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 contributors to It Works in Practice in

this issue of ETp are teachers at the British
Council in Egypt. We would very much like to
thank Nick Baguley for coordinating a spread
of great activities from them. They will each
receive a copy of ETpedia by John Hughes,
published by Pavilion. Ayat, Rose, Nadya, Ann, Ahmed, Nick, Omar, Rob and Monzer

Synonym dictation Lexical lions

This form of dictation is a great way to find out about your This is a variant of the classic ‘Sleeping lions’ game
students’ existing vocabulary and spelling, to practise intensive which can be used as a warmer or filler to revise
listening skills, and to introduce new lexis in context. vocabulary from topics you have studied so far on the
1 Tell your students that you are going to dictate a short text. course, as well as working on young learners’ listening
Read the text slowly enough so that they are able to note down skills. It’s fun and requires zero preparation or
every word. paperwork!
1 Explain that the whole class will be lions, and that you
2 Once all the students have the whole text recorded, tell them
that they are going to hear the text again, this time read more will be the lion tamer. Use images to support the
quickly, and with some alterations. On the second hearing, they concept of lion tamer if necessary.
must listen and underline the words that have been changed. 2 Tell the students that the lion tamer can keep all the

3 Read out the text again at a more natural speed. On this second lions asleep as long as he or she can keep saying
reading, instead of dictating the exact words the students have words that ‘go together’ (eg strawberry, banana,
written, replace one word in each line by a synonym. apple, kiwi ). However, if the lion tamer says a word
that doesn’t match (eg monkey), all the lions must
4 Ask the students to work in pairs and to try to remember the
wake up and ROAR. Try to give a great roar when you
words that were read out on the second hearing. Points can be
say this!
awarded to make this activity competitive, although usually the
challenge of recalling the new words is enough to keep the 3 Tell the learners to ‘go to sleep’ on their desks, and

students engaged. start with a basic lexical set. Use a soft, musical voice.
Be quite quiet: the children will love to listen carefully
5 For feedback, elicit the list of underlined words (in order) and
for when they can ROAR at you.
put them on the board. Check with the students what kind of
word they were replaced by (their synonyms). Then elicit the 4 Once they fully understand the game, nominate a

students’ answers and put them in a second list opposite. How stronger student to take the role of lion tamer, and
many of the new words did they hear correctly? How many of assign them a lexical set to use, eg sports, school
the synonyms are words they had never heard before? subjects, etc. After they’ve had a few rounds, make
them choose the next lion tamer.
Extension:
For a fun extension to practise the new lexis, the students can 5 To add a competitive element, you can count how

attempt to re-tell the text to their partner from memory, using one many words different tamers can say before they run
of the two lists from the board. out of ideas and have to wake the lions.
Rose Aylett Laura McWilliams

40 • Issue 97 March 2015 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 Instant debates Writing by numbers
This is a very flexible activity. It can last for only five Ask the students to write the numbers 1 to 10 in their
minutes or go on for as long as a whole half hour. It can notebooks. Read out the following (with lower-level learners,
be used for low levels and all the way up to advanced. it is useful to do the task with a strong student demonstrating
The topics can vary greatly, depending on the context. on the board):
It’s also absolutely material-free! 1 Name an object, animal or person that you want
Draw two arrows on the board pointing to opposite sides to write about.
of the classroom. Label one For and the other Against. 2 Write two adjectives to describe your object,
Get the students to stand up. Write a controversial animal or person.
sentence on the board, such as Smoking should be
3 Say where your object, animal or person is.
banned in public places or Everyone should have the right
to terminate their own life. 4 Repeat the word you wrote in Step 1.
Ask the students to decide if they are ‘for’ or ‘against’ 5 Say what your object, animal or person is doing.
the motion and to move to the corresponding side of 6 How are they doing it? Write three adverbs of manner.
the classroom. 7 Repeat what you wrote in Step 3.
They then discuss why they are for or against the motion
8 Repeat what you wrote in Step 2.
for two to three minutes.
9 Write two new adjectives to describe your object,
Ask the students to move into the middle of the class,
animal or person.
pair up with a member of the opposing group and
discuss why they disagree. 10 Repeat the word you wrote in Step 1.
Then repeat the activity with a new sentence, making Tell the students to use what they have written to write a short
sure the students speak to new partners each time. poem. Ask them to read it out to a partner or to the class.
Omar Hammam Nadya Mezeli

Alphabet story race Just ask me!

Here’s a fun, visually stimulating way to focus on lexis in a Here’s a personalised first-day activity, best suited to
young learner classroom. small classes.
Using alphabet cards, or writing the alphabet on the board, elicit 1 Model the activity for the students by drawing on
from the students examples of words that start with each letter. Then mini-whiteboards or flashcards three or four figures,
put the students into teams and assign each one a group of letters. shapes or pictures that represent something about
They could also pick up random alphabet cards. Give each team a yourself. For example, if you play the guitar, have a law
camera and ask them to go around the school trying to take photos degree and your name is Nick, you might draw a guitar,
of items that start with the letters they have got. For some not very a scale symbolising justice, and the letters C I K N.
frequent letters, such as X, Y and Z, the students can form the shape 2 Tell the students ‘This is me’ and ask ‘Can you guess a
of the letter with their bodies, and take a photo of themselves. few things about me?’ Emphasise that you can only
They can also take pictures of words on signs that start with one of answer yes or no. Elicit a range of questions based on
the letters if they can’t find a suitable item. When they finish, the the information you have drawn.
students return to class and in their teams make up a story using 3 Hand out mini-whiteboards or blank flashcards and
the words and photos they have so that it looks like a comic book. give markers to the students and ask them to draw
Variations: things about themselves.
If the students are interested in using technology further – and 4 Ask each student in turn to come to the front of the
they can access the tools – they could record a video of their story, class and display their drawings. The other students
using the photos they have taken, or even videoing the items while ask yes/no questions to guess what they represent.
telling the story.
5 When they have successfully guessed what each
For classes with fewer resources, the students can draw the items drawing represents, encourage the students to ask
rather than take photos. follow-up questions to elicit more information.
Ayat Al Tawel Monzer Abdel-Gawad

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 97 March 2015 • 41