FREE ENGLISH LESSONS ONLINE

SPEAKING LESSON: STORYTELLING USING FINGER PUPPETS

LEVEL: Elementary/Intermediate

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. retell a story
2. make finger puppets
3. use finger puppets to tell a story

MATERIALS: Oslo paper, scissors, crayon or watercolor markers, pens, pencils, bond paper, ruler, a story with several characters, prepared finger puppet based on the story, glue, a story with several characters (elementary or intermediate)

TIME FRAME: 1 hour

PROCEDURE:

1.) Find a good motivation that will prepare the students for the story. It can be a game, a question, or a picture that will spark their interest.

2.) Read the story aloud with expression. Make sure the story is suited to the level of your students.

3.) Discuss the story with the students.

4.) Bring out the finger puppets based on the story’s characters. Ask students to retell the story using their own words. Each student should use the finger puppet to retell the story. They can even change their voices to suit the character. Model how to do it.

5.) Ask the other students to provide different sequels to this story. Give them prompts or guidelines to help them with their different storylines. Elementary students can give simple storylines. Intermediate students are expected to give more complex storylines.

6.) Model how to make finger puppets. Give ¼ oslo paper to each student. You can give them a template they can trace or you can show how to do it from scratch. Let them put the puppet around their fingers to know the correct size. Tell them to use masking tape to attach the ends together.

7.) Pair off the students and let them think of the storyline for their puppets. They can decide to have more than two characters. Give them ideas on how to go about it. It can be a fantasy, a fairy tale, a fable, a horror story, an action hero story. Simple stories are required for elementary students and the dialogue should be at their level. Intermediate students need to make the dialogue and storyline more complex.

8.) Draw lots to determine which pair will present their story first. To make sure the other students are listening, ask them to evaluate the stories by writing the scores on a piece of paper (to be tallied at the end when all have presented already). Think of how to score the story. For example, it can be rated from 1 to 5, 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. The winning story will get a reward from you. Determine what the reward will be. It can be candy, bonus points, certificate, etc..

WRITING LESSON: RIDDLE BOOK

LEVEL: Elementary/Intermediate

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. describe an object orally and in written form
2. guess the riddle of their classmates

MATERIALS: oslo paper, bond paper, pens, pencils, crayon, stapler, picture cards, riddle books (simple to more complex ones), picture dictionaries, picture books

TIME FRAME: one hour or more

PROCEDURE:

1.) Play a game with the students. Use five picture cards that you will describe and let the students guess each picture before showing it to them. Make the description simple for elementary students and make it more complex for intermediate students.

e.g. I come in different colors-red, pink, yellow. I live in the garden and the fields. Butterflies love me. What am I? (Flower) This is the simple one.
I can be square, oval, round, and rectangular. I come in different colors. I am soft and am usually seen on beds. I lie under your head. What am I? (pillow) This is the complex one.

2.) Read a riddle book that suits the level of your students. Let them guess what is being described.

3.) Give guidelines on how to make riddles. They should give the color, size, shape, quality or other specific features. Intermediate students should give more clues and specific features.

e.g. I am pink. I am fat. I am somewhat round. I go oink oink. What am I? (elementary)

4.) Distribute picture cards to pairs (for elementary students). Give them time to think of their description. Then call pairs to tell their riddles. The class will guess each riddle. For intermediate students, it is better if they can do the activity individually to challenge them.

5.) Use the same five pictures (procedure 1) to model how to write a riddle. Use the board for the model. Then, ask volunteers to write on the board the riddle description of the picture cards given to them in procedure 4.

6.) Pair off elementary students and let each pair think of five objects to make riddles of. The objects used during the game should not be used again. Intermediate students can do this activity individually. A picture dictionary can help the students. Picture books can be used as well. They will make a riddle book patterned after the riddle book you used in class. It is better if they write the riddle on the front page and draw and color the object at the back of that page to hide the object that needs to be guessed. Staple the pieces of paper to make a riddle book.

7.) Ask the pairs or individuals to exchange riddle books so that they can read and see their peers’ work.