Question Chain
Age: any
Materials: none
Procedure: Choose a question- this can be a warm- up question or the target language you want to revise or practice. Students can sit at their desks, stand in a circle or sit in a circle. The teacher asks a student the target question, to which the student responds. That student asks the next student the target language. You can allow them to choose the person they want to ask or establish a pattern beforehand. The question chain goes around the classroom and the last student asks the teacher.
The Dice Game
Age: 5 years old
Materials: dice (a big fuzzy one if possible) and five flashcards
Procedure: Put five flashcards face up on the board. I usually do this activity with Zoo Animals but any vocabulary set can be used. Elicit and drill the flashcards in order. Turn the cards over but keep them in the same order and write the numbers 1-5 above or below the cards. I usually ask for volunteers- ‘Who wants to go first? Who’s next? etc’. Each pupil comes up to roll the dice (softly tossing it on the floor) as we all chant, ‘Roll the dice!’ This keeps them all involved and focused on the activity at hand. The child who rolled the dice then has to say what number he or she rolled and then try to remember which flashcard corresponded to that number. We turn the card over to check if their answer is correct and then we turn the card back over again so that more pupils can have their turn.
I like ____. / I don’t like ____.
Age: 5 years old
Materials: flashcards or drawings that represent ‘I like ___’ and ‘I don’t like ___’.
flashcards of food (or another vocabulary set)
Procedure: Put the flashcard for ‘I like ___’ on one side of the board and ‘I don’t like ___’ on the other (or draw faces to represent those concepts). A group of 5-6 students stands in a line in front of the board, facing it. The teacher stands between the board and the line of students. Show one of the flashcards of the food. Students say the name of the food and then take one step to the left or one step to the right as they say, ‘I like _____ or I don’t like ______.’ We all say ‘in the middle!’ and they return to the line in the middle to start again.
Do you have any activities to share?