Ingredients for Teaching: Easy, Exciting ... - State

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7. Quick Writes

Writing Fluency

Procedure: Give your students a question or a topic. They have exactly one

minute to write as much as they possibly can on that topic. Tell them not to
worry about grammar or spelling. Tell them they must keep writing in English
for an entire minute. This activity is most successful if the topic or question
you give connects to the topic or subject that you are teaching. Also, this
activity is successful if repeated frequently.

Suggested Topics:

My favorite food . . . .
My favorite hobby . . . .
My favorite person . . . .
My favorite place . . . .
I am thankful for . . . .
I am happy when . . . .
I am unhappy when . . . .
I am excited when . . . .

Note: Give each student a 5 if he or she fills up a half of a page. Don‘t grade

for spelling, grammar, or punctuation.

A: When I stand on my head the blood rushes to my head, but when I stand on
my feet the blood doesn‟t rush to my feet. Why is this?
B: It‟s because your feet aren‟t empty.

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8. Writing Poetry

Writing fluency

Procedure: Collect pictures of places. Choose one picture. Describe the

picture. Say as many things as possible about the picture. Then, try to make 3
pairs of sentences that rhyme. For the last line of the poem, ask the students to
say how they would feel if they were there.

Example: The trees are big and tall.
The leaves sometimes fall.
The water is dark.
It looks like a park.
There are lots of clouds.
There aren‟t any crowds.
I feel calm

Give each student a picture. Ask each student to write his or her own poem.
Ask students to read them to the class and show their pictures.

Note: For low-level classes, the lines don‘t need to rhyme; they only need to

describe the picture. Also, you may use this same form (3 pairs of rhyming
lines and one line about feelings) to have your students write poems about
anything including their favorite food, favorite person, favorite place etc.

A: Doctor, will I be able to play the piano after the operation?
B: Yes, of course.

A: Great! I never could before!

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9. Story Starters

Writing Fluency

Procedure: Give students a story starter and ask them to continue the story

for 5 minutes, writing as much as possible. Have students share their stories.

Example starters:

Once upon a time, there lived a very tall girl.
Once upon a time, there lived a wicked witch.
Once upon a time, there lived a bus driver.
Once upon a time, there lived a boy with a magic carpet.
Once upon a time, there was beautiful princess.

Note: Grade this for completion, not for grammar, spelling, or punctuation.

Q: How do you make your class stand for the whole period?
A: I hid all their chairs!

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10. Build the Sentence

Building Long Sentences

Procedure: Give students a simple sentence. Tell them that they may add

words to this sentence including adjectives, adverbs, conjunctions, clauses, etc
but that they must keep the original words and the sentence must be
grammatically correct. Give students a set time limit to make the longest, most
interesting sentence that they can. Share with the class.

Example:

The dog runs.
The fat dog runs.
The fat dog runs quickly.
The hairy, fat dog runs quickly every day.
The hairy, fat dog runs quickly to the park every day.
The fat hairy dog runs with the skinny yellow cat
down the street to the park everyday.

Note: You probably want to do this activity on the board with your class

before your students try it individually. It may take some practice before they
understand.

Q: What did the mother broom say to the baby broom?
A: Go to sweep, dear.

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Reading

1. Pre-Teaching Vocabulary

2. Who? What? Where? When?
3. What Will Happen Next?
4. What’s that Word?

5. Alternate Endings
6. Do You Know . . . ?

7. Play Acting

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1. Pre-Teaching Vocabulary

Reading Comprehension

Procedure: Teach the vocabulary words your students don‘t know

BEFORE you read. Then have them read without translating. Ask questions
IN ENGLISH to see if they understand.

FIRST TEACH: Once upon a time there lived a
boy. His name was Tom. He
Once upon a time was incredibly smart. All his
incredibly teachers loved him. He was also
reason incredibly tall. For this reason,
to hurt he was very good at basketball.
to worry One day he was playing
immediately basketball, and he hurt his left
leg. His parents were very
worried and took him
immediately to the doctor. The
doctor . . . .

