Sentence DIce 2

1, Roll three dice. (Google has some good ones).

2, The number on the first die relates to column 1. The number on the second die relates to column 2. The number on the third die relates to column three. (see image)

3, Create a sentence using the three! For example: 1, 5 and 5

= Every day John and Paul eat fish and chips.

4, Go bigger! You must use but, because or so in your sentence!

= Every day John and Paul eat fish and chips but today they have decided on roast beef.

5, Adapt to the level of language. Make a note of the sentences!

Words Within Words

From Byrdseed where you can find a list of answers and more great activities.
Artwork by Sandra

7

Sentence Dice 1

1, Roll two dice. (Google has some good ones).

2, The number on the first die relates to the words on the left. The number on the second die relates to words on the right. (see image)

3, Create a sentence using the two! For example: 1 and 5

= Yesterday I bought a dictionary.

4, Go bigger! You must use but, because or so in your sentence!

= Yesterday I bought a dictionary because I want to learn more words in English.

5, Adapt to the level of language. Make a note of the sentences.

Missing Letters

TRAN    REGU    GNIF    URIA    URIS     IRTH     FERE    NFIR    RENG

Put the letters above in the spaces below to make words.

Can you define the words or use them in a sentence?

1, B _ _ _ _ 
2, INSI _ _ _ _ ICANT
3, TO _ _ _ _ M
4, EN _ _ _ _ CE
5, RE _ _ _ _ RENCE
6, B _ _ _ _ L
7, CO _ _ _ _ MATION
8, ST _ _ _ _ TH
9, IR _ _ _ _ LAR 

The words are from an FCE word formation activity.

What do you think the original words were (BURIAL - BURY)

What do you think the text was about?

Rhyme Time

Look at the sentences and complete the missing word. The missing word should rhyme with the last word of the sentence before.

example:

I was walking down the street

when I saw my mate had new shoes on his feet

1, When I arrived home at half past ten

my sister was chatting to her best _____ 

2, On Tuesday morning I burnt my leg

while I was cooking a fried _____

3, When I first met you

I was suffering from _____

4, When I woke up this morning at half past eight

My mum was shouting YOU ARE  _____!

5, one boring morning we were driving to school

when my mum said 'oh dear we have run out of  _____'

6, They arrived at the party at half past four

but the party wasn't happening any_____

Now, Can you make some sentences of your own?
(using the same structure as above)

7, ________________ book
________________ cook

8, ________________ sing
________________ king

9, ________________ train

________________ rain

Artwork by Vera

Tic Tac Tell

Example: My sister hurt her leg while playing basketball.

(artwork by Sandra)

Mad Libbing

Mad libs for exam style speaking questions.

Solicit some random words as in the brackets below

(making sure they will work before you use them)

and choose the best.

Then ask some questions with the words.

(plural noun)

What are the pros and cons of _____

(action verb in continuous form)
How important is _____ to you?

(verb)

Do you have much opportunity to _____?

(superlative adjective)

What is the _____ thing in your home town?

(transport)

Why do people choose to travel by  _____? 

Drawing by Daniela

Horror

Two-word horror stories

Can you sum up some horror in two words?

Some examples:

On mute
No coffee
Google translate
Vomit everywhere
Shopping centre
Biology class
No wifi

Drawing by Blanca

 

Scary Things

Here are some things that – according to (some of) my students – are scary.

1, Spoilers
2, Life
3, The shower
4, Mothers
5, A ghost
6, Spiders

Why are they scary? (or not)
Which is the scariest or the least scary?

Drawing by Ádrian

Make a Sentence

CLICK HERE

Owl coloured by Paola

FULL SCREEN Messages

CLICK HERE

Impossible

Here are some things that – according to my students – are impossible:

1, Being a mermaid
2, Living on the sun
3, Flying
4, Never going to school
5, Getting a 10 in Biology
6, Studying medicine
7, Sucking your elbow

Are they actually impossible?
How could they be achieved?
Which would be the easiest / hardest to achieve?

Drawing by Alejandra

Teachings

Pangrams

A Pangram is a sentence that includes every letter of the alphabet. For example: The five boxing wizards jump quickly.

Can you make one? Can you make one in the past tense?

Click HERE for a useful tool!

Reminder

Remember: Every day I go to work is an absolute privilege. Because teaching and learning alongside kids is amazing.

Drawing by Sandra

Recipe for Happiness

A poem by Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Try your own recipe for happiness: Start each sentence with One...

What's the Question? (using pictures)

Using a photo (no photo included in this post) create some answers related to the photo (before class or learners in groups with their own):

1, France
2, Late afternoon
3, A house
4, Yes, on the right hand side
5, No
6, A young family
7, They are playing tennis

8, It might have been 1910

9, It could be Spring

Now decide what the questions could be for these answers by looking at the photo:

example 1, Where was the photo taken?

Excuses Excuses

Reasons why they didn't do the homework. A list.

