Yellow

All these things are of a similar colour:

1,

the sun

banana

Pac-Man

2,

highlighter pen

NY taxi

Pokemon

3,

cheese

lemon

Sponge Bob

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 yellow?

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

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

5, Which ones are useful / positive for you?
6, When was the last time you experienced one of them?

Yellow. Words from my students.

What is a Grade?

"...an inadequate report of an inaccurate judgment by a biased and variable judge of the extent to which a student has attained an undefined level of mastery of an unknown proportion of an indefinite material"

Paul Dressel (1983)

Question Constraint

For these questions you must use the word in (brackets) in your answer.

1, How do you usually keep in touch with your friends? (and)
2, Tell me about your favourite teacher. (however)
3, What kind of things do you like reading? (for example)
4, What are you going to do this evening? (but)
5, Do you help your parents with jobs around the house? (such as)
6. What would you like to study in the future? (although)
7. How often do you go to the cinema? (well)
8. Have you ever travelled to France? (because)
9. What did you do last night? (so)

Normal Questions. Crazy Answers.

First, complete these questions with your own ideas.

How far...
How often...
When...
How much...
Who...
Which...
What...
Where..

example: How far is it from here to Madrid?

Next, answer the questions but using any of the following 10 random words in the answer.

head, giraffe, hat, handbag, daisy, sun, balloon, comic, holiday, handkerchief

example

It is 10,000 Giraffes to Madrid 

Why?

The Five Whys

This is a useful technique to get to the root of the problem, as demonstrated in the poem above, for an example closer to work we could ask why someone doesn't do their homework. Here is the method explained on wikipedia

The Individual

Let's think of an individual. Someone we all know, maybe someone famous or an animal or somebody we all read about. Now, let's work on these questions:

1, What is this individual best known for?
2, What other people / objects / developments are connected to this individual?
3, What things do you have in common with this individual?
4, What questions / wonders can you form about this individual? 

5, Imagine you are the individual, tell us something that you enjoy(ed) doing.
6, Create a question where the individual is the answer.

Based on the individual spotlight idea by Kate Jones (Twitter)

Drawing by Ana

The Colbert Questionert

Questions to ask people - taken (and slightly adapted) from The Colbert Questionert.

Apples or oranges?
What is the best sandwich?
What is the most used app on your phone?
What is your favourite / least favourite smell?
Window or Aisle?
Have you ever asked someone for their autograph / a selfie?
What is you favourite movie (at the moment)?
What number am I thinking of?
What's one thing you own that you really should throw out?
Exercise: worth it?
You get one song to listen to for the rest of your life: what is it?
What is the scariest animal?
Describe the rest of your (week / life) in 5 words.

Hey!

What's stopping you?

Words into Questions

First, write an item for each thing on this list:

1, An activity you enjoy doing (example: Basketball)

2, Something you sometimes do

3, A verb in gerund (ING) form

4, A place in your town

5 Another place in your town

6, Two subjects at school

7, Two countries on our planet

8, An APP on your/a phone

9, Your favourite sport / hobby

10, An object in the house (plural)

Now put your words in the questions below and ask them to a friend, partner or yourself.

1, What is the objective of ___? (Basketball)

2, When was the last time you ___?

3, Do you agree that ___ is important?

4, What is a benefit of ___?

5, What is the worst thing about ___?

6, Which is better: ___ or ___?

7, Are there any similarities between ___ and ___

8, What potential risks are there in using ___?

9, What advice could you give someone about ___?

10, How might ___ be different in the future?

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.

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?

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? 

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

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

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?

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?

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?