What is it not?

From this list can you choose a word and tell me what it is not

1, elephant

2, dolphin

3, whale

4, garlic

5, silence

6, banana

7, language

8, tea

9, book

10, Chinese

Some ways you could start:

A whale is not...

It does not...

It can't...

It hasn't got...

It will never...

Idea from NaPoWriMo

Haiku

This idea by Pie Corbett (Twitter link)

Write your own Haiku using the prompts.

There is no need to stick to syllable counts associated with Haiku but it should try and capture a moment / season. In the pic below there is extra guidance on the right hand side if needed. Further below is what my kids class (aged 8,9) came up with. Done as a warmer. See the link above for some more examples.

Mr Agana

The answers to each pair of definitions below (A&B) are made up of the same letters. They are anagrams.

Example:

A: at the present time, not in the past or future = NOW
B: past simple and past participle of win = WON

Now try these:
(Definitions from The Cambridge Dictionary)

A. the part in the middle of the arm where it bends
B. in a lower position (than), under

A. costing little money or less than is usual or expected
B. a round fruit with sweet yellow flesh that has a lot of juice,

A. the planet third in order of distance from the sun
B. the organ in your chest that sends the blood around your body

A. armed fighting between two or more countries or groups
B. (of food) not cooked

A. to (cause something to) separate suddenly or violently into two or more pieces
B. a person whose job is to make bread and cakes for sale,

A. (especially of liquids, gases, or electricity) to move in one direction, especially continuously and easily
B. a wild animal of the dog family

A. The soft part of the body of a person or animal that is between the skin and the bones,
B. a long, flat board fixed horizontally, usually against a wall or inside a cupboard so that objects can be stored on it

A. very interested, eager, or wanting (to do) something very much
B. the middle joint of the leg that allows the leg to bend

A. the third month of the year
B. a quality that makes you like or feel attracted to someone or something

A. used to indicate duty; should
B. strong; not easily broken or made weaker

Nonet

A Nonet is a 9-line poem where each line contains 1 syllable less than the line before. So the first line contains nine syllables, the second has eight, the third has seven, and so on.

I asked my class to complete the sentence Monday (or Tuesday) is ___ and complete with adjectives, feelings and language of comparison or anything they wanted. The B2 group used some recent vocabulary. Here are some examples of what we put together as a group on the whiteboard:

Monday (An A2/B1 level Nonet)

Monday is more boring than Friday
It is not as great as Friday
Monday is a normal day
Monday is the worst day

It is depressing
disappointing

annoying
It’s bad
Man

Monday (A B2 level Nonet)

Monday is the worst day of the week

Monday is as bad as Sunday

Monday is a confession

Monday is pitiful

Monday is tiring

It is pure hell

Monday night

It is 

odd

Tuesday (A C2 level Nonet)

The day the gates of hell open wide
Tuesday is no bed of roses
Seldom do weeks cease to be
Hearts will be filled with woe
There’s no salvation
That’s depressing
Or is it?
It is
Help!

Flip

Flippity is a great tool, which turns spreadsheets into activities for class. One of my favourites is the Randomizer. This week, inspired by the game Quicktionary, I have been playing categories using it. I have made easy, medium and advanced versions. How would you use it?

Under the Weather

What happens when you're ill?
What do you think and how do you feel?
What do family or friends say?

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

I'm ill, I'm ill
The T.V is on
I'm doing my homework in my bedroom.

I'm ill, I'm ill
my mother's shouting
the dog is barking
the phone is vibrating

I'm ill, I'm ill
my sister is singing
'You should be at school!'
'Do you have exams?' asks my Mother

I'm ill, I'm ill
I'm not at school
I miss my friends
I wish it was summer

I'm ill, I'm ill
I feel bad
I am in pain
I
am
BORED.

Between Us

In class or in a group:

What is between us? Be it obvious or abstract.

Make a list.

Here's mine from the CPE class:

Air

I don't understand

Rose tinted glasses

The humming of working brain cells

The chaos of philosophical questions

masked as C2 tasks

Orange

All these things are of a similar colour:

1, a lifejacket | a traffic cone | a basketball

2, a carrot | a pumpkin | a black box

3, a Dorito | a tiger | a goldfish

Choose one group of three and:

1, Say three things you know about one of the words?
2, Are any things in the list that are sometimes not orange?
3, How are some things similar in each group of three?
4, Which one 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?

A Poetry Party

A poetry template by Joseph Fasano (Link to Twitter)

My Poem (Title)

My name is (name).

Today I feel like a/an (adjective) (noun)

    (verb)ing in the (noun).

Sometimes I am a/an (noun).

Sometimes I am a/an (noun).

I ask the world, “(question)?”

And the answer is

    a / an (repeat your words from line 2).

