Tejas TEACHER ACTIVITY GROUP RESOURCE BOOK- YEAR 1 Flipbook converted by Suresh Mistri

TEJAS I TAG RESOURCE BOOK

Reflection

a. What useful English words / phrases will your learners need to know to complete the task above?
When will you teach them this language?
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b. Do you display your learners’ work on the walls in your school? How do you think learners feel
when they see their work on display in school? Why?
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c. Could you do a similar task with other topics? What topics will your learners find interesting?
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© The British Council, 2016 48
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).

NEWS REPORTS

By Ian Betteridge

CAN understand the general meaning of a newspaper report of events, where the
topic is known and there is a high level of predictability*

Preparation Match the words or phrases.

1. intelligence 2. leader 3. reduce pollution 4. report
5. series 6. successful 7. waterproof 8. publish

a. यश b. जलरोधक c. बु म ा d. नते े
e. अहवाल f. का शत
g. दूषण कमी करणे h. मा लका © Mat Wright

1. Quickly read the news stories. Match each to the writer. 3. What is the next sentence of these news stories? Match the
1. Tim Forbes, Entertainment headlines with the next sentences 1-5.
2. Emma Gershwin, Technology
3. Angela Orawan, Politics Berlin pollution meeting
4. Armand de Winter, Fashion Avatar 3 success
5. Paula Skehermunger, Health New study published
New uPhone 7SX
2. Choose whether these statements are true or false. Paris Fashion Week
1. The country leaders in Berlin will not agree about pollution.
2. Avatar 3 is not very popular. 1. The second most successful movie this year is Frozen 2.
3. Scientists think that eating a lot of chicken makes people stupid. 2. It is a big change from the summer trend for blue and black.
4. The uPhone 7SX is popular all over the world. 3. That makes it the fastest charging phone in the world.
5. Clothes fashion is the same as last year. 4. Chinese and Russian leaders will arrive in Berlin tomorrow.
5. British chicken farmers say that the study is wrong.
*The ALTE (Association of Language Testers in Europe) ‘Can Do’ project developed a simplified set of descriptors,
in the form of ‘can-do statements’, each saying what a learner can do at each level. The items in this series relate to 4. Would you like to read more about these stories? Why?
‘can-do statements’ for reading and writing skills at Basic User levels (CEFR A1 and A2). Which news story do you think is the most interesting?

5. How do you get news? Do you read a newspaper, watch TV or go
to a website? What kind of news story do you think is interesting?

Activity 3 Activity 2 Activity 1 Preparation Answers
1.Avatar3 success; 2. Paris Fashion Week; 1.False; 2. False; 3. True; 4. True; 5. False 1.Avatar3 success; 2. New uPhone 7SX; 1. c; 2. d; 3. g; 4. e; 5. h; 6. a; 7. b; 8. f
3. New uPhone 7SX; 4. Berlin pollution meeting; 3. Berlin pollution meeting;
5. New study published 4. Paris Fashion Week; 5. New study published

To find more English language activities visit www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish © British Council 2016

TEJAS I TAG RESOURCE BOOK

NEWS REPORTS

Let’s practise!

a. Think about your life over the past month. What has happened? What is the most
memorable thing you did? Did anything funny / good / happy happen?

b. Imagine that a TV news channel will report the events from your life this month. What
are the two most interesting headline stories? Write them below:

For example:
Man finds all his socks have holes in them.
Teacher goes on a school trip. Forgets to take glasses.

My life headlines this month:
1 _________________________________________________________________________
2 _________________________________________________________________________

c. Work in pairs or groups. Read your headlines to your partner(s). Take turns to ask questions
about the headlines. Find out more information about your partner’s stories.

Reflection

a. How do you get your learners to share what they have done outside of school? For example, do
they draw pictures, make comics, write stories, give presentations, etc.?

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b. Why is it important for learners to talk and write about their lives outside of school?
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b. How can you prepare learners to do these kinds of activities?

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© The British Council, 2016 50
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).

Hi! I’d like a burger please. BIG CITY SMALL WORLD: FAST FOOD Any fries with that?
Er, OK.
Single megaburger or double megaburger?
Small, medium or large?

Regular burger, Erm – double! Small will be OK.
super burger or With cheese? If you have a megaburger,
megaburger? (1)
Sure! (2) large fries are only Rs.10 extra.
I’m REALLY hungry … OK – large!
I’ll have a megaburger. You have a megaburger, large fries and a drink –
that means our meal deal is free! What would you like –
Anything to drink with that? ice cream or pie?

An orange juice, please. Meal deal? Erm - pie!
Small, medium or large? You get a free dessert! Apple or cherry?

Large – I’m thirsty. Great! Apple.

Do you have a loyalty card? I didn’t want all this –
Sorry? I’m not THAT hungry!

So many questions! A loyalty card.
This is like an exam! If you have a
loyalty card,
after you buy
ten burgers,
you get one free.

No, I don’t have one.

Would you like one?

OK.

(1) Prefixes (2) Synonyms

In informal English, you can say ‘mega’ to mean ‘very, very big’. This originally Sometimes people say ‘sure’ to mean ‘yes’.
comes from the Greek word meaning ‘large’ or ‘great’. A few words in English Synonyms are words with similar meaning. Other synonyms for ‘yes’ are:
use ‘mega’ as a prefix: ‘certainly’; ‘definitely’; ‘very well’; ‘yea’; ‘yeah’; ‘yep’; and ‘by all means’.
A megaphone is an instrument that magnifies sound, and a megalopolis is a
very large city. Can you think of a synonym for the word in bold in the sentences? The answers
are in the table, but the letters of each word are in jumbled order.
Here are some more prefixes and their meanings:

PREFIX MEANING Example:
re again e. g. ‘reheat’ means to heat again Can you shut the door, please?
mis wrongly/badly e. g. ‘misbehave’ means to behave badly
pre before e. g. ‘preschool’ means before you start school Answer: Can you close the door, please?
below e. g. ‘underground’ means below the ground
under not e. g. ‘dislike’ means to not like cisk lsaml
dis rahd seibgn
seocl seya
vecrle
Now, choose the correct meaning, a) or b), for each phrase in bold:
1. Asha is very little for her age.
Example: Asha is very ……………………… for her age.
Remember to disconnect the computer when you go home.
a) switch the computer off 2. He was ill yesterday, so he didn’t go to work.
b) take the computer with you He was ……………………… yesterday, so he didn’t go to work.

Answer: a) ‘disconnect’ means to switch off 3. You should go to university, because you are very intelligent.
You should go to university, because you are very ……………………….
1. Can I have a refill for my coffee, please?
a) Can you get me a new cup of coffee, please? 4. I find German very difficult to understand.
b) Can you put more coffee in my cup, please? I find German very ……………………… to understand.

2. I’m afraid you can’t buy alcohol here, because you are underage. 5. We need to leave now, because the film starts in 10 minutes.
a) because you are too young We need to leave now, because the film ……………………… in 10 minutes.
b) because you are too small
6. This exercise is really simple!
3. I disagree with the plan to build a new library. This exercise is really ………………………!
a) I don’t agree with the plan
b) I only partly agree with the plan Answers

4. They misunderstood the question and failed the exam. Prefixes
a) They deliberately did the opposite to what was asked 1. b; 2. a; 3. a; 4. b; 5. a
b) They understood incorrectly
Synonyms
5. I have a new contract for my mobile phone, so my calls are prepaid now. 1. small; 2. sick; 3. clever; 4. hard; 5. begins ; 6. easy
a) My phone calls are paid in advance
b) My phone calls are paid at the end of the month

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TEJAS I TAG RESOURCE BOOK

BIG CITY SMALL WORLD – FAST FOOD

Let’s practise!

Find a partner. Practise the dialogue between the two characters given on the previous page from
the comic.

TRY THIS WITH YOUR LEARNERS!

Bring some fruit and vegetables to class. Put them in a bag so that the learners can’t see them.
Walk around the classroom and ask each learner to put his/her hand in the bag and feel a fruit or
vegetable inside it. Without taking it out of the bag, ask the learner to guess what it is.

After each learner has guessed, stand at the front of the class and take each fruit and vegetable
slowly out of the bag one at a time. Each time say what it is. For example, It’s a carrot. You can ask
more questions about the colour and shape of the fruit. For example, What colour is it? Is it long or
short? Do you like carrots?

Reflection

a. Do you think your learners will find this guessing game interesting? Why?
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b. How does asking more questions about the fruit / vegetable help learners practise language?
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c. How could you increase the interaction between the learners in this game?

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© The British Council, 2016 52
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).

BIG CITY SMALL WORLD: HOME ALONE

I work so hard,
it’s good to have
some time to relax.

