Procedure

Receptive Activities (Students show understanding without having to speak or

write):

In the initial receptive activities the students are listening to the words and
are not expected to say or write them. Make this fun by introducing the idea
of locking their mouths (use a key picture prompt) and unlocking their ears.
Lower levels (K1 A/B) may need more exposure to the language before they
can say/write the language. Once the teacher has introduced the language
there are a number of activities that can be done to check meaning BEFORE
moving onto activities that require them to speak/write.
Class Activities: To check meaning
Point to the flashcard: Teacher sticks the flashcards around the room. Say
and word and the students point to the flashcard. Use body parts to make it
more fun, e.g. Point with your finger, point with your nose, point with your
foot, etc.
Yes/No Circle: Draw a circle on the floor and demo that inside is yes and
outside is no. Show the students flashcards and say a word. If it matches
the flashcard they jump inside and say yes, if it does not they jump outside
the circle and say no.
Big Wind Blows: Stick flashcards around the room. Say a word and pretend to
blow a big wind that carries the students like leaves to that flashcard.
Guided colouring: Give students a worksheet containing pictures of the
vocabulary. Tell the students to colour objects with certain colours. E.g.
Colour the lion yellow.
Individual Activities: To check meaning
Jump the river/Jump the line: Assign yes/no to each side of the line/river.
Show the students flashcards and say a word. If the word matches the
flashcard, the students jump one way; if not, they jump the other way. Can
be done with small groups/pairs.
Slap/grab the flashcard:
correct flashcard

In pairs say a word and students slap/grab the

Bingo: www.mes-english is an excellent resource for making bingo cards (it

will generate 16 different cards based on a single lexical set)
Productive Activities (Students use the new language in speaking/writing):

Class/individual activities:
Choral individual circle drilling: Students sit in a circle and say the
words/sentences together. Students pass the flashcard around the circle and
practice saying the word. Play music and pass the flashcard. When the
music stops the student says the word/sentence. To introduce variety do
emotion drilling. Say the word softly, loud, happily, sadly, angrily, etc.
Introduce additional flashcards into the circle and students pass them around
and say the words/sentences as they are passing them.
(Chinese whispers) Slap the board/Grab the flashcard: In pairs say a word
and students slap/grab the correct flashcard and say the word/sentence. Can
use two sets to ensure that both learners are getting the chance to say the
language. Can be played in conjunction with Chinese whispers.
Bring me the flashcard: Stick the flashcards around the room. Say a
word/ask a question and students fetch the flashcard, give it to the teacher
and say the target language.
Reward games: There are games that are not inclusive of language
production, but can be played as a reward for using language (e.g. Blowfish,
Basketball, Bowling). Theyre primarily meant to be fun. Refer to the Induction
Handbook or Warmers & Fillers (in the TSC near the supplementary resource
books) for ideas.
Musical mill drills: Set up a simple Q & A Activity. Drill the target language
(suggestion: use physical gestures to reinforce stress and number of
syllables)
e.g. What is it? Its a lion.
Can it run? Yes it can.
Give students flashcards containing target language.Play music.When the
music stops students pair up and practice the language.
Picture pelmanisms: Students match pictures to each other (lower levels) or
to words (higher levels). As they place the pictures/words, they say the
language. After the matching activity, students separate the two sets and
play a memory game. Again saying the language when they turn over the
items.
Running picture dictation: Set up a picture outside the classroom. One
student looks at the picture and goes inside to tell their partner what to do.
E.g. Colour the lion yellow.
Prior to this the activity, complete a guided colouring activity. Students cut
out the pictures. Then the students use the pictures to complete a picture

dictation by gluing the objects in the correct place in the picture. E.g. The
lion is under the tree.