I forgot

I was ill

I was absent

I had to study

My dog ate it

I had a headache

I didn't have time

I did the wrong page

I didn't understand it

I couldn't be bothered

I did the wrong exercise

I can't find my workbook

I left my workbook at home

I didn't come to the last class

I hurt my leg and was in hospital

I know it already so it's a waste of time

I left my bag in my grandparents house

I left my books in my grandparents house

Was there homework?

@theirwordsmyverse

Drawing by Claudia

Preference

A) Do you prefer ____ or _____?
B) ____
A) Why?
B) Because ____

Restlessness

Here are some forms of transport:

1, car | plane | UFO

2, camel | elephant | magic carpet

3, skateboard | train | horse

Choose one group of three words and answer the questions:

1, Which ones have things in common?
2, Which is the (___est / most ___) 
3, If the ___ could speak, what would it say?
4, What advice would the ____  give to its children?
5, Can you create a new transport using two words?
(example magic camel (include a brief explanation))

Respect

1, Here are some reasons you might get into trouble at school:

Not doing homework
Using a mobile phone when you shouldn't
Punching another student in the playground
Insulting another student in the playground
Speaking to friends in class

Can you rank them in order of the one that gets you into the MOST trouble to the one that gets you into the LEAST trouble. Compare and justify your answers.

2, Here are some alternative ideas from The Philosophy Man. A bit more thinking involved. Rank them.

Hitting someone
Hitting someone back
Stealing food from the school canteen
Stealing someone’s lunch
Calling another pupil a bad name
Calling a teacher a a bad name

Spin the Wheel(s)

Spin the wheels and make sentences! These wheels (click on to go to site) show present simple vs continuous. In the screenshot below the expected sentence would be: In the morning I listen to music.

Positive Thinking

What are you good at? (a sport, hobby or subject at school etc.)

Answer these questions

1, What do you enjoy about it?

2, When was the last time you did it?

3, Whose feedback do you need?

4, Who/What stops you from doing it?

5, What advice would you give a beginner?

Present your ideas.

3 Reasons Why...

1, Choose one of these sentences...

it’s a good idea to cook dinner for your family once a week.

it’s a good idea to read for 15 minutes before bed each night.

it’s a good idea to save money each month for something you want.

it’s a good idea to walk or bike to school when possible.

it’s a good idea to go to bed at the same time on school nights.

it’s a good idea to practice a musical instrument three times a week.

2, And using the following structure in your answer – explain why.

(written may be easier first)

Firstly, (give your strongest reason.)

Secondly, (add another clear example or benefit.)

Lastly, (finish with a summary or extra point.)

What is wrong?

 (From Treasure magazine, 1963)

Some more modern stuff on Brightside

Grandparents

How do you feel at their house?

What can you smell / hear / see?

What things do they say?

What do you think?

The results from my class: #theirwordsmyverse
(Poem style inspired by Michael Rosen)

At my grandparents house

I feel happy, loved, bored
I can smell soap, socks, food and air freshener

At my grandparents house
I have to eat lentils

At my grandparents house
My grandad doesn't drink water
he drinks Fanta

At my grandparents house
There are old photos, old films
an old TV and a rocking chair

At my grandparents house
They ask me how things work.
They ask me for my dads mobile number (again)
and they call me by my sisters name

At my grandparents house
I talk about school, do my homework
I think about my future
I think about pizza

Length

What is the longest word you can think of starting with the following letters:

S

E

P

T

E

M

B

E

R

example: S – Salubriousness.

Be Yourself

Be Yourself

Be calm and aware
Be who why and where?

Be the child looking up
Be the team with no cup

Be the road that takes longer
Be the battery that gets stronger

Be the film without a script
Be the chocolate amongst the chips

Be the experiment that fails
Be the fish with no scales

Be the stranger thats kind
Be the stars unaligned

Breathe in. Breath out
Sit straight. Stand tall

Dare to be true
Dare to be you

Clarence Greenway 

What is going on in this picture?

A good website for speculating and guessing

Unlimited

Here is Nike's staff memo from the 1970's.

How many of these can we apply to our class to ensure a successful year and passed exams?

You Can Only Pick 2!

Think by yourself
Share with a partner
Debate as a class
Pick your 2 and explain why.

Rules

Effective teachers don't focus so much on rules, but more on relationships, routines, & expectations. If you focus mainly on rules, you will spend most of the year enforcing them. But if you focus on relationships, routines, & expectations, you rarely have to defer back to rules.

Brad Johnson

Flip it

Ask them what they didn't do on their summer holidays.

Talking About Pictures

I often show photos from the BBC news in pictures website (week in pictures is good) in class. A lot of news websites do them.

Choose one and answer some of the questions:

1, What do you see and think?
2, Speculate and wonder.
3, Give an opinion. Criticise it.
4, Ask 'What would happen if...?'
5, Why is ___ actually...? (example: Why is the man actually protesting?)
6, How could I do this? (be part of or do what is in the picture)
7, Find a similarity with the picture and your life.
8, What might have happened before the picture was taken?
9, What might happen next if the picture became a video?

Name 4

Can you name 4...