I’ve got the day off today. I think I’ll spend all day Hello? Hi Hari!
No work! Brilliant! playing video games and How are you doing?
I’m having a quiet day off.
Hari’s coming over. watching TV. Perfect! What? Erm, ok, sure you can come over. (1)
That’s OK, I guess.
We can play video games That’s the door. Oh! Hi Fadi! What a surprise!
It’ll be Hari.
together. I was just passing.
Thought I’d drop by

and see what
you were up to. (2)

Nothing much.
I was just having a quiet day off.

Great! We can play
video games together!

I’ve got a text. (3) Fantastic! This is turning into a party! There goes my quiet day off!
It’s from Rohit.
He says he’s going to
come over with some pizzas.

(1) Invitations Example: Can I ………………………… your hockey game?
I’m afraid not. We don’t have any more hockey sticks. Sorry!
‘Come over’ is a colloquial expression meaning to visit someone:
Why don’t you come over for dinner on Friday? Answer: Can I join in your hockey game?

You can also say ‘come round’: 1. What are you doing? You were supposed to get up early to finish your
Do you want to come round and watch a film tonight? university application form. Today is the last day to (1) ……………………… the
paperwork!
Why don’t you come over for dinner on Friday? Sorry, Mum. I decided to (2) ………………… because I got home late last night.
Do you want to come round and watch a film tonight?
2. Welcome to Sunshine Hotel. How can I help you?
These are invitations. Look at the table below for language to accept or refuse Yes. I’d like to (3) ………………………, please.
an invitation. Certainly. Can I have your booking number please and I need you to (4)
……………………... this form with your full name, address and phone number.
• That would be great. What time shall I • I’m sorry but I’m busy that evening.
come? • I’m afraid I have to work. 3. I went to (5) …………………… to my computer this morning and it wasn’t there!
• I’d love to, but I don’t think I can that Yes. Didn’t you hear? A robber managed to (6) ……………………… to the office
• I’d love to. What can I bring? last night and he stole all the computers!
• That sounds fun. Where shall we meet? day.
(3) Texting
Use the mixed-up words to reply to the invitations below.
The popularity of texting means that a whole new language has emerged
Example: Why don’t you come over for dinner on Friday? that uses abbreviations and slang to communicate in as few characters as
sounds / bring? / fun. / What / I / That / can possible.

Answer: That sounds fun. What can I bring? Single letters can replace words, e. g. ‘be’ becomes ‘b’, ‘you’ becomes ‘u’.
Single digits can replace words, e. g. ‘eight’ becomes ‘8’, ‘for’ becomes ‘4’.
1. Why don’t you drop by for lunch next Tuesday? A single letter or digit can replace a syllable, e. g. ‘great’ becomes ‘gr8t’,
sorry / Tuesday. / but / I’m / I’m / next / busy ‘wait’ becomes ‘w8’, ‘later’ becomes ‘l8r’.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Translate this text message conversation into normal English!
2. Do you want to see a movie with me on Saturday?
Where / meet? / great. / be / That / shall / would / we Example: Where RU?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Answer: Where are you?

3. Why don’t we go for a drink after work? 1. Jaya: Can U come round 4 lunch? 4. Ali: Gr8!
don’t / I’d / can. / love / I / to, / think / I / but ………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Ali: Not 2day. 5. Jaya: B here @ 8.
4. Why don’t you drop in for a drink tomorrow? ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………….
shall / sounds / That / come? / time / fun. / What / I
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3. Jaya: What about 2nite? 6. Ali: OK. CU l8r
………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………….
(2) Multi-word verbs

To ‘drop by’ means to visit someone for To ‘drop in’ means to arrive informally Ali: Great! Multi-word verbs
Jaya: Be here at 8. 1. hand in; 2. sleep in; 3. check in; 4. fill in; 5. log in;
a short time: to visit someone: Ali: OK. See you later. 6. break in

I’ll drop by his house on my way home. Do drop in if you happen to be passing! think I can. 4. That sounds fun. What time shall I come? Jaya: What about tonight?

‘Drop in’ is a multi-word verb using the preposition ‘in’. Here are some more be great. Where shall we meet? 3. I’d love to, but I don’t Ali: Not today.
multi-word verbs with ‘in’. Use them to complete the conversations below:
1. I’m sorry but I’m busy next Tuesday. 2. That would Jaya: Can you come round for lunch?

Texting Invitations

fill in hand in log in join in sleep in break in check in Answers

To find more English language activities visit www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish © British Council 2016

TEJAS I TAG RESOURCE BOOK

BIG CITY SMALL WORLD – HOME ALONE

Let’s practise!

Find a partner. Practise the dialogues in section 2 Multi-word verbs, parts 1, 2 and 3.
With a partner, write a similar short dialogue using the multi-word verbs you have learnt.

For example:
Hi Jaya, have you filled in the application form for your Masters in Marathi?
Oh not yet, I have been busy with correcting papers. I’ll hand in my application tomorrow.

Reflection

a. Think about the role play you just did. How did it help you practise language?
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b. Can you think of similar multi-word target language that your learners can practise? For example,
stand up, sit down, etc. How can you get your learners to practise these phrases?

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TRY THIS WITH YOUR LEARNERS!

Think of multi-word verbs you want to introduce to your learners. Ask learners to stand in a circle.
Say the multi-word verbs on it's own, for example stand up / sit down, or in a sentence, for example
turn on the fan, etc. Encourage the learners to do or pretend to do the action.

Ask one learner to give a command using the new language and ask the other learners to follow
the command. Let the next learner give another command and continue the activity. If you have a
large class, you can put learners into smaller groups. To make it more fun, ask the learners to give
the commands faster, slower, in a silly voice etc.

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Reflection

In the activity above, the learners practise vocabulary connected with doing actions. Why do you
think this is a good way for young learners to learn new words?
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Wake up

Join in

55 © The British Council, 2016
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).

BIG CITY SMALL WORLD: WORKING FROM HOME

I’m working from home today. I love working from home – Wow! There’s my old friend Kevin.
I’ve got a report to write – it’s more relaxing than my busy office. I haven’t seen him for years –

I have to finish it by lunchtime. I’d better send him a message. (2)

9 am OK ... before I start, 9 am An hour later
I’ll just check my Facebook messages.
Fadi’s posted a link Hmmm ... that’s interesting ...
to something on YouTube. Fantastic! I’ll have to send this to I’d better check the news website
everyone I know.
to see what’s happening ...

Let’s have a look. Now let me just check my 30 minutes later
... and my email, of course ... Twitter feed

before I start work.

Now let’s see if anyone has replied to Hmmm …
my Facebook posting. I wonder what the time is?

... then I’ll get down to work.

Another hour later Oh no it’s four o’clock,
and I still haven’t started -
my boss is going to kill me! (1)

(1) Still/yet (2) Interjections

‘I still haven’t started’ is the same as ‘I haven’t started yet’. ‘Wow’ is an exclamation used to express wonder, amazement, or pleasure.
Wow! That’s the tallest building I’ve ever seen!
In questions, we use ‘yet’ to ask whether something expected has happened.
Is supper ready yet? It can also be used as a verb, and means to impress someone greatly.
Has the postman come yet? The pianist wowed the audience with his rendition of Mozart.

Complete the tables below with ‘still’ or ‘yet’. Interjections are expressions which we use to get the attention of people
or to react to what people say to us. Add the interjections in the table to
Example: You still haven’t done your homework. the conversation below. One of them is done for you.
STILL
YET Wow! No way! Oh dear! Thank goodness! Ouch! Hey!

Answer: You still haven’t done your homework. Jaya (1) ……………………………… ! Is that you Vinod? I haven’t seen you for ages.
STILL You haven’t done your homework yet. Where have you been?
YET
Vinod Oh, hi Jaya. Yeah. I’ve been away. I went to Mumbai last month.
1. You haven’t read the report yet. Jaya (2) Wow! That sounds great!
STILL Vinod Actually, I had an accident while I was there.
YET Jaya (3) ……………………………… What happened?
Vinod Well … one day, I was in a library and all of a sudden loads of books
2. He still hasn’t received a reply.
STILL fell on my head!
YET Jaya (4) ……………………………… Were you hurt?
Vinod Fortunately not. I was taken to hospital, but they said I was OK.
3. It isn’t time for lunch yet. Jaya (5) …………………………………
STILL Vinod And guess who was in the next bed to me?
YET Jaya I’ve no idea. Who?
Vinod Shahrukh Bacchan!
4. Jaya (6) ……………………………… Shahrukh Bacchan, the film star! Amazing!
STILL
YET They haven’t seen the film yet.

5. She still isn’t ready to go out. Answers
STILL .
YET Still/yet
1. You still haven’t read the report.
2. He hasn’t received a reply yet.
3. It still isn’t time for lunch.
4. They still haven’t seen the film.
5. She isn’t ready to go out yet.