Note: You may teach these words using activities in the vocabulary section of
this book.

Son: Dad, what is an idiot?
Dad: An idiot is a person who tries to explain his ideas in such a strange and
long –winded way that another person who is listening to him can‟t really
understand him at all. Do you understand me?
Son: No.

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2. Who? What? Where? When?

Reading and Making Questions

Procedure: As you read the text aloud to your class, stop at the end of each

sentence. Have your students ask one question about the sentence you just
read. You may answer their questions or the other students may answer their
questions.

1. Once upon a time How long ago did he
there lived a boy. live?

2. His name was Tom. What was his last
name?
3. He was also
incredibly tall. Where his parents very
tall too?
4. For this reason, he
was very good at Did he like playing
basketball. basketball?

Note: This works very well when students are reading aloud stories that they

have written themselves. In this situation, students are asking other students
questions!

Q: What is the difference between a jeweler and a jailor?
A: A jeweler sells watches. A jailor watches cells.

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3. What Will Happen Next?

Reading Comprehension, Making Predictions

Procedure: Read only the first sentence or first paragraph of a text. Ask

students to guess what will come next. You may even have them write down
their predictions. Read the second paragraph. Again have them guess what
will come next and write down their predictions. Repeat as many times as you
would like.

Note: Not only is this good to test your students‘ understanding of the text, it

also makes them think. Encourage them to make interesting predictions. With
advanced classes, ask them to defend their predictions using evidence from
the reading.

Q: What did one magnet say to the other magnet?
A: I find you very attractive!

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4. What’s that Word?

Reading Comprehension

Procedure: As you read the text

aloud to your class, ask them to raise
their hand when they hear unknown
words. Have them guess from the
context what each unknown word
means. Then give the correct
definition. Discuss the context of each
word.

Note: This makes reading a passage

very slow. This is most useful with shorter passages.

On a crowded bus, one man noticed that another man had his eyes closed.
“What‟s the matter? Are u sick?” he asked.
“No I‟m okay. It‟s just that I hate to see old ladies standing.”

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5. Alternate Endings

Testing Comprehension Writing

Procedure: After reading, ask the students to write an alternate ending.

Q: Why are baseball stadiums so cool?
A: There is a fan in every seat

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6. Do you know . . . ?

Reading Comprehension, Making Questions

Procedure: After reading, have each student write three questions about the

text. Have students ask their questions to a partner and record their partner‘s
answers. Have students present their answers to the class.

Note: Also, you may have all students stand up. Choose one student. This

student will ask another student his or her question. If this student answers the
question correctly, he or she may ask one of his or her questions to another
student. After the student has asked all of his or her questions, he or she may
sit.

Teacher: What are some products of the West Indies?
Student: I don‟t know.
Teacher: Of course, you do. Where do you get sugar from?
Student: We borrow it from our neighbor.

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7. Play-Acting

Reading Comprehension, Listening

Procedure: Choose 2-3 students from the class. As you or the other

students read the text aloud, have these students act it out. This is really funny
with texts about geography.

“America is very large . . . .”

Note: After each paragraph, choose new students to act out the text. This

gives everyone the opportunity to participate.

Student to teacher, “Is “pants” singular or plural?”
Teacher, “They‟re singular on top and plural on the bottom.”

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8. What’s Happening?

Reading Comprehension and Listening

Procedure: As you read the text aloud, ask students to draw what they

think is happening in the story. Stop after each paragraph to show their
pictures to the class. This is a good way to test comprehension!

Father: What did you do today to help your mother?
Son: I dried the dishes
Daughter: And I helped pick up the pieces.

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9. Back to the Basics

Reading Comprehension, Sentence Formation

Procedure: For longer readings, ask students to rewrite the text in only five

sentences. This is good for teaching ‗main idea.‘

Once upon a time there
lived a boy. His name was
Tom. He was incredibly
smart. All his teachers
loved him. He was also
incredibly tall. For this
reason, he was very good
at basketball. One day he
was playing basketball and
he hurt his left leg. His
parents were very worried
and took him immediately
to the doctor.

