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Fun:
Q: Teacher: What is the shortest
month?
A: Student: May, it only has
three letters.
Dear visitor,
الذى فى الاعلى
Level:
Low Intermediate and up
Time required:
15 minutes for preparation, 10 minutes for each
lineup
Goals:
To get students to speak and listen to one another,
cooperate to quickly achieve an objective, and
move around with a purpose.
Materials:
a blackboard for writing target sentence structures
Procedure:
1. On the board, write the following template:
Departure date: Destination: Cost of ticket:
Number of people with you:
2. Ask students to plan a train trip, and tell them to
fill in their own templates with information based
on the trip they plan.
3. Tell students that they are going to participate in
a lineup activity and that they will have to stand up,
ask and answer questions, and line up in order,
4. On the board, write the following questions that
students can ask to elicit information from their
classmates:
Departure date:
When are you going? / When are you planning to go?
(I’m going on [date]. / I’m planning to go on [date].)
Destination: Where are you going?
/ Where are you planning to go?
(I’m going to [place]. / I’m planning to go to [place].)
Cost: How much will your ticket cost?
(My ticket will cost [amount].)
Number of people: How many people are going with
you?([Number] people are going with me.)
6. Have students stand up. Tell them that they will form a
line according to information they have written down, and
that they must ask one another questions in order to find
their place in the line. If you begin with the date of
departure, the student with the earliest departure date
will stand at the beginning of the line (show students
where the line will begin), and other students will line
up in order, with the last student being the one with the
latest departure date.
7. Once the line is formed, ask students when they are
going on the trip—or have students ask one another, so
that the whole class can hear.
8. Pupils can use it in the past simple tense about a
past journey.
Level: Intermediate
Time required: 45 minutes
To practice and produce vocabulary related to
trains by describing and drawing
pictures or photocopies of trains (pictures could be the
same or different, depending on availability); paper;
pencils or pens; tape
Preparation:
If pictures or photocopies are not available, ask pairs
or groups of students to draw a train. These drawings
should be kept secret from other students. Later the
train drawings can be exchanged with another pair or
group to carry out the dicta-draw portion of the activity.
Procedures:
1.Teach the learners the target train vocabulary.
This includes:
Types of trains, steam locomotive, diesel locomotive,
electric locomotive high-speed train, trolley, tram.
Train cars: passenger car, dining car, freight car, flat
car, oil tank car, caboose Parts of locomotives or
cars: window, wheel, smokestack.
2. Check that the learners have a sound knowledge of
the vocabulary by performing simple drills. You might
show a picture of a train and ask students to describe
it in pairs.
3. Divide the class into groups of five people.
4. Tell the groups that they must choose one person to
be an artist. Some groups may have more than one
student who wants to be an artist; some groups may
have none.
5. Ask each artist to stand or sit so that his or her back
is facing the group and so that everyone in the group
can see the artist’s back.When everyone is ready, give
each artist a blank piece of paper to draw on.
6. Go to each group and, using tape, affix the picture,
photocopy,or drawing of the train to each artist’s back.
Be careful to make sure that the artists do not see the
picture.
7. Each group must now describe the picture to the
artist,making use of the train vocabulary. Group
members should take turns providing information.
Artists may ask for clarification as needed. At first, it
can be helpful for the artist to receive a general overall
understanding of the picture rather than a lot of details
all at once.
For example, the describers might begin with an
overview: This is a picture of a train with an electric
locomotive, three passenger cars, and a caboose.
The locomotive has eight wheels—four are in the
front, and four are in the back. The artist can also
ask questions to get more detail and clarification:
Artist: How many windows are in the passenger car?
Describer: There are eight windows in the passenger
car.
8. When artists have finished drawing, have the groups
compare the artist’s drawing with the original. They
should notice details that were missed, added, or
changed, and they should try to figure out how they
could accurately describe those details.
Intermediate and higher
1 hour
To develop pair or group cooperation and critical
thinking skills
One handout of the Passenger List for each pair or
group;if handouts are not available, you can write the
information on the board or dictate it to the class.
Background:
This is a highly adaptable pair- or group-decision
activity in which students work together to find a
solution to what could be a fairly complex problem:
whom to allow onto an overcrowded train.
1. Divide the students into pairs or small groups;
four or five people.
2. If you are using groups, ask each group member to
assume a role within the group. Here are possible
roles:
Leader – maintains group unity by helping with
decision making and by resolving possible disputes
within the group
Secretary – records the group’s decisions and reasons
Presenter – presents the group’s findings to the whole
class
Monitor – keeps the group speaking English
Enforcer – keeps the group on task
3. If some groups have more than five people, more
than one person in each group can have the same
role.
4. Make sure each member has a clear understanding of
what will be expected of him or her in the group. You
might want to circulate around the class and ask
students to tell you their roles and responsibilities.
Make it clear that all students are expected to participate
in the group discussion.
5. Tell the students that they are conductors on a train,
and they will need to solve a problem. The cashier has
sold too many tickets, and now there is not enough
room for everyone who wants to be on the train.
6. Give each group the Passenger List of ten passengers
who are waiting to get onto the train, or write the list on
the board.
Tell students that ten people want to ride, but there is
room for only five more passengers. Each person has a
valid reason for wanting to ride, but the conductors must
choose only the five people they think have the best
reasons. People who do not board this train will have to
wait three hours for the next one.
The Passenger List has a simple description of the
reason each person has for riding the train.
7. Give students about five minutes to think about the list
individually and to choose the five people they think
should be allowed to board the train.
8. Students share their own decisions with other
members of their groups.
9. Tell students that in 20 minutes.The Presenter should
be ready with:
A list of the five people chosen to ride on the train
A short description in the group’s own words of why
the group has chosen each of these five people.
View Other Resources:
1- Interaction.
2-TILO Project.
3-Active learning 1
5-Critical Thinking 1
6- Critical thinking 2
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