Interjections
1. Hey! 2. Wow! 3. Oh dear! 4. Ouch! 5. Thank goodness! 6. No way!

To find more English language activities visit www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish © British Council 2016

TEJAS I TAG RESOURCE BOOK

BIG CITY SMALL WORLD – WORKING FROM HOME

Let’s practise!

Find a partner. Practise the dialogue in the section 2 Interjections.

Once you feel confident, work with a partner and write a similar short dialogue using the
interjections you learnt. Then practise the dialogue.

Write your dialogue below.

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Reflection

How can you teach interjections like these to your learners? How can you get them to
practise these?
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TRY THIS WITH YOUR LEARNERS!

Remember! Using pictures is a great way of engaging learners visually. They also help you connect
lessons with learners’ lives outside of the classroom.

Put learners in groups. Give 5-7 pictures per group. As an example, show them some pictures they
can react to e.g. yummy food, a huge dog, a beautiful flower etc. In groups, ask learners to look at
the pictures given to them and use interjections to react to each picture. See an example below.

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TEJAS I TAG RESOURCE BOOK

Reflection

a. How does using pictures engage learners and help them practise language?
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b. How will you teach these interjections before doing this practice activity?
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c. What instructions will you need to give to your learners before starting this activity?
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HURRAY OUCH WOW

OOPS HEY

59 © The British Council, 2016
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BIG CITY SMALL WORLD: AT THE FLICKS

I love going to the I prefer staying at home You have to see a movie I love romantic comedies.
cinema! and watching DVDs. on the big screen I prefer action movies.

to really appreciate it. (2) But I can’t pause it!

Tonight it’s a sci-fi epic! In 3D! (1) Shhh! It’s starting. Hi! I’m in the cinema
right now …
So we have to wear There are always I hate it when people
special glasses! loads of adverts and trailers. (3) don’t switch their phones off!

I feel stupid. And when people have
conversations on their phones!
I’ve seen this film before …
I’ll tell you what happens at the end … Perhaps you’re right …
sometimes it’s better to stay at home!
No!!!!!
I like popcorn.

But I hate it pants.
when people
make a noise eating!

(1) Acronyms

3D means ‘three dimensional’ – an effect that gives the illusion of depth when Suddenly, a man came out of a nearby shop dressed in an orange jacket and green pants
watching a film. ‘Congratulations!’ he said, ‘you’ve won the “Keep London Clean” competition and the prize is
a ticket to the cinema for you and your friend with free coke, chips and popcorn!’ ”
Traditionally, cinema-goers are required to wear a pair of glasses with one red
lens and one blue lens to see the 3D effect. Now read the story and fill in the blanks with the correct words from the box below.

3D has been around since 1890 but there has been a resurgence of 3D films in crisps biscuit cinema rubbish holiday pavement autumn trousers
recent years.
“Last 1. autumn, I went on 2. ……………………… to London with my boyfriend. We were on
3D stands for ‘three dimensional’, so 3D is an ‘acronym’. In other words, it’s an our way to the 3. ……………………… when I saw an empty 4. ……………………… packet on the
abbreviation made of the first letter of the word ‘dimensional’. 5. ………………………, so I picked it up and put it in the 6. ………………………. Suddenly, a man came out
of a nearby shop dressed in an orange jacket and green 7. ………………………. ‘Congratulations!’ he
Can you guess the meaning of the acronyms below? said, ‘you’ve won the ‘Keep London Clean’ competition and the prize is a ticket to the cinema
for you and your friend with free coke, 8. ……………………… and popcorn!’ ”
Example:
Your boss asks you to finish the report asap. ‘Asap’ means (3) Cinema vocabulary
a) as slowly as you please b) as soon as possible c) after serious planning
Trailers are advertisements for feature films that will be shown in the near future at a
Answer: b) as soon as possible cinema.

1. In the clothes shop, the assistant asks you if you want ‘XL’. This means The term ‘trailer’ is used because originally they were shown at the end of the film but
a) extra large b) excellent quality c) extreme luxury that practice did not last long because people tended to leave the cinema quickly at the
end of the film. However, somehow the name has stuck.
2. The restaurant is advertised as having A/C. This means it has
a) allergy controlled foods b) air-conditioning c) access for cats box office premiere interval screen 3D glasses trailers

3. RSVP at the end of an invitation means Pete and Abby meet at the 1. ……………………… to buy the tickets.
a) please turn the page b) red scarf please c) reply please Abby: What shall we see then?
Pete: Let’s see ‘Love in Paris’. It opens tonight.
4. The date of the next Rolling Bones concert is advertised as TBA. This means Abby: Really? It’s the 2. ……………………… tonight? Let’s go and see it then.
a) to be announced b) tabled for another day c) totally banned Pete: (Buys the tickets) Look! We’ve got to wear 3. ……………………….
Abby: Oh! How exciting! Shall we get some popcorn?
5. At the hotel reception, you ask for directions to the nearest bank and are Pete: Hmm … I’m not very hungry yet. Is it OK if we wait until the 4. ………………………?
told that there is an ATM on the 3rd floor. An ‘ATM’ is Abby: Sure. So, we’ve got 10 minutes before the film starts. What shall we do?
Pete: Let’s go in already. We can watch the 5. ……………………… for the new films.
a) an Atlantic Merchant Bank b) an Automatic Teller Machine c) an Advice and Tips Abby: Good idea. Where do we go?
Man Pete: Hang on. I’ll check on the tickets. (He reads the information on the ticket.) It’s 6.
……………………… five. Look! It’s over there…
(2) British and American English

‘Movie’ is an American English word. ‘Film’ is the British English word, but most Answers
people use both words. Here are a few other examples of words in British and
American English: Acronyms
1. a; 2. b; 3. c; 4. a; 5. b
UK USA British and American English
rubbish trash 1. autumn; 2. holiday; 3. cinema; 4. biscuit; 5. pavement; 6. rubbish; 7. trousers ; 8. crisps
pavement sidewalk Cinema vocabulary
cookie 1. box office; 2. premiere; 3. 3D glasses; 4. interval; 5. trailers ; 6. screen
biscuit chips
crisps

Read this story, which is told in American English

“Last fall, I went on vacation to London with my boyfriend. We were on our way
to the flicks when I saw an empty cookie packet on the sidewalk, so I picked it
up and put it in the trash.

To find more English language activities visit www.britishcouncil.org/learnenglish © British Council 2016

TEJAS I TAG RESOURCE BOOK

BIG CITY SMALL WORLD – AT THE FLICKS

Let’s practise!

To practise vocabulary about art and media, do the puzzle Arts and Media.

TRY THIS WITH YOUR LEARNERS!

You just did a crossword to review some words you learnt. What can you do for your learners?
Try this.
Put one word on the board with one or two letters missing like this:

ci_e_a

Now ask the learners to guess the missing letters. To make it more interesting you can give a
picture clue.
Continue with more words or give a set of words to each group of learners and ask them to play in
their groups taking turns.

Reflection

a. How does this activity help your learners to develop their thinking skills, vocabulary and spelling?
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b. How does this game make learning effective and fun for your learners?
_____________________________________________________________________________
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WORD TRAIN PUZZLE: ADJECTIVES Puzzle by Julie Mason

Instructions: Read the clues (information that helps you to find the answers) and write the answers in the boxes. Each
answer starts with the last letter of the word before it. The last word finishes with the first letter of the first word.

CLUES

1. feeling that you want to rest
2. the opposite of ‘safe’
3. “It was my best birthday ever! It was a really ........ day!”
4. making a lot of noise
5. the opposite of ‘clean’
6. colour at the centre of an egg
7. temperature between hot and cold
8. doing things which are not possible, like Harry Potter!
9. “Be ........ with that knife! You might cut yourself”
10. This is the ........ clue in this puzzle!

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WORD SEARCH PUZZLE: TECHNOLOGY Puzzle by Julie Mason

Instructions: Use the clues (information which helps you fi nd the answers) to fi nd the words. The letters can go any way,
but are always next to each other. The fi rst clue is done for you.

