In this game, learners see a picture of teddy and a description of what teddy is wearing. They then find the items and dress the teddy.

Teddy Dresser is an online game for young learners on the British Council's site for young learners, LearnEnglish Kids. You can find it here: http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-games-teddy-dresser.htm

In the game, learners see a picture of teddy and a description of what teddy is wearing, for example ‘I'm wearing sunglasses, a blue shirt and shorts'. They then find the items and dress the teddy. In this game children will practise vocabulary for clothes and things that people wear, and the structure ‘I'm wearing'.

The game is suitable for primary learners and learners of a low level. It is especially suitable for younger children who will enjoy the topic of ‘teddies'. On this page you will find tips for using and extending the
game in the classroom.

Stage 1 - Introduce the topic
Introduce the vocabulary necessary for students to play the online game. You could do this using the Teddy Dresser vocabulary worksheet available at britishcouncil.org/kids-print-teddy-dresser.pdf. Your learners can match the pictures to the words then do the anagram puzzle. Answers available at britishcouncil.org/kids-print-teddydresser-key.pdf

Or you could just use the visuals from this worksheet first and blow them up to make flashcards. Now play the Teddy Dresser game with your learners. You can find it at http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-games-teddy-dresser.htm

You could use a data-projector and stand-alone computer or laptop and ask students to come out to the front of the class and match the clothing items.

Stage 2 - Reading and writing practice
Give your learners a copy of the worksheet ‘Teddy Dresser Activities: Dress a Teddy' available at britishcouncil.org/kids-print-dress-a-teddy.pdf. First they can read, draw and colour the items of clothing on the teddies. This develops simple recognition of vocabulary. Your students will need colours to complete the task. Then they can design their own teddy outfit, draw and label and then write a short
description.

Extension tasks
Learners could be encouraged to show their creativity by designing an outfit for themselves, perhaps for a special occasion like a party or carnival and then write about it using the new vocabulary. With a class you know very very well you could ask the class to design outfits for each other - but handle this with care!

You could also use the Dress a Teddy worksheet as the basis of further oral work. When they have finished their own design for a teddy they could practise speaking about it -‘My teddy is wearing...' perhaps with another pupil drawing a picture of this on the board.

With more able learners you could ask them to cut out pictures from magazines to create their own poster/collage outfit. This is time-consuming so is best done as homework or an end-of term activity for revision.

Stage 3 - Roundup
You could play a simple game at the end of the lesson as a roundup to the above activities. Ask one learner to hide or stand behind the door with the door slightly open. You ask the other learners: ‘What's (name) wearing today?'. Everybody tries to remember. But - you can only play this if your learners don't wear a uniform.
As a nice end-of-lesson activity you could use realia to practise clothes vocabulary.

You could provide a ‘dressing up bag' of old clothes for students to put on funny costumes. Hats are especially good and easy to put on and take off. This kind of TPR activity caters for different learning styles in a large class and motivates learners of all abilities.

Sue Clarke

When you have used some of these ideas, why not come back to this page and leave a comment below to tell us how your class went. Let us know too if you have any additional ideas!