Alphabet Dialogue

In this (advanced) activity you simply have a chat with a friend
however
the first word of each new sentence must start with the next letter of the alphabet
For example

Speaker 1: A
Speaker 2: B
Speaker 1: C
Speaker 2: D
Speaker 1: E
Speaker 2: F

Speaker 1: Are you ok?
Speaker 2: Bored actually
Speaker 1: Come on lets go out
Speaker 2: Don't feel like it
Speaker 1: Even if i buy you some chips
Speaker 2: For real?

Now try some new letters or even the whole alphabet. Some letters you may like to omit.

Bad Habits

Here are some bad habits:

1, Not studying
2, Eating a lot of junk food
3, Comparing your life with others

4, Screen time before/in bed

5, Skipping breakfast

Do you do any of them?

Why is each habit bad for you?

Which habit do you think is the worst?

Can you think of another five bad habits?

Red

All these things are of a similar colour:

1, a STOP sign | a bus in London | a fire engine

2, a poppy | a tomato | a strawberry

3, nail varnish | blood | the planet Mars 

Choose one group of three and:

1, Say three things you know about one of the words?

2, Are there any things that are sometimes not red?

3, What things are similar about them?

4, Which is the odd one out in each group? Why?

5, Which ones are useful / positive for you?

6, When was the last time you experienced one of them?

Incomplete

How could the things on the list below be incomplete?

a window

a garden

a movie

a lamp

a guitar

a wedding

a mobile phone

a bee

a ship

a website

a bottle

Example

A window without glass

a garden without grass

(it doesn't have to rhyme but it could)

Look around you at some of the objects. How might they be incomplete?

Here were my classes ideas. I have removed the rhyming word for you to guess.

a farm without grass
a window without _____
a lamp without a light
a movie without a _____
a guitar without strings
a wedding without _____
a mobile without a screen
a valley without the colour _____
Monopoly without money
bees without _____
bottles without caps
mobile phones without _____
a ship without a rudder
a pencil case without a _____
a pen without ink

a website without a ____ 

Idea from Brian Moses short writing ideas.

Toast

Do you eat toast?

If not, what do you eat instead?

If yes, when do you eat toast?

How do you like bread to be toasted? (see image)
What do you like putting on toast?

Image source: https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/

Pink

All these things are of a similar colour:

1, bubble gum | candy floss | a grapefruit

2, a pig | a flamingo | The Pink Panther

3, ballet shoes | a tongue | lungs

Choose a group of three and:

1, Say three things you know about one of the words

2, Are there any things that are sometimes not pink?

3, What things are similar about them?

4, Which is the odd one out? Why?

5, Which ones are useful / positive for you?

6, When was the last time you experienced one of them?

Drawing by Alicia

Odd One Out

A) Which word in each number is different from the others and why?

Can you explain using the word in (brackets)?

1, February April, Monday (however)
2, cat, dog, turtle (but)
3, dolphin, shark, elephant (on the other hand)
4, aubergine, carrot, strawberry (neither)
5, Spain, Italy, Argentina (although)
6, ear, nose, feet (the difference)
7, knife, fork, teaspoon (both)
8, coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade (whereas)
9, doctor, teacher, student (unlike)

Example: February and April are months however, Monday is a day of the week.

B) Which word in each number is different from the others and why?

This time think of a reason why any of the four words could be the different one.

1, lake, pond, river, sea

2, Art, Maths, English, P.E

3, London, New York, Paris, Sydney

4, bus, car, motorbike, train

5, helicopter, plane, rocket, kite

6, bear, fox, tiger, wolf

7, Arabic, English, Spanish, Mandarin

8, gloves, jeans, shoes, socks

9, dream, read, sleep, sleepwalk

Ditloids

'A ditloid is a type of word puzzle, in which a phrase, quotation, date, or fact must be deduced from the numbers and abbreviated letters in the clue. Common words such as 'the', 'in', 'a', 'an', 'of', 'to', etc. are not normally abbreviated.' - Wikipedia.