A B CD E F GH I J K LMNOPQR S T
1 MOB I L AME S S A NG E T E R S T S
2 OHANS P EANDEDS ANT SORA
3 B J T C N A P P T A N I D S WM C DM V
4 I Y T EX TME S SAGE T I PRSOE
5 L P EOF F E RNR L I EDUA EOON
6 T S R O E E S O A R L T E Y E R E OWG
7 P C Y T N R BM E C H A N I C U NMM T
8 C E O T T V E D T A S L E C K K T OWT
9 PHOBEDZC T F ACK EB T YB F P
10 T U L C M C W E O F B A E J O S S I K F
11 U T I E P R E E N R O M S C R E E L O I
12 P Y N N I M P I O C D E C C L U L E S N
13 L U G G C E K K S A L R H A B D I P U G
14 L O O I R R E I H G S A A M R A E H L R
15 T U R N O N E D E L S I N M O A F O A R
16 M M D E R V M E N G I N E R K Q O N L Q
17 I L R E D J R F C V Y S N E E T R E S A
18 N W O R O O C L I C K O R D D U T J S Z
19 G Y P P O E E M S S I S G O Z A R E Y T
20 Y E I R M T E X O P R E C R O D L A N N

CLUES

1. “Before I go to bed, I always ........ ........ the television” (4 letters, 3 letters) (TURN OFF)
2. writing you send from one mobile phone to another (4, 7)
3. a camera which has a card inside that you can move to your computer (7, 6)
4. the person who repairs your car when it doesn't work (8)
5. a phone you can carry with you (6, 5)
6. to make the computer mouse work you can move it or ............... on it (5)
7. you can only hear music on your computer if it has these (8)
8. “My alarm clock has stopped! I think it needs a new ............... because I haven't changed it for a long time.” (7)
9. if you write a letter on your computer, you must do this before you turn it off or you will lose the letter (4)
10. “It's really dark in here! Can you ......... ........ the lights” (4, 2)
11. a person who builds and repairs machines and bridges for example (8)
12. to store music or film so that you can listen to it again (6)
13. when a machine is not working so it can't be used any more (6)
14. where you look at the pictures and words on your mobile phone, television or computer (6)

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WORD SNAKE: MONTHS OF THE YEAR Puzzle by Richard Sidaway

Instructions: Start at ‘M’ under the red box and finish at ‘Y’ in the blue box. Find all of the 12 months of the year.
You can only go to the next square, and only move up or down, each time. The first one (MARCH) is done for you.

A B CD E F GH I J K LMNO
1 START H A U G A P L J N E U A R Y
2M C E V U R R I A U F R B O O
3A R M O S E A U N J E B E T C
4R E B N T B R E C R E J R M A
5S E P T E M Y D E M B U L Y Y

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FIND THE MESSAGE PUZZLE Puzzle by Julie Mason

Instructions: Answer the clues (information which helps you find the answer) from 1–20. Put a line through
(like this: ‘this is easy!’) each answer – the first one is done for you. In the boxes which you have not put a line through,
you will find a message. What is the message?!

ALL RIGHT WELL DONE! ANSWER EXCUSE ME! HAD

GOOD MORNING! WENT FINE, THANKS! SORRY! YOU

THANKS VERY FINISHED WHAT TIME IS IT? I'M TIRED THE
MUCH!

I DON'T DON'T FORGET! GOOD THIS IS EASY! DEAR MARY,
UNDERSTAND AFTERNOON!

PUZZLE WHAT DO YOU I'M HUNGRY HOW MUCH IS IT? SEE YOU SOON!
DO?

CLUES

1. you say this when something is not difficult
2. when you ask a question, you want an ..........
3. you say this if you do something wrong
4. you say this when you want to sleep
5. “When I was a child, I .......... a dog, but now I have a cat.”
6. you say this when you meet someone after lunch, but before evening
7. you can say this when you say ‘goodbye’
8. it means the same as ‘OK’
9. you ask this when you want to know the time
10. you say this when you want to eat
11. we ask this when we want to know what we have to pay
12. you say this when you want someone to say something again
13. you say this when you meet someone before lunch
14. you say this if you want someone to remember what you said!
15. “Yesterday, I .......... to the cinema with some friends.”
16. you say this when someone asks, ‘How are you?’
17. you can start a letter like this
18. you say this if you want someone to look at you
19. you ask this if you want to know someone’s job
20. you say this when someone helped you a lot

The message is : ...........................................................................................................................................................................

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ACROSTIC PUZZLE: HOMES AND BUILDINGS Puzzle by Julie Mason

Instructions: Use the letters after the clues (information that helps you to fi nd the answers) below to make words about homes and
buildings. Then use the letters in the yellow boxes to make another two words, also about homes and buildings.

13
1
2

3
4

5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

13

CLUES

1. where you go to watch a film (MEIANC)
2. big building where you go when you don't feel well (TIPHOLSA)
3. room in your house where you cook (THECKIN)
4. where cars are made (ROFYACT)
5. outside your house where there are flowers (DREGNA)
6. where you go to buy things (PHSO)
7. room in your house where you sleep (MORBDOE)
8. where sun gets in your house (DIWWNO)
9. building where you go to see old things (USEMMU)
10. cows, sheep and pigs live here (RAMF)
11. a small room but you NEED to use it now and again! (LIETTO)
12. most rooms have four of these (SLWLA)

13. where you go if you want to swim

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SECTION 2

LEARNING BY
READING

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TOPICS

Decide together with your peers which article you want to read for each TAG meeting.
Remember you can read the articles in any order.

Articles Date completed
1 Storytelling
2 Using songs in your lessons
3 Speaking and young learners
4 Reading and young learners
5 Listening and young learners
6 Using poems in lessons
7 Writing and young learners
8 English in the classroom
9 Finding and creating resources
10 Making lessons motivating
11 Developing as a teacher
12 Error correction

Thintgosdo!

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USING THE READING RESOURCES

You can use the articles in any order and any way you choose. Here is how we suggest
you use the articles:

1. Arrange your chairs so that you sit in a circle.
2. Decide which article to read and the role you will each have (see the table below).
3. Read the article. First you can read silently by yourself. Then you can read it aloud with a

partner. You can discuss the ideas and questions in the article as well as any difficult vocabulary
with your partner.
4. Then, members of the group can take turns to read aloud a paragraph or section of the
article that they found interesting. You don't need to read aloud the whole article, just two or
three paragraphs that you find interesting or have questions about.
5. Members of the group can ask a question about the text to clarify the meaning of any words or
phrases they are unsure about.
6. After reading the text, members of the group share their ideas, opinions and reflections on
the topic.
7. Finally, the group discuss how the ideas can relate to them and their teaching context.

In this section, different participants can be assigned different roles while they are reading.
These could be:

Role Responsibility
Initiator
The discussion director Introduces the topic of the text, starts reading the first
paragraph and then nominates the next person to read.
The involver
Asks questions about the text after each paragraph.
Keeps the conversation going after the group has
finished reading the text.

Encourages others to give their ideas and opinions
about the text.

The vocabulary enricher Answers questions about any new words and phrases.

The summariser Gives a summary of the text and the group discussion.
Summarises any action points the group has made
after reading the text.

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STORYTELLING

Before reading

Think about your learners.
 What stories do your learners like? Why do they like these stories?
 What stories have you used with your learners?

In this article you will learn some techniques for telling stories. You can use these techniques with
your students in the classroom.

1. Storytelling and you
Think about your experiences of listening to stories: When you were a child:
 Where did you listen to stories?
 What time of day was it, usually?
 Who told you or read you stories?
 Did you enjoy listening to stories? Why? Why not?
 Did you ever hear stories in English? Where did you hear them?
 What was your favourite story?
Now you are older:
 Have you read or told stories to children in your family?
 What are your feelings as an adult when you tell stories to children in your family?

I feel that most people relate strongly to stories experienced in early childhood. Children enjoy
listening to stories. When teachers tell stories well, children will remember them even as adults.

2. Why storytelling?
Storytelling is a powerful linguistic and psychological technique for an English teacher. He/she
can use it with learners to teach them the language in a fun and interesting way. Storytelling is
powerful because:

 the teacher communicates directly with the class
 the teacher can be creative and add his/her own voice, gestures and actions.
Can you add more reasons why storytelling is powerful?

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3. Mixed language storytelling
If your learners have low levels of English you can use a mix of English and Marathi in the stories.
See the example below:

Eka Sunday sakalchi goshta ahe. Raju was lying on his bed, padla hota/zhopla hota

‘Get up Raju,’ his mother – his aai – said.

Raju stretched and yawned [teacher stretches, yawns and says raju ne aalas dila va zambhaii dili]

‘Get up quickly and brush your teeth – daat ghas’ his mother said. [Teacher does actions of
brushing teeth]

But Raju did not want to brush his teeth. He wanted to play. Tyala khelayche hote.

‘Hi Raju,’ konitari mirror madhun mhanala,

‘Let’s play.’ Raju looked at the person in the mirror.

Source – Raju’s story, My English Book Two, Standard two, Marathi Madhyam pg. 63

In this example, Marathi words are used to explain the actions or the context. The action words can
also be shown through physical actions. However, in a mixed ability or multi grade classroom, a
combination of actions and the use of Marathi supports learners and helps them to understand the
story.

