These activities will help:
To get them out of their seats
Reading
Writing
Speaking
Conversing
Language development
Vocabulary building
Building confidence in the new language.
These are activities that you can do with any language, it doesn’t always have to be teaching English. These are also activities that are tailored based on the level of the students. I currently teach Level 2, but have used most of these for when I taught Level 5 last year.
- What starts with – I set up a giant whiteboard with two letters on it. For example: L and R. In a relay format, students have to run up one at a time and write down a word that they know using the best spelling they can. One student can write long and then they run back and pass the marker to the next person. Then the next student can write a word like little. At the same time, the other team is writing their words one at a time. The other team is writing reach and red. This continues for as many people as you want to have on each team. When they are finished the teacher can check the words to make sure that they are real words and you can tell them to try again if the spelling is incorrect. The team that has the most correct words per letter can win a prize. Another activity to add on with this lesson is have them read the words aloud as they write. I usually bring in small candies for my students that they honestly go crazy for.
- Dictation Relay – A dictation relay is similar to the activity above but the groups are working in two teams to copy the message that I have written. I will write 3-4 sentences on a page and put it on a table in front of the room. For example: I go to school at Nassau BOCES. The students have to work as a group to copy the sentences down correctly, running down the room to copy the message from the front. Only one person is able to go up to look at the paper at a time and then they have to run to the back of the classroom to relay the message to the writer. One person is the “runner” and the others are the “writers”. These roles switch each sentence so that everyone is having an opportunity to try the different roles. The skill in this activity is finding a strategy for how to memorize the sentence as fast as possible. Some students go word by word and others read the whole sentence and try to remember it back to their writers. This is very easily differentiated because you can make the sentences very simple or much more complex. The students get very much into this activity and are very competitive to get all of the sentences correctly as fast as possible. Here is a sample of some of the sentences that I used: 1. Today is Monday December 9, 2024. 2. The weather is cloudy today. 3. School is over at 1pm.4. It may rain later.
- Bingo – Simple word bingo is a great practice for the lower levels where they are still working on vocabulary. Usually, I read the word aloud to the students and then I have them spell the word out loud so that they can guarantee that they got the right word. Having them spell the word aloud also makes sure they hear the word correctly. For example, I can say their and I make sure I use it in a possessive sentence because some will mark down there without listening to the sentence. But when they spell it they will catch their mistake.
- Toss the ball – ABC. I bring in a small, soft football and have the students throw it around the room yelling the alphabet for each letter of the alphabet. I pass the ball to the first student and yell “A” and they have to tell me a word that starts with the letter A – Alligator. And then they pass it to the next person and yell “B”. This keeps the students on their toes not knowing when they are going to get the ball or what letter they will be called out.
- Hangman – This is the traditional game of hangman and guessing letters in order to complete the puzzle. This is great for the students to play with each other. You can model it for them but have them create a word, sentence, or phrase that they want to use.
- Charades – This is a difficult game to start up because most students are very hesitant to act clues out in front of others. First of all, out of embarrassment and second of all out of their lack of confidence with the language. But simple words like flower, dog, cat, etc. are great to build language and build their confidence in being in front of a class.
- Icebreaker worksheets – These worksheets can be used as a first day or week of school activity but also throughout the year for students to learn more about each other. Write some questions on a paper and have students go around and ask each other these questions and write down the people’s names next to the corresponding question. For example, do you know anyone who has a bird as a pet? Students ask around to find someone and when they find that person, they write their name next to the question. This builds confidence in reading, writing and speaking all at the same time and students build comradery in finding similarities and differences amongst each other.
These are activities that I have tried, perfected and altered in my classroom and not only does it make it more engaging for the students, but they learn in new ways while enjoying themselves.