Howmanyywords?

How many words are contained in each sentence.

1, Howdoyouusuallykeepintouchwithyourfriends?

2, Tellmeaboutyourfavouriteteacher.

3, Whatkindofthingsdoyoulikereading?

4, Whatareyougoingtodothisevening?

5, Doyouhelpyourparentswithjobsaroundthehouse?

6. Whatwouldyouliketostudyinthefuture?

7. Howoftendoyougotothecinema?

8. HaveyouevertravelledtoFrance?

9. Whatdidyoudolastnight?

Now answer them.

Drawing by Pelayo

Rank

Choose a number.

1, river, lake, ocean
2, chips, mashed potato, baked potato
3, cat, dog, rabbit
4, breakfast, lunch, dinner
5, England, France, Spain
6, Knife, fork, spoon
7, football, basketball, tennis
8, books, music, series

9, boat, train, bus

Can you rank the three words by one of these abstract nouns:

beauty, fear, adventure, cost, dislike, childhood, joy, anger, excitement

and explain your choices (if necessary)

Errosr

Can you find the errors in each sentenec?

1, I didn’t have any homeworks so I watched Netflix

2, My dad works like a lawyer 6 days a week
3, Since 3 days I have been trying to call you!
4, We are 6 in the group on Facebook
5, I might come to the party, it depends of my parents letting me
6, I did a mistake so I started again
7, After running to the bus stop we lost the bus
8, I’m agree with you about the best option
9, What means unhealthy?

Always, Sometimes, Never

Decide if these sentences are always, sometimes or never TRUE.

Explain your answers. 

1, I get up early on Saturdays
2, I do my English homework when we have it
3, If you add two odd numbers you get an odd number
4, The Antarctic Circle is located south of the equator
5, Cádiz province is a very hot place
6, The Olympic games take place every 4 years
7, It’s a good idea to use free software
8, Triangles have a line of symmetry
9, Water is a liquid

example

1, Sometimes True: I sometimes get up early on Saturdays because I have a basketball match. If I don't have a match I stay in bed.

News of the World

Here are some headlines:

Can you complete them with your own ideas?

1, Big risk for young people who are _____.

2, Scientists say _____ cream doesn't work.

3, Schools says plastic _____ should be banned.

4, Kids losing language skills due to _____.

5, The happiest country in the world is _____.

6, ____ are helping to save the world's oceans.

7, ____ triggers (starts) global recession.

8, EU says the minimum age to use WhatsApp is _____.

9, ______ swims under water for a record of 32 minutes.

Spoiler. Here are the original words removed:

1, obese  2, sun, 3, straws 4, emoji 5, Finland  6, sharks 7, pandemic 8, 16 9, penguin

Drawing by Hugo (Words added by me)

Comparative Categories

The word is: BUS

Now think of...

1. Something bigger than a bus:
2. Something smaller than a bus:
3. A verb that goes with bus:
4. A word that comes earlier in the dictionary than bus:
5. A longer word beginning with the same letter: 
6. A shorter word beginning with the same letter: 
7. An adjective to describe bus:
8. The opposite of that adjective:

9. Three things similar to a bus:

Now change the word and go again. To make it harder you could say all the answers have to include or start with the letter C. Or any other letter.

Where are the spaces?

OnegreyandrainymorninginTheBigApple(NewYork)inthecoldandsnowymonthofJanuaryFranachattybutgrumpytaxidriverateaverylargeandtastybreakfastasusualandthendroveherpassengersaroundandaroundthewonderfulcitythatneversleeps.

What word is missing?

Here are some answers to some questions. What word is missing?

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

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

10, I like listening radio

Remote Associates

What is wrong?

 (From Treasure magazine, 1963)

Some more modern stuff on Brightside

Metaphor

The topic is WEDNESDAY.

One person writes an adjective to describe it. Another writes a noun they relate to it (or random) without looking at each others. Then you put the two together and ask why? See example below. it might take a few goes to get a good one.

Other good topics: Any Proper or Abstract Nouns - Time is a/an.. Happiness is a/an... English is a/an...

Disappearing Sentence

Read the text. 

One grey and rainy morning in The Big Apple (New York) in the cold and snowy month of January, Fran, a chatty but grumpy taxi driver, ate a very large and tasty breakfast as usual and then drove her passengers around and around the wonderful city that never sleeps.

1, Each time you have read it eliminate five words. Then read again remembering the words you eliminated. Keep going until there is no text to see but it is all in your head. Recreate the text on paper.

Or

2, Look at the text.

Eliminate words in the text so that the text still makes sense. You can eliminate one, two or a maximum of three words in a row on one turn. You receive one point for each word eliminated.

For example in the sentence: One grey and rainy morning you could eliminate 'grey and' for two points or 'grey and rainy' for three.