Mixed language stories work like magic with children at low levels because:
 they learn the new language without being aware of it
 the same story can be told several times. Each time you tell the story you can
increase the number of English words you use
 finally, when the whole story is told in English, the learners feel very happy that
they have understood everything!

4. Multi-voice storytelling
A technique I really enjoy is telling a story with the help of the learners.
I ask them to sit around me – some behind me, some next to me – all of us facing the class. I then
start the story like this:

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Long long ago, there lived two little frogs in a pretty little pond… What do you think is in the pond?
[I turn to the learners sitting around me. The learners then try to imagine and describe the pond].

The learners are my ‘helpers’. They participate in telling the story.

I then continue telling the story. Five or six times I stop and get the ‘helpers’ to enrich the telling
with their descriptions. I am careful to stop telling the story just before the ending. I then ask all the
students to write down the ending that they imagine.

They read their endings to each other and I will finally also give them my ending. Told in this way,
the story belongs more completely to the group than if I tell the story on my own.

Adapted from:
www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/story-telling-language-teachers-oldest-technique
by Mario Rinvolucri

Glossary to understand something because you have
experienced something similar
to relate to something strong / something that has a great effect
powerful technique language
linguistic relating to the human mind and feelings
psychological a way of doing an activity
technique to improve the story by providing more details and
enrich the telling of a story descriptions
imagine to think of ideas or pictures in your mind

Further resources on stories:
Teacher Pages – Story sequencing using First, Then, Next, Last
Short video filmed in a local school. It shows how teachers can help their learners retell a story
using sequencing words.
https://youtu.be/x-xmTBWnc5Y

Tell it Again! The Storytelling Handbook for Primary English Language Teachers
In this resource you learn different methods and techniques to tell stories in your lessons. It
includes 12 stories from around the world.
http://goo.gl/E2VwXK

Story Weaver by Pratham Books - An open access online resource for picture storybooks in
different languages for children by Pratham Books
https://storyweaver.org.in/

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After reading

1. Work in pairs or groups. Summarise the main ideas in the article.
2. What was your favourite idea in the article?
3. Underline / highlight words, phrases or sentences in the article you feel are important. Share

these with you peers. Explain why you highlighted them.
4. Write one or two questions you still have about the topic. Share your questions with the group

and discuss them.

Group discussion

1. What did you like about the article?
2. Is there anything in the article you don’t agree with? What? Why?
3. Have you already used any of the ideas from the article in your own lessons? Tell your peers.
4. How could you use the ideas from the article in your own lessons from now on?

Take away points
Write three useful ideas you liked from the article that you would like to try in your lessons.

Useful language:

I think… I liked… / I didn’t like… What do you think?
I feel… I relate to…. I want to….

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USING SONGS IN YOUR LESSONS

Before reading

Think about your learners.
 What are your learners’ favourite songs? Why do they like these songs?
 How often do you sing songs in your class?

Note: In this article we refer to songs from the British Council website,
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en. Please go to the end of the article for individual links.

A. Why use songs?

1. Songs are fun!
Children enjoy singing along to songs. They make the class lively and fun. When they also have
actions, they can help young learners with muscle coordination as they involve movement. Songs
often have a ‘catchy’ and lively tune with a lot of repetition which helps learners remember the
song long after they’ve left school.

Songs are fun because:
 the repetition and rhythm make them easy to learn
 they build confidence in shy learners (especially when sung as a whole class)
 they develop memory and concentration, as well as physical coordination.

2. Songs develop listening skills
Longer songs with a variety of vocabulary help develop listening skills. For example, the song
The ballad of Lisa the lemur is a story about a family of lemurs (monkeys) who lose their home in the
rainforest. It is a good introduction to a lesson about the environment and endangered species.

3. Songs help reinforce language
Some songs are ideal for teaching and revising grammar points. They can be included in lessons
with a specific language focus and add variety and fun to the lesson. They are very useful for lower
levels where the constant repetition of the structure in the song can help learners remember the
language structure. For example, the song Quiet please is useful for practising the structure ‘Can I
have ..?’ It is also a good way to revise classroom objects.

4. Songs teach vocabulary
Songs provide an excellent way of repeating and reinforcing vocabulary. For example, the song
People work covers the vocabulary of professions – both the names of professions and what they
do. Songs can also fit into classroom topics or themes. For example, if you’re doing a lesson on
animals, you can choose from a number of songs such as Incy wincy spider or Old MacDonald.

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5. Songs help with pronunciation
Songs help learners learn stress patterns and rhythm without being aware of it. For example, the
song Incy wincy spider follows the repetitive pattern of: Oo Oo Oo (Incy wincy spider). To reinforce
this further, you could represent the patterns on the board with circles (as shown above) and ask
children to clap only on the stressed (larger) circles.

B. How can we use songs?

1. Select a song that links with the topic of your lesson.
It is important to select songs that are suitable for your learners and your lesson. If, for example,
you are teaching a lesson on animals, you can choose from songs like Old MacDonald had a farm
and How much is that doggie in the window? (see links at the end of this article)

2. Introduce the song
It is a good idea to warm up for a song by giving learners an introduction to the topic or
vocabulary. You could do this by using real objects (or ‘realia’) or showing visuals/pictures of the
vocabulary in the song. For example, if you are teaching about sports, you could start by showing
pictures of different sports and games. When you introduce a song, allow the learners to listen to it
a couple of times to become familiar with the tune. Explain the meaning of new words by using the
visuals (or translating if necessary). Ask the learners to point to the correct visuals or real objects
as they listen. Of course, learners often start to sing along naturally without much help from the
teacher!

3. Making the most out of songs
Here are some examples of activities for using songs in the classroom.

 Get students to predict the words of the song before listening to it. For example, ask
learners which animals might be in the song We’re going to the zoo.

 Guess missing words in a gapped song before listening.
 Tick pictures of what is included in a song while listening. You will need pictures including

those of things that do not appear in the song.
 Order the lyrics (or verses) while listening.
 Match half-lines while listening.
 Focus on rhyming words after listening.
 Find synonyms after listening.
 Act out the song after listening to it.

4. Create actions to the song
Once learners are familiar with the tune and the words, you can introduce actions to help them
remember it better. A good example of this is in the song If you’re happy and you know it. The last
verse asks them to repeat all the actions at a much quicker pace – providing lots of fun and
laughter. You can also invent actions (or ask your learners to do so!)

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Adapted from:
http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/i-can-run
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-songs by Sue Clarke

Glossary make the lesson interesting and exciting
make the class lively and fun helping young learners to get their arms and legs
songs can help young learners with working together
muscle coordination a song that is easy to remember
catchy tune the words of a song
song lyrics to move your arms / legs / body when singing a song.
accompany / accompanied by actions E.g. in the song ‘Heads, shoulders, knees and toes’, the
actions are to touch your head, shoulders, knees and
repeat (v) / repetition (n) toes at the same time as you sing the words
rhythm to say again
reinforce vocabulary the regular pattern of sounds, music, or words
physical coordination provides more support to learn new words
to make something stronger

Links to songs in the article:

The ballad of Lisa the lemur Incy wincy spider

https://youtu.be/4z8zx9y8ilc https://youtu.be/MBxeKG7_Hq4

How much is that doggie in the window? Old MacDonald had a farm

https://youtu.be/iApAn0whVZE https://youtu.be/TJIi8mc0grI

If you’re happy and you know it We’re going to the zoo

https://youtu.be/334CSiKQsuM https://youtu.be/A04bvw3SWdk

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After reading

1. Work in pairs or groups. Summarise the main ideas in the article.
2. What was your favourite idea in the article?
3. Underline / highlight words, phrases or sentences in the article you feel are important. Share

these with you peers. Explain why you highlighted them.
4. Write one or two questions you still have about the topic. Share your questions with the group

and discuss them.

Group discussion

1. What did you like about the article?
2. Is there anything in the article you don’t agree with? What? Why?
3. Have you already used any of the ideas from the article in your own lessons? Tell your peers.
4. How could you use the ideas from the article in your own lessons from now on?

Take away points
Write three useful ideas you liked from the article that you would like to try in your lessons.

Useful language:

I think… I liked… / I didn’t like… What do you think?
I feel… I relate to…. I want to….

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SPEAKING AND YOUNG LEARNERS

Before reading

Think about your learners.
 What challenges do your learners have during speaking activities?
 What do you do to help your learners develop confidence to speak in English?

In this article we will look at how teachers can encourage and support their learners to develop
their speaking skills.

Ideas to practise speaking in class with young learners

1. A reason to speak
Children should have a reason for speaking. For example, they need to talk to their partner to
complete a picture or to find information in order to make a graph. Think about the questions you
ask in class. If you ask ‘Is this a pencil?’ children can only answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’. And of course you
already know it’s a pencil so the question doesn’t really need the learners to speak and give you an
answer. If you hide the pencil in a bag and ask ‘What’s in the bag?’ this is now a fun game and
students are motivated to answer using a wider range of language.

2. Whole class speaking activities
You can use chants or songs to give the whole class the opportunity to listen and repeat the
sounds, rhythm and intonation they hear. You can ask students to join in with just part of the song
or chant at first and then gradually build up to the whole thing. Here’s an example of how to do this
with a tongue twister.

Play or say the tongue twister then tell your learners that they are going to repeat the sentence bit
by bit after you. Start by asking your learners to repeat the last part of the sentence and build up to
the full tongue twister like this:

Teacher: sea shore
Students: sea shore
Teacher: by the sea shore
Students: by the sea shore
Teacher: sea shells by the sea shore
Students: sea shells by the sea shore
Teacher: She sells sea shells by the sea shore
Students: She sells sea shells by the sea shore

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3. Speaking in small groups or pairs
Children, including very young learners, can work in pairs or small groups to maximise their
speaking time in class. When learners work in pairs or small groups, the teacher can monitor, move
around the class and really listen to the language they are using.

Ask the learners to work in pairs to take turns repeating the tongue twister as fast as possible
without mistakes. You could demonstrate this to the class by trying to say it quickly and correctly
yourself to make it easier for the students.

Ask the learners to do a ‘spot the difference’ information gap activity in pairs. Give each learner a
picture. The pictures should be almost the same with two or three elements missing from each
picture. Without showing each other their pictures, the learners describe their pictures to each
other and try to find which objects are missing. They can practise colours, prepositions of place
(e.g. in, on, under, next to), the nouns for the objects in the picture and adjectives such as big and
small. They can compare their pictures side-by-side when they have finished.

Ask the learners to sit back-to-back and imagine they are having a telephone conversation. They
can practise telephone language or just simple exchanges based on your current class topic that
aren’t connected to the telephone itself. Sitting back-to-back is more fun and helps students really
concentrate on listening to their partner.

Children can play a board game in small groups. Before they start you can practise game language
such as ‘It’s my turn’ and ‘Throw the dice’ as a whole class. You can make your own board games, or
you can easily find and download them from the internet. For example, there’s a snakes and ladders
board game here: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/craft-downloads/snakes-and-
ladders. If you want to practice specific language points you can write questions or words on the
snakes and ladders board. When a player lands on a square with a question they have to answer it
correctly before they can move on in their next turn.

2. Classroom language
Try to use English as much as possible for communication in the classroom from day one to give
students the chance to speak English with you and with their classmates. Demonstrate your
instructions as you say them in English and your learners will soon understand ‘sit down’, ‘put your
pencil on the table’, ‘hands up’, etc. Teach your students to use expressions like ‘Can I have …’, ‘I’ve
finished’, ‘Can I go to the washroom?’ at the start of the course so that they have easy language
they can use to speak to you in English in the classroom. This will help to build their confidence.

Adapted from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-speaking
by Sally Trowbridge

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For more information, take a look at these links
Find the above tongue twister here
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/tongue-twisters/she-sells-sea-shells
You can find many more tongue twisters on LearnEnglish Kids here
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/tongue-twisters
You’ll find lots of ideas for more whole class speaking activities in this article
www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/circle-games

Glossary a chance to do something
opportunity
rhythm the regular pattern of sounds, music, or words
intonation
gradually how your voice rises and falls when you speak
sit back-to-back
slowly
board game learners sit together but they are in opposite
directions
demonstrate your instructions a game where the players move counters across a
board e.g. snakes and ladders
to explain something by showing learners how to do
something

After reading

1. Work in pairs or groups. Summarise the main ideas in the article.
2. What was your favourite idea in the article?
3. Underline / highlight words, phrases or sentences in the article you feel are important. Share

these with you peers. Explain why you highlighted them.
4. Write one or two questions you still have about the topic. Share your questions with the group

and discuss them.

Group discussion

1. What did you like about the article?
2. Is there anything in the article you don’t agree with? What? Why?
3. Have you already used any of the ideas from the article in your own lessons? Tell your peers.
4. How could you use the ideas from the article in your own lessons from now on?

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Take away points
Write three useful ideas you liked from the article that you can try in your lessons.

Useful language:

I think… I liked… / I didn’t like… What do you think?
I feel… I relate to…. I want to….

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READING AND YOUNG LEARNERS

Before reading

Think about your learners.
 Do your learners face specific difficulties while learning to read? What are they?
 What do you do to help your learners to develop their reading skills?

Reading is a fundamental skill for learners, not just for learning but for life (Traves 1994). Reading
is ‘…the ability to draw meaning from the printed page and interpret this information appropriately’
(Grabe and Stoller 2002, p. 9).

Why we need to develop reading skills
Reading builds on oral language levels. To develop reading skills, learners need to be able to
comprehend and use both listening and speaking skills because you need to:

 Hear a word before you can say it
 Say a word before you can read it
 Read a word before you can write it (Linse 2005).

According to this, young learners need good listening and speaking skills before they can become
good readers and writers of ANY language. Learning to read and then to write means young
learners have to link what they have heard or spoken to what they can see (read) and produce
(write).

How to develop literacy
Cameron (2001) gives a very useful list of ideas for creating a ‘literate environment in the
classroom’ as this may be the only place young learners see print in in the target language. This
list includes:

 Labels – labelling children’s trays, desks, books, bags, tables, as well as other furniture
and objects around the classroom and school

 Posters – colourful posters are especially eye-catching which could include a rhyme that
is being learnt, advertising something, e.g. reading, cleaning teeth

 Messages – for homework or ‘Don’t forget to bring…’
 Reading aloud – by the teacher or learners.

It is very important to make reading enjoyable. Some other activities that will help to make reading
fun include:

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 Running dictation (in pairs, so all learners are involved in reading). In this activity, the
learners work in pairs or small groups. The teacher sticks a piece of paper on the wall.
The paper includes a list of words, short sentences, or full paragraphs depending on the
level of the learners. One learner from each pair or group comes to the front of the class,
reads the first words on the paper, remembers them, and then goes back to their group and
tells them the words they can remember. They then write these words or sentences in their
notebook.

 Learners making their own story books (or comics) to share with each other (Wright 1997,
p.114-130).

 Creating backstories for characters in a puppet family and creating a class folder to refer
back to when reading peers’ stories about the family. This can be developed over the year
with learners taking turns in small groups to create stories to share with the class.

 Motivation – ask your learners to bring in materials they enjoy reading in English –
whether it is stories, results of a cricket match, recipes or song lyrics, use these to start a
discussion and reading.

 Make it purposeful – for example, when teaching food words, you could bring in
packets / tins / labels of food, read where different kinds of food come from, and classify
them by the place they come from.

 Extensive reading is where learners read a lot of easy material in the new language. They
choose their own material and read it independently from the teacher. This develops
confidence in their abilities and promotes an enjoyment of reading for pleasure. You
could keep a box with books for learners to read after they have finished classroom
activities, during breaks etc.

Conclusion
Reading is a rewarding process and can be enjoyed by both learners and the teacher. Our last note
is simply this, if you see reading as having fun, your learners will, too. Happy reading!

Adapted from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/reading-young-learners
by Wendy Arnold and Fiona Malcolm

References:
Cameron, L. (2001) Teaching Languages to Young Learners. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (2002). Teaching and researching reading. Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.
Linse, C.T. (2005) Young Learners. USA: McGraw Hill.
Traves, P. (1994) Reading In S Brindley (Ed.) Teaching English. London: Routledge.
Wright, A. (1997) Creating Stories with Children. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Glossary very important skill
to understand
fundamental skill
to comprehend

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literate environment in the classroom putting posters and labels of words and phrases on the
walls of the classroom for the learners to see and read
eye-catching attractive and noticeable
a history or background information of someone /
creating backstories of characters something in a story
enthusiasm to do something
motivation
purposeful to have a reason
promotes an enjoyment of reading for encourages learners to read things that they are
pleasure interested in and enjoy

Further resources
Download and print out flashcards to stick on your classroom walls:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/flashcards
Read and watch short animated stories on this British Council website:
http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/short-stories
Read, create, share and download a wide range of children’s stories in a variety of different
languages provided for free by Pratham Books:
https://storyweaver.org.in/prathambooks

After reading ideas:

1. Talk with a partner or small group. Summarise the main ideas in the article.
2. Underline / highlight words, phrases or sentences in the article you feel are important. Share

with your partner and the group the words, phrases or sentences you highlighted. Explain why
you highlighted them.
3. Write one or two questions you want to ask the writer. Share your questions with the group and
discuss them.

Group discussion:

1. What did you like about the article?
2. Is there anything in the article you don’t agree with? What? Why?
3. Have you used any of the ideas from the article in your own lessons already? Tell the group.
4. How could you use the ideas from the article in your own lessons from now on?

Take away points
Write three useful ideas you liked from the article.

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LISTENING AND YOUNG LEARNERS

Before reading

Think about your learners.
 What do they find challenging about listening tasks?
 What do you do to help them improve their listening?

Listening basics

 We need to give the learners a reason to listen.
 Listening is not a passive activity. We need to involve the learners in listening tasks. Giving

activities before, during and after listening means that the learners are not just listening but
are engaged in the task, and actually doing something with what they hear.
 We should also use English in class as much as possible so our learners get maximum
listening practice.

Tasks that learners can do before listening:

 Introduce the topic and revise or pre-teaching vocabulary with flashcards. You could drill
new words with the learners (you say the words and the learners repeat after you) then play
a quick game with the flashcards. For example, show the class some flashcards then mix
them up and remove one – then ask which one is missing. Alternatively, show the learners 10
cards then turn them over and ask them to remember the pictures.

 Show the learners one or two pictures that are connected to the listening task topic. Then
ask the learners to predict which words they are going to hear and what it’s going to be
about. Write the learners’ ideas and words on the board.

Tasks that learners can do during listening:

 Check if the learners’ predictions about which words they would hear are correct.
 The learners can listen and draw a picture. They can draw circles around words they

hear. They can listen and perform actions (e.g. if it’s a song). They could put pictures, or
words in the order they hear them.
 Complete questions in the textbook or on a worksheet and answer questions about what
they hear. The first time the learners can listen for the main idea, then they can listen again
for more detail and more depth of understanding.
 Sing along to songs of course! Actions will make the song more memorable and fun.

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Tasks that learners can do after listening:

 If you have the transcripts of the listening recording, you could highlight some useful
words, phrases, expressions and question words.

 If the listening was a story or dialogue, the learners could do a role play related to the
listening.

 You could use the listening activity as a starting point for project work on a similar theme.
For example, the learners can do a craft activity where they make masks or puppets.

With very young learners:

 You could introduce the listening topic and focus attention using puppets. The puppet can
talk about a song or story or point to pictures related to the listening material. Use a simple
picture on a stick or even a sock!

 While the learners are listening, get them to respond physically to what they hear. For
example, they can point to flashcards on the wall when they hear or see a character or word.
They could also stand up or shout out each time they hear certain words – depending on
how noisy or active you want the children to be. You can also invent actions for songs or let
the children invent their own, taking it in turns to be the leader.

 You could use flashcards for a ‘run and touch’ activity after listening. You say the word, then
learners run (or hop or swim, etc.) to that flashcard on the wall.

As we have seen, there are lots of ways to help learners to practise their listening in fun and
enjoyable ways. What do you think will work well with your learners?

Adapted from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-listening
by Sally Trowbridge

Glossary

passive activity something you can do easily without effort
engaged in the task
to be involved in the task
drill new words the teacher drills new words by saying the word and
then the learners repeat it
predict (v) / prediction (n) to guess
actions will make the song more moving arms, legs and body when singing a song will
memorable help the learners remember it
a copy of the words of the conversation or dialogue
transcripts from a listening task
activities that involve the learners making things
craft activity
focus their attention on something to make the learners concentrate or notice something
to create your own dance or movements that you do
invent actions when you listen to a song

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Further resources
Further reading about teaching listening to young learners:
www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/listening-young-learners

Read this useful article about using songs with primary students:
www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-songs

After reading ideas:

1. Talk with a partner or small group. Summarise the main ideas in the article.
2. Underline / highlight words, phrases or sentences in the article you feel are important. Share

with your partner and the group the words, phrases or sentences you highlighted. Explain why
you highlighted them.
3. Write one or two questions you want to ask the writer. Share your questions with the group and
discuss them.

Group discussion:

1. What did you like about the article?
2. Is there anything in the article you don’t agree with? What? Why?
3. Have you used any of the ideas from the article in your own lessons already? Tell the group.
4. How could you use the ideas from the article in your own lessons from now on?

Take away points
Write three useful ideas you liked from the article.

Useful language:

I think… I liked… / I didn’t like… What do you think?
I feel… I relate to…. I want to….

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USING POEMS IN LESSONS

Before reading

Think about your learners.
 What are their favourite poems from the textbook?
 Why do you think your learners like these poems?

Poetry is great to use with your learners as it helps practise not only listening, speaking, reading
and writing skills all together, but stretches learners’ imaginations too.

However, using poetry in the classroom can be challenging. Read the ideas and tips below to help
your learners enjoy reading, writing and listening to poems.

Introducing poetry
Firstly, it’s a good idea to give your learners the chance to listen and react to some fun poems.
Choose poems that you think they will enjoy and that are suitable for their age and level. However,
don’t worry if there are a few words your students won’t understand; it’s more important that they
enjoy the way it sounds. You can use pictures, mime and gestures to help learners understand the
meaning. Remember, however, not to select poems that are too difficult for the learners or they will
lose interest.

Offering ideas
Show your learners different types of poems. You could just focus on simple acrostics (see the
puzzles in the Language Development section for an example) or shape poems, or you may want to
give your learners a wider range of poetry. The aim is just to provide some support and ideas for
the learners so that they can eventually write their own poems.

Remember, poems don’t need to rhyme and it may be easier for lower levels if they don’t try.
However, it could be fun to find rhyming words in the poems you read with them. Higher level
students, with a good vocabulary, may enjoy the challenge of trying to make their own poems
rhyme.

Choosing and exploring a topic
It’s a good idea to choose a topic that will help focus your learners’ thoughts. The topic should be
something that’s interesting and relevant to your learners, something they know and can talk about,
for example ‘home’ or ‘school’.

Do some tasks to help learners think of some ideas. For example, on the topic of ‘home’, learners
could:

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 Invent a ‘recipe’ of what goes into a home: family, friends, pets, safety, culture, food, etc.
 Write a shopping list for an actual home: a white front door, a blue kitchen table, a picture of

an uncle, steel utensils. Include sounds and smells e.g. grandfather looking in the kitchen and
the smell of burnt toast.
 List five things to do to make someone feel at home.
 Describe six homes for animals, such as a cave, kennel, shed, cage or tree.
 Write an acrostic poem using at least one word for each letter in the word ‘home’, e.g.

H appy
O pen
M emories
E njoy

Writing the poems: planning, character, form, titles and redrafting

Planning: ensure your learners have enough time to plan their poem. They may need a lot of
support at this stage.

Character: They can write as themselves, other people, animals or an object; the poem can be set
in the past, present or future. The ideas can be real or from fiction (e.g. stories, books or film)

Form: the poems do not need to be complicated – even the lowest level learners can write an
acrostic poem. Don’t forget also that the poems do not have to rhyme.

Titles: these can be very important for the poem! They can be serious, funny, short, or long.

Redrafting: after a day, ask the learners to look at their poems again and see it with fresh eyes.
Read the poems aloud, encourage feedback by each child asking one question and mentioning one
line/image you like. When redrafting, ask the learners to:

 check they are happy with the order of the lines of the poem
 replace unintentionally repeated words
 check the spelling

Reading the poems
When the poems are complete, give your learners time to practise reading their poem out loud. Ask
the learners to read their poems out to the whole class. If you have recording equipment you could
make a film or audio recording of their work and show or play it to the learners later. If you are able
to add sound effects or background music you could make a really special recording. Maybe you
could invite some special guests to come and listen to the learners reading their poems. Making a
special event of the learners’ work will show your class how important their work is, and will be very
memorable for them.

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Displaying the poem
To display the poems, why not make a lovely classroom wall or corridor display of them or even
a class poetry book. If you have the time and facilities to make copies of the poetry book for each
learner, it would be very motivating for the children to take their copy home to show their families
and friends.

Adapted from: https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/kids-poetry

Glossary to make the learners think about things that they
stretch / stretches learners’ haven’t thought about before
imaginations the learners respond and say what they think of the
listen and react to some fun poems poem or how it made them feel
moving your hands, body and expressions on your face
mime and gestures to communicate without speaking
complicated difficult
rhyme / rhyming words words that rhyme have the same last sound e.g. house
and mouse, cat and bat, floor and more
to see something with fresh eyes to look at something like it is the first time you have
to draft / redraft seen it
to display to write something again
to put something in a place where many people can
classroom wall or corridor display see it
a poster with examples of learners’ work which the
teacher puts on the wall

Further resources
http://poetryzone.co.uk You will find many examples of poems here, some of which are written
by children. There’s also a teachers’ section which has book reviews of children’s poetry books
and plenty of advice regarding classroom resources.

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After reading ideas:

1. Talk with a partner or small group. Summarise the main ideas in the article.
2. Underline / highlight words, phrases or sentences in the article you feel are important. Share

with your partner and the group the words, phrases or sentences you highlighted. Explain why
you highlighted them.
3. Write one or two questions you want to ask the writer. Share your questions with the group and
discuss them.
4. Write a poem about teaching poetry.

Group discussion:

1. What did you like about the article?
2. Is there anything in the article you don’t agree with? What? Why?
3. Have you used any of the ideas from the article in your own lessons already? Tell the group.
4. How could you use the ideas from the article in your own lessons from now on?

Take away points
Write three useful ideas you liked from the article.

Useful language:

I think… I liked… / I didn’t like… What do you think?
I feel… I relate to…. I want to….

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WRITING AND YOUNG LEARNERS

Before reading

Think about your learners.
 What was the last writing task they did in your class?
 Did they enjoy it? Why?

Writing can be an engaging, interesting and inspiring activity for young learners. Research shows
that children:

 are active learners and thinkers (Piaget 1965),
 learn through social interaction (Vygotsky 1978)
 learn effectively through support and scaffolding by more able others e.g. adults or peers

(Maybin et al 1992).

Writing tasks that are well-planned and involve collaboration can include all of these in the young
learner classroom.

Why we need to develop writing skills with young learners
Writing is an essential part of language development. Good writing skills are based on good reading
skills: you need to recognise words in order to write and use them well (Linse 2005).

 Writing allows young learners to practise new vocabulary and sentence structures.
 Learners can develop their creativity.
 Writing allows young learners to try out new language, with more ‘thinking time.’
 It can help teachers to understand learners’ strengths and areas to develop in terms of

vocabulary, structure, spelling, etc.
 Focusing on this area can give learners the joy of writing from an early age.

Considerations for classroom writing
Here are some ‘top tips’ to make writing tasks engaging for young learners. Think about
how you can use these with your own learners and try them out!

 Put learners into pairs or groups and get them to work together to brainstorm ideas, make
notes, plan, write and make changes to their writing.

 Provide pictures from magazines, newspapers and comics for learners to write about, or ask the
learners to draw their own pictures to go with their writing.

 Choose engaging topics for your young learners to write about e.g. topics that learners can
relate to, are interested in and find intrinsically motivating. You can ask learners to write about
what they know e.g. games, friends, favourite activities, etc.

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 Look at writing tasks from a different perspective. For example, rather than writing about
their daily routine, they could write about their pet’s or an animal’s daily routine, favourite
activities, food, etc.

 Let young learners choose their own characters from a story, cartoon or film to write about.
 Prepare extension activities for fast finishers e.g. if some learners have finished quickly,

they can then draw a picture to go with their writing.
 Encourage pride in the presentation of their writing. For example, young learners can draw,

add designs and notes, etc.
 Give feedback to the learners’ ideas, not just the language they use. This will encourage

learners to value writing.
 Give clear and simple criteria and encourage self/peer correction of written tasks. Using a

range of smileys (    ) can encourage young learners to record how they feel about
different writing tasks. For example, the learners check their writing and circle a smiley for
each item below:

I have used paragraphs.   
I have checked my spelling.   
I have used a capital letter at the start of each sentence.   
I have used a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark at the end of each sentence.   
I tried my best.   

 Share learners’ writing with the class. You can read out examples of writing from different
learners and talk about what you like about it.

 Present learners’ work. You can compile learners’ writing and make short books, display
them in the classroom, put on school message boards, etc. Young learners get a
motivational ‘boost’ by seeing their written work ‘on view.’

Conclusion
It is the teacher’s responsibility to develop writing tasks for young learners that are enjoyable, full
of practice, meaningful, purposeful, social and supported (Reid 1998). Challenging your learners
and getting them to collaborate and work together will help make a learning environment where
writing is both valued and enjoyed. Give learners the joy of writing and you could inspire a future
Khuswant Singh, Sarojini Naidu or JK Rowling!

Adapted from:
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/writing-young-learners
by Wendy Arnold and Rosie Anderson

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References

Linse, C.T. (2005) Young Learners. USA: McGraw Hill
Maybin, J, Mercer N and Stierer, B (1992) “Scaffolding” Learning in the Classroom’ in
K. Norman (end) Thinking voices. The Work of the National Oracy Project. London: Hodder &
Stoughton
Piaget, J (1965) The Language and the Thought of the Child. New York: World Publishing Co
Reid, C. (1998, April). The challenge of teaching children. English Teaching Professional, 7: 8-10.
Retrieved September 14th 2015, from http://www.etprofessional.com/articles/challenge.pdf
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Great
Britain: Harvard University Press

Glossary the support that a teacher (or someone else) gives the
learner to help them complete a task
scaffolding working together
collaboration to think of lots of ideas
brainstorm ideas topics that the learners will be interested in
choose engaging topics motivation to do something because you want to and
intrinsically motivating are interested in it. It is opposite to extrinsic motivation
where you do something because you have to or
look at writing tasks from a different someone has told you to
perspective
prepare extension activities to do something (e.g. a writing task) in a different way

encourage pride in their writing more difficult and challenging activities that learners
self-correction can do after they have completed a task
peer correction encourage the learners to feel happy and pleased
compile learners’ writing about their writing
motivational boost the learners check their own work for mistakes
the learners check each others’ work
collect the learners’ writing together to make a book
improve or increase motivation

Further resources
Read this short article from www.readwritethink.org about using a writing process approach in
lessons: http://goo.gl/TQh1EH

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After reading ideas:

1. Talk with a partner or small group. Summarise the main ideas in the article.
2. Underline / highlight words, phrases or sentences in the article you feel are important. Share

with your partner and the group the words, phrases or sentences you highlighted. Explain why
you highlighted them.
3. Write one or two questions you want to ask the writer. Share your questions with the group and
discuss them.

Group discussion:

1. What did you like about the article?
2. Is there anything in the article you don’t agree with? What? Why?
3. Have you used any of the ideas from the article in your own lessons already? Tell the group.
4. How could you use the ideas from the article in your own lessons from now on?

Take away points
Write three useful ideas you liked from the article.

Useful language:

I think… I liked… / I didn’t like… What do you think?
I feel… I relate to…. I want to….

© The British Council, 2016 96
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).

ENGLISH IN THE CLASSROOM

Why speak English in class? ‘Students will think that
English is just for reading,
Do you agree with Hanan and Kazimierz? writing and practising
grammar points if we do
‘If the subject you are not speak it in class.’
teaching is English, then
you should always try to Kazimierz, Malaysia
speak in English.’

Hanan, Egypt

Getting started  Try to personalise your lessons by talking about your own
 You might feel nervous about using English in the experiences. Perhaps tell your students about something
that happened to you recently. You can exaggerate and use
classroom. Start by thinking of some useful expressions for gestures; pointing backwards as you say ‘yesterday’ to
you and your students to use. Write them down and practise indicate it happened in the past, for example.
them. For example: ‘Good morning.’ ‘Turn to page 12.’
‘Repeat this.’ ‘Please close your books.’ ‘Find a partner  Think about what younger children enjoy – games, songs,
and work in pairs.’ stories, etc. Teach your students the language needed to
 You can use just a little English in each lesson, and do these activities in English, for example, ‘It’s my turn.’
gradually increase it. ‘Throw the dice.’

Try to use English in all stages of your lessons.  Encourage students to speak English to you and praise
 When you give instructions, demonstrate with humour and them when they do.

gestures to make your message clear; a hand next to your  The beginnings and ends of lessons are a good opportunity
ear to demonstrate ‘listen’: make a book with your hands to chat more informally with your students; you can talk
to show ‘open/close your books’. Use drawings and write about the weekend, or even the weather.
the phrase on the blackboard.
 If you translate to make something clear, go back to Using English in the classroom demonstrates that it really is
English as soon as possible and encourage your students a language for communicating. If we prepare well, it is easy
to do the same. to use a lot more English in our lessons.

What do you think?

Kuheli from Zambia writes:

My younger students love singing and chanting so we use songs and chants in English for all parts of the class routines.
I start each class with a ‘hello’ chant like this – Teacher: Hello students, Students: Hello teacher, Teacher: How are you?
Students: How are you? Teacher: Very well thank you, Students: Very well thank you, Teacher: I am too. Students: I am too.

With older students, I get them to make ‘classroom language’ posters. They write useful expressions like ‘Sorry I’m late’,
‘Can I have a pencil, please?’ ‘Have a good weekend’, and ‘I don’t understand’ and draw pictures for each phrase. We put
the posters on the wall so there’s no excuse for not using English in class.

97 © The British Council, 2016
The United Kingdom’s international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. A registered charity: 209131 (England and Wales) SC037733 (Scotland).