Here are some examples from my class:

My Reason to Live

By Aimar (aged 12)

My name is Aimar.

Today I feel like a drunk man

    trying to relax in a hot, small park.

Sometimes I am a dog.

Sometimes I am a cat.

But always I am a happy, shiny heart.

I ask the world “What is my reason to live?”

And the answer is

    a drunk man

    trying to relax in a hot, small park.

A Sloth in the Sand

(By Sofía aged 9)

Template edited for younger students

My name is Sofía

Today I feel like

    a sloth in the sand

I love my sofa

I don’t like walking

But always I am happy

I ask the world “What is life?”

And the answer is

    a sloth in the sand

CPE

Class effort (Various ages 16 +)

My name is Bob.

Today I feel like a damp sponge

absorbing the desert.

Sometimes I am a cactus.

Sometimes I am tumbleweed.

But always I am empty.

I ask the world, “Is there any real question at all?”

And the answer is 

a damp sponge

absorbing the desert.

Original Template:

True or False?

I am good at singing (T/F)

but I am not good at dancing (T/F)

I am good at writing (T/F)

but I am not good at drawing (T/F)

I am good at playing basketball (T/F)

but I am not good at playing football (T/F)

I am good at playing computer games (T/F)

but I am not good at cooking (T/F)

Joke

1, Which month has 28 days?
2, Which letter of the alphabet has the most water in it?
3, What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs?
4, What has to be broken before you can use it?
5, Why is number 6 afraid?
6, A cowboy rode into town on Friday, stayed three days, and left on Friday. How is this possible?
7, Do you know where horses go when they are ill?
8, Which room has no doors or windows?
9, Jamie's mother had three children. The first child was called April. The second child was called May. What was the name of the third child?

10, Before Mount Everest was discovered, what was the highest mountain?

11, Which is correct: The yolk of the egg is white or The yolk of the egg are white?
12, Why won’t the elephant use the computer?
13, What did the maths book tell the pencil?
14, Where do cows go on dates?
15, What always falls and never gets hurt?
16, What room is a dead person most afraid of?
17, What is orange and sounds like parrot?
18, What did one eye say to the other eye?

You'll have to search for the answers if you don't know them :)

The Rule of 3

These questions, and any follow up questions, must be answered in no more and no less than THREE words.

Example:

What is your name?

It is Steve

Do you like your name?

Yes, I do.

Can you spell it?

Yes I can

With letters

Yes with letters

1, What is your name?

2, Where do you live?

3, Tell me about your school?

4, Have you got a pet?

5, Have you got a brother or sister?

6, What do you normally have for breakfast

7, Do you like ice cream?

8, What do you do in your free time?

9, What did you do yesterday?

10, What's the weather like today? 

Homophone

Homophones are pairs of words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings.

example: for and four

Here is a list of homophones. Can you think of a word you can pair it with?

1, some
2, sale
3, meat
4, here
5, die
6, break
7, flour
8, right
9, weather

10, sell

Now you have the pairs. Choose one number and make a sentence using both

example: I waited for four days for four people to hand in four assignments for goodness sake.

Purple

All these things are of a similar colour:

1, an aubergine | grapes | plums

2, a bruise | a jellyfish | Barney

3, carrots | a jacaranda tree | lavender

Choose one group of three and:

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

2, Are any things in the list that are sometimes not purple?

3, How are some things similar in each group of three?

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

5, Which ones are useful / positive for you?

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

Drawing by Alejandro

Homograph

A Homograph is a word that is spelled the same but has a different meaning.

Can you think of two meanings for these?

1, fly
2, light
3, can
4, bat
5, present
6, second
7, kind
8, park
9, ring
10, saw

Can you make a sentence using both words
For example: for three seconds he was in second place.

Now can you work out any of these from the two meanings?

1, genre of music / a stone
2, to bend at the waist / the front of a boat
3, stress or emphasis / a manner of speaking 
4, to pair similar items / a small stick for making a fire
5, happy or satisfied / all that is contained in something
6, correct / direction opposite of left
7, part of body / to return
8, a trees outer layer / the sound a dog makes
9, hot, arid region / to leave
10, Rip something up / water falling from your eye

Here is a great Homograph application made by Byrdseed.

Linking Park

1, Link the sentences: Level 1.

1, The telephone rang. I was having a shower.

2, You must wait here. I come back.

3, You should peel a banana. You eat it. 

4, You should eat a banana. You peel it. 

5, We can watch the film. I get home.

6, I have lived here. I was a baby.

7, I’ll close the window now. It rains later.

8, I will buy it. I get some money

9, We will have a picnic tomorrow. It’s raining cats and dogs.

