English Language Fellow,

Steven Gomez's
ESL Cookbook
Recipes for Your Classroom
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Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

Office of English Language Programs

English Language Fellow, Steven

Gomez's
ESL Cookbook
Recipes for Your Classroom
A Project under:
the US Department of State,
the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and
the Office of English Language Programs
Written by: English Language Fellow, Steven Gomez
Translated by:
Professor Rysbek kyzy Meerim
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
July, 2016

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, 2016

Acknowledgements
Special Thanks to:
Natalia Dzhumanalieva, the English Coordinator at the US Embassy in Bishkek,
who has always listened to my ideas and supported me with this and many other
projects;
Kyrgyz National University Faculty of Foreign Languages Teaching Methodology
Department;
Department Head of Faculty of Foreign Languages Zamira Mambetova;
Professor Gulnara Akunova, who I presented with in Kazakstan and who
brainstormed many ideas with me;
Professor Nuraiym Dzhumagulova who I had the privilege of co-teaching with;
Professor Mira Sultanova, who inspired me to use many of these activities in the
classroom with her;
Professor Nurjamal Imashbekova, who I co-taught with and always had a sense of
humor;
Student teacher, Oksana Maltseva, who presented with me at The English Forum
in Bishkek and who contributed to this book;
and finally a special thanks to Professor Rysbek kyzy Meerim, who worked
tirelessly to translate this book into Kyrgyz.


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Table of Contents

Preface

Writing

12

Reading

35

Speaking

40

Grammar

53

Music in the Classroom

65

Music Videos in the Classroom

69

Classroom Activities, Games and Warm-ups

78

Self-Study Resources

94

12

35

40

53

65

69

78

94

Preface
This teaching handbook is comprised of many of the lessons and activities I have
conducted during my teaching experience here in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan from
September of 2015 until July of 2016. I have taken many ideas from online
resources, books, colleagues and other sources, and have adopted them so that
they are suitable to the classrooms of Kyrgyzstan. This is not an an extensive
book but a compilation of some of the more useful activities that I have used. With
that in mind, I did not include power points, songs and other total physical
response activities but I hope to expand on these ideas in a future project.
Nevertheless, whether you are a teacher in training or a veteran, whether you
teach small children or at the university level, there is something here for you.
While language learning/teaching theory is important, I have deliberately
minimized it in this handbook. There are a few sections, however, which explain
how to conduct lessons and the purpose of these lessons is for you to use the same
structure but integrate your own ideas. The main purpose of this handbook is for
teachers to be able to open the book and quickly find interesting activities/lesson
plans without having to sift through too much theory. In addition, I have provided

a side-by-side Kyrgyz translation, thanks to my colleague, Meerim Rysbek Kyzy,

so that you can understand exactly how to conduct these lessons. While some of
the lessons are detailed and very specific, I encourage you to use the
lessons/activities in whichever way may benefit you and your students. I didn't
write this book for money but to share my passion for teaching with everyone so
it's completely free. Please share it with other teachers.

May you teach with

passion, creativity and love. Happy teaching!


2015- 2016
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11

WRITING
Wild and Crazy Story Building by
Steven Gomez
email: gomezs1982@gmail.com

Objective
The goal of this lesson is to have
students write a fun story together while
practicing transitional words and phrases
and both past tense regular and irregular
verbs.

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Types of students
All levels of students but transitions and
funny phrases should be set according to
their level.

Introduction
Explain that we will be writing stories
while focusing on transitional words and
phrases and both past tense regular and
irregular verbs.

Warm up
When asking questions to students,
rather than have them raise their hands, I
have students snap their fingers.
First, I ask, snap your fingers if you like
speaking. (lots of snaps heard)

. (
)

Second, snap your fingers if you like ,

listening. (lots of snaps heard but a little .
less)
(
)
12

Third, snap your fingers if you like ,

reading. (lots of snaps heard but even .
less than before)
(
)
Next, snap your fingers
washing the dishes. (one
class will usually snap)
Last, snap your fingers
writing. (less snaps than
dishes)

if you like ,
third of the
(
if you like )
washing the

Elicit answers to why people don't like

writing. (Answers are usually, it's
boring, difficult, takes long to teach etc.)
At this point, explain that it doesn't have
to be boring or difficult. It's also
important to stress the idea that writing
is a process so we should not expect
perfection. Writing should go through
various drafts.

,
(

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..)
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Activity One
Next, on the board, write out four or five
transitional phrases and then ask
students to guess what kind of words
they are. Some will say conjunctions,
transitions, etc.

1-

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, ..
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After they have identified what kind of

words they are, have them suggest other
kinds of words, making sure that you
include both simple and complex words.
Next, ask what the purpose of these
words is. Why do we need them?

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I like to make the analogy that

transitional words and phrases are like
sign posts when driving. Hence the word
transition. For example, if we are
trying to drive to Moscow and we don't
see signs, what is likely to happen? We
would get lost. Therefore, if we do not
include these words when writing
sentences, our readers will also be lost.

transition .
,
, ,
? .

At this point pass out transitional words

and phrases handout and in the
meantime, have about 8-10 students
come and write their names on the right
hand side of the board (only do this if
they don't know each other) (handout is
found at the end of this lesson plan.)

,
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, 8-10
(
),
(
)

Once they have handouts, briefly go

over each category and explain how they
are used. Now, in partners/groups, they
must write one or two sentences using
any word or words from each category.
(Total of seven sentences)
Finally, have each group share one
example sentence of how to use a
transitional phrase for every category.

,
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)
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Activity Two
At this point, put a few present tense
verbs on the board and elicit the past
tense verbs for these words. Use both
regular and irregular verb forms.

2-

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Next, explain that we will create wild

and crazy sentences. Students must use
their imagination. I like to discuss the
film The Hangover and explain some

The
14

of the funny events that happen in that Hangover

film. (If possible, show a film clip).

( ,
).
Demonstrate how to fill out the the Wild

and Crazy Phrases worksheet then have

them fill it out individually, with ,

partners or in groups (depending on their ,
level.) Before they fill out this sheet, ( ).
explain that they will be using the names ,
of classmates in these sentences and ,
combining them with transitional words

and phrases.

Once they have filled out the sheets,

have them share some examples.

.
Main Activity
Now, have them get out a sheet of paper
and fold it in halves three times. After
they unfold it, they will have eight
spaces. Have them number the eight
spaces. Explain that they will write eight
sentences all together. Each person will
begin their story with a topic sentence
choosing one person's name from the
class and using one of the funny phrases
from their worksheet. Explain that the
purpose of the topic sentence is to
introduce what the topic is about.
Therefore, if