Activities

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Some might think that direct instruction
involves simply getting in front of the class and
teaching the required material. But direct
instruction can be so much more than that!
We, as teachers, need to be doing more to get
our students engaged in taking an active role
in their learning. Research shows that
students whose teachers spend too much time
talking are less likely to be engaged during
direct instruction.
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Doing activities is
important!!
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Learning is by nature an active
endeavor and different people
learn in different ways.

So teachers need to be creative

to engage different kinds of
students in the learning process.
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There are a wide range of activities used both inside and
outside the classroom that promote active learning. While each
discipline has traditional ways of teaching certain subject
matter, and activities used in seminars and large lectures may
vary, the concept of "active learning" applies in every discipline,
in every class size. The types of activities you choose to use,
however, might be more applicable in some types of courses
than others.
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Our process is
easy First
Activities inside
the classroom
 1.
ICEBREAKERS

Have you ever been to an event when the ice breaker session went
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badly? Just as a great session can smooth the way for a great event,
so a bad session can be a recipe for disaster. A bad session is at best
simply a waste of time, or worse an embarrassment for everyone
involved.
As a facilitator, the secret of a successful icebreaking session is to
keep it simple: design the session with specific objectives in mind and
make sure that the session is appropriate and comfortable for
everyone involved.
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TROUBLE
WITH
ICEBREAKERS
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They require students to take massive social risks with people they
barely know. So many of the icebreakers I found asked students to
publicly share some kind of personal information. For the icebreaker
to actually work, students would need to share something
interesting and different about themselves, something that makes
them stand out. But to most kidsespecially once they get into the
middle and high school rangebeing different is the worst thing you
can be. So what many students ultimately do is share something safe
and boring, something like I like soccer, just so the game moves on
to the next person. The result? No one really gets to know anyone.
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They dont actually facilitate familiarity. Too many icebreakers

consist of questions like this: If you could be an animal, what animal
would you be? Unless you have a ridiculously deep and creative kid
youre mostly going to get a lot of cat-cat-dog-dog-fish, et cetera.
Unless of course you force creativity on them by insisting that no
animals can be repeated, thereby making the poor kids try to come
up with some stinking animal that somehow represents the least
embarrassing aspect of their personality and isnt a repeat of anyone
elses animal. No one really gets to know anyone.
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BLOBS AND LINES
How to Play:
ICEBREAKERS In this icebreaker, students are prompted to either line up in some
particular order (by birthday, for example) or gather in blobs based
THAT DONT on something they have in common (similar shoes, for example).
SUCK Whats great about this game is that it helps students quickly
discover things they have in common. Its also ridiculously easy:
Students dont have to come up with anything clever, and they can
respond to every question without thinking too hard about it. This
game keeps students moving and talking, and it builds a sense of
belonging and community in your classroom.
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Here are some sample prompts you can use for this game:

Line up in alphabetical order by your first names.

ICEBREAKERS Line up in alphabetical order by your last names.
THAT DONT Gather with people who have the same eye color as you.
SUCK Gather with people who get to school in the same way as you (car,
bus, walk).
Line up in order of your birthdays, from January 1 through
December 31.
Gather into 3 blobs: Those who have LOTS of chores at home,
those who have A FEW chores at home, and those who have NO
chores at home.
Gather with people who have the same favorite season as you.
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CONCENTRIC CIRCLES
How to Play:
ICEBREAKERS This icebreaker has students arrange themselves in an inside circle and
an outside circle, the inside facing out, forming pairs. Pairs discuss their
THAT DONT answers to a getting-to-know-you question, then rotate for the next
SUCK question, forming a new partnership. This game gives students the
chance to have lots of one-on-one conversations with many of their
classmates and helps them quickly feel more at home in your class.
The possibilities for questions in this kind of configuration are endless;
be sure to use more open-ended questions that can get students talking,
rather than those that simply ask for a yes or no answer.
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Here are some sample questions:

ICEBREAKERS Do you play any sports? If so, which ones?

