Haikus. What are they? Create your own

Level: B1 at least
Materials: Projector

What does Haiku mean?

• Haikus are a verse form originating from Japan. 
• Traditionally, haikus evoked images of the natural world, relating to seasons and nature. 
• The most famous haiku poet in Japan was Matsuo Bashō.

What’s the Pattern of a Haiku?

• Traditional haikus consist of three unrhymed lines and seventeen syllables. 
• A Haiku expresses a mood, a feeling or a thought.
• Haiku poems don’t need to rhyme, but for more of a challenge some poets try to rhyme lines 1 and 3.
• Each line has a set number of syllables. See below:

1. Line 1 – 5 syllables
2. Line 2 – 7 syllables
3. Line 3 – 5 syllables

An Example of a Haiku Poem

(5) The sky is so blue.
(7) The sun is so warm up high.
(5) I love the summer.

Hands on practice. Can you UNSCRAMBLE THESE HAIKUS ?

1.
An old silent pond..
Silence again.
A frog jumps into the pond, splash!

2.
A perfect evening!
Temple bells die out.
The fragrant blossoms remain.

3.
Silent sky turns gray.
Autumn breeze whispers,
Golden leaves dance on the ground,

SOLUTIONS 

An old silent pond..  A frog jumps into the pond, splash!  Silence again.

Temple bells die out.  The fragrant blossoms remain.  A perfect evening!

Autumn breeze whispers,  Golden leaves dance on the ground,  Silent sky turns gray.

 

 

ARE YOU READY TO CREATE  YOUR OWN  HAIKU? 

+Sources: https://timetolearnesl.wordpress.com/literature/haiku/ 

https://en.islcollective.com/english-esl-worksheets/general-topic/winter/haiku/49571  

 

 

Brain Teasers for B1 +

 

Materials: 

-Student A Riddles + Key to Student B riddles

-Student B Riddles + Key to Student B Riddles 

KEY (Teacher's version)

Piece of advice: collect the copies at the end of the class to be reused in future sessions. 

Find the materials:  HERE 

Timing: 90 to 120 min. It is ok to start and finish in different sesssions

Procedure: 

 Students work in Groups of 6 /8

-Forbid the use of mobiles  so that students do not cheat!

- Give 3/4 studetns  in each group of 6/8  students  a set of A riddle Question and the set   Riddle questions B to the other 3/4

- Each group of 3/4 students read and try to answer the Brain Teasers. There are teasers of many different levels 

When students give up

_ Give Studens A the asnwers for B riddles. These are not in order 

_Give Students B, the anwers to A  riddles. These are not in order 

Students mix:

- Send  1/2 students from A to B and vice versa so find the aswers

HAVE FUN!

Thanks to my student Laura de Azlor, who asked me to prepare a fun task using these materials

Source: 

https://parade.com/1025639/marynliles/brain-teasers/

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a41779999/riddles-for-adults/ 

https://www.rd.com/article/riddles-for-adults/ 

https://www.insider.com/brainteasers-with-simple-answers-2019-1

https://shaneschools.com/brain-teasers-students-can-solve-class/

https://thoughtcatalog.com/january-nelson/2020/08/riddles-2/

ESL Debate. Adoption

Objective: Students discuss to decide what to do with twin foundlings

Level: B2 +

Timing: 1 hour

Materials: Projector to show the list of criteria for adoption. Otherwise, copies of criteria

 Procedure: 

 Students work in groups (3 or 4 max.)

A)

• Tell students the story of the abandoned child (Story below) 
• Ask the questions. How should authorities react? ( Most groups would try to find the parents).
• Ask teams of students to be specific about practicalities:  the means to find the parents, how to ensure the parents are the real parents..., etc. Also,  authorities need to make sure the baby is not sick.

B) 

• Tell students the parents were not found. The foundlings are up for adoption.
• Tell students the administration is deciding on the adoption criteria. Project the criteria below.
• Students create a YES/NO checklist to decide the characteristics of the ideal parents. Students need to accept or rule out the adoption criteria (See below) providing compelling reasons.
• Ask students to add other criteria or caveats for the adoption. (See suggestions below)
• Students share their ideas/debate 

The story:

A truck driver was in a gas station. He was just about to get into his truck when he heard two babies screaming right in front of his wheel. He picked the babies up and took them to the authorities.
The authorities need to react.

Adoption criteria to discuss:

The ideal parents should:

[ ] be under 30 years old

[ ] be of the same racial group as the child

[ ] be of the same religious group as each other

[ ] be a married couple

[ ] be a heterosexual couple

[ ] both have jobs

[ ] have other children in the family

[ ] not be living in poverty

[ ] have some professional experience of dealing with children, i.e. as teachers or nurses


Suggestions

Authorities should a foster family, not family to adopt just in case the biological parents turned up

Siblings should not be separated.

Source: https://portaldalinguainglesa.blogspot.com/2016/10/adopting-child-eflesl-speaking-activity.html  (adapted)

Using 5 senses to describe a story.

 Are your students stories a bit "bland"?

Maybe we need to remind our students what the 5 senses are and what's their potential. 

Level: medium to high 

Materials: Rap video (see below), different sounds (use youtoube), different objects that teacher can bring. 

Procedure:

• Ask SS what the five senses are
• Brainstorm vocabulary for every sense: Ex: touch: rough, smooth.. 
• Students listen to RAP about the five senses. You may download video HERE if the  embedded video   fails to  open.  

