Stereotypes: First thing that comes to your head when you think of England...

One minute express English video. National Stereotypes. 

Aim: students talk about stereotypes
Level: from basic to higher intermediate
Procedure:

• ask  the following question to the students/give the students time to write down their answers

What do you think of when you see the word

 ENGLAND

• students compare their answers
• studedents compare their answer and the  answers of  London dwellers in the video

THIS  IS WHAT PEOPLE FROM LONDON SAID:



Video Source : BBC express English HERE
Go  HERE to download the script too

Extension for Multicultural classrooms

1. Give students countries,  continents or world areas that are not their own but that are present in the classroom 
2. Ask the same question:  What do you think of when you see the word: ..............................
3. Students from those areas tell us whether the information their classmates gave is accurate

 

Third Conditional Drill. The story of Penelope and Ferdinand + three wishes extension

OLD TASK WITH EXTENSION EXERCISE ADDED. CHECK THIS AGAIN!!

Aim: practice the third conditional structure

Procedure: teacher tells students an extravagant story, which includes an evitable death. The plot is devised in such a way that various characters (or weather conditions) could be blamed for the demise of one of the characters.
Ask students to take notes as you tell them the story. Otherwise they will forget the plot.
When the teacher finishes telling the story, students work in pairs to decide who is to blame and why. They need to produce several different sentences.

Sample sentences you may expect from your students:

• Caroline is guilty: If she had not said anything about Ferdinand and Penelope, Gabriela would not have listened. 
• Ferdinand is to blame:  If he has not driven fast, the car would not have crashed.

This can be your  base story. Adapt it to the level of your students.

The story

A friend of mine has just died. I am going to tell you how it happened.

My friend’s name was Ferdinand. Not a long time ago he started dating a girl, whose name is Penelope. Penelope’s family is really upper class and since Ferdinand was the son of the baker, Penelope’s mother disapproved of their relationship. Last week the mother, Caroline, said publicly that Ferdinand was not worth of her daughter. She said this aloud while shopping on market day. Unfortunately Ferdinand’s cousin, Gabriela, was among the listeners. Gabriela could not help but tell Ferdinand about the gossip in the market...

Click HERE to download the rest of the story.

EXTENSION: 

THREE WISHES 1 minute  VIDEO  by BBC Express English

Procedure:

• Ask the students this question:

IF YOU HAD THREE WISHES WHAT WOULD THEY BE? 

• Watch BBC three wishes video
• Compare your answers 

   
  
Video source. BBC Learning English HERE 

Describing and drawing a picture

 PICTURES  FROM THE PROVIDED POWER POINT

OLD TASK WITH NEW  ADDED PICTURES!!!
Materials:

• Students need a blank sheet.
• Students need to see the picture you/they  describe at the end of the task

 You can print the picture you describe, use one from the textbook or  use any of the options in this Power Point

Level:  Some of the pictures provided might be difficult to describe. Use or find pictures that cover vocabulary  seen in class. Whatever the level, students should know prepositions/expressions of location (to the left, underneath..)
Remember, click Power Point if you want to use the provided options.

Procedure:  
First STEP: Model the task 

• Pre teach necessary" location"  vocabulary (background, to the left, to the right, underneath …) and/or mime necessary vocabulary (wheelchair for first picture, for example) as you describe the pictures.

• Describe any of the pictures in the Power Point (or any other from the text book). Students should not see the picture until the end of the task.
•  Show the picture
• Students compare their pictures and decide if they missed something or misunderstood something

Next STEP: Depending on the level:

Option A) Students can  create a short text responding questions about the picture. Some possibilities are:
What are the characters thinking/saying?
Why are they there?
What are they going to do next?

Option B) Most students  sit with their back to the board  so that they don't see the projected picture.

• One or two students,  facing the board and watching the picture (from a print or the projector),  describe a picture to his/her/their  classmate(s) 
• Students compare their pictures and the projected picture.

Option B works better if the students explaining the picture have had time to prepare. I allow them to take a picture of the image to describe some days before so that they can prepare the presentation. 

REMEMBER: The teacher can use one of the pictures included in the power point, a picture from the textbook or bring his/her own picture.

By Maria Zabala

Parisian Love: vocabulary, speaking and writing task

Aim: students speak and/or write about long distance relationships
Procedure: students prepare to watch a 50 second  video about a long distance relationship  by carrying  out the tasks provided on the enclosed PowerPoint. Later students write a composition on the subject.
Possible special occasion: St. Valentine's
Level: B1 or higher. Also a good task to help students write their first composition in PAST SIMPLE

You can download the materials from this site HERE 

Sample of task on Power Point

Materials:

•  Video: Parisian Love. You can watch it on-line (Youtube) or download it with the rest of the materials
• Teacher's Notes. Key to task
• Power Point with task for the students  

You can download the materials from this site HERE  

THIS IS THE VIDEO 

Tasks by María  Zabala Peña.

