one student who will write one of these words on the board, including its corresponding definition.

Revising what you learnt This is a good way to check if students have memorised the relevant information we are

interested in. The teacher asks a question, and students can shout out the answer. They work in two different teams, so each group can get points if their members are quick. It is a kind of

engaging competition that helps students to remember what they have previously learnt. Putting the information in order

In order to get to know the different exams that students undergo during their school life, the teacher gives us cards with the main exams. We must place the cards in the correct position

on a line that is drawn on the board, and which goes from the start to the end of educational life. This technique could also be used with any other kind of chronological organisation of information in a timeline. It could be great to revise, for example, the chronological order of

historical events or authors.

Symbols for marking Instead of writing long sentences, the teacher uses a few symbols to mark activities, exercises and exams. Instead of giving us the meaning of these symbols, the teacher asks us to guess

what they mean, and then checks what we have written. When the teacher gives the notebook back to the students, they will have some corrections and suggestions, and also a feedback

sheet, indicating good points, suggestions for further improvement and an overall reflection Anonymous correction

To correct language mistakes, the teacher can write them on the board, without identifying the student who made it, so nobody feels bad and everyone can learn from the situation

Musical true and false In order to revise the vocabulary we learnt last day, she has placed two signs on the walls:

one says TRUE, the other says FALSE. The music is playing and people are moving around. When the music stops, the teacher will give a definition. The students who agree with it will

have to move close to the TRUE sign, and those who disagree will move close to the FALSE. Those who think it is false, will have to explain why. Then the teacher will explain the right meaning of the word.

Use the present!

When giving instructions it is convenient to use the present simple tense, which is simpler and easier to understand, especially for young students with a low level of English.

I went to the shop 'I went to the shop' activity. 'I went to the shop and I bought an apple', 'I went to the shop and

I bought an apple and a pear', 'I went to the shop and I bought an apple, a pear and an

orange'… For example: Working in groups, please revise all the different tests that students have to take

during their school life. You can say 'I went to school and I took my key stage 1 sats test'. Later, 'I went to school and I took my key stage 1 sats exam and then I took my key stage 2

stas exam', and so on... What did you learn today?

Turn to the person next to you and discuss what you have learnt today

Use a soft voice! In order to keep students quiet, after a discussion or a teamwork activity, The teacher uses a very soft voice tone instead of shouting. It seems to be much more effective!

Questions for the gist and questions for detailed information

When you show a video to your students, how do you prepare the activity? How do you introduce the activity? What do you tell them before playing the video? She gives us two minutes to discuss in our group what we usually do. We tend to explain what we are focusing

our attention on, and we can revise the specific vocabulary that might appear in the video. You can also show a picture, to catch their interest. If we focus on a particular point they

want to learn about, they will be engaged and pay attention to the video. This is all about personalisation, making the subject relevant and significant for the children, finding something in their own lives that is connected with the topic we are studying in the class.

Questions for gist should be posed first, to let our students focus on the main idea presented by the video the first time they see it. Later, they can also pay attention to specific

information. We can help our mixed ability students to find specific information with a 'jigsaw listening'. For example, we can ask the easiest questions to the weak student, and the most difficult ones to the advanced pupils. The teacher can prepare a sheet with different

questions (some of them easy, others difficult), and we can ask the pupils to answer some of them in pairs. The teacher can divide the classes in A students and B students. All A students,

after having discussed their questions with their corresponding partners, will have to meet the rest of the A pupils and check that they have the correct answers. Other questions could be answered in groups of 4-5. This means that the students will need the contribution of their

mates. This is a great way to pick up the pace of the lesson. We can also split the listening in different part, mixing them up, and we can ask the students to put them in its correct order.

We can also ask each student to listen carefully to what one specific character says. Silent pronunciation

In order to practice pronunciation, the teacher moves her mouth silently in front of the students, so we can appreciate the difference between them without hearing the actual

sounds, just checking the position of lips, tongue and mouth. Visual expressions as pronunciation hints

The teacher uses visual expressions in order to help her students remember the different sounds. For example, the 'cow pat' sound in 'word' or the 'pout sound' in 'job' or the 'fake

smile' sound in 'yob'. This should be explained in a very exaggerated way, so that students can really understand the difference between different pronunciations.

Arrange the words The teacher gives each group an envelope with different words. We have to arrange them in

different columns, according to the different sounds in their pronunciation. For example: jam,

yam, jello, yellow, job, yob, jewel, yule, jaw, your… The teacher pronounces one of these words, and one student in the group must hold up the corresponding card. The first team that

gives the correct answer gets a point, so this can be done as a competition. The students can distribute the cards, giving a couple of them to each pupil so that all of them

have the opportunity to participate. Mind mapping

Mind mapping is a technique developed by Tony Buzan. He wrote a very interesting book called 'Mind maps for kids' In mind maps, ideas are connected and linked between them

using graphic resources. This is useful because our brain doesn't work in a linear way. As a matter of fact, some students prefer to express the ideas included in the mind map in a linear way, because there are different learning styles.