Note: For advanced classes, have your students share their five sentences

with a partner. Ask, ―Does your partner have the same sentences? Why or
why not?‖ Make each pair choose the best five sentences. Then ask them to

present their work to the class.

Q: What goes “ZUB, ZUB?”
A: A bee flying backwards. (Buz Buz)

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Listening

1. Basic Dialogues
2. Intermediate Dialogues

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1. Basic Dialogues

1) Introductions

- Hello!
- Hello!
- What‘s your name?
- My name is Myrat. What’s your name?
- My name is Merjen. How are you today?
- I am fine thank you. And you?
- I am great!
- Goodbye.
- Bye.

2) At the Market

- Hello.
- Hello.
- How much are tomatoes?
- Tomatoes are 3 manat for 1 kilogram.
- Give me 1 kilogram please.
- Here you are.
- Thank you.
- Goodbye.
- Bye.

Teacher: Did your father help you with your homework?
Student: No, he did it all by himself.

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3) Introductions

- Hello.
- Hi.
- What‘s wrong?
- I have a headache and a fever.
- Take this medicine three times every day.
- Ok. I will.
- Come back in two days.
- Thank you doctor.
- You are welcome.
- Goodbye.
- Bye.

4) At the Airport

- Hello. May I see your passport?
- Here it is.
- Thank you.
- Where are you flying today?
- I am flying to Chicago.
- May I see your ticket?
- Here.
- Thank you and have a nice flight.
- Thanks! Goodbye.
- Bye.

Teacher: Why are you late?
Student: There was a man who lost a hundred dollar bill.
Teacher: That‟s nice. Were you helping look for it?
Student: No. I was standing on it.

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5) At the Restaurant

- Welcome to our restaurant.
- Thank you.
- Do you want something to drink?
- Water, please.
- Are you ready to order?
- Yes, I want a hamburger.
- Ok. Here it is. Enjoy your meal.
- Thank you.

6) In a Taxi

- Good morning.
- Good morning.
- Where are you going?
- To the Ak Altyn Hotel, please.
- Ok. Get in please.
- We are here. Please pay 2 manats.
- Here and thank you.
- You’re welcome. Goodbye.
- Bye.

Q: What are the two strongest days of the week?
A: They are Saturday and Sunday. All the others are weak (week) days.

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7) Talking on the Phone

- Hello. Is Selbi there?
- It’s me!
- Hi. How are you?
- I’m good thanks. And you?
- Great. Are you free this afternoon?
- Yes, I am.
- Will you meet me in the park?
- Yes, I will meet you in the park. At what time?
- At 2:00.
- Ok. Goodbye.
- Bye.

Customer: Excuse me, but I saw your thumb in my soup when you were carrying it.
Waitress: Oh, that‟s okay. The soup isn‟t hot

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1. Intermediate Dialogues

1) Introductions

-Hello!
-Hi!
-What‘s your name?
-My name is Murat. What’s yours?
-My name is Merjen. It is nice to meet you.
-Nice to meet you too!
-Do you work here?
-No, I work at the bank. And you?
-I am a student. I study at Turkmen National Institute of World Languages.
-What year are you?
-I am a third-year student.
-When will you graduate?
-I will graduate in two years.
-Wonderful. Good luck!
-Thanks. Goodbye!
-Goodbye!

Q: What comes once in a minute, twice in a moment but not once in a thousand
years?
A: The letter "m".

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2) At the Market

-Hello.
-Hello. What do you want to buy?
-I am looking for tomatoes.
-Tomatoes are 3 manats per kilogram.
-Ok. I‘ll take 2 kilograms.
-He re.
-Thanks.
-Do you want something else?
-Do you have onions?
-No, I don’t, but my neighbor does.
-Ok, thanks.
-Bye.
-Bye.

Q: What letter is a drink?
A: T. (tea)