THAT DONT Do you consider yourself shy or outgoing? Why?
SUCK What was the last movie you saw? Did you like it?
Describe your perfect dinner.
What would you do with a million dollars?
What is one thing youre good at?
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THIS OR THAT
ICEBREAKERS How to Play:
THAT DONT This icebreaker has students informally debate on light topics such as
Which animal makes a better petdog or cat? Students have to choose
SUCK a position, then physically move to the side of the room that most closely
represents their opinionone side means dogs, the other side means
catsand then talk about why they chose that spot. This game has
always been a HUGE hit with any group Ive ever taught: It builds student
confidence with talking in front of their peers, it helps students quickly
find kindred spirits, and its also just a lot of fun.
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Sample questions for This or That:

ICEBREAKERS Would you rather live in the country or the city?

THAT DONT Should all students be required to learn a second language?
SUCK Which is worse: bad breath or body odor?
Would you rather be indoors or outdoors?
Which is better: Playing sports or watching sports?
Would you rather travel every single day or never leave
home?
 2.

Activities
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Stand Up Sit Down
Teachers can use this to help students differentiate between any two
Grammar categories. For instance, when a teacher is trying to help her students
distinguish between countable nouns and uncountable nouns, she
Activity would give an example then instruct them to either stand up if it is a
countable noun or sit down if it is uncountable noun. This is a great
way to see how much of your class is actually grasping the material. Its
also a great way to get your students blood flowing to keep them alert
and engaged.
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Thumbs Up Thumbs Down
You instruct students to put their thumbs up if they agree
Grammar or put their thumbs down if they disagree. Its a very quick
way to see how students are doing. However, when
Activity students have a low energy level (i.e. right after lunch) Stand
Up Sit Down may be a better alternative. On the other hand,
if you need to maintain your students current energy level
Thumbs Up Thumbs Down is ideal.
 Tic-Tac-Toe
Draw up the grid for tic-tac-toe on the board. Fill in each square of the
Grammar grid with a part of speech you want students to practice. What exactly
you choose to include here is totally flexible, and depends on what
Activity lessons youd like to reinforce. If youre studying verb conjugation in the
present tense, for example, fill in the grid with verbs in their infinitive
forms.
Students will be divided into two teams for this game. The first team
goes by choosing a square from the tic-tac-toe grid. They then have to
figure out, as a group, how to properly conjugate that verb. If they get
the answer right, then they claim that square of the grid. If they get the
answer wrong, then they lose their turn.
Keep playing until one team scores a tic-tac-toe!
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Response Cards
This is another great way to get your students involved
Reading during class time. And frankly, sometimes its nice to just
mix things up a bit. You can use Response Cards for any
Activity number of responses, including: agree/disagree, true/false,
yes/no and emotions. For example, while reading a text
together as a class the teacher may pause and ask her
students what they think the character is feeling right now.
Then the students would be able to select happy from their
personal stack of cards
Vocab Sorting Hat
Use a Harry Potter theme to have students sort words into
Activity categories. They can pull them out of a hat. If you give them the
categories, its called a closed sort. If they come up with their own
categories, its called open sort.
 Word Wheel
Get kids interacting and improving their language skills with this fun
game! For the activity, put vocabulary words in a box. Kids flicked the
Vocab game spinner, then pulled out a word. Once they had their word, the
fun began!

Activity Students act, draw, rhyme, or define their word. They might also have
to put it in a sentence, name what part of speech it is, or give a
synonym or antonym for it. It's a game of chance! Below is a tally sheet
I made for kids to keep score.
 Quick revision games
This activity can be used as a review. Students usually get very
excited. The teacher chooses a category (animals, colors, school

Vocab objects, kitchen gadgets...) and each student has to say a word that
belongs to that category.