Use a punchy ending

How can you make a punchy ending? We can ask an open challenging question that relates to our students' personal lives. You can also use a famous quote or something funny that tries to explain an important point. Finishing in an unexpected point is also very effective. The main

purpose of the punchy ending is to make people remember the very last part of your presentation.

The missing word Students are given a card with sentences that contain a missing preposition. They will move

around the class and they will find a partner. Working in pairs, are given Person A - What are you good…? Ask me another follow-up question about this. This second

question tries to produce a natural and spontaneous fluent conversation. Person B - What are you afraid…? Ask me another question about this.

An alternative way to elicit the missing word This a good exercise for revising the prepositions we have learnt. The teacher reads all the

sentences aloud, without pronouncing the preposition. The students must say it aloud. Use pictures!

When working with little children you can tell them: 'Prepositions are words that describe everywhere a bunny can hide'. Using pictures can be very useful. You can distribute pictures

and prepositions, so each student has to find their partner. It can be an excellent activity for reviewing the lesson.

Don’t try to teach too many words! How many new words are easy to learn in a single class? 6 to 8

Managing group work You have to work in your groups. You must appoint one timekeeper, who will make sure that

you make the most of your time. When working in teams, we can distribute roles such as the leader, the timekeeper, the scribe or the observer. The observer checks that everyone sticks to

the role. These roles are shifted from time to time, so all students have the opportunity to be in charge of all roles.

Moving from one station to the next one This is a very interesting activity, which involves the participation of volunteers from outside

the class. The class is divided into 4-5 groups, based on different tables. A volunteer will be

sitting in each of these tables with a specific activity, and he/she will tell the students what to do. The students will have 10 minutes to complete the activity. Then, the teacher will ask

them to stop and move to the following table, where a new volunteer will present them the next activity that they must do. It is engaging and fun, and it is a great way to offer older

students the opportunity to get engaged as volunteers, learning while they work with their younger mates. The students are focused and well behaved, as they really enjoy this activity.

Who wants to be a millionaire? Students are grouped in different teams of 4 members. One of the students sits on a chair,

while the other three stand behind him. The teacher asks a question, and the students on the chair – who represent their respective teams – make a sound when they know the answer. The quickest one will have the opportunity to answer. If he is right, he gets a point (or a certain

amount of money, according to the TV programme rank). If he is wrong, another student from a different group can try to get the right answer. After the question, the students swap

positions, so everybody has the opportunity to participate. To make it fun, we can also include the possibility of 'phoning a friend' or 'asking the audience'.

Objects and images linked with the teacher’s life The teacher begins her class showing us different objects and images which are connected

with her own personal life. The activity consists in trying to guess, working in groups, which is the topic we are going to talk about in this class. Instead of presenting it to us, The teacher wants us to discover by ourselves what these objects represent for her. She encourages us to

guess what they are about, and she wants us to ask her questions in order to check if our suppositions are correct or not. This is also an excellent way to practice our grammar. With

these question we not only get involved and engaged in the lesson topic, but we also get to know detailed particulars about The teacher's life. The story behind these images is so touching and emotive that all of us were quietly listening to her story in amazed awe!

Complex jigsaw reading

The teacher shows us different images of British politicians. Working in our groups we must try to recall their names and political parties. After that we must place their political option on a left-right line. This is only a guess that we must check with a jigsaw reading. Before

giving the text to the students, the teacher presents the essential vocabulary that the pupils will need in order to answer the gist and specific questions. It is not necessary to give them

all the new words that they don't know, as this will be a good way to improve their level of English, but they will need to know the key words. The task includes a mix-match activity – We have the definitions and the words, and the students have to match them. As it is a guess,

they should use the modal verbs saying, for example, 'It could be..' as it would be wrong to say 'It can be'

For the jigsaw reading, students are divided into A1, A2, B1 and B2. The teacher also gives us two questions: one for the gist and another one for specific detail. As have the first part, and Bs have the second one. In order to answer the gist question we

have to read the passage, and share information with their partners. Later, A1 will discuss with B1 and A2 will discuss with B2. Each student will focus on one particular part of the

question. For example, the question for the gist is 'Which end of the political spectrum are David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn on?' One student will focus on the first politician, and another one on the second. After reading the text, As will share their information, and Bs will

do the same.

Guess the word In order to revise the new words that we learnt today, the teacher reads the definition aloud,

and asks us to guess the corresponding word. Later, she asks us to the same activity the other way round – one student says the word and the other gives the definition. These activities are

very useful, as children must repeat new words many different times in order to get familiar with them.

Let another student answer the students’ questions Is there anything else you want to ask about this topic? If there are any new questions, and

some students want to know new things, the teacher asks other students to answer them. Use your own personal objects!

