Just Me And My Dad - Part 1 - video,activities and transcript

You can show your students this funny video and use the worksheet  as a follow-up (matching, true/false, completing sentences with the new words, present/past simple, asking questions and making negatives in Past Simple). My students liked the video a lot and I'm sure yours will, too :-)

Autumn Inspiration Wallpaper

I created this wallpaper myself after having searched for something autumnlike.

It's a combination of autumn pictures and inspirational quotes 

(made with Glogster, paint  and powerpoint programmes).

I use it as a desktop background. You can download it for personal use.

Click on it to view the bigger size.

What a Pretty Girl! - Speaking and Writing Practice For the Youngest Students

I love using online games during my lesssons. It takes some time to find a proper one, but it's worth it. Here is the game I use with my 2-nd formers to give them some practice in describing people's appearance. It is ideal for their level as the vocabulary used there is just what they need right now.

Pupils click on the words one by one, choose the style they want and describe it.

 She has/has got green eyes.
or    Her eyes are green.

You can also practise other grammar aspects:

These are eyes. They are green.
This is a nose. It is small.

You can ask your pupil questions and they give short answers.

Here is a worksheet you can use as a follow-up activity (hometask).

My Room - speaking and writing for the youngest students

Children (especially girls) love playing decorating games, so I use Baby Room Maker and Pink Princess Room to help them learn how to describe a room and have fun at the same time. First, I decorate a room and describe it myself - the child listens/repeats. Then the pupil tries to decorate the room and describe it with my help. You can take several different rooms so it doesn't become boring too fast. As a hometask,  I ask the pupil to make a room (online) at home and describe it in written form (we practise that in class, too). At the next lesson s/he reads the description to me and I make a room following it. The pupil says if it's the same then. I use such online games not only to practise vocabulary (furniture and prepositions), but also the pronouns it/they + is/are and the usage of there is/are as well as articles (a/an/the).

                    
You'll find many more decorating games here. Have fun!

Here is a worksheet to practise writing.

Muzzy Comes Back 6

The worksheet is available here.

Muzzy Comes Back 5

The worksheet is available here.

Speaking Practice for beginners - AM/IS/ARE and prepositions of place

Here are some ideas on how to practise using the verb To Be in The Present Simple as well as prepositions of place. Take 8-10 different toys (school objects, flashcards etc.) and preferrably in pairs of various size and colour (for example, 2 rabbits - a small red one and a big pink one, 2 cars - a blue one and a black one). Put all the toys into a bag.

IS      Affirmative
Take a toy from the bag, describe it and it is "yours". (It is a doll. It is small and pretty.)
Keep your toys near you. Your partner does the same, so in the end you both have 2 piles of toys. Then you describe one of the toys your partner's got and he/she has to guess what it is.
( It is small and red. - It is a car!)


IS      Negative
Now describe the toys using "not" and let your partner guess.
  (It is not big and it is not black. - It is a rabbit!)


IS      Questions ans short answers
Your  partner turns away and you put one of the toys into the bag. He/she must guess what it is without looking at the remaining toys.    


                                               e.g.  Is it big? - No, it is not.
                                                       Is it red? - Yes, it is.
                                                       Is it a puppy? - No, it is not.
                                                       Is it a kitten?   - Yes, it is.
ARE
Do the same as with IS, but this time take 2 toys to speak about. As it may be difficult to find  2 big dolls, 2 red cars etc. you can use the prepositions of place when talking about toys. Put the toy pairs in different places and describe what you see. ( They are dolls. They are on the table.)
You can play the guessing game using the prepositions of place.


AM
Talk about yourselves: 
+ I am Oksana. I am short and thin. I am on the sofa. I am happy.
- I am not Ann. I am not sad. I am not on the floor. I am not tall.


To practise questions you can do something funny like sit down on the table and ask your partner:     "Am I under the table?" - Yes, you are. /No, you are not.
Then you can make a sad face and ask "Am I glad?"



             

Muzzy Comes Back 4

The worksheet is available here.

Muzzy Comes Back 3

The worksheet is available here.

Flowers

One of my younger students wanted to learn something about flowers (they don't learn such things at school), so here is an online exercise with a pictionary, 2 exercises and 2 jolly songs as well as a worksheet for practising at home.


Here's the worksheet

Muzzy Comes Back 2

You can download it here.

There was/There were - Speaking Practice

I'd like to share with you how I teach the past form of the verb to be to my elementary students. I have decided to call the game for practising there was/were "The Thief and the Detective". It's been made for my private students but you can adapt it for a big class, too.
    The Positive Form 
Put 7-10 different items onto the table. There should be single (e.g. 1 car) and grouped items (e.g. 2-3 dolls) in order to practise the singular and the plural forms. The detective turns away/goes out and the thief "steals" some of the items from the table. The detective comes back and says what is missing (e.g. There were 2 cups, and now there is only one"). If he's right the thief puts that item back.
   The Negative Form
Put the same items onto the table, but this time the thief has a bag with "his own" stuff, too. He steals some things from the table and puts some of his instead. The detective must say what there was on the table and what there wasn't (e.g. There wasn't a red car here, but there was a yellow cup.)
   Questions and Short Answers
Write down the names of any 5 items that are on the table and keep your list a secret. Ask your partner questions to find out what there was in his room (e.g. Was there a doll in your room? - Yes, there was.) The first one to guess all the items from his partner's list is the winner.

   Prepositions of Place
You can practise the prepositions of place with this game. While your partner isn't looking, change the location of the things on the table/ in the room. He must say where everything was.

Muzzy Comes Back 1

I've made this ws for my students to practise the vocabulary (time, clothes, food) and grammar (pronouns, some/any, present simple vs present continuous) used in the cartoon.

Personal Pronouns and the verb To Be

This is a very easy worksheet with 3 exercises: 1) students look at the pictures and write the corresponding pronouns, 
2) they complete the sentences in the table with the right verb, 3)and finally, they make questions and negatives themselves.

The Gruffalo

 Have you seen The Gruffalo animation? It's so much fun! I fell in love with it at once. My students love it, too. So, here is a worksheet you can use as a follow-up activity if you decide to show the animation to your child or students.

I've also made an  online listening exercise that you can use along with the worksheet.

Articles for the youngest students

Here is a little demonstration showing children when to use the articles (a, an and the). The teacher should comment on the usage of the articles while presenting it.

Articles - A, An and The on Prezi