Thanks to John Lavery,  speaker at the September 2013 British Council workshops 
for providing me with this video

People's names game

Aim: students have fun learning new words
Level: pre-intermediate or higher
Procedure/ Summary: students or/and teacher translates names of class members or well-known local people into English.  Other students guess the hidden identity.

See next  an example for students in  Catalonia, Spain. You need to adapt the examples to your country.
These examples have been provided by John Lavery, 2013 British Council Workshop.

Part A: teacher "translates" into English the names people who are famous in Spain . Students guess who these people are

Example for Catalan students:


In pairs look at these two word texts. How are these people better known?

1. Joey Moneybox
2. Sawmountain Knight
3. Anthony Enjoy
4. Saviour Givehim
5. Andrew Goodfountain
6. Agnes Taylor
7. Anne Bottle
8. Arthur More
9. Justino Castor

Solutions: Josep Guardiola (guardiola in Catalan is a piggy bank), Montserrat Caballé (opera singer), Antonio Gaudí (Architect) , Salvador Dalí (Artist/painter) , Andreu Buenafuente (Tv presenter/Showman), Inés Sastre (model), Ana Botella (Politician), Arthur Mas (Politician), Justin Beever :-)

Part B: students in pairs or groups  "translate" into English  either the names of other famous people from their area or the names of  their classmates, or both.   The students write the names on the board. Later the whole class or groups guess who the people are. 

Thanks to  John Lavery,  speaker at the  September 2013 British Council Workshop for providing me with this idea.

Autonomous Learning: video tasks for teenagers and adults by the British Council

Aim: this British Council site contains videos with pre-watching and post watching tasks for teenagers but most of the topics should appeal to adults too.

 Click HERE to access the British Council videos for teens page.

Level: the level of the tasks are indicated under each video. Most I have seen are B1 or B2 but check for other levels.

This site belongs to the British Council

Topics: there is a very wide range of topics, from food, tourism and street art to homes of the future and European integration. See below for somme suggestions.

Procedure: Videos come with:

• on line self corrective pre-watching and post watching tasks.
• a printable version of the same  tasks that the teacher may bring to class. The t

These tasks could be carried out:

• by the students on their own.
• in class by projecting the on-line tasks on the White Board.
• in class, with the help of the teacher by distributing a photocopiable version of the tasks.

Suggestions:
B1 - Multicultural Britain: HERE
B1- Food in Britan: HERE


Click HERE to access the British Council videos for teens page 

Seven easy to prepare communicative tasks

Level: Indicated before each activity. The level of tasks goes from easier to more difficult.
Materials: Strips of paper/pieces of paper/ or nothing

Game 1: Ask the teacher some questions
Level: students should be able to write basic questions

Students write questions for the teacher on strips of paper. The teacher answers (for higher levels, only if correctly formed) for about 15m by going round the classroom. Then students work in groups to write the teacher’s biography with one untrue fact. Groups take turns reading their bios and figuring out what is false.
Game 2: Passing notes
Level: students should be able to write basic questions

Teacher hands students several slips of paper, on which they write their name in the lower left corner and the name of someone they want to exchange notes with in the upper right. They write a note, asking at least one question, and then deliver it. Students answer notes and pass them back.

Game 3: What's the number?  
Level: students should be able to write simple sentences in present

Teacher gives small groups of students a number 0-10. Students write 3 riddles or sentences that hint at number on a piece of paper (e.g. a dog has this number of legs). Groups exchange papers and add two similar sentences. Repeat. Discuss favourite riddles, hang up on wall, etc.

Game 4: Conversation with an object
Level: students should be able to write questions. Vocabulary depends on chosen object but this tends to be more complicated than previous tasks. Eg. If you speak to a sock, you may want to use words such as “sweaty” or “wool” .

Teacher tells students to think of an everyday object (e.g. tea kettle, a sock, a pen..). Then students should write a conversation with that object without stopping their pens. Teacher lets students write for 3-5m. Students can exchange papers, ask questions.

Game 5: Blog on paper
Level: students need to contribute points of against or in favour of a statement. This requires somehow higher skills

For 20 students the teacher prepares 5 papers with different leading question at top (e.g., The driving age should be raised to 22. Agree or disagree? Why?). Make 4 copies of each paper and distribute. Students have 5m to respond, then exchange papers and reply for 5m.

