IT WORKS IN PRACTICE

More tested lessons, suggestions, tips and techniques which have all worked for ETp readers.
Try them out for yourself – and then send us your own contribution. Don’t forget to include
your postal address.
All the contributions to It Works in Practice in this issue of ETp come from participants on
a teacher training course in Ethiopia and were coordinated by Sandy Willcox. The contributors
will each receive a copy of Teaching English Grammar by Jim Scrivener, published by Macmillan.
Macmillan have kindly agreed to be sponsors of It Works in Practice for this year.

Flashing flashcards
The aim of this activity is to learn or
review nouns and verbs. You will need
two sets of identical flashcards for
the two teams, with words on one
side and definitions of those words
on the other, and a set of pictures
which represent the words on the
students’ flashcards for yourself.
● Divide the class into two teams.
Give each member of each team one
flashcard with a word on one side
and the definition of the word on
the other. Both teams get the same
set of flashcards. Allow the students
a few minutes to read the words and
their definitions.
● Hold up a picture of a word. The
The contributors: Sandy Willcox, Teferi Bora, Eyasu Endashaw, Adinaw Abuye and Caitlin Miles
member of each team with the
pictured amongst other participants on a teacher training course in Ethiopia
matching flashcard must stand up
and call out the word. The one who
is quickest to stand up with the
correct flashcard wins a point for
their team. The winner must then
read the definition out loud to the
class, then put down the flashcard
and write the word (with correct
spelling) on the board, from
memory.
The competitive element of this activity
engages the students. Furthermore,
the game includes reading, speaking,
writing and listening – the full
spectrum of language skills.
This game can easily be scaled up,
with students receiving more than
one flashcard each.

38 • Issue 84 January 2013 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Swat a word Past tense folding game
This activity is useful for teaching verbs and nouns. This activity teaches irregular past tense sentences, using a
You will need approximately ten pictures of words childhood game consisting of creating a fun story through
you want the students to learn. folding and passing round a piece of paper.
● Hold the pictures up one at a time, saying the word ● First, review the rules for regular and irregular past simple verbs.
and then sticking the picture on the board or wall ● Give each student a piece of paper with a section folded over at
(or ask a student to do this). the top. Tell them not to unfold this section – unbeknown to
● Divide the class into two or more teams and give them, each piece of paper has the name of a student hidden
each team a fly swatter. The team members take underneath the folded part. The students are then prompted to
turns to hold the fly swatter. write a sentence using went: He/She went to ... and are
encouraged to complete it creatively with the name of a place,
● Call out a word. The person with the swatter finds
such as the moon or the garden. They each write their sentence
the corresponding picture, runs up and swats it. The
below the folded part, and then refold the paper to cover their
first student to swat the correct picture wins a point
sentence. They then pass their paper to the person on their left.
for their team.
● In the next round, the students are prompted to write what the
● To play this game using more advanced vocabulary,
person wore (eg a running suit or a wig), and then they fold
have the students find suitable synonyms for
their paper again and pass it to the left. The next sentence says
common words from the academic word list. Write what the person took. The students complete their sentence, fold
words from the list on cards placed around the and pass their paper.
room. The teacher or a student ‘caller’ calls out a
● In the final round, they write what the person did there, and
word from the synonym list. The teams search for
then pass their paper to the left.
the word on the wall, run up and swat it. Team
members may consult each other, and this generates ● Each student then unfolds the story they have received and reads
discussion about word meanings. it to the class, using the person’s name (from the top of the
piece of paper) and the appropriate pronoun.
This activity results in highly amusing stories. Additionally, it
Matching words and definitions ensures that the students practise writing correct sentences in the
past tense. They also read aloud in English, which enables the
You will need two identical sets of flashcards, each
teacher to make corrections to the sentence structure or
with a word written on one side and a definition and
pronunciation.
example sentence on the other.
● Divide the class into two teams, A and B, and give
each team a set of flashcards. Allow the students
time to study their words and definitions.
● Team A then place their cards in front of them with IT WORKS
IN PRACTICE
the definitions face up. Team B place their cards in
front of them with the words face up.
● A student from Team A reads out a definition – the
person in Team B who has the matching word says it
Do you have an idea which you would like to contribute to our
(and also possibly writes it correctly on the board
It Works in Practice section? It might be anything from an
from memory).
activity which you use in class to a teaching technique that
● A student from Team B then reads a word and the
has worked for you. Send us your contribution, by post or by
student in Team A with the definition reads the
email, to helena.gomm@pavpub.com.
definition and the example sentence.
All the contributors to It Works in Practice get a prize! We
This activity is even better if the students make the
flashcards themselves. It can be used with basic especially welcome joint entries from teachers working at the
vocabulary, but works well with more advanced same institution. Why not get together with your colleagues
vocabulary (eg words on the academic word list) which to provide a whole It Works in Practice section of your ideas?
cannot be communicated by means of a picture. We will publish a photo of you all.

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 84 January 2013 • 39