Some ideas if needed:

while, in case, after, unless, if, when, before, until, since

2, Link the sentences: Level 2.

Using these words once only:

as | such as | in fact | but | so | or | even though | first, then and finally | and

1, I like this. I don't like that.
2, I like this. I like that
3, She had to do it all again. She never studies.
4, She studies hard. She gets good grades.
5, We could do this. We could do that.
6, I like a lot of sports. I like football. I like tennis. I like basketball.
7, We went for a walk. It was raining. 
8, Turn on the laptop. Enter the password. Open the Platform.
9, I don’t like this and I don’t like that. I don’t like anything.

If I Could Write Words – Spike Milligan

If I could write words
    Like leaves on an autumn forest floor
        What a bonfire my letters would make

If I could speak words of water
    You would drown when I said
        I love you

Remember

This is a simple writing activity inspired by Joe Brainard's book which results in a poetic list of past things by simply completing the sentence:
I remember ___

The topic could be the past in general or something more specific, which i felt would be better in class, like one of the school holidays.

To assist:

What things

What people

What actions

What feelings
What nature

What fun and games

What sights and sounds
What tastes and smells

do you remember from last summer?

Try to expand on sentences rather than just I remember going to the beach. Why did you go? Who with? What happened? What did people say? How did you feel?

TWOtoFIVE

In the spaces below you must try and write between 2 and 5 words. Each word is valued at one point. 25 points available for the five sentences – but they must be grammatically worthy.

Example:
They _____ to the park on Saturdays.
They take their two dogs to the park on Saturdays. (4 points)

1, I _____ to school every day.

2, My cat likes to _____ on the sofa.

3, Can you _____ me your phone, please?

4, She _____ a book from the shop yesterday.

5, We _____ dinner at 9 o'clock every evening.

Artwork by Laura

Green

All these things are of a similar colour:

1, a frog | a snake | seaweed

2, a tree | an apple | a cactus

3, a tennis court | grass | seaweed

Choose one group of three and:

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

2, Are any things in the list that are sometimes not green?

3, How are some things similar in each group of three?

4, Which one 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?

Green. By my class. #theirwordsmyverse

Speech

Who is the speaker in each of these sentences?
And who is being spoken to?

1, 'Don't sing at the table'

2, 'Is there a tourist office near here?'
3, 'You must train harder'
4, 'I'll have the steak, please'
5, 'You are not allowed to speak during the exam.'
6, 'I've never seen him before in my life.'
7, 'I left it at my grandparents house.'
8, 'Do you know how this started?'
9, 'Where are we?'

10,'Can you slow down a bit!'

Now report these sentences using reported speech or reporting verbs.

Drawing by Hugo

Life of Pi

A PiDay poem is made up of words where the length of each word is the same as each digit of Pi.

For example: The sentence would start with a 3-letter word then a 1-letter word, 4-letter word, 1-letter word, 5-letter word and so on related to the number 3.14159265

Make your own poem.

Here are a couple from my class:

Family Tree

Write down the name of three members of your family.
(a brother, a cousin, a grandmother etc.)

With somebody else, look at your lists and ask each other the following questions:

1, Who's _____?
2, How old are they?
3, What do they look like?

4, What do they do?
5, What do they like doing in their free time?
6, Do you get on with them?

7, How do you stay in touch with them?

8, Do they have any bad habits?

9, What plans do they have?

On The Road

Complete the following sentence using exactly twenty more words:

It was a trip i'll never forget ____

Just writing a sentence might be too easy, if so, can you make it a story where there is a change of emotion or a problem solved.

If inspiration lacks use a random word generator 

The Peace of Wild Things

White

All these things are of a similar colour:

1, flour | milk | rice | polar bear | golf ball

2, Arctic wolf | iceberg | bird poo | bones | snow

3, cauliflower | cloud | Donald Duck | wedding dress | ghost

4, mozzarella | chocolate | house | teeth | toilet

Choose one of the four groups above and:

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

2, Are any things in the group that are sometimes not white?

3, How are some things similar in the group?

4, Which one(s) is/are 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?

Eight Ways with Meatballs

What words
What people
What feelings
What nature
What actions
What sounds
What numbers
What sights

do you associate with meatballs?*

* You may like to try another common noun, abstract noun or unit topic...

examples:

What sounds do you associate with playgrounds?

What people do you associate with happiness?

What feelings do you associate with holidays?

What words do you associate with chicken?

What sights do you associate with Australia?

The Power of the Tree

The word is tree

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

Some efforts from my class placed into verse:

The Tree

A:     I have bought a tree
        I sat under the tree yesterday
        You should look at the tree
        because it has beautiful flowers
        The tree is going to grow
        You should draw the tree

B:     I have eaten the tree

Alphabet Dialogue

In this 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?