http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atfgHh7xS4Q
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Can’t see the video click here.
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“Preposition Practice” is a great simple ESL game to practice prepositions of place with young learners. It’s a fun and interactive way to study prepositions of place that’s sure to be enjoyed by the whole class.
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Activity Time: 10 mins +
Materials required: flashcards.
Skills practiced: Vocabulary, writing and prepositions of place.
Level: Young learners
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Method
1. Choose a number of flashcards you want your students to revise. Hide them in different locations around the classroom.
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2. Tell your students they need a pencil and paper. Tell them you have hidden X amount of flashcards in the room and they need to find them and write down their location on their piece of paper.
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3. The first student to find all the flashcards and write their location is the winner.
ESL Prepositions Game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atfgHh7xS4Q [spacer_small] Can’t see the video click here. [spacer_small] “Preposition Practice” is a great simple ESL game to practice prepositions of place with young learners. It’s a fun and interactive way to study prepositions of place that’s sure to be enjoyed by the whole class. [spacer_small] Activity Time: 10 mins + Materials required: flashcards. Skills practiced: Vocabulary, writing and prepositions of […]
Liar Liar
Liar Liar is a simple activity that I have used recently while teaching the topic of crime. It’s a simple activity and a great way to introduce the unit of crime. This activity uses authentic material and is a great way to challenge students while engaging them with interesting material. I have used this activity […]
This post looks at 5 ESL St. Patrick’s Day activities to add to your lesson plan for St Patrick’s Day. This post has activities for Young Learners, teens and adults.
As I am Irish myself, St Patrick’s Day is one of my favourite holidays that I get to teach about. Due to this, I have put together a number of activities that are fun, engaging and there are lots of opportunities for students to practice key skills and use their creativity.
As always, please leave your opinion, comments and suggestions below or email, tweet or Facebook me.
Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Duit
Happy St Patrick’s Day to you (In Irish)
Story of St Patrick (Video)
Activity Time: 10 – 15 minutes +
Materials required: Copy of the Powerpoint
Skills practiced: Writing, brainstorming, critical thinking, speaking, listening.
Level: Teens and adults. Pre intermediate +
Method1. Before you begin the slide show, ask the students what they know about St Patrick.
2. Tell them they are going to hear about the story of St Patrick.
Whiskey In The Jar
“Whiskey in the Jar” is one of the most popular traditional Irish tunes. It features love, robbery, betrayal and a melody that has become known the world over.
The story tells of an Irish highway man who travels the Cork and Kerry mountains and the song tells of how the bold highway man robs from an English soldier.
Activity Time: 10 – 15 minutes +
Materials required: Student handout , Music video below
Skills practiced: Listening, vocabulary, speaking.
Level: Teens and adults Pre-intermediate +
Part One : Music story and look at vocabulary
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Then ask them in pairs to guess what the song might be about.
Part Two: Listening
Give each student a copy of the handout. Give them some time to read and correct any errors they think they see, then let them listen and correct the errors.
Stage 1 Listen and correct the errors
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| The original lyrics |
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| Student’s version with errors |
Stage 2 Listen and put the sentences into the correct order (see printable)
Stage 3 Listen and fill in the gaps (see printable)
The Wild Rover – gap fill
Activity Time: 10 – 15 minutes +
Skills practiced: Listening, vocabulary, speaking.
Level: Teens and adults beginners + Method 1. Give students a copy of the handout. Tell them to look at the gaps. Each gap is missing a verb. Tell them to predict which word is missing. 2. Students check their ideas in pairs. 3. Students listen to the song and correct their answers. 4. Now get them singing and clapping! My students always love singing this song.
St Patrick’s Day Storyboard
Activity Time: 10 – 15 minutes +
Materials required: Copy of picture board
Skills practiced: Vocabulary and expressions
Level: Young Learners +
Method 1. Print out a copy of the storyboards for each pair of students.
2. Cut up the cards and mix them.
3. Give a set of the cards to each pair of students. Tell them that they must look at the pictures and arrange them in the correct order. Then they must write a story using the cards. Tell them that they must write one sentence per picture (Young Learners, a paragraph for teens etc) Tell the students they have 10 minutes. Allow the students to use resources such as dictionaries etc to develop their stories.
4. After students have written their stories, get them to share and present them to the class.
St Patrick’s Day Idioms
St Patrick’s Day is a great opportunity to give students with a chance to learn idioms. Idioms are an important part of language learning. They are a common part of speech and an important part of fluency.
Activity Time: 10 – 15 minutes +
Materials required: Copy of idiom pictures below PDF
Skills practiced: Vocabulary and expressions
Level: Young Learners (one or two idioms),Teens and adults. Beginners +
Materials required: Copy of idiom pictures below PDF
Skills practiced: Vocabulary and expressions
Level: Young Learners (one or two idioms),Teens and adults. Beginners +
Method:
1. After you have introduced other vocabulary for St Patrick’s Day, you can introduce idioms. Show the students the idiom and then show them the picture.
