A bad case of the Proverbials


Level: from Upper-Intermediate to Advanced


Present the students with a couple of proverbs using, for example, Hangman. e.g. 'Actions speak louder than words' or 'Practice makes perfect'
Make sure they understand “what a proverb is.”
In groups or pairs get the students to brainstorm as many proverbs as they can think of. Give them about ten minutes for this.
Get feedback on this from the groups and get them to explain what each one means (this could take ages, so you made need to limit the time).
Give students the gap fill exercise, which they can do in pairs. Give them as long as they need, they may need anything between 10 - 20 minutes depending on their level.
Get the students into three groups and ask them to provide explanations for five of the proverbs. Group 1 can concentrate on the first five, Group 2 on the next five and so-on.
Get feedback from the groups and check their understanding, other students might offer alternative meanings.
Still in their groups ask the students to think of any proverbs in their own language which have the same meaning as those five they have just looked at. Give them only a few minutes for this.
Finally get them (still in their groups!) to change any of the 15 proverbs around. They could maybe just change the nouns (e.g. Money makes the world go round not Love) or think of completely new ones. Give them a couple of examples to get them started. e.g;

Too many students spoil the lesson!

A bad teacher blames his/her students!

Finally feedback their efforts and, if time, maybe get them to write some up and put them on the wall.

Sheet 2

Proverbs


From the words printed at the bottom of the page can you complete the gaps and make well known English proverbs? (one word is used twice!)


1. A rolling stone gathers no .........

2. Don't cry over spilt .........

3. ......... makes the world go round

4. Make ......... while the sun shines

5. Too many ......... spoil the broth

6. Don't count your ......... before they hatch

7. A bad workman blames his .........

8. Every ......... has a silver lining

9. When in ......... do as the ......... do

10. The early ......... catches the .........

11. Look before you .........

12. Don't make a ......... out of a molehill

13. The more you ......... the more you .........

14. Save for a rainy.........

15. Don't put all your ......... in one .........


cooks, milk, tools, hay, basket, Rome, bird, leap, chickens, mountain, love, worm, moss, have, day, want, cloud, eggs





A Game Played with words of five letters.


Level: Any

This a simple game based on "Mastermind"


Chalk five lines on the blackboard


Make two teams


Think of a word with five letters

One team says a word with 5 letters

Write the word on the five lines

Under the word use the following marking system.

If the letter exists in the word but is not in the correct position put a circle under that letter.


If a letter is in the correct position put a cross under it. Then draw five more lines underneath and repeat the process.
They will be able to guess the word by logical deduction after 3 or 4 goes. The first team to guess the word wins. With more advanced students you can
use bigger words.


Here is a list of 5 letter words that you can use with children


Black boots brown chair class clock dress drink drive eight fifty first forty fruit green happy hello hippo house month mouse mouth paper pasta plane plant ready rhino right robot ruler seven shirt shoes short sixty skirt sleep small snake socks sorry south Spain speak spend start table teach teddy teeth these thing third three tiger tooth train under verbs water where white whose woman write young



A Christmas Jazz Chant

Level: from Beginner to pre-intermediate


This jazz chant is perfect for those who have just started learning English because it is very simple, using the Present Simple with a splattering of prepositions.


Divide the class into two groups, A and B. Then read the chant through followed by having the students read it through. Then, introduce the clapping as it is read through one more time. Then start! First group A has the sentence, and group B the chorus, then the pattern is reversed. The chant can be repeated many times as confidence is gained.


A: Santa comes with presents
B: Ha Ha Ha
A: He wraps them up with ribbons
B: Ho Ho Ho
A: He puts them in a sack
B: Ha Ha Ha
A: The presents with the ribbons, in a sack, on his back!
B: Ho Ho Ho

A & B: Ha Ha Ha!



A 'lesson' to remember.... April Fool's!


Level: from pre-intermediate to upper-intermediate


This test consists of easy to answer questions but of unusual nature. For example, one question read ' recite the alphabet out loud' (even backwards if you really want to have some fun) The more creative the better. There are two question however, that you must include. One at the beginning reading ' Read over the test first' and one at the end reading (at no surprise) 'disregard/ignore all the questions above' Be careful not to make the questions to outrageous though, or the students may become really suspicious. This test also has to be limited in time so that students will try to rush through it and skip over the first question. I suggest giving them 10-15 minutes maximum, but it really depends on the number of questions you include. Try to make it so that it would be impossible to complete that amount of questions in that amount of time. I say include a minimum of 50 questions.


This test / joke will teach them three things:


1) the meaning of April Fool's Day,

2) always to follow directions and read carefully when writing a test and lastly,

3) not to mess with their teacher! :)


I would suggest keeping a serious face when distributing the tests and even go as far as to assign a large portion of their grade to the test. This will really get them into panic mode and it may work better. Then all you need to do is sit back and enjoy. See how many silly things you can get them to do before someone catches on. If you happen to notice someone who has actually read the entire test, try to discreetly give them the 'hush hush' signal so that they do not ruin all the fun. After you reveal the truth, there is always lots to talk about.



A room with a view


Level: Any


Bring prepositions alive by asking students
to draw a detailed plan of their room or whole house on the whiteboard. They provide a commentary e.g. "If you look out of the top floor window on the left you can see.....". As an additional challenge ask one student to do this over the phone and the student receiving the call draws the plan!