Mobile learning

      What is mobile learning, or m-learning? Watch Chris talk about how he uses mobile devices in class, then leave a comment below if you have similar ideas.

       

      Average: 4 (145 votes)

      Superlative noughts and crosses

      I like to use this activity to promote the use of the superlative form. It utilises a well-known game that students find stimulating and fun to play.

      Average: 3.3 (143 votes)

      How to draw cats, dogs and birds

      Do you teach young learners? Do you have to draw cats, dogs or birds on the board?

      Average: 4 (108 votes)

      How to draw animals

      Do you teach young learners? Do you often have to draw animals on the board?

      Average: 4.2 (231 votes)

      Dinosaur dig

      A great lesson plan providing ideas for using the short story 'Dinosaur dig' from LearnEnglish Kids

      Age: 
      Primary
      Focus: 
      Reading
      Timing: 
      90 minutes
      Aids: 
      IWB or computer+projector, internet, computer room if available
      Plan: 
      1. Load the Dinosaur dig story. Ss help to make the pre-story puzzle. Ss tell you where the picture comes from (a computer game) and how they know (“3 lives left”).
      2. Play the story. Ss complete as much as they can of part 1 of the activity sheet. Play the story again to help Ss finish. Give the Ss the text of the story to check their answers.
      3. Ss write about their favourite computer game on part 3 of the activity sheet. 
      4. Ss design their own computer game. They should decide: the name, the characters, what you have to find in the game, what you mustn’t do, what you have to watch out for, how many lives you have got, etc. Ss can design the front and back cover of the game box, or an advertising poster for it.
      5. Ss re-write the story, based on their own game, with themselves as the characters. Low levels can copy the original story, just changing details, high levels can be more creative.
      6. Ss review some dinosaur vocabulary with this labelling game or through mime. Afterwards you can feed in some more vocabulary from the following activity.
      7. Ss do some dinosaur research. Put up information about different dinosaurs around the room, separated by category not dinosaur: i.e. don’t put all the T-Rex information in one place, put the diet information of all the dinosaurs in one place, the size information in another place, etc. You can find much of the information on the flashcards. Give Ss this report to complete in pairs (tell them what dinosaur they’re going to research). Ss go round the room and find out the information. Once the reports have been completed, display the reports either around the room or on a large map of the world where each dinosaur lived. Then give the Ss the dinosaur facts worksheet, and they read each others’ reports in order to complete/check their answers. Or, Ss can give a mini-presentation on their dinosaur, acting out how their dinosaur walked/behaved etc.
      8. Ss play the Quiz-o-saurus game to review their dinosaur research. Higher levels can try the dinosaur history game and then the dinosaur expert quiz. Ideal if Ss can work in pairs on a computer in a computer room. Or, Ss in pairs can write a quiz for another pair to complete.
      9. Ss play the game in part 2 of the activity sheet.
      10. Experiment: make a fossil! Use the instructions in the discovering dinosaurs worksheet. Ss can imagine a dinosaur or pre-historic creature which their fossil came from.

      Negotiations 3: Questioning and clarifying

      In a negotiation, it’s very important to know when to speak, when to ask and when to shut up and listen. In this lesson students rank and discuss the stages of negotiation, do a reading activity and look at negotiations vocabulary, examine question types, then finish with a role play to practise clarifying, summarising and responding.

      Topic: Negotiations, questioning and clarifying
       
      Level: Intermediate (B2) and above
       

      Average: 5 (2 votes)

      Socialising 4: Active listening

      Perhaps the most important skill connected with socialising is to ‘shut up and listen’. In practice, it can be very difficult to resist the temptation to turn every conversation into a conversation about what we consider the most interesting thing in the world, i.e. ourselves. The most skilful active listeners include nurses, social workers, psychotherapists and counsellors, so this lesson focuses especially on the techniques studied and used by these professionals.

      Topic: Socialising and active listening
       
      Level:
      Intermediate (B2) and above
       

      Average: 4.4 (10 votes)

      What can it be?

      A great lesson plan providing ideas for using the 'What can it be?' song on LearnEnglish Kids 

      Age: 
      Primary
      Focus: 
      Listening and speaking
      Timing: 
      60 minutes
      Aids: 
      IWB or computer+projector, internet
      Materials: 
      Plan: 
      1. Load the What can it be song. Review body parts of people and animals and do the pre-song matching activity together. Play Simon Says (e.g. Simon Says touch your head, flap your wings, etc).
      2. Listen and watch the song. Give Ss page 1 of the activity sheet and they complete. Listen again to check.
      3. Play the song and the Ss sing along, with their activity sheets to help them if necessary.
      4. Ss work in pairs and quiz each other, using the activity sheet, e.g. What has a minotaur got? or It's got a man's body and a bull's head - what is it?
      5. Ss design and write about their own creature on page 2 of the activity sheet.
      6. Ss add more verses to the song, based on the creatures they designed in the previous stage. Then sing the song again with the new verses!

      Christmas

      There are lots of Christmas activities on the British Council’s site for young learners - LearnEnglish Kids - which you can use with your students during the festive season.

      Average: 3.7 (381 votes)

      Halloween

      Happy Halloween from the team at LearnEnglish Kids! There are lots of activities for Halloween on our site and you will find most of the content here:

      Average: 3.6 (293 votes)
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