Sigh. Teaching Notes.

A side blog of notes about lessons and activities I used in ESL class. I'm not Dave, but I'd love a coffee...

[esl-lesson-notes]

Waiting for the bookstore to open to get a book because I made a little mistake. It turns out these two books

Are not in the same series.

Never mind that the very similar contents are structured the same, are at the same level, and are created by (most of) the same people, these are two different series.

“… but they’re obviously different series. Did you not look at the title?” …. No….I looked at the smiling guy.

I only noticed when I looked at both books at the same time.

[esl-lesson-notes]

Word Association and Sentence Making

Class size: 10 people. English ability: Varied.

1. Word association game.

The teacher gets the ball rolling with the first word. Going around the room, the students continue the chain of words, avoiding repetition. (Example: pink -> panther -> cat -> dog...) The teacher writes the words said on the board. The game continues until each student goes three times.

2. Sentence making.

The students write one sentence using three of the words said during the game. (Allow less skilled students to make a phrase or write more sentences.) Once everyone is finished, the students share their sentence(s) with the class. The teacher marks the three words used. Multiple use of the same word (ex. all the students used the same five words) is fine.

Once all the students have said their sentences, the teacher erases the words used. Students use the remaining words and make sentences on the spot. The word are erased once used. The game ends when all the words are used and the board is clear.

What if bigger classes?

In 20, 30, 40-person classes, you can have students work in groups during the word association game and turn the sentence making activity into a competition. The students each write a sentence, and the group collectively earns points by using as many words as possible.

How you make the activity work for you is up to you. ^_^