Introduction
All over the world we have unique names for the months of the year, often with historical or cultural references. This game encourages learners to think about these references at the same time as they play a game. In this multi-skills lesson learners play a fun quiz-based card game in groups. They have to discuss some facts about months and guess which fact is false. For homework, or as a follow-on classroom task, learners find out a fact about the month they were born.
Learning outcomes
- Develop and practise speaking skills through a game
- Discover some cultural and historical facts
- Work collaboratively to reach agreement
Materials
- Lesson plan
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Game cards sheet- cut up (4 cards per group)
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Answer key cut up (1 per group)
Months of the year
- Arrange the desks and chairs so learners can work in groups.
- Write _ _ G _ ST on the board and explain that the vowels are missing
- Ask learners to guess what the word is. (August)
- When a learner guesses correctly, ask a few questions to generate a discussion:
- What is the weather like in your town/country in (August)?
- What events take place in your town/country in (August)?
- How do you say (August) in your language?
- Where do you think the name (August) comes from?
- Answer to question 5 (CEFR A2 level): August is named after a Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar. Long ago, the Romans had a month called Sextilis. They changed the name to August to honour him. The word 'August' means 'special' or 'important'
- Put learners into groups of 3 and give each group a set of 4 cards face down on a desk. Note: Allocate the following months to each group:
Group 1: January, February, March, April
Group 2: May, June, July, August
Group 3: September, October, November, December
- When you give a signal, teams turn over the first card and read the facts.
- They have three minutes to discuss the information and decide which of the facts is false. They record their answer on a piece of paper.
- Note: the main object of the game is to discuss the information and agree on an answer. Everyone in the team should contribute with ideas.
- After a few minutes, give a signal for groups to turn over the next card.
- Continue in this way until all 4 cards have been seen and teams have recorded 4 answers.
Give each team an answer key so they can check their answers and award themselves a point for each correct answer.
- Join two groups to make a larger group
- Groups shuffle their cards and test each other by reading the question. This adds listening and reading elements
- Ask groups to decide on their most interesting fact.
- Ask each group to share their choice
- Learners find out one interesting fact about their birth month. Share the following website with them: https://projectbritain.com/specialdays.htm
- In the follow lesson learners share their fact with the whole class. Learners vote for their favourite fact
I really liked the lesson plan on the months of the year. It takes into account the historical and cultural backgrounds of the learners. It's true that every society has names for each of the months; and the recurring events that happen in those months. Another thing to appreciate is that the lesson plan gives a well-explained procedure, showing the teacher what should be done at each step of the lesson.