Classroom Activities 4: The Prepositions Table

Classroom Activities 4: The Prepositions Table

What you need: a large table drawn on any surface, can be done in front of a large group or in a private lesson, writing utensil 

What to do: You can practice any prepositions: on, in, under, between

Usually I ask students what foods or things they like and don't like, the things they like I tell them to draw on the table. Then I tell them to draw a toilet under the table and they get really shocked. Some of them break out laughing because it is unexpected. Then they are allowed to draw their disliked foods in the toilet. You can give students the option of giving each other the commands of what to draw and where, using correct usage of prepositions! Easy as pie and effective! 

Corresponds to: English Land 3 Unit 4 

Classroom Activities 3: Practicing Can

Classroom Activity 3

Nonsense Animals and Actions

Type of activity: small group activity for practicing animals and verbs, and the grammar "Can it (action)?", "Yes it can" or "No, it can't", ideal for elementary students, for intermediate students

Text correspondence: English Land 3 Unit 5 

"Can a koala drive a car?", "Can a baby quail push a car?" 

What you will need: a stack of animal cards, the more interesting the appearance the better, and a stack of frequently used verb cards. I use animal cards from a set of Go Fish cards we had in the school, and the verb cards from the Great Verb Game, although the pictures on the Great Verb Game were a little ridiculous. Some students love it and some will refuse to look at the cards, saying they are simply too ugly. So strike a balance between interesting and repulsive.

What to do: have enough sets of cards for small groups. My classes are small so I only need one set of action cards and one set of animal cards, but this game is appropriate for groups of 3-4

    -give each group their stacks, after modeling the target phrase "Can it (a bear) drive?" Students usually take to this right away and start having fun. 

Classroom Activities 2: Prepositions Treasure Hunts

Classroom Activity 1

Prepositions Treasure Hunts
Corresponds to English Land Level 3, Chapter 4
OR
Good for: beginning prepositions (Elementary School Age) 

You will need:

- Paper, Scissors, laminator (if you want to make a long lasting treasure hunt set)

-An item representing treasure, or real treasure to give to the students if they gather all the cards for their assigned treasure hunting quest

What To Do: 

-Number the Cards 

The Treasure Hunt can be as long or as short as you'd like, each card describes the location of the next item, and should be unique to your environment or classroom

(ex. #6 is under the clock) 

-Hide them before the class, retaining the first card as a hint

-For Larger Classes: Prepare color coded treasure hunts for small group hunting: groups are only allowed to take the cards for their color           

                                                                and should do it in order

For more practice: 

Do this as a warm-up activity or an extension of the lesson. I feel it really engages them and gets elementary age students thinking about the structure of preposition sentences, as they often mutter the locations under their breath as they search. Students can take turns reading the cards or a reader can be assigned. However, I have seen even shy students take to this activity. 

This could be used for any foreign language.

Classroom Activities 1: Missing Parts Characters

This is my classroom. That is basically all of it. The table can be pushed back a few feet if it's standing. Like three feet maximum. Or, the table is collapsible and allows for more space for little kids class or active class. But it's still a small room and keeping those kiddos engaged week after week becomes a priority, and yet, no easy task at all.

I recall my predecessor telling me that the best part of the job is that no work comes home. That is not true. Even if I am not working I am always thinking of students: the good, the bad, the engaged, and the disengaged. Oh, genius-kid would love this. Or, I wonder if I can involve this problem student if I did such-and-such in class. My classes are small enough that I have all their names memorized, and even then, all my students have nicknames in my mind.

At any rate, this post is the first in, hopefully, a series that can help out other teachers of activities I have created for my classroom to help spice up classroom work for students who come see me week after week, some who have now been with me for upwards of a year and a half. 

Today's Activity: Classroom Activity 1

Missing Parts Characters

What you will need: 

-clipart of characters, a simple google image search will do you just fine

  some topics which may be of interest: pirates, zombies, princesses, One Piece, Pokemon, blow up the image during printing

  (You are not selling this, you are merely using it to engage student, let your imagination go wild or your target vocabulary drive this search, if you are studying clothes choose an image with interesting and complicated clothes and accessories. If you are teaching body parts, choose something a little more exposed.  When students are engaged and curious about other items they might see, such as the pirate's sword or the zombie's brain, I find they become motivated to ask the vocabulary and retain it pretty well. )

-cardstock cards

-optional: laminator, laminator sheets

-scissors

-printer

This is the set I made for "Pirates", it reviews clothes, "bird", and face parts.

What I did: 

-print out enough copies for your class plus one to show as the model image as the students try to piece the character together: I have maximum three students so I chose to go with three, plus one 

-cut out the student characters, and then cut out various parts which clearly show target vocabulary, laminate the bodies and the cut out parts, the cut out parts are now game pieces which students will race to find under the card stock cards (you will need 8-10 cards, to have 8-10 items in play at a time) 

-cut up cardstock for a size which generally fits over the body parts you cut out

The Game: 

How to have fun with this in class

-elicit or teach new vocabulary with the full body image before beginning the activity and review I have/I don't have, or He/She/It has, doesn't have 

-pass each student, or each group of students, their altered copy of the goal image. Encourage them to shout out "He/She/It doesn't have... (x)!" or "He/She/It has (x)!" 

-tell students to close their eyes, and hide the various cut out parts, 8-10, depending on how many cards you cut out

-students only get one chance to look under a card, and must decide "He has/He doesn't have", each player or team gets a chance. When the game starts to reach its end some of the cards will be "empty"

-The first team to gather all it's missing parts wins! Routinely check in with students by eliciting what they still DON'T have so that they will know the vocabulary word to draw their card! 

Some of my kids were scared of this one.

                                        One of my Pirates, close up

                                         

 One of my classes requested a "Stinky Baby" character

Zombie edition

Don't stress finding the perfect size image, they can easily be blown up and the kids will have fun with the game, not how perfect the image is
. The better you know your kids, the better you can make a game that will engage them!  Just go wild. 

Happy Teaching! 

Corresponds to: English Land Level 2 Chapter 5
English Land Level 3 Chapter 3