Game 6: I yelled at my teacher  (or mother,  boyfriend... you name it!)
Level: students should be able to write sentences in the past/future and use the connectors you provide
 Teacher gives pairs of students a paper with "I yelled at my teacher"(or other person of your or the student's choice). in the middle of the page. Students take slips of paper with connectors (then, so, after that, before +ing, etc.) from bag and must build story above or below the sentence.

Game 7:  Connecting the Top 40
You MAY want to use  a projector for this task  
Level: higher as the titles of the top 40 songs may be difficult

Distribute and review list of the current Top 40 song titles. If you don’t want to use a list on paper, just type “top 40 BBC” in the search engine (google or other) and project the list on the board.

Working alone or in pairs, students write a short narrative using 10 of the titles (unchanged). E.g., One day while hiking, I went Off the beaten path. I ended up getting very lost and couldn't find my way out of the forest. Finally, at 8:18, I heard...

Attention: the week of the 30 of September, hit number one was “Talk dirty”. If your students are underaged, check the list before projecting it.

Thanks to Kirk Moore, speaker at the British Council workshop on September 2013 for sharing these ideas, which he has compiled from different sources.

I have adapted Mr. Moore's talk for my blog and therefore I hold responsibility any mistakes or omissions that may appear.

Magic Box Poem. Add things to put inside the box and finish the poem by describing the box

Aim: students add lines to the Magic Box poem.
Level:  students need to be able to write simple present tense sentences and understand most of the poem below.
This task is suitable to all levels and should help integration of students in multicultural classrooms.
Procedure: students read (all or part of) the poem Magic Box by Kit Wright and add lines to the poem.

Attention: The poem is too difficult for my students so I have  adapted it to my lower levels. I have chosen the easiest verses. Since the word SUN appears two times and they are too close in the adapted version, I have  substituted SUN for FUN in one of the verses. I hope the author approves the change!

Find underneath:

• the adapted version of the poem, that is to say the poem with the easiest verses
• the whole poem. 

Just copy and paste the poem on a Word Document, change the suggested underlined  words to suit the origin of your students. Project it on the board and ask the students to read the poem aloud and to add stanzas to the poem.

Suggested procedure for adding verses to the poem and for creating a whole class poem: students work in groups to create new stanzas. Each Group writes their best stanza on the board.  Number the stanzas and have all students to read their class poem aloud.

Materials:

• a projector to show the poem to the students

THE MAGIC BOX, by Kit Wright (ADAPTED). Substitute underlined word by places that represent the origin of your students. 

I will put in the box
the tip of a tongue touching a tooth
a sip of the bluest water from Lake Lucerene,
and the first smile of a baby.

I will put in the box
three violet wishes spoken in Gujarati,
the last joke of an ancient uncle
a fifth season and a black sun

I will put in the box
a cowboy on a broomstick
and a witch on a white horse.
the colour of the my fun

I will put in the box…

YOUR TASK

Complete the poem. 

A) What would you put in the box? 
B) Finish the poem by adding a description of your box? 

• What does the  box look like? 
• What is it made of?   
• What shape does it have?

These are the verses my 2014-15 school year added.

Attention: Students have added these stanzas. They are posted  EXACTLY as the students entered them.

1. I will put in the box 
a sweet kiss and a hot night
good memories of our chilhood
a rainbow in the sky.

2. I will put in the box
 the smile off my grandparents
and the my parent's love
a twilight with my loved one.

3. I will put in the box
photos of my family
to remember the good times
that we had in the past

4. I will put in the box
a lot of food
and a piece of fruit
and a glass of soda

5. I will put in the box
another smaller box
inside it  will have something smoller
it is said our wedding ring 

6.I will put in the box 
happy moments with my friends
the day I passed my catalan exam 
a lovely smile of my father


 

THE MAGIC BOX, by Kit Wright (Complete version)

I will put in the box

the swish of a silk sari on a summer night,
fire from the nostrils of a Chinese dragon,
the tip of a tongue touching a tooth.

I will put in the box

a snowman with a rumbling belly
a sip of the bluest water from Lake Lucerene,
a leaping spark from an electric fish.

I will put into the box

three violet wishes spoken in Gujarati,
the last joke of an ancient uncle,
and the first smile of a baby.

I will put into the box

a fifth season and a black sun,
a cowboy on a broomstick
and a witch on a white horse.

My box is fashioned from ice and gold and steel,
with stars on the lid and secrets in the corners.
Its hinges are the toe joints of dinosaurs.

I shall surf in my box
on the great high-rolling breakers of the wild Atlantic,
then wash ashore on a yellow beach
the colour of the sun.

You may want to visit the Poetry Society page on ideas on how to use this poem HERE 

Thanks to John Lavery, at the September 2013 British Council workshop  in Barcelona for providing me with this idea.