Short Activities!

My friend...?

I like to draw a picture of a man or a woman on the board. This usually gets a few
laughs as my drawing skills leave quite a lot to be desired. Anyway, the point of this
exercise is that you ask students questions about this mystery person. Begin with: 'What
is his / her name?' and go from there. The only rule that applies is that students have to
pay attention to what other students say so that they can give reasonable answers based
on what other students have said. This is a great little exercise to review tenses. The
crazier the story becomes the better, and more communicative, the activity is for the
students.

Short Topic Writing

The idea of this exercise is to get students to quickly write about a topic they choose (or
you assign). These short presentations are then used in two manners; to generate
spontaneous conversations on a wide range of topics, and to take a look at some
common writing problems. Use the following subjects and ask students to write a
paragraph or two about a subject they choose, give them about five to ten minutes to
write:

The best thing to happen to me today A landscape

The worst thing to happen to me today A building

Something funny that happened to me this week A monument

What I really hate! A museum

What I really like! A memory from childhood

My favorite thing My best friend

A surprise I had My boss

Music Description

Choose a short piece or excerpt of music you like (I prefer something by the French
composers Ravel or Debussy) and tell the students to relax and listen to the music. Tell
them to let their imaginations run free. After you have listened to the piece twice, ask
them to describe what they were thinking about or what they imagined while they were
listening to the music. Ask them why they had those particular thoughts.

Here are some grammar activities that can be used in a pinch:

Jumbled Sentences
Purpose: Word Order / Review

Choose a number of sentences from the last few chapters (pages) that you have been
working on in class. Make sure to choose a nice mixture including adverbs of
frequency, time signifiers, adjectives and adverbs, as well as multiple clauses for more
advanced classes. Type (or write on the board) jumbled versions of the sentences and
ask the students to reassemble them.

Variation:

If you are focusing on specific grammar points, have the students explain why certain
words are placed in certain places in a sentence.

Example: If you are working on adverbs of frequency, ask students why 'often' is
placed as it is in the following negative sentence: 'He doesn't often go to the cinema.'

Finishing the Sentence

Purpose: Tense Review

Ask students to take a piece of paper out for a dictation. Ask students to finish the
sentences that you begin. Students should complete the sentence you begin in a logical
manner. It's best if you use connecting words to show cause and effect, conditional
sentences are also a good idea.

Examples:

I like watching television because...

Despite the cold weather,...
If I were you,...
I wish he...

Listening for Mistakes

Purpose: Improving Students' Listening Abilities / Review

Make up a story on the spot (or read something you have at hand). Tell students that
they will hear a few grammatical errors during the story. Ask them to raise their hand
when they hear an error made and correct the errors. Intentionally introduce errors into
the story, but read the story as if the errors were perfectly correct.

Variation:

Have students write down the mistakes you make and check the mistakes as a class
when finished.

Question Tag Interviews

Purpose: Focus on Auxiliary Verbs

Ask students to pair up with another student they feel they know reasonably well. Ask
each student to prepare a set of ten different questions using question tags about that
person based on what they know about him / her. Make the exercise more challenging
by asking that each question be in a different tense (or that five tenses are used, etc.).
Ask students to respond with short answers only.

Examples:

You're married, aren't you? - Yes, I am.

You came to school yesterday, didn't you? - Yes, I did.
You haven't been to Paris, have you? - No, I haven't.

Here are some conversation activities that can be used to break the ice or keep the
conversation flowing:

Student Interviews

Purpose: Introducing Students to Each Other / Expressing Opinions

Choose a topic that you feel will interest the students. Ask students to write five or more
questions about this topic (students can also come up with the questions in small
groups). Once they have finished the questions, they should interview at least two other
students in the class and take notes on their answers. When the students have finished
the activity, ask students to summarize what they have found out from the students they
have interviewed.

This exercise is very flexible. Beginning students can ask each other when they do their
various daily tasks, advanced students can make up questions concerning politics or
other hot topics.

Who Wants a...?

Purpose: Convincing

Tell students that you are going to give them a present. However, only one student will
receive the present. In order to receive this present, the student must convince you
through his / her fluency and imagination that he or she deserves the present. It's best to
use a wide range of imaginary presents as some students will obviously be more
attracted to certain types of presents than others.

Examples:

A computer
A gift certificate for $200 at a fashionable store
A bottle of expensive wine
A new car

Describing Your Best Friend

Purpose: Descriptive Adjective Use

Write a list of descriptive adjectives on the board. It's best if you include both positive
and negative characteristics. Ask students to choose the two positive and two negative
adjectives that best describe their best friends and explain to the class while they chose
those adjectives.

Variation:

Have students describe each other!

Three Picture Story

Purpose: Descriptive Language / Reasoning

Choose three pictures from a magazine. The first picture should be of people that are in
some sort of relationship. The other two pictures should be of objects. Have students get
into groups of three or four students to a group. Show the class the first picture and ask
them to discuss the relationship of the people in the picture. Show them the second
picture and tell them that the object is something that is important to the people in the
first picture. Ask students to discuss why they think that object is important to the
people. Show them the third picture and tell them that this object is something that the
people in the first picture really don't like. Ask them to once again discuss the reasons
why. After you have finished the activity, have the class compare the various stories that
they came up with in their groups.

Here are some vocabulary activities that can be used to help students improve their
vocabulary skills, or activate vocabulary areas before beginning a lesson that will focus
on specific related vocabulary:

Odd Word Out

Purpose: Recognizing Word Groups

List words in groups of four or five. In the group their should be one word that does not
fit in that particular group. Students need to choose which word does not fit and explain
why.

Examples:

A computer A telephone A broom A television

Answer: a broom - because it is not an electrical appliance, it is not used to

communicate, etc.

Match Opposites

Purpose: For Lower Levels - Learning Adjectives / Comparative Language

Write two lists of adjectives on the board. The first list should contain adjectives and the
second the opposite of those adjectives. Students can then put this new vocabulary into
immediate use by then using comparative and superlative sentences to compare various
cities, objects, friends, etc.

Vocabulary Trees

Purpose: Learning Related Word Groups

Ask students to choose a room in the home or a particular subject area. Students should
put this room or subject area into the middle of a piece of paper and then think of all the
various related vocabulary, such as the various types of objects found in a room, and
add these words around the central room or subject. Under each of these further
categories, students should list the various objects in the category.