Classroom Activity
Classroom Activities 1.
1-Train Lineups
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.
2-Train Dictadraw
Level: Intermediate
Time required: 45 minutes
Goals: To practice and produce vocabulary related to trains by describing and drawing
Materials: 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 dictadraw 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.
9. Post the original drawings or photos alongside the students’ drawings on the wall or in another space visible to the entire class.
10. Ask each group to take a turn describing its train to the whole class.
3-Who Gets to Ride?
Level: Intermediate and higher
Time required: 1 hour
Goals: To develop pair or group cooperation and critical thinking skills
Materials: 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.
Procedures:
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, each 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.
