It's a game for 2 students. One of them chooses an empty square and makes a dot inside. Then he rolls a die and depending on the number he's got makes a sentence (1,4 - affirmative, 2,5 - negative, 3,6 - interrogative). For example: I am a princess/ He isn't a king/ Are we clowns? If the sentence is correct, he draws something inside the chosen square (we use snowflakes and hearts or flowers). If he makes a mistake, his opponent has a chance to correct it and draw his own sign instead. The first one to make a row of four signs (either in a vertical, horizontal or diagonal position) is the winner.
Here's how we play this game in class: 1. A student chooses a girl (from the first slide)and the others guess who it is, asking the following questions: Is she German? Is she 8 years old? Is she from France? Is her name Ann? The student has to give short answers (Yes, she is/No, it isn't, etc.) 2. After that the student turns away from the screen and answers his fellow students' quesions about the girl he's chosen (this time special quiestions, like "What's her name? How old is she? Where is she from? What nationality is she?") 3. Do the same with the slides showing boys and pairs of people.
I give this chart to my students and they have to fill it in every (other) day. There is an example in the first row. In each lesson we talk about the days we haven't seen each other. It's a good way to practise the Past Simple tense. First they make affirmative sentences about each item in their chart. Then I make some false statements and they have to correct them (using negative sentences). Then they check how well I remember the information just provided by asking me questions. They can do this in pairs. The chart can be used for practising the Present Simple tense as well. For example, On Mondays we usually have six lessons, but yesterday we had only four.
I decided to make a list of the words and phrases that are usually new for most students watching Muzzy. Now they only have to write the translation in the free space provided.
Most students liven up when they become the centre of attention; almost everyone likes showing their mobile photos and commenting them. I believe it's a great opportunity to make students feel more important and significant. Depending on the topic we are covering at the moment, my students are asked to take photos of their room or pets, for instance, and then they've got a chance to speak about their photos, using the grammar and vocabulary of "current interest". It's kind of a Show and Tell activity, enjoyed by many kids. Instead of taking photos, students can make a video.
You can use a lot of different activities here:
1. just describing the picture 2. comparing things (finding differences) 3. a memory game (the owner of the picture shows the others his room (pet, house etc.) for a minute, then asks questions to find out how well they remember it) 4. a betting game (for example, before having been shown a picture of a bedroom, students share their thoughts about how it might look like and make a bet - the winner has the most right guesses) 5. finding a mistake (the owner of the picture is asked several questions, the answers should not be all true, then he shows his photo and the others try to find what was false) Here's a list of possible topics with some suggestions: house (furniture, there is/are, a/any/some, have got) - describing, comparing (finding differences), memory game, guessing/betting game food and utensils (in the fridge/in the kitchen/cupboards) pets (have got, to be, like doing) favourite things (have got, places of preposition, to be) family and friends (appearance, character, hobbies, personal info) housework (face expressions to show like/dislike) daily routine (Present Simple) school life (teachers, school things, subjects, classmates) There are a lot of fantastic digital storytellingtools that could be used for talking about students' photos:
