HIGH or HIGHLY?

KWL: London

Since the topic this month was The Town and its places, my students have learnt a lot about the city of  London. We started with a KWL to detect their previous knowledge (I Know) about London and their interests (I Want to know):

Then, I gave the questions to the students for them to find out the answers. With the results, I prepared a PPT to see the answers in class and continue the explanation of sociocultural aspects:

I told them to download the App Kahoot and the next day I asked them questions about what we learnt in class. Some days later, I asked the same questions and some more using www.plickers.com this time.
The results were amazing: an average of 60%  in a class that normally has poor results!. The final day, they filled the last column of the KWL (I have Learnt), so I could check that they had really learnt a lot:

International Day of Women

This is my contribution to the 8th of March.
First of all, a PowerPoint Presentation of 20 outstanding women from English-speaking countries. I have tried to include many countries and different races and backgrounds. I use simple vocabulary because I intend to use it with very young teenagers, too. I have used pictures from Wikimedia Commons and the template from www.free-power-point-templates.com

Next, a memory game to match the names and photos with their achievements. Grey cards are for deceased women, so the students have to practise Past Tenses. The verbs are in brackets to force them to think about the tense of each sentence.  (DOC / PDF)

We continue with a similar activity: a domino.  (DOC / PDF)

 

Finally, the students can play Who's who? to practise questions in Present and Past tenses (Is she alive? Was she a writer?)   (DOC / PDF)

Clothes jigsaws

I found the idea for this game at "El Tarro de los Idiomas", a blog for teachers of Spanish as a second language. Print the document and cut up the pieces. The students have to match the pictures to the correct word so that they form the complete figure again. There is only one possible solution.

I think it's great to practise vocabulary and improve your students' cooperative skills. This way, they can revise vocabulary and learn more difficult words. Moreover, it also caters for mixed-ability classes.

On the contrary, if your students prefer competition, you can use them as a kind of domino (the first student that runs out of cards wins).

Song for Present Simple: Stronger

I love using the song Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You) by Kelly Clarkson when teaching Present Simple. You can watch or simply listen to it here:

 

And here you have some activities:

1. Listen to the song once and tick the words you hear and find the meaning. What do you think the lyrics are about? Do you know the singer?

alone baby back bed bring

bye color computer good mother

myself nervous nice someone thanks

2. Listen to the first part of the song again and choose the right word for each blank.  (00:00 - 00:41)

You know the bed feels warmer / farmer
Sleeping here alone/a song
You know I dream/sing in color
And do the things I want/know

You think you got the best/last of me
Think/sing you had the last laugh
Bet you think that everything good/cool is gone
Think you left me broken down/up
Think that I'd come running/sleeping back
Baby you don't know me, cause/but you're dead wrong

3. Listen to the next part of the song and fill the blanks with the words you hear: (00:42 - 01:15)

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
______________  a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm ______________
What doesn't kill you makes a fighter
Footsteps even lighter
______________ mean I'm over cause you're gone

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, ______________ and I

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
______________ a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm ______________

4. Now, listen to this final part of the song and match the sentences.  (01:16 – 01:40)

You heard that I was starting But told you I You didn't think I'd come You try to break me

back swinging but you see over with someone new that I'd come back was moving on over you