In this article I’ll introduce some short ,easy-preparing activities to supplement the longer teaching procedures that make up the main body of an English course.

The need for short activities

In this article I’ll introduce some short ,easy-preparing activities to supplement the longer teaching procedures that make up the main body of an English course.

When preparing the lesson, teachers start by planning the main items they want to include : the teaching of a new grammar point , for example, or a grammar exercise , or the reading of a text . But once you have prepared the main components of the lesson , and made sure it is / hopefully!/ learning –rich , varied and interesting , you may find you still need some extra ingredients to make it into a smooth ,integrated unit . You may need , for example :

. A quick warm-up for the beginning to get your students into the right mood for learning ;

.An idea for a brief vocabulary review before starting a new text;

A light filler to provide relief after a period of intense effort and concentration;

A brief orientation activity to prepare a change of mood or topic;

A game or amusing item to round off the lesson with a smile.

Besides contributing to routine lesson planning , you may find these activities can be of use in non-routine situations as well: when, for example, you have to fill in for another teacher and need some quick, easily-prepared ideas for instant use; or for supplying extra content for an English club evening or English party ;for helping a group of new students to get to know one another; or for keeping students profitably busy when you unexpectedly have extra time on your hands. The teacher is probably the best judge of the appropriacy of an activity for the students.Here are some games and activities for teachers to use:

Do the Opposite dance

Watch children learn about opposites,including up , down,in and out, as they swing and sway to music.

Materials:recorded music, book about opposites

Objective: Children will learn about opposites through movement activities that incorporate large motor, language ,and creative movement skills.

In Advance: Talk to children about opposites. Encourage them to come up with examples of what they think opposites are.

ACTIVITIES

Invite children to play the following movement games to help them learn about opposites .

In , Out , Up , Down!

Invite the children to make a large circle and teach them this rhyming dance!

Take three steps in and clap, clap , clap

Take three steps out and snap, snap, snap

Bend your body way down low

Now push your body and up you go!

Step to the right and clap ,clap ,clap

Step to the left and snap , snap ,snap

Wiggle your body with a chill.Hold yourself steady and stand very still.

Simon’s Opposite

Use masking tape or chalk to make a large circle on the ground . Reinforce the concept of opposites with a game of Simon says. Substitute a teacher’s name for Simon .

Simon says: Stand inside the circle.

Simon says: Stand outside the circle .

Simon says :Shake your hands very fsat .

Simon says : Move your hands very slowly.

Simon says :Loudly yell “hooray!”.

Simon says : Quietly whisper “hooray!”.

Simon says : Run in place .

Simon says : Stand very still .

Simon says : Make a sad face.

Simon says : Make a happy face .

Adjectives and nouns

Position of adjective before noun;vocabulary.

Procedure:Students suggest adjective-noun phrases , for example ,’a black cat’ , ‘anexpert doctor’ . Contribute some yourself . As the phrases are suggested ,write the adjectivesin a column down the left-hand side of the board, and the nouns on the right-hand side ,so you will get something like this:

A black cat

An expert doctor

A brilliant student

A tidy room

A rainy day

A difficult problem

Then they volunteer ideas for different combinations, for example, ‘a black doctor’ , and you draw a line to join two words . See how many the class can make .If someone suggests an unusual or strange combination , they have to justify it – can you justify ‘an expert cat’, for example ?

Variation: For an advanced class you might try adverb-adjective combinations : ‘ desperately miserable’ , ’ reasonably fair’ , ect.

Brainstorm round a word

Vocabulary review and enrichment.

Procedure: Take a word the class has recently learnt , and ask the students to suggest all the words they associate with it. Write each suggestion on the board with a linejoiningit to the original word , in a circle , so that you get a ‘sunray’ effect .If the original word was ‘decision’ , for example , you maight get :

Think Talk Doubt

C ommittee Sure

D irector Decision Regret

Wonder Judge

Discuss Mistake Parliament

Or, at a simpler level:

D ress

Jeans Scarf

S ocks Clothes Skirt

Hat Coat

Shirt

The same activity can, of course ,be done as individual or pairwork instead of in the full class.

Don’t say yes or no

Oral questions / mainly yes/ no / and short answers.

Procedure: One volunteer student stands in front of the class. The rest fire questions at him or her, with the aim of electing the answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ . The volunteer has to try to answer the questions truthfully without these words. This will mostly be through the use of ‘tag’ answers such as ‘I did ‘ or ‘She does not’. If the volunteer does say the forbidden words , he or she is ‘out’ and another is chosen.Give a time limit of one minute; if within that time the volunteer has not said ‘yes’ or ‘no’ , he or she has won .

Variation: The class is divided into two teams. A student from team A answers questions from team B , until he or she says ‘yes’ or ‘no’ . Then it is the turn of someone from team B to answer team A. Time each turn carefully . The winning team is the one whose representative has lasted longer without pronouncing the forbidden words.

Rules of the game

Walk the Walk

Guess the adverb that describes the way a teammate walks.

How to Play :

Decide in what order team members will act out the adverbs.

When it’s your turn to act ,draw an adverb from the bag.You have 60 seconds to act out the verb walk in the stile of the adverb .As an actor , you can’t speake , but you can use or pretend to use props .

If your teammates can guess the adverb within the time limit , your team scores two points . If they name a synonym of the adverb ,your tea m earns one point . For example ,the adverb joyouslyis synonymous with joyfully,happily, or gladly . If teammates fail to guess the adverb , the team gets no points for that round .

The other team takes a turn . Teams alternate turns until every member has had at least one chance to act .Then team with the higher score wins.

Materials:

*Walk the walk *Props/ optional/

Adverb Cards/in a bag/ *Timer

Word Cards

Walk the Walk Adverbs

References

References

Penny Ur and Andrew Wright-Five-minute activities

Cambtidge University Press2009

Noun Hounds and Other Great Games

Read-write-think-copyright 2003NCTE/IRA

Կարճ առաջադրանքների անհրաժեշտությունը դասապրոցեսին

Այս հոդվածում ես ցանկանում եմ ներկայացնել մի շարք հեշտ նախապատրաստվող,կարճ առաջադրանքներ,որոնց կիրառումը կնպաստի դասապրոցեսն ավելի հետաքրքիր ու թեթև անցկացնելու համար:Դասին նախապատրաստվելիս ուսուցիչը սկսում է դասի գլխավոր կետերի պլանավորումից.նոր քերականական նյութի ուսուցում/օր.քերականական վարժություններ կամ տեքստի ընթերցանություն/:Բայց երբ ուսուցիչը նախապատրաստվում է դասին և համոզվում, որ այն հագեցած է ուսումնական նյութերով, բազմաբնույթ է և հետաքրքիր, նա կարող է լրացուցիչ բաղադրիչների կարիք ունենալ՝ դասն ավելի ինտեգրված,սահուն և թեթև անցկացնելու համար: Ուսուցիչն ինքն է որոշում տվյալ կարճ առաջադրանքի կիրառման նպատակահարմարությունը դասապրոցեսին:

Բանալի բառեր- ուսուցիչ,դասավանդում,ուսուցում,առաջադրանք,խաղ,ինտեգրված դաս,պլանավորում,նյութեր,բազմաբնույթ աշխատանքներ: