|
|
Monday, October 26, 2009
- Adaptable to any ESL level, these activities will keep your class busy and engaged in all the aspects of the All Hallows’ Day. Use as warm-ups, wrap-ups or extension to other activities you planned for that day.
-
- 1. Write Halloween-related headings on the board. Have students give you examples of items that can go under each heading:
-
- - Halloween animals/insects: spiders, bats, cats, wolves, snakes
- Halloween costumes: witch, ghost, skeleton, ghoul, witch, goblin
- Halloween sounds: cawing, moaning, screaming, hooting, cackling
- Halloween traditions/activities: trick-or-treating, wearing orange and black, visiting a haunted house, wearing a costume, telling scary stories, watching horror movies
-
- Depending on the level, challenge students mention up to 5 (7 or 10) examples in each category.
-
- 2. Choose 5-10 Halloween-related family words (you may extract them from a story or come up with your own). Have students write the corresponding forms of nouns, verbs and adjectives:
-
- disguise-disguise-disguised
haunt-haunt-haunted
die-death-dead
impersonate-impersonation-impersonated
commemorate-commemoration-commemorative
-
- Students then write sentences showing the differences between parts of speech.
-
- 3. Work on compound nouns. Have students find two halves of a word that make a compound noun:
-
- were + wolf = werewolf
other examples: folklore, scarecrow, warlock, afterlife, nightmare, supernatural, outfit, broomstick, graveyard
-
- 4. Introduce collocations, recurrent word combinations. Have students arrange the words into pairs:
-
- pumpkin + patch = pumpkin patch
other examples: soul cake, Grim Reaper, corn stalk, potato famine, apple bobbing
-
- 5. Ask to think of antonyms, e.g.:
-
- heaven-hell
secular-religious
ancient-modern
eternal-finite
-
- 6. Go through conversation questions. Use a conversation grid; have student roll dice and take turns answering the questions. Examples:
-
- - What does RIP stand for?
- Who is an ancestor?
- What is the difference between mythical creatures (werewolf, ghoul, vampire) and fiction creatures (Dracula, The Grim Reaper, mummy)?
- What’s your favorite confectionary (lollipop, candy bars, cotton candy etc.)?
- Who was Jack O-Lantern named after? Can you tell the story associated with this name?
-
- 7. Talk about practical jokes.
-
- 8. Discuss the sounds associated with Halloween. Check out this worksheet for detailed examples.
POSTED BY Olga Galperin AT 11:24 PM
0 Comments
Add Comment
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Saturday, October 03, 2009
- With leaves turning beautiful shades of yellows, oranges and reds, invite your students to take a nature walk without leaving the comfort of the classroom. All you need is a bunch of colorful leaves be brought to class that were collected on your way to school.
Following are some of the vocabulary activities you can do with your ESL students:
1. Go over common word combinations associated with fall foliage:
deciduous trees
leaf peepers
at peak/near-peak colors/past peak
leaves turn/change colors
palette of colors
foliage reports/conditions/progression
Did you students imagine there is a fall leaf hotline?
2. Name a tree. Attach the leaves one at a time to the board and trace them, enlarging slightly. Add the midrib, veins and stalk. Let students name the tree: oak, birch, chestnut, ash, beech and maple may be the most popular choices.
3. Talk about the meaning of suffix -ish: redish, yellowish, etc. (to imply ‘slightly’ or 'somewhat')
4. Discuss the difference between colors and hues (describing intensity: light, dark, pastel; and brightness: radiant, dull, faded) and shades (crimson, scarlet, amber). For a more vivid description add expressions such as a splash/touch/burst of color.
5. Put students in small groups and distribute 3-5 fall leaves per group. Students choose their favorite leaf and describe it in detail. The group leader then reads the description to class while holding all of the 3-5 leaves given by the teacher. Students (listeners) should be able to recognize the leaf based on its description.
-
- As a follow-up, refer students to websites that report leaf color changes in your area.
POSTED BY Olga Galperin AT 3:23 PM
0 Comments
Add Comment
|
|
|
|