Positive features auction

1. Tell the students that they have $10 to buy some positive features, like: honest, intelligent, humorous, healthy, beautiful, stubborn, cu...

Typical questions

1. Give them these typical questions, a four-year-old child may ask, e.g. ‘Mummy, does the moon go for a wee-wee?’ ‘Where did I come from?’ ...

At the time of the photo

1. Ask the students to bring in a photo of themselves and bring one yourself. 2. Show your own photo and say: What you are doing at the phot...

Different roles

1. Write the following questions on the board: Who/what does/did your best friend want you to be/do? Who/what does/did your father want you ...

Finishing conditional sentences

1. Give students only the if clause of a conditional sentence: If I go away on holiday this year ... and invite them to compose their own en...

Last year's feelings

1. Ask the students to write down one thing that happened to them last year in each of the following months: January, April, July, October. ...

What she’ll do if...

1. Pair the students. Ask the pairs to work simultaneously and think up 5 actions A might mime doing to B and 5 actions B could mime doing t...

Three of a kind

1. Ask each student to write down the titles of three books that have affected them. Alternatively, they could choose three public figures, ...

Was my teacher like that?

1. Prepare a set of statements about yourself at the age of 8-10. Here are four about Mario: I used to read a lot. I'd often feel angry ...

I didn’t know that last week

1. Ask the students to remember the events of last week. 2. Tell them to write down the things they didn’t know that were at that moment, wo...

Finishing conditional sentences

1. Give a sentence using the first conditional, describing one of a number of possible variations, preferably based on personal taste. For e...

Things in common

1. Put students in pairs, tell them to talk to each other and try to find as many things as they can in common with one another in three min...

I remember

1. Tell the students about an accident or an illness, starting most of your sentences with: I remember... ing...2. Put these sentence starte...

Eatable vs. uneatable

1. The teacher asks questions, such as: Can we eat a hotdog? Can we eat a dog? etc.2. Student answer: Yes, we can? No, we can’t.

My thingumajig

1. The teacher explains that the students must guess the name of an object by making questions about how the object is used, using can. Beca...

My neighbour's cat

1. Draw a cat on the board. Introduce it as your neighbour's cat. Say, "My neighbour's cat is an awful cat!" Write the wor...

Things people do to you

1. Put this verb list up on the board: advised / forbade / warned / compelled / persuaded / encouraged / begged / taught / tempted2. Ask the...

Conflicts

1. Ask the students to think of times when they have an inner conflict between what they want to do and what they must do. Get them to tell ...

Number snatch

1. Two teams of numbered players line up opposite each other. Either # 1 faces # 1, etc.2. There is a stool half-way between the two teams, ...

My district

1. Learners get into groups according to where they live. Two or three is probably best.2. Explain to the learners that there will be a comp...