Tuesday, April 23

Ping Pong Proverbs

This idea from The Philosophy Guy:
Construct a sentence with a partner (or around a group) where you say alternating words in a sentence  – which starts with ALWAYS or NEVER. Is it a good proverb or nonsense? One example from my class below.

A: Always
B: Fly
A: Across
B: the
etc..




Monday, April 22

Banana

Player 1
Your verb is EAT (it's a secret)
You must make sentences for player 2 using this verb but when you want to say the verb you must say BANANA instead

Example: Did you BANANA any food last night?

Player two will try and guess the verb

Player 2
You are going to hear a sentence including the word BANANA. You must try and guess what verb BANANA is replacing.

Thoughts
It could be made more complex by using past simple or past participle forms or that a conditional form must be used (if you BANANA more vegetables you will feel better)

Here is random verb generator to help get you started
Here is a more advanced one
Hope you BANANA a good time.

Sunday, April 21

Alternative Proverbs

What is a proverb?

Do you know any in your own language?
Here are parts of some English proverbs.
Complete the sentences with your own ideas.

1, All good things must... 
2, Better late than... 
3, If it isn't broken... 
4, If you can't beat them... 
5, You can't teach an old dog...
6, Knowledge is...
7, ...is the best medicine.
8, No human is a...
9, Practice makes...

10, The early bird... 
11, The grass is always... 
12, The pen is mightier than... 
13, Time is... 
14, Too many cooks... 
15, You can take a horse to water... 
16, Children should be seen and not... 
17, Where there's smoke there's... 
18, You can't always get... 


Compare yours with the originals.

Here are some from my class:

All good things must... happen
Better late than... dirty
If it isn't broken... use it
If you can't beat them... confuse them
You can't teach an old dog... maths
Knowledge is... nature
Sleep ...is the best medicine
No man is a... ghost
Practice makes... humanity

The early bird... doesn't have a life
The grass is always... growing
The pen is mightier than... the pencil
Time is... over
Too many cooks... too much food
You can take a horse to water... but you'll get wet
Children should be seen and not... eaten
You can't always get... popcorn in the cinema.

Saturday, April 20

Exquisite Categories

This is a word-to-sentence game inspired by Exquisite Corpse. Complete the table below with the appropriate words (as shown in the second example). You will then have a table of words that can be made into sentences and which are willing to be played around with.






















For example these could be written out or done orally:

A: An artistic aunt asked for an awesome apple.
Mixed up: A colourful aunt became a beautiful doodle.
Using C and the word ALREADY: The colourful car had already cut through the calm countryside. (Notice the need to think about extra language here)
Using D and YET: Has the drunk doctor done a dirty doodle yet?
Using B and C and No sooner: No sooner had the artistic aunt asked for an awesome apple than a boring bowl had become a beautiful basketball.

and so on...

Thursday, April 18

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

Wednesday, April 17

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.



















Saturday, April 13

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

Friday, April 12

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!

Thursday, April 11

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?



Sunday, April 7

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.

Saturday, April 6

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

Thursday, April 4

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?

Wednesday, April 3

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:

Tuesday, April 2

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)

Monday, April 1

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 :)