Here's a great activity for Second Grade when the kids are studying the Speaking Plus 3 on page 56. I wish I could take credit for it but the JTE came up with this one.
After the kids have practiced the Speaking Plus conversation pass out copies of the first sheet which is basically the same conversation. The JTE writes the questions What's wrong? and How do you feel? on the blackboard along with the answers that will be used in the activity.
What's wrong? I have a headache.
a stomachache
a fever
How do you feel? Not so bad
Bad.
Terrible
After the kids have practiced this vocabulary for a while the teachers pass out the slips of paper that are on the third sheet. These are the answers to questions that the teachers will ask the students.
When they are ready to go the teachers explain that they are doctors. The kids make two lines. One with the JTE and one with the ALT who then ask the kids questions about their symptoms and how long they have had them. Based on the answers the "doctors" make a diagnosis. The Medical Chart, which is the second sheet, tells the doctor what the student's problem is. The JTE who made this activity included cold, flu, eat too much, and cancer. I realize that last one might be a downer especially if someone in the class has had a relative with that problem but things worked out okay. If you want to, go ahead and change it. Maybe it could be AIDS. No just kidding. Anyway feel free to make it any illness you feel comfortable talking about.
Oh. The last line of the dialogue is I'll give you some medicine. The medicine is a sticker. It's surprising how such a small item can motivate even students who ordinarily don't talk much. After the kids have got their medicine have them trade answer sheets with someone else and they can go again and see how may stickers they can get.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Grade 2 Unit 5 "When..."
In this Unit the kids are learning how to express opinions and how to make sentences with if and when clauses. So I was asked to come up with something to practice this grammar. It wasn't so easy. All my ideas looked like worksheets which is something I kind of want to get away from. So I came up with this idea. I'm not completey happy with it because it doesn't require any speaking beyond reading what the teacher has written on the board. On the plus side it looks like it might be fun and lead to a gut level understanding of the causation implied in sentences like:
When the teacher says, "Open your books." you must cry like a baby.
At the begining of class the JTE and I pretended to be upset over the class's behavior. Talking, not listening and what have you. Now the class we tried it in is actually a pretty good class so they knew right away that there was something fishy going on. Still we pretended to be angry and told them that there were going to to be some new rules put into practice. Then we started writing them on the board:
When the teacher is speaking you must be quiet
We wrote this on the board and had the kids practice it backwards and forwards. (We showed them how the clauses could be interposed while retaining the same meaning) As we continued writing the new rules became increasingly strange, as in the first example and the stranger the rules became the more the kids enjoyed reading aloud. After all the rules were on the board we continued class as we usually do but the kids still had to obey the new rules. When I scratched my nose the kids clapped. When the JTE wrote on the board the kids had to call out, "Tooth!"( I don't know what this means but it's some kind of gag that appears on TV) when I put my hands in my pockets everyone had to stand up, turn around and sit back down.
It made for an interesting forty-five minutes.
When the teacher says, "Open your books." you must cry like a baby.
At the begining of class the JTE and I pretended to be upset over the class's behavior. Talking, not listening and what have you. Now the class we tried it in is actually a pretty good class so they knew right away that there was something fishy going on. Still we pretended to be angry and told them that there were going to to be some new rules put into practice. Then we started writing them on the board:
When the teacher is speaking you must be quiet
We wrote this on the board and had the kids practice it backwards and forwards. (We showed them how the clauses could be interposed while retaining the same meaning) As we continued writing the new rules became increasingly strange, as in the first example and the stranger the rules became the more the kids enjoyed reading aloud. After all the rules were on the board we continued class as we usually do but the kids still had to obey the new rules. When I scratched my nose the kids clapped. When the JTE wrote on the board the kids had to call out, "Tooth!"( I don't know what this means but it's some kind of gag that appears on TV) when I put my hands in my pockets everyone had to stand up, turn around and sit back down.
It made for an interesting forty-five minutes.
Grade 2 Unit 5 "If..."
In unit 5 the kids get their first look at conditioinal sentences like:
If you can go, please call me.
Please call me if you can go.
Here's a game that allows the kids to practice/review the grammar. One of the things I like about it is that it requires nothing more than a blackboard. It went quite well when I tried it with 2-3. Divide the class into groups and then write on the board half of a conditional sentence.
If you are hungry....
The first group to come up with a well constructed logical second half of the sentence wins a point. Write the complete sentences on the blackboard and then have the kids practice them chorally. Some of the responses that we got in 2-3 weren't always logical although they might have been syntactically correct in the way that Hungry green ideas sleep furiously is syntactically correct.
If you are hungry run.
The words fit together in the right place but it doesn't make any sense. In this event the JTE was given the task of being the judge.
If you are hungry eat.
gets a point.
After a number of sentences have been put together, written down and practiced erase the board and present the kids with the sentences inverted.
Eat...
They should be able to remember the sentences they have just seen and practiced and should be able to come up with the correct response. Then you can add some that they haven't practiced and work in some with negative expressions. As I said it went well. It's probably best to divide the room into lunch groups so they can be encouraged to work together.
If you can go, please call me.
Please call me if you can go.
Here's a game that allows the kids to practice/review the grammar. One of the things I like about it is that it requires nothing more than a blackboard. It went quite well when I tried it with 2-3. Divide the class into groups and then write on the board half of a conditional sentence.
If you are hungry....
The first group to come up with a well constructed logical second half of the sentence wins a point. Write the complete sentences on the blackboard and then have the kids practice them chorally. Some of the responses that we got in 2-3 weren't always logical although they might have been syntactically correct in the way that Hungry green ideas sleep furiously is syntactically correct.
If you are hungry run.
The words fit together in the right place but it doesn't make any sense. In this event the JTE was given the task of being the judge.
If you are hungry eat.
gets a point.
After a number of sentences have been put together, written down and practiced erase the board and present the kids with the sentences inverted.
Eat...
They should be able to remember the sentences they have just seen and practiced and should be able to come up with the correct response. Then you can add some that they haven't practiced and work in some with negative expressions. As I said it went well. It's probably best to divide the room into lunch groups so they can be encouraged to work together.
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