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?