You may end up with just one word left.

The Alphabet

This is a useful webpage from Lingolex (screenshot below)

Ways I have used it:

Alphabet Share - Tell me something about yourself using a letter.

P - I enjoy painting. Good for getting to know.

What did you do? Use a letter as inspiration to what you did yesterday / last week.

P - I picked up my prescription.

Connect. The topic is TRANSPORT. Can you think of a related word so we can turn all the hexagons from red to yellow?

P - Pilot

Blockbusters - Use all the above as a game, which you might know as Blockbusters.

3 in a line

This approach to the game inspired by Chris Roland. So that all squares are used and language maximised it's who gets the most threes in a line. Two variations seen below.

Examples from first game: A shark can't fly or A frog hasn't got wings will get you a O or X.

Interesting Questions

Fill the gaps as you see fit. Ask away til you've had enough of it.

How much / many ____ would fit into this room?
What three things would you do to improve this room?

How many ____ could you fit across this table?

Can you name an alternative use for a table?

Can you think of ten words between ____ and ____ in the dictionary?

Can you estimate how many ____ there are in your house / school / town?

If I gave you €20, what would you do with it today?

What things would you do if you didn't have to study / work?

Pick an APP on your phone. What are its pros / cons?

What is your favourite Google product?

Tell me 3 things you know about ____
If a ___ could talk what would it say?

If we didn't have ___ what would happen?

Fibonacci

A Fibonacci poem is based on the Fibonacci sequence 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21...

The first and second lines are one word, the third line is two words, the fourth three and so on. You could change words to syllables, which i think is the original way of doing it. Here is an example from my class using words. I provided the first word.

(1) rain
(1) wet
(2) water falling
(3) it's quite cold
(5) I feel like a penguin
(8) I can jump in a very big puddle
(13) my mother: PUT ON 13 COATS! my father: TAKE AN UMBRELLA WITH YOU!

7

Can you answer these questions in exactly 7 words?

1, How are you today?
2, What did you have for lunch?

3, What's the weather like today?

4, What do you remember from school today?
5, What did you do last night?
6, Do you like broccoli?
7, What would you do if you won 50 euros?
8, What plans do you have for this weekend?
9, What are you good at? 

Chunks

1) The topic is BASKETBALL

Can you use the chunks below to make sentences about it?
Example: One of the best things about Basketball is... 

2) What did you do last week? Use the chunks to help you answer.

Example: At the end of the week I had a pizza.

Image source: Wish I could remember.

Drawings by two different Alejandros

The More The Merrier

More from Herbert Puchta

Choose one question. In a couple of minutes how many answers can you think of?

1, What weighs more than it did half a year ago?
2, What looks different when it is cold than when it is hot?
3, What can you do at school, but not at home?
4, What can cats do that people can’t?
5, What can you use to protect yourself against the sun?

6, What’s your most creative excuse for not handing in your homework?

7, What would you never eat with salt?
8, What stays hot all winter?
9, What are things money can’t buy?

Guess The Year

What is something you like / dislike about the following companies?

What year do you think they were founded?

Year founded may be open to debate

(sources: Wikipedia And Steven McGuire Aceia conference 2010)

(Artwork by Álvaro)

Baloney

Can you spot the nonsense in each sentence?

1, Always wash a banana before you eat it.

2, They watched the show on the radio.

3, It’s starting to rain. Let’s take a towel along.

4, I used a dictionary to check the meaning of the traffic signs.

5, Spain is further away from France than from Germany.

6, She’s very fit. She never does any sport.

7, We’re both thirsty. Let’s stop playing for a moment and eat some biscuits.

8, She eats a lot of ice cream, even in winter. She just loves hot stuff.

9, It was so cold that people were not allowed to water their gardens or wash their cars.

For this idea and more check out Herbert Puchta.

Wednesday

Can you make a sentence using the letters of a day of the week? or any word?

Words Within Words

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

Artwork by Sandra

7

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

Tic Tac Tell

Example: My sister hurt her leg while playing basketball.

(artwork by Sandra)

Mad Libbing

Mad libs for exam 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 _____
How much / many _____ do you have at the moment?

(ing verb)
How good are you at _____?
How important is _____ to you?
What things do you associate with _____?
What are the pros and cons of _____?

(verb)
Do you have much opportunity to _____?

(adjective)

Would you describe yourself as _____? 
What is the _____ thing in your home town? (superlative)

(noun)

What would your dream _____ be? 

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

Teachings

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?

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

Positive Thinking

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

Answer these questions

1, What advice would you give a beginner?

2, What do you enjoy about it?

3, When was the last time you did it?

4, Whose feedback do you need?
5, Who/What stops you from doing it?

Present your ideas.

Flip it

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

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?

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

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