Saturday, January 19, 2013

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. 



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