Activity
Examples:
Name five things that move , Name five drinks,
Name five things you would be doing if you weren't here
Name five ways to get rich , Name five animals
A member of the team reads the category of things they have to
name and the whole team shouts the words.
While team A is doing this, team B have to remain in silence. Then
it's team B's turn.
Time each team. The faster team is the winner.
 The revision box
Preparation

Vocab The teacher uses a vocabulary box. This box must mainly comprise
of words on pieces of paper (either verbs, adjectives, adverbs etc.) all

Activity
said by the learners themselves in previous lessons. Importantly a lot of
words are required for this activity.
Procedure
The box with all the words is circulated around the class. Each
learner is given a chance to pick a word from which he / she will have
to construct a short and grammatical sentence.
 Each sentence said is written on the board just as the speaker said it.
After 12 to 20 sentences the sentences are analyzed to see if they are
Vocab grammatically correct with the emphasis placed mainly on the word
from the vocabulary box.
Activity Correction of the sentences can then be done and learners, again
depending on time available, prompted to produce the correct
sentences with the same word from the box.
It really gets learners talking while at the same time identifying their
mistakes.
 Speaking activities
Role-play
Speaking Storytelling

Activity Debate
Student presentations
Questionnaires
Information Gap
 Information gap
This kind of gap is very commonly exploited by
Speaking teachers. Student A has some information, e.g.
concerning the prices of food. Student B needs to know
Activity these prices, and so asks A questions to find the
information. The information gap is ideally suited to pair
and small group work and usually relies upon pre-
prepared information cards.
 Questionnaires
Find out from your partner:
Speaking Do you use an alarm clock to wake up?

Activity Do you get up straight away?

Can you eat breakfast as soon as you get up?
What wakes you up most in the morning?
Do you choose your clothes the day before?
Do you eat breakfast standing up or sitting
down?
Do you listen to the radio, or watch
television at breakfast?
 Listen for it!
One of the most essential listening skills your students should develop
involves listening for key information, which often includes numbers,
Listening facts, hours, dates or other essential info. To help them train for this skill,
first give them some context: You will listen to a man asking for
Activity information at the train station. Then, before they listen, give them
something they will have to find out: What time does the train to Boston
leave? Now here comes the game aspect of it. You can:
Divide the class into teams and have a team member raise their hand as
soon as they hear the answer. Then, you do the same with another short
audio track. You ask a question and play the audio; the team that
answers first gets a point. And the team with the most points at the end
wins.
 Look Write
Pictures / Slideshows

Writing Visuals are a powerful way to provide context and

background for any writing. Make sure to use attractive,

Activity
stimulating and if possible real photos to prompt student
writing. Students can describe a scene or they can describe a
series of pictures from a slideshow.
An excellent activity is to show a nice photo and get students
to guess and write their guess. They answer all the questions
and then share their thoughts with the class.
Show a picture and get students to write a story or use it as
background for a writing prompt. For example, Show a picture
of a happy lottery winner. Ask students to write in their journal
If I won a million dollars I would
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Our process is
easy Second
Activities outside
the classroom
Listen Closely
You can play lots of listening games outside that will challenge
and entertain your students. Put your students in pairs,
blindfold one, and have each person direct his partner to a
specific area of your school grounds. Play Simon Says.
Describe an object to your students (leaf, rock, blade of grass,
etc.), and once they figure out what it is they can run and get
it. The first one to find the object you are describing wins the
round.
Cinema excursion
Organize a class so that you all go and see a film together, and talk about it
afterwards.
Listen out for one (or two, or three) new English phrases during the film. Write
them down afterwards, and find out what they mean.
Follow the English and the subtitles were there any occasions when the subtitles
were not quite right/different?
Write a review of the film you saw, in English.
Choose three or four phrases in English that you think you will hear in the film*.
Write them down on a piece of paper. Tick the phrases off as you hear them. After
the film, show your phrases to a partner. Can you remember when you heard them?
What did you like/dislike about the film, and why? discuss with a partner.
Find out three more things about the film you saw using the internet as a tool (e.g.
visit the films website, read other reviews of the film online, find out about the
actors/actresses). Bring what youve found out to the next class.
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Thanks!