How many can you get

365 D in a Y = 365 days in a year

1, 24 H in a D

2, 26 L in the A

3, 60 M in an H

4, 12 M in the Y

5, 7 D in a W

6, 11 P in a F T

7, 64 S on a C B

8, 18 H on a G C

9, 8 T on an O

10, I have 1 B and 1 S

Rain Moistens the Soil

It's raining again

It's raining cats and dogs
It's raining again
and I can't go out and play
I am bored

It's raining again
the clouds are grey
sometimes black
water is falling and it's damp
houses are

steaming

It's raining again
the streets are empty and it's cold
Inside, my dad is

cooking

It's raining again
It drives my mum crazy
because she can't put out the

washing

This is good
because I don't have to help.

@theirwordsmyverse

Drawing by Junior 4 2019/2020

Breakfast

The word is breakfast

Make some sentences – perhaps using some grammar you've learnt recently – using the word breakfast.

Some efforts from my class placed into verse:

Breakfast

I always have to eat breakfast

(even if I'm late for school)

Today I have had breakfast

What about you?

We should eat breakfast every day

or we will die

Yesterday my mum was going to prepare the breakfast

but the phone rang

So I had ice cream

@theirwordsmyverse

Innovation

Shimpei Takahashi shares a simple word game anyone can play to generate new ideas. (Ted Talk in Japanese with English subtitles.)

Drawing by Amalia

Almond Appreciation

A classic test of creativity. Complete the drawings below with your own ideas. Higher praise is awarded for detail, humour or fantasy. To present the drawing: I have drawn... In this picture... This picture shows... 

pdf download

Unconditional Love

First make a list of five to ten objects or places and then complete the sentence below with your own ideas. Look at the examples from my classes to see how it's done.

1, If I were ___ you'd be ___

If I were a book you'd be the words
If I were a dance you'd be my moves
If I were a beach you'd be the sea
If I were a mountain you'd be my gravity

If I were a song you'd be the lyrics
If I were the trees you'd be the forest
If I were a chicken you'd be the potatoes
If I were a cliff you'd be my
w
a
t
e
r
f
a
l
l

Drawing by Guillermo

Love

What I love about ___ 

Generate a list of objects, people and actions you love then complete the sentence above with your own ideas. Here are some examples from my class to help. 

Lower Level Love

What I love about my grandma
is her cooking

What I love about my computer
is it’s really fast

What I love about summer
is not going to school

What I love about cats
is they are so cute and furry

Advanced Love

What I love about my mobile phone
is its staggeringly-biblical capability

What I love about Tik Tok
is peoples absolutely amazing creativity

What I love about thin-crust pizza
is its emotional support

What I love about fries is they go well with everything
and are extremely versatile

Drawing by Lucía G

The New Rose - by Spike Milligan

 The new rose

trembles with early beauty The babe sees the beckoning carmine the tiny hand clutches the cruel stem The babe screams The rose is silent Life is already telling lies.

Drawing by Blanca

Advice Bureau

What advice would a ____ (animal, object, place) give to its offspring?
Think of 3 or 4 things.

Read

something out loud.

sdrawkcaB

:saedi emos

1) Spell your name in reverse
2) Count / say the alphabet backwards

3) Write a word in reverse (example: yadretsey)
4) Write words in a sentence in reverse (example: park the to went I yesterday)

5) Write a sentence completely in reverse (example: krap eht ot tnew I tadretsey)

6) Read reversed sentences, maybe make it a game

7) Reverse the rules of a game. For example first team to get 3 in a line loses.

Sentence Patterns / Builders

Sentence Patterning Charts by Valentina Gonzalez and Svetlana Kandybovich

An interactive version here

Opposites 2

Here is a list of opposites:

1) day and night

2) indoors and outdoors

3) breakfast and dinner

4) speak and listen

5) daughter and son

6) buy and sell

7) now and then

8) cheap and expensive

9) tidy and messy

10) deep and shallow

11) summer and winter

a) What are the differences between the two words? Which one is better and why?

