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..

SPEAKING LESSON: TALKING ABOUT A SURVIVAL PLAN

LEVEL: Intermediate

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. think of ways to survive in extreme situations
2. write details about their plans to survive

MATERIALS: Some concrete objects that can be used to survive in extreme situations, bag to hold the objects, bond paper, pens, markers, pencils

TIME FRAME: around one hour

PROCEDURE:

1.) Show ten concrete objects. Ask the class to identify each.

Suggested items: flashlight, matches, tissue paper, cup, scissors, knife, blanket, soap, mirror, comb

2.) Tell the class to imagine this scenario:

You used to be passengers of an airplane. The airplane crashed on an island but you do not know if there are people on that island or not. You found 10 objects left on the plane. You need to choose five objects to help you survive on that island. What will you choose and why?

3.) Pair off the students. Each pair should decide which five of the 10 objects they would choose to help them survive on the island.

4.) Ask each pair to tell the class which five objects they have selected and to explain why.

5.) Form groups of four. Put the ten objects inside a bag. Each group leader will pick five items from the bag without looking. Each leader will return the items inside the bag so that the other leaders can pick their group’s five items. Ask them to write the five items on a piece of scratch paper.

6.) Tell the students that they will try to survive on the island using the five objects. They should use each object in different ways (at least three, but encourage them to give more than three if they can). Model how to do the activity by picking a classroom object such as the whiteboard eraser as an example.

Example: Classroom Eraser
1. It can be used as a sponge to clean things and the body.
2. It can be used as a chopping block when cutting things.
3. It can be used as a pestle to pound soft food.

7.) They must write their ideas (sentences preferred) on scratch paper first before they use a piece of bond paper for the final draft. They should also illustrate the objects picked by their leaders. Divide the work among the members.

8.) Ask each group to present their survival plan. The presenters should act out how to use each object in different ways to prove their point. Let them use the concrete objects during their presentation.

9.) Let the other groups decide if the group who is presenting the survival plan will be able to survive on the island or not based on the report. The presenting group should be able to defend their answers.

SPEAKING LESSON: GIVING AND ASKING FOR DIRECTIONS

LEVEL: Elementary/Adult Beginners

OBJECTIVES: The students should be able to:

1. locate places inside a school or a small town
2. give and ask for directions to a place

MATERIALS: Teacher-made top view map of an imaginary school(for elementary students) or a small town (for adult beginners) drawn on chart paper, pictures of different places found inside a school or in a small town, masking tape, small cut-out of a person’s figure

TIME: Around one hour depending on class size

PROCEDURE:

1.) Unlock the meaning of the different places found inside the school or a small town by showing pictures of each and discussing what is done in each place.

Places inside a school:

gym, library, canteen, business office, principal’s office, faculty room, courtyard, grade school classrooms, toilets/washrooms

Places in a small town: hospital, school, church, public library, cinema, shops or stores, gasoline station, fire station, post office, bank

2.) Tape a large teacher-made top view of a school or a small town (drawn on chart paper) on the board. Make sure streets or hallways are clearly defined. The map should contain all the places introduced in the first part of the lesson. Point to each labelled rectangular representation of each place on the map and ask the students to read after you.

3.) Get the pictures of the places and flash each pic one at a time. Ask the students to locate that place on the map by going to the board and pointing to it.

4.) Ask the class to give the location of each place. For example,”The grade school classrooms are near the canteen.” It is assumed that they have a working knowledge of prepositions. Help the students if needed.

Sample Prepositions:

across, opposite, near, beside, next to, between, behind, on the left/right

5.) Introduce a list of language structures for giving directions. Choose the ones appropriate for a small town or a school.

Turn left/right.
Go straight.
It is just around the corner.
You will pass a (drinking fountain, a gasoline station, etc.) on your left/right.
It is (one, two, three, etc.) block/s ahead.
It is on the (first, second, third, etc.) block to your left/right.
Drive/Walk past the (shopping mall, clinic, etc.)

6.) Use the map on the board and the cut-out figure to demonstrate the list of language structures introduced in Procedure 5. Let the cut-out figure walk around the map. Make your own directions based on the map you have prepared.

Sample directions:

From the school gate, turn right and keep walking. Once you see the canteen on your left, stop and turn left. Go straight and walk past the canteen. YOu will see several classrooms on your right. Just continue walking and when you see a big statue, look around you and you will see the clinic just around the corner. The clinic is next to the library.

7.) Practice the structures with the class by pretending to be the figure. Ask the the question, “Excuse me. Where is the canteen/cinema?” Then, let the students give you the directions. Help them out with the structure but don’t expect them to get it right the first time.

8.) Introduce a set of questions that they can choose from.

Excuse me. Where is the (library/grocery store)?
Excuse me. Can you tell me where the (library/grocery store) is?
Excuse me. Where can I find the (library/grocery store)?
Excuse me. How can I get to the (library/grocery store)?

9.) Pair off the students. Everyone will pick a picture of a place and then ask the directions to it. The partners will give the directions using the map on the board. Encourage the students to use different questions introduced to them in Procedure 8.