Month: December 2016

I’ve posted a number of ESL/TEFL activities using little or no resources (you can find those here and here). Recently, I did the following lesson with my English club (which I host twice per week at a local NGO). I liked it so much I thought I would post my whole lesson plan.

I was inspired by something similar on Pinterest, and asked my awesome friend Katie to include some paint chips in a care package she was sending (she did). This lesson plan doesn’t require much else in the way of materials. Here is what I used:

• Paint chips in yellow, blue, purple, green, red, and gray
• iPhone + Jam speaker
• Index Cards
• Paper

(I used the paint chips to list a range of emotions in English. On one the side of the chip, I listed the main vocabulary word in Albanian.)

Yellow:

1. Contented
2. Glad
3. Delighted
4. Joyful

Blue:

1. Unhappy
2. Blue
3. Heartbroken
4. Depressed

Purple:

1. Uneasy
2. Tense
3. Agitated
4. Anxious

Green:

1. Envious
2. Covetous
3. Jealous
4. Possessive

Red:

1. Irritated
2. Mad
3. Upset
4. Furious

Gray:

1. Dread
2. Afraid
3. Frightened
4. Horrified

The Lesson:

For a warm up, I played the song “Happy” by Pharrell twice, using my iPhone + speaker. First, I asked students just to listen to the song, in order to become familiar with it. After that, I asked students to listen to the song again, and count (using tick marks on a sheet of paper), how many times the word “happy” appeared in the song. (For the record, three of my students counted 28 times, while my other two students had different numbers. The point wasn’t to accurately discover how many times the word was used, but rather to have students practice listening for a specific English word.)

[As a variation to this, you could print the lyrics to the song but delete certain words, and have students listen for/fill in those words.]

Next, I had a discussion with my students about emotions and what they mean. I passed around the paint chips and asked them to copy down the new vocabulary words. ( I had a small group of students. I think this lesson plan could work with a larger group, but you would probably need more copies of the paint chips to pass around.)

Then, I wrote this sentence on the board: “Today I feel _____ because ____.” We went around the circle and each student stated how he/she was feeling, and why.

Next, I asked each student to draw three index cards from the pile I made. Each index card listed a different scenario. Here is what I wrote:

• Your mom yells at you.
• You are watching your favorite television show.
• You got a stain on your favorite shirt.
• You are playing outside with your friends.
• You have a big test at school.
• You broke your arm.
• You are eating dinner with your family.
• Your friend got a new iPhone.
• You lost your dog.
• Your little sister broke your favorite toy.
• Your best friend gets a puppy.
• Your best friend is moving away.
• Two of your friends go to lunch and don’t invite you.
• You are lost in Pristina.
• You are walking alone in the dark.
• You got into a fight with your best friend.

Students then had to read their scenarios aloud, and identify which emotion(s) they might feel in that situation.

Then, I asked students to write one sentence for each category of emotion, and read them aloud.

We were close to running out of time by this (the group runs for 1 hour), but in the last few minutes of class, I asked students to choose one of the sentences they wrote and draw a picture to illustrate it.

What I like about this lesson plan: 1) It doesn’t require much in the way of material. 2) It incorporates audio learning, visual learning, speaking aloud, critical thinking, creativity, and kinesthetic learning.

I did this lesson with a group of middle and high school students. I think it’s too advanced for younger kids, but there are probably ways to modify it and make it easier.

As a visual learner myself, I am drawn to creating visual materials for my classes. (Although I do try to incorporate audio and kinesthetic learning, too.) I wanted to write a post and share some easy-to-make teaching aids, using just a few supplies (paper, scissors, markers/crayons, and tape).

This summer, my teaching group and I did a lesson on animals, where we created these flashcards.

A fun game to play is to have students create two lines. Then, students step to the front of the room two-by-two. The teacher holds up a flashcard and the first student to say the correct word wins a point. This game can be adapted to any subject.

For teaching time, I created these flashcards, where students have to match the time to the correct clock.

Some of my younger classes were struggling with learning professions. Using their workbook, I cut out drawings of different professions (since I hate to draw/am bad at it) and taped them to index cards. Then I wrote the names of the professions separately on another set of cards. Students then played a memory game where they had to find and match the correct word/picture. This can also be adapted to any subject.

Last, I created a flashcard set of 30 different pieces of clothing (with each piece colored in three different colors). These can be used in two different ways: 1) Give each student a card, and then ask them to stand up when they hear their clothing piece/color called. For example, “If you are holding the purple hat, stand up.” Or, for smaller classes, you can spread all 30 flashcards on the table, and ask students to gather around. Then, call out a piece/color, and see who can find it the fastest. Example: “Who can find the purple hat?”

This summer, I worked with my friend and fellow volunteer Chelsea at a 6-day English camp. She created THE CUTEST bear paper dolls (Chelsea loves bears) with little outfits. Students had to dress the bears appropriately, according to the season/weather. (I am trying to convince Chelsea she needs to start a business where she creates a line of bear paper dolls .. we’ll see how that goes. 🙂 )

There are probably countless ways to use flashcards in the classroom, but I wanted to share what I have used and seen used so far. If you are an ESL/TEFL teacher, I hope you found this helpful!