B) With another person, choose one word each from a pair and then argue why the word you chose is better. The other will argue that the opposite thing is better. 1 or 2 minutes?

Cake

Using the word cake and the words below

Make some sentences

1, If
2, yet
3, not as
4, since
5, quickly
6, might
7, than
8, most
9, should
10, never

example:

2, I haven't eaten the cake yet

Drawing by Miguel

A Land Down Under

G'day

After you've decided if each sentence below is

a FACT, FALSE or an OPINION

make some about the country or place where you live.

AUSTRALIA

1) The official language is French
2) It is the best country in the world!
3) The doctors have wings and can fly

4) The people are so friendly

5) Your teacher is from Australia

6) Below is a picture of your teacher in Australia

7) My mum thinks that Australia is dangerous

8) They use € for money

9) The capital is Sydney

10) There are lots of tigers in Australia

Opposites

What is the opposite of these words?

1, read
2, cheese
3, clean
4, easy
5, beach
6, sunrise
7, tidy
8, zebra

9, noise

10, English

Quote from @purlandtraining: 'The aim is to foster discussion among language students. Not all antonym pairs have to be binary e.g. yes/no, black/white. What is the opposite of 'beach' for you? For me it would be 'office'

My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun

This poem is a powerful look at the gun violence issue framed through a classroom writing exercise.

The Opposites Game (Youtube video)

Compare & Contrast

1) Keep calm and compare and contrast the two words

1, a cat and a dog

2, Spain and Japan

3, Twitter and Instagram

4, The mountains and the beach

5, Watching sport live and watching it on TV

6, Football and basketball

7, The city and the countryside

8, You and your best friend

9, Netflix and the cinema 

and then say which you prefer.

2) Keep calm and compare and contrast the two words but using the word in (brackets)

1, February, July (however)

2, cat, dog (while)

3, Cádiz, San Fernando (both, but) Two cities 

4, carrot, strawberry (the main difference)

5, France, Argentina (neither)

6, nose, feet (whereas)

7, knife, sword (on one hand)

8, coffee, lemonade (however)

9, teacher, student (unlike)

and then say which you prefer.

Drawing by Andrea

Questions

Here are some answers to some questions. What are the questions?

1, I keep in touch with my friends using WhatsApp.
2, My French teacher is fun and explains things very well
3, I like action or fantasy books
4, I’m going to stay at home
5, Yes, I make my bed and help in the kitchen.
6, I’d like to study medicine or maybe be a lawyer
7, Once or twice a month
8, Yes I have. I went in 2018.

9, Not much. I did some homework and then watched Netflix with my cat

Drawing by Marta

Advanced Synonyms

The words is HAPPY

Here below are synonyms for that word with letters missing

How many do you think you know of the 7?

G _ _ _

_ ERR _

_ L _ A _ ED

DELIG _ T_ _

_ OLLY

E _ ATED

_ _ _ _ LLED

Activity from GoGetters

Poetry in 13

Write a (if not poetic then a simple) sentence of 13 words using a starter word. Perhaps a word from the last class: FRIGHTENING

Example: I met you in the cinema after we watched that frightening film in Peru.

Connect Disconnect

Make a list of ten words connected to _____

The words must begin with the letters below:

A ___
B ___
C ___
D ___
E ___
F ___
G ___
H ___

I ___

or

Make a list of ten words not connected to _____.

The words must begin with the letters above

Synonyms

First copy or ask someone to dictate these words to you

1, happy

2, immature

3, outgoing

4, green

5, confusing

6, icy

7, honest

8, strong

9, scary

10, baggy

Then from this grid below match the synonyms.

When you have finished choose one word and try a Poetry in 13.