In order to use English expressions connected with art, the teacher brought several examples of paintings and placed them in different places of the classroom. Working in pairs we must

guess which her favourite painting is and which is the painting she hates the most. But she only tells the truth at the end of the class! There are as many works of art as groups. Each group will have to stand in from of one

painting, and they will have to describe their feelings about it. The students should use suitable expressions to show if they like it or dislike it, using polite ways to disagree with

opposing opinions. Objects can be used to teach pronunciation

The teacher shows us the difference between the pronunciation of 'feet' and 'fit' using a elastic band, which can be stretched or compressed, illustrating how to pronounce the long and short

sounds. Find the missing half of your sentence

The teacher gives the students different sentences. Each sentence matches with another one, forming a conversation. The students will have to find a partner whose sentence matches

his/her sentence. They are encouraged to memorize the sentences after reading them, just to make the activity more fluent and natural, so they will have to leave the card on the table. When they find their partner, they sit down.

Brainstorming activity

Competition – Each group will have 2 minutes to write down as many expressions we know to express that you strongly like or dislike a painting.

Strongly like Strongly dislike

I love it

It's awesome I adore it...

I loathe it

It's disgusting It's hateful...

Find the most extraordinary of these expressions and say it aloud.

Complete the sentence

Working in pairs, the students must complete some sentences which are incomplete. For example, 'This painting speaks...me' (they should include the preposition 'to') or '… leaves … cold', which should be completed as 'It leaves me cold'

Anything new?

Can you raise your hand if there was something new for you in this activity?

Tongue twister chain (the rumour) Five students stand up in a line. The first student will whisper a tongue twister to the second, the second will whisper it to the third, and so on. But they have only one try. The last student

will say it aloud, in order to check if it was the correct tongue twister. The winner is the group that guesses the best the original tongue twister.

3, 2, 1 Think about 3,2,1 things

3 things you learnt today 2 things you are going to try out with your host family

1thing you think that you could possibly use in your classroom in Spain Music and imagination

The teacher plays 'The ascending of the lark', by Ralph Vaughan Williams (but it can be any song). While listening to it we must try to answer the following questions:

1) Where do you think the story takes place? 2) Who is the main character or characters? Is it about people, animals, imaginary creatures? 3) What happens in the story? Is it something happy or sad? Can you imagin a beginning, a

middle and an end for the story?

Which is false and which is true? We can give our students several pieces of information, later we ask them to decide which

one is false and which are correct. We can also ask our students to prepare these pieces of information for other pupils to decide if they are right or wrong.

To gain our students' attention we can ask them to show us their pens, to clap their hands, to stand up and sit down again… Anything that forces them to pay us their attention will work!

Back to the blackboard A student sits back to the blackboard. The teacher writes a piece of information on the board,

and the rest of the pupils give some clues to the student in order to help him discover what the information is about. He can ask questions to them and he has to guess what is written on the board. It can be adapted to yes/no questions, we can use them to identify famous people

or to learn how to read emotions in other people's faces, for example

The three yes How many of you would like… something good? We ask our students three times, to get them ready for next activity

Ask your mates

In order to better know the rest of the students we can prepare handouts with different questions – Our pupils will complete the question with the names of different students written at random, and they will have to ask them in order to get information from them.

Running dictation

We write a text in a card, and the students have to run and find them in order to memorise the

text. This person goes back to the group and he/she has to dictate to another person who writes. Another person will help with the spelling. Whenever the teacher claps, the person

who must run will change. There can be different cards, with different colours, that must be read by different groups.

Blank mind maps – Create your map In order to analyse the way in which different concepts are linked we can create blank mind

maps that the students have to complete. But we can also give the concepts to the students, for example using flashcards, and ask them to imagine how these concepts are connected.

Find the matching word The teacher gives the students cards with collocations- words which tend to appear together

(such as GLOBAL/WARMING, SOLAR/PANELS or FOSSIL/FUELS). This is a natural way to learn a language, as these words tend to appear connected. The kids have to find the

other student who has the card that matches his/her own. Then we work in the class the meaning of these concepts. The concepts can be placed by the students in a graph, showing for example the relationship between usefulness and danger for the environment. A

discussion is held about the places that the pupils have found for these concepts.

Do you agree? The teacher presents a controversial statement to the students, and asks them to decide if they

agree with it or not. The class is split into two different groups: those who agree and those who disagree. A discussion is held, trying to convince the people who don't share your own

position. As part of this debate, the students can fill in a table with the pros and cons of each possibility. The activity can also force the students to find 5 arguments to defend their opponents position, and it could also include the corresponding rebuttals.

It is also possible to work with 'the 3 positions': My own position, my interlocutor's position and a third, neutral position, which would be the one an external observer would have.

This activity tends to make the students feel uncomfortable, so after the debate, some time is devoted to revise all possible positions and to make a final point. Frequently there is no right or wrong position, so it is important to make it clear that all possible points of view could be

acceptable. For example: 'Publisher's materials are better than materials that teachers can create

themselves'. Do you agree or disagree? Convince your partner and discuss. Brainstorming in small groups and a massive brainstorming all together.

Each group can write their ideas in stickers, identified with a specific colour, so all teams have the opportunity to show what they did to the rest of the class. At the end of the activity,

a massive brainstorming is carried out with all the students. This can be done in a different way, asking individual students to get up and post their piece of information on the board, so that we can control the activity and make sure that no information is repeated or presented

twice.

Analyse and criticise The teacher gives a different text, object or artefact to each group. They have 10 minutes to analyse it and criticise it.