1, verbs that are followed by ___ on
2, adjectives that end in ed
3, foods that are orange
4, household tasks
5, words that end in y
6, words that start with z
7, adjectives that collocate with problem
8, words that end in less
9, things you normally keep in the freezer

Also known as name 3, name 5, list 5, say 4, think of 3, list 4...

Situations

Imagine you are in a fast-food restaurant.

What language would you use for each of these situations in a fast-food restaurant? Write sentences.

1) Ask for information
2) Refuse to do something

3) Justify your opinion

4) Make a suggestion

5) Persuade somebody

6) Complain about something
7) Instruct somebody
8) Apologise to somebody
9) Fake / feign something

Example:

5) Go on, have some nuggets then we can share them.

Drawings by Aimar & Sofía

Keep 3

You can only keep 3

1, Instagram
2, Cake
3, Pizza
4, Dogs
5, Netflix
6, Books
7, Cats
8, Chocolate
9, Chips

Which three would you keep? and why?
What are some of your reasons for not choosing the others?

Drawing by Ariadna

Utensils

Knife, fork, spoon.

Which is the most useful?

Which is the most useful in childhood?

What are some advantages / disadvantages of each?

Which is the most dangerous?
If you make them bigger, what could they become? (e.g knife – sword)

The Wind

Inspiration: The Wind
Challenge: Starting with one word, write an extra word each line until you have 7 words. No rules. See what you come up with.

Some examples from my class:

It
was strong
very very strong
I lost something important
The wind DESTROYED our house
The wind was very very dangerous
You can't hit the wind. It's invisible


wind
it's annoying
very annoying
It is very annoying
It is cold and annoying
It is cold and very annoying
It is very cold and very annoying
wind

Variations

Using this sentence:

'My dad overcooks and burns the sausages at lunchtime every Saturday.'

Rewrite it using an idea from below

1) Next Saturday

2) Start the sentence with the word IF 
3) Use 'must' in the sentence
4) Make a prediction starting with 'I think'
5) Put the sentence into reported speech
6) Rewrite the sentence without using the letter A 
7) Write the opposite of the sentence (nouns and verbs only)
8) Start with 'In this picture...'
9) Rewrite in the passive

(Example: 3, it must be Saturday lunchtime as dad is overcooking and burning the sausages.)

Harder...

1) Start with the word Seldom
2) Rewrite so that each word Starts with the same letter
3) Use Some similes
4) Use Anadiplosis
5) Start with No sooner
6) Use Personification
7) Rewrite using the word Foregone in the sentence
8) Use Deduction
9) Rewrite without using the letter A

Drawing by Dario

Instructions for a Heatwave

A Choose Your Own Adventure Poem

Missing Letters

 A Word Game. Complete these words using the letters given

1  t_____e

2  __mm__

3  __oo__

4  s_____d

5  co_____d

6  __pp__

7  __ll__

8  b_____n

9  p____ng
10  ___ss

Three Letters

A word game. Start with a three letter word. The middle letter of that word is the first letter of the next word and so on.

example

run - use - say... Can you keep going for up to twenty words..?

To raise the difficulty use four / five / six letter words.

Pyramid

A Word Game. Start the pyramid with a two or three letter word. For example - no

The next word in the pyramid must use the last letter of the previous word and be one letter longer.

For example

no

one

each
heavy

When the word gets too long and difficult you could go back down to 2 again.
Some rules: No repetition of words or plurals allowed.

Zoology

Here are some animals / mammals / insects:

1,

blue whale

tiger

shark

2,

butterfly

elephant

bat

3,

bee

bear

mosquito

Choose a group of 3 and answer one of the questions:

1, Which ones have things in common?

2, Which is the (___est / most ___)

3, Invent a fact about one of them: Did you know that ___.

4, If the ___ could speak, what would it say?

5, What advice would the ___ give to its children?

6, Can you create a new animal from two of the animals? (example: Elebat)

Minimal Pairs (vowel sounds)

A minimal pair is a pair of words which differ only in one sound.

They are a great way to improve pronunciation.

Here are some examples.

1, ankle / uncle

2, ship / sheep

3, space / spice

4, cap / cape

5, man / men

6, pitch / peach

7, golf / gulf

8, hat / heart

9, celery / salary

10, full / fool

Choose one number

1, Can you identify the vowel sounds?

2, Can you think of another word with that sound?

Celery: head, bread, guest

3, Can you explain how the two are different in each number? (or similar)

example: celery is a vegetable whereas a salary is the money you earn. Both are good for you. 

4, Can you make a sentence in the first conditional with each pair?

example: If I eat celery, will you increase my salary?

Holidays

Here are ten things people might take on a holiday:

1, a passport

2, pets

3, a suitcase

4, food

5, family

6, a phrase book

7, a hairbrush

8, sun cream

9, a bicycle

10, a sleeping bag

1, What reasons might someone take ___ on holiday?

2, What reasons might someone not take ___ on holiday?

3, What other reasons for and against are there for taking ___ on holiday?

Drawing by Lucía