2. In pairs, students try to decide what the idiom means then they report back to the class. Give an example of the idiom in use and then get the students to write their own sentence.
3. Revision is important with Idioms. As in the Powerpoint presentation, when revising idioms show the students the picture and ask them in pairs to write the idiom. After check if they have remembered correctly. Following this, concept check the meaning.
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| Definition: A wish of good luck to someone. |
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| Definition: A talent for making things grow. |
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| Definition: Jealousy |
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| Definition: To recycle materials and good for the environment. |
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| Definition: A different place appears better than where you are. |
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| Expression: The Irish are lucky or have luck. |
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| Definition: To give someone permission to do something. |
Extra materials For Young Learners
St Patrick’s Day Flashcards – Large flashcards
[gview file=”https://eslkidsgames.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/St-Patricks-Dat-Flashcards.pdf”]Key words: Ireland, leprechaun, pot of gold, rainbow, shamrock and snake
St Patrick’s Day Word Search – A word search to practice the key vocabulary of St Patrick’s Day
St. Patrick’s Day Vocabulary Match Game (young learners)
More ESL St. Patrick's Day Activities
Discover more St Patrick’s Day Activities.
St Interactive St Patrick’s Day Board Game – Practice St Patrick’s Day vocabulary with this fun interactive board game for young learners.
St Patrick’s Day Quiz – Test your students’ knowledge of everything Irish with this fun St Patrick’s Day Quiz!
ESL St. Patrick’s Day Activity: True or False is a simple St. Patrick’s Day activity for teens and adults. In this activity, students test their knowledge about Ireland and Saint Patrick’s Day by deciding if the statements are true or false.
Find more games and activities weekly on our YouTube Channel
St Interactive St Patrick’s Day Board Game – Practice St Patrick’s Day vocabulary with this fun interactive board game for young learners.
St Patrick’s Day Quiz – Test your students’ knowledge of everything Irish with this fun St Patrick’s Day Quiz!
ESL St. Patrick’s Day Activity: True or False is a simple St. Patrick’s Day activity for teens and adults. In this activity, students test their knowledge about Ireland and Saint Patrick’s Day by deciding if the statements are true or false.
Find more games and activities weekly on our YouTube Channel
5 ESL St Patrick’s Day Activities
This post looks at 5 ESL St. Patrick’s Day activities to add to your lesson plan for St Patrick’s Day. This post has activities for Young Learners, teens and adults. As I am Irish myself, St Patrick’s Day is one of my favourite holidays that I get to teach about. Due to this, I have […]
Fast Food Facts
This activity can be a great way to get teens engaged by using a video to introduce a topic.
Activity Time: 5 – 10 minutes +
Materials required: Students require pen/pencil and a piece of paper
Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading.
Level: Pre-intermediate +Method:
1. Put the class in pairs. Tell the students they are going to watch a video.
3. Tell the students they are going to hear twenty facts in one minute. Tell them that they must listen and write as many as they can. After they hear the list for the first time, they will get a few minutes to check their answers with their partner. Then, they will listen a final time.
(Note: It is not essential that your students get all of the facts.)
4. Ask the students to look at the facts and pick one piece of information that they found interesting or surprising. Discuss the facts.
2. First, play the video and ask the students to answer the following question as a warm up. Stop the video at 0.59 seconds.
How many customers can a single fast food company serve in one day?
Answer: 46 million
#1 40 percent of American meals are eaten outside of the home.
#2 Each day, one in four Americans visit a fast food restaurant.
#3 60% of adults and 16% of children are overweight.
#4 A mustard stain will damage a good shirt.
#5 French fries are the most eaten vegetable in America
#6 You would have to walk for seven hours to burn off the calories from a Coke, fries and Big Mac.
#7 Sometimes chicken isn’t chicken.
#8 Burger King’s Light Italian still has 18 percent of your daily fat.
#9 Cute cows die
#10 McDonalds distrubutes more toys per year than ToysRUs
#11 Children who eat fast food gain about 6 pounds (2.7Kg) more per year than normal.
#12 100,000 deaths each year have been linked to obesity.
#13 Love handles aren’t lovely.
#14 Daily consumption can lead to a psychological addiction.
#15 Fast food compromises diet quality by displacing healthy food.
#16 Obesity has been linked to 20 physical problems and diseases.
#17 Only seven items on McDonalds menu don’t contain sugar.
#18 Taco Bell equals frequent bathroom visits.
#19 Obesity will pass smoking as the leading cause of death in America
#20 A diet hight in sodium, fat and cholesterol can lead to heart disease.
ESL Food Conversation Questions
Activity Time: 5 – 10 minutes +
Materials required: A print out of the questions below. Download
Skills practiced: Speaking, listening and reading.
Level: Pre-intermediate +
Method
Print out the following questions and cut them out. Each student takes a question and answers it.
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If you could only eat one thing every day for your entire life, what would it be? Why? |
What was the first thing you ate today?
What do you hate to eat? Why?
What is your favourite national dish? Why?
What is your favourite thing to cook?
Why?
What is the nicest thing you have ever eaten? Describe it.
Which country makes the best food? Which makes the worst?
Why?
Would you like to be a vegetarian? Why/why not?
Do you think the food in your country is healthy? Why/Why not?
Which country in your opinion has the healthiest diet in the world? Why?
Which country has the worst diet in the world? Why?
How healthy is your diet? Why do you think that?
What’s your favourite junk food to eat? Why?
Do you believe “we are what we eat”?
Why/why not?
Food Memory Challenge
Activity Time: 5 +
Materials required: It’s optional to project the image below to use as a guide and visual.
Skills practiced: Speaking, vocabulary.
Level: Any levelMethod
1. Explain to the class that they are going to play a game. The first student starts with A and they must say a fruit or food that begins with A. e.g Apple
2. The second student must say a food item that begins with B e.g Banana.
3. Keep going student after student. If a student is unable to answer, they are eliminated. The game ends when there is only one student left.
Celebrity Chef
Activity Time: 10 Minutes + Materials required: Video shown below Skills practiced: Speaking, Listening and Writing. Level: Lower intermediate +Method
1. Show your students the following two pictures.
Ask them the following questions:
Who is he?
What do you think his job is?
Why do you think this? etc
2. Tell them that they are going to watch a video and you would like them to answer the following questions;
1. How many people is Jamie Oliver cooking for?
2. What is one of the most important things about cooking paella?
3. What are the first 4 ingredients Jamie Oliver mentions?
4. What seafood is used?
5. What do you think the Flamenco singer is singing about?
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ESL Food Activities
Getting teens interested in topics can be hard work. Videos can be a great way to get them and even adults more engaged in a topic. This week’s post looks at four different activities that can help practice key skills and develop interest and knowledge in the topic of food. Don’t forget to follow/add me on twitter and […]
This post looks at 3 ESL Valentine’s Day Activities for teens and adults. These simple no-prep activities are a great way to get students talking and discussing their opinions on St. Valentine’s day.
The first activity explains the origins of St. Valentine’s Day while practicing students listening skills with a short video.
The second activity makes use of infographics to practice reading. Students read facts about Valentine’s Day and discuss what they read with the class.
Lastly, you will find a number of speaking questions to extend the conversation with students.
Valentine’s Day Explained
Activity Time: 10 mins +
Materials required: Each student needs a piece of paper and a pen.
Skills practiced: Listening, writing and speaking.
Level: Teens and adults. Lower Intermediate +
Method
1. Show the class the video below and stop the video at around 0:51 seconds. Ask the students to answer the following question in pairs. Ask them to write their answer. (Show the video a second time if required.)
How did Valentines day start?
2. Ask the students the write down the following numbers. Tell them they are going to watch the video again. This time they must write down the significance of the numbers.
270 AD
496 AD
1415 AD
Late 1800’s
35 Million
189 Million
3. After you have checked their answers, ask them which facts they found most interesting and why.
On the board write “Love is …”
In their pairs, ask the students to finish the statement.Here are some quotes to give them some inspiration:“Love is like a friendship caught on fire” Bruce Lee
“Love is only a little foolishness with a lot of curiosity” George Bernard Shaw
“Love is an irresistible desire to irresistibly desired” Robert Frost
“Love is the flower you’ve got yo let grow” John Lennon
“Love is like a red red rose” Robert BurnsPlease contribute
Please send on your classes “love is..” creations to me either on twitter @eslkidgames, #eslloveis or via email where they will be featured with my classes’ quotes to spread the love this Valentine’s day.
Valentine’s Day Facts
Activity Time: 10 mins +
Materials required: Printed infographic for each set of students
Skills practiced: Listening, writing and speaking.
Level: Teens and adults. Lower Intermediate
Method
1. Print the following infographics. One between two or three students. (Click the images to view the full infographic)
Valentine’s Day ESL Questions
Activity Time: 10 mins +
Materials required: a copy of the printable
Level: Teens and Adults all levels.
Printable: Download Get the class talking with over 15 Valentine’s Day questions.
Did you find this post useful? Please leave a comment and share this post with others. As always, enjoy and have fun!
More ESL Valentine's Day Activities
Discover more ESL Valentine’s Day Activities for teens and adults.
Valentine’s Day Board Game – Discuss Valentine’s Day with this interactive online board game for levels B1+ (lower intermediate and above, suitable for teens and adults.
Guess the Valentine’s Day Idiom – In this warmer / cooler activity for teens and adults, students need to guess the Valentine’s Day idiom. This challenging activity is a simple and fun way to introduce students to idioms and expressions related to Valentine’s Day.
3 ESL Valentine’s Day Activities
This post looks at 3 ESL Valentine’s Day Activities for teens and adults. These simple no-prep activities are a great way to get students talking and discussing their opinions on St. Valentine’s day. The first activity explains the origins of St. Valentine’s Day while practicing students listening skills with a short video. The second activity […]
