Introduction
The Easter egg hunt activity is a fun paired speaking activity with lots of movement, where learners practise listening to their partner.
Materials needed
For version 1, the teacher and learners need paper and pens. For version 2, coloured pens/pencils are also needed.
Procedure
Version 1 of this activity practises prepositions of place.
- Before class, make ten egg shapes on card or paper and number each one 1–10. Before the learners come into the classroom, hide the numbered eggs around the class and stick them to things, e.g. under the bin, behind the door, next to the desk, on the board, etc.
- Tell learners they are going to do an Easter egg hunt and put them into pairs. Each pair must nominate an 'egg hunter' and a 'writer' (they can swap roles halfway through).
- The writer must stay seated as the egg hunter goes around the room looking for the eggs. When they find an egg, they must not remove it. They must remember the number and then go back to their partner and quietly tell their partner where it is, e.g, whispering Number four is under the table next to the window.
- The writer writes down the sentence they are told. They can ask the egg hunter to repeat as many times as they need. The egg hunter must not touch the pen to write.
- The first pair to hunt down the ten eggs and write their position in English wins.
Version 2 of this activity practises colours and patterns.
- Repeat the activity as above, but this time the ten egg shapes do not only have numbers written on them. They have different colours and patterns. For example, number 1 egg could be orange and pink spots, number 2 egg could be green and white stripes, number 3 egg could be yellow with a red heart in the middle.
- As above, the egg hunter must find the egg, remember what it looks like and whisper this to the writer. The writer has coloured pencils/pens and draws the eggs. The winning pair is the first to finish and have drawn/coloured the eggs correctly.
- Make sure you first revise the words you will use in your designs, so that learners feel confident saying them.
Teaching tip
If it is the first time the group has done a running dictation-style activity with a 'hunter' and 'writer', make sure your instructions are very clear and demonstrate the task with you as the writer and a learner as your egg hunter partner. In the demonstrations, show them that they must not remove the eggs and they must not shout back to their partner from the egg's location. They must remember the number, return to their partner and whisper the location.
Additional links
Read about a similar activity type here: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/teaching-resources/teaching-secondary/activities/pre-intermediate-a2/running-dictation
Use other Easter-themed activities: