Making it fun for young learners to learn grammar

Adapting activities from textbooks using stories

and games

TESOL 2011

Checklist of child-friendly activities

Does the activity . . . . . provide students with a meaningful

context for using language? interest and involve all students? focus primarily on meaning? let students pick up some language

chunks naturally? provide students with opportunities to be

creative, i.e. to go beyond what they have been taught?

contain language for interaction, for fun/ play, for imaginary purposes? ( not only for linguistic purposes)

Use the checklist with this activity.

The Pied Piper

disaster reward

From Tieng Anh 8

Would your students enjoy doing this?

articulation

square root

vocal cords

input aspiration

lead-in

information gap

fricativefacilitate

receptive skills

capitalism

equation

colony

top-down

climate

cognitive

nasal cavity

output

rainfall

president

empire

labial parliament

feedback

multiply

Start this side

Get here

STEP

PIN

G S

TON

E

ran

took

had sat

came

atedid

went

flew

standwrite

laugh

sing

ring

do

tell

thinkcome

speak

teach

say

ask

wash run

be

Start this side

Get here

STEP

PIN

G S

TON

E

ran

took

had sat

came

atedid

went

flew

standwrite

laugh

sing

ring

do

tell

thinkcome

speak

teach

say

ask

wash run

be

Start this side

Get here

How will you make this exercise fun?

From Tieng Anh 11, unit 16

You may twist it into part of an adventure.

Choose a door to enter the Pyramid.

Find out what is inside these coffins. ->

complete the task

use one activity with different contents

vary one content with different activities

use popular stories -> split them into stages

With a little imagination, teachers can…

Once upon a time there lived a bear named Yogi.

One day he went into a room and found this piece of map.

Choose an object to see if it contains a piece of the map.

1

23

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

He got a complete map now.

Then Yogi prepared to start the journey.

I’ll give you a stick and a bag if you complete

these tasks.

After a long journey, Yogi arrived at Successful Life Land and…

I will give the key to the

best group!