• Sense of touch/smell : Students work in pairs/teams of 3. One of the students is blindolded. Students need to guess what the object is. They need to describe what they feel when they touched it and what the smell is like. Preparation:  teacher needs to bring objects. Students can pass the objects from group to group. You will need as many set of objects as number of groups: Suggestions: a bottle, skein, rubber band, sandpaper, paper bag, a potato, some salt/sugar...
• Sense of sound: Teacher plays sounds. You will find many on the internet. Suggestions: birds singing, baby wailing, sound of sea, cicadas, rustling of clothes, gusts of water,  pouring rain ... Students identify the sounds, and their names. 

Lazy stories to practice hypothesis: 3rd conditionals + modals ( might have, may have...)

Level: intermediate to high

Previous knowledge: 3rd conditionals/ compound modals 

Procedure:

• Download the handout with the texts to read: Click HERE to download the texts by George Chilton 
• Teacher (or students) read short texts for students to decide what might be happening or what they would have done.

Example: Text One.

I awoke one night to the sound of an insistent scratching at my bedroom window.
The wind was howling loudly and, very close-by, there was the distinctive cry of a baby wailing in distress.Where was it? On my window-ledge? This could not be! My whole body shook with fear.
Then I turned over and went back to sleep.

Click HERE to download the texts 

The source of the is: https://designerlessons.org/2012/01/21/esl-lesson-plan-student-centred-writing-activities/

Advanced reading. Telling about news with a fun twist

Level: upper intermediate/advanced  

Materials: 

Students need to read online news in teams. Therefore for this task, teacher will have to use either a personal computer per team or allow students to use their mobiles.  

If you do not have any of these devices available, you can choose the "Weird" pieces of news to print. 

Procedure:

• Divide classes in teams of 3 to 4 ss
• Give each student a different source of strange news. I suggest these: (some of the news may contain adult content) 

1. Weird News - Strange and Odd News Stories | Sky News
2. Weird News (huffpost.com)
3. Strange News - Weird Science News and Discoveries (livescience.com)
4. Weird News - Latest Bizarre & Strange News Stories - Express.co.uk

You will find more sources by typing  "Strange news" or "weird news" on any browser

• Each group picks a piece of news
• Each group invents a piece of news
• Each groups presents both pieces of news. Make ss explain difficult vocabulary first.
• Groups decide which piece is true,

Weatherman. Weatherwoman

Be ready to be the Weather Person 

Level. Intermediate or higher 

Timing: one hour

Procedure: 
Students watch TWO VIDEOS. Available HERE

Students prepare their own weather forecast. 

First video: This video provides B1 or + weather expressions.

Video title: Talking about the weather in English. (8 minutes) 

Students need to take notes of the vocabulary (chilly, freezing, you can see your breath, bundle up, drizzling, mist, spitting, chucking it down, overcast, dark overhead, a storm is brewing, scorching, boiling, baking hot, sleeting, frost....

Second video + vocabulary list:

Video title: Kaddy Lee Preston.Weather Woman ( 1 minute 50) 

Handout to project: Kaddy Lee Preston. Words to remember/learn

Student should make sure they understand the sentences/expressions on Kaddy Lee Preston Handout

Students listen to video and raise their hands when they hear the sentences.

Prepare to produce your own weather forecast to share it with the class or your team 

Debate. Structure, vocabulary and expressions. For and Against essay. Team work

 Level: intermediate and higher 

Students should be relatively fluent and be mature enough to bring arguments to class.

Materials: 

Projector

Enclosed docs:

• Model text to project/read: ‘Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being your own boss"
• Expressions/Vocabulary for debates
• Model text to discuss: Junk food should be banned
• List of topics for debates

Access docs  HERE 

Procedure:

A) 

• Divide students in groups of 3/4. 
• Assign roles within groups: Take notes of FOR argument/ take notes of  "Against Arguments"/ Take notes of language structures  (you can give the same roles to students)
• Project the text: Advantages and  advantages and disadvantages of being your own boss. You may copy the text into a Teleprompter HERE
• Students take notes according to their roles
• Students share their notes 

B) 

• Project and discuss the text: Expressions vocabulary for debates 

C) 

• Project model text: Junk food
• Encourage students to create sentences using the vocabulary/ expressions in step B) 

D) 

• Project list of topics for debate
• Each team creates a for/against text on a different/same? topic
• Students share their text

Access docs  HERE 

Sources:

https://evajorgeteacher.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/for-against-opinion-essays.pdf

https://debatewise.org/31023-junk-food-should-be-banned/

https://www.myenglishpages.com/english/communication-lesson-useful-expressions-for-debating.php

https://debatewise.org/

https://www.teachenglishabroad.co/ultimate-guide-to-engaged-ells/100-esl-debate-topics-that-will-get-your-students-fired-up

Expert-approved tips to tackle parenting in a pandemic/lockdown

Wondering how to handle sibling fights? Parenting expert Alyson Schafer checks in with The Morning Show to answer your lockdown parenting questions. 8 min video 

Level: medium to upper

Procedure: 

• Students make sure they understand the expressions/words from the list. 
• Students answer the questions themselves
• Students compare their answers with those  provided by Alyson Shaffer

A) Expressions and vocabulary

**Read the following expressions and vocabulary before listening. Make sure you understand them in context  when you watch the video. . 

To be at each other’s throats
Cry for help
Kerfuffle (British for commotion)
Throw one another under the bus
To grow mold
To win teenagers buy-in
Take the door off the hinges
Find like-minded people
To get the wheels back on track (on parenting)
Get a handoff (children have a sleepover for the weekend)
Let the tears flow

B)  Think of your  answers to the following questions

1. Why do teenagers tend to fight when the parents are busy?
2. What is the reasonable amount of time to allow teens to be alone in their room?
3. What can parents do if they run out of patience, are cranky, and snap at their children?
4. How can parents ensure teens are not lying and going behind their back to see their friends?

C) Now listen to The Morning Show (8min video). Compare your answers with the expert's advice