5 Activities for the ClassroomFacilitator: Sonja Follett

Khovd UniversitySept. 27, 2011

Activity: Minimal Pairs Language Skills: Listening, Pronunciation, Spelling

lip – rip mine-fine tap-tip ship-sheep Procedure: Put the word pairs on the board. Have

students point at the sound they hear You can also have students write pairs in their

notebooks and put a check next to the word they hear Rationale: This helps students to learn how to

recognize specific sounds and differentiate between two sounds

Activity: Communicative

Dictation Language Skills: Listening, Writing, Grammar, Speaking

Procedure: Tell the students which grammar point you will be working on. For example: Using the past tense.

Next, give a sentence in a different tense such as the present.

Students must respond by writing the sentence in the past tense.

Rationale: This helps students to learn how to change tenses and think critically about the appropriate grammar structures

Activity: Bingo Language Skills: Listening, Pronunciation, Spelling, Writing,

Reading

Procedure: Pass out Bingo Sheets or have students draw the bingo card in their notebooks.

Have Ss write their vocabulary words in the squares. The teacher will read the word prompts (definition, synonym, fill-in

the blank, or word family) and students will make a mark next to the word

When students have 5 boxes in a row, they should yell “Bingo” Rationale: This helps students to practice reading, writing,

listening and speaking new vocabulary. It also helps students to learn the definitions or use of vocabulary words.

Activities: Parts of Speech Sentences

Language Skills: Reading, Writing, Grammar

Procedure: Give Ss different parts of speech and ask them to construct a sentence that has each one indicated.

For example: 1 article, 2 adjectives, 1 noun and the “to be” verb.

The pretty girl is happy. After they practice, have Ss create instructions for their

partners to create new sentences Rationale: This helps students to learn how to recognize

different parts of speech. This is critical if they are going to understand English Word Order S+V+O.

Jeopardy Review Language Skills: All Skills

Procedure: Construct a chart on the board with the different categories you wish to review. (Make sure you have 4 or 5 questions for each category.

Divide students into 2 teams and ask the 1st student to choose a category and value. Ask the question. If the student is correct, that team gets the points.

Rationale: This is a quick way to review learned information for upcoming quizzes or tests. Students enjoy the competition and it provides self-assessment.