Submitted by TE Editor on 31 December, 2011 - 14:49
In this article I will briefly focus on how I try to develop listening skills with our young learners who are learning English as an additional language.
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.
A fourteen year old finds himself in trouble with the school Principal – again. This time, however, he has a genuine excuse, but is he likely to be believed?
Draw/show a carpet/rug on the board and elicit what it is. Ask Ss if they know of any stories with a special carpet, and what the carpet can do (fly).
Play the Ali and the magic carpet story. Ss complete part 1 of the activity sheet. Play the story again – Ss can check/complete their answers.
Ask Ss if they remember what the weather is like in the story. Drill the weather language (It’s sunny, etc). You might like to use these flashcards. Ss complete part 2 of the activity sheet.
Give Ss the text of the story. They read the story and complete part 3 of the activity sheet. Check answers. Finally, Ss complete part 4 of the worksheet.
Ss complete the weather map worksheet. If the language is too difficult, it could be simplified to a map of the UK describing the weather in different cities. Then provide Ss with a map of their own country. They draw their own weather map, with different weather in different cities or regions.
Either: play a memory game – Ss in pairs swap weather maps, and test each other: “What’s the weather like in Paris/the north-east?” Or: do a drawing dictation – give Ss a blank copy of the map, and in pairs they ask and dictate to each other the weather from their own map to draw. While demonstrating either of these activities, be sure to drill the question form.
TV weather forecast project! Ss work in groups of 3 or 4. Find simple maps showing 10-15 major cities of any countries, one country per group, on A3 paper. Ss then decide what the weather’s like in each city and make weather symbols on card for those cities, which can be attached using Blu-tack or similar. While still in their groups, help Ss plan and rehearse their weather forecast presentation. Depending on the Ss, you might like to demonstrate with a map and presentation of your own before getting the Ss to start the project. When the groups are ready, introduce each group as if the news has just finished, and each group presents the weather for that country, sticking on the weather symbols as they go. This might be a nice project to film.
Finally, Ss can re-imagine the story. Either individually or in pairs, they imagine where they would go if they found a magic carpet. This would be great story-boarded, Ss draw a picture and write a caption for each place they go, and where they start and finish. The original story text could be used to help Ss write captions. Then the stories could be displayed for the other Ss to read, or some pairs might like to act their stories out.
Listen and watch the song. Ss complete part 1 of the activity sheet.
Listen and watch again, getting the Ss to sing along, miming actions both for the transport and for the chorus.
Brainstorm other means of transport. For extra practice, Ss could then complete this transport worksheet. Then, Ss complete part 2 of the activity sheet.
Give each student 10 small cards with pictures of different means of transport. Optionally, the Ss can write “I’m ___ing in/on a ___” sentences on the cards.
Play bingo! Each student needs a 2x3 grid. In groups of 4 (or 3 or 5), one student is the bingo master and keeps his cards in a pile. The other Ss choose 6 of their cards to go face up in the grid, the other 4 cards are put away. The bingo master then takes his cards one by one, saying “I’m ___ing in/on a ___” each time. The other Ss listen as each card is read, turning their own cards face down as they hear them. The first student with all their cards face down is the winner and shouts ‘bingo’. The Ss can play again, rotating the role of bingo master.
In groups, Ss decide new verses for the song, by choosing four means of transport to use, and also possible choosing new places for the chorus. Each group can sing their song for the class, or teach their song to the class for everybody to sing.
Load the I can run song. Review the actions in the song through mime. Play Simon Says.
Listen and watch the song. Give the Ss the activity sheet folded in half and they complete the first activity.
Play the song again. The Ss sing along and do the actions.
Ask the Ss if they can do the actions, e.g. “Can you swim?” etc. Ss complete the second activity on the activity sheet.
Brainstorm some more actions with the Ss, e.g. climb, ski, spin, cook, etc. Write the actions on the board. Nominate two Ss to ‘play’. Get any of the Ss to ask you various ‘Can you’ questions with those actions. For every question from the Ss, you should say “No, I can’t”, until for one random question you say “Yes, I can” – at which point the nominated Ss must race to the board and be the first to touch that action with their finger. Ss could also play this game in groups of 3 or more with the words written on paper.
Ss write 5 questions for a class survey. Demonstrate the activity first, then Ss survey their classmates. Afterwards, Ss could turn their results into a bar chart. Depending on your Ss, you might want to prepare a blank survey table/bar graph as a worksheet first.
Ss vote for their 4 favourite alternate actions, and sing the song again with them, doing the actions.
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).
Listen and watch the song. Give Ss page 1 of the activity sheet and they complete. Listen again to check.
Play the song and the Ss sing along, with their activity sheets to help them if necessary.
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?
Ss design and write about their own creature on page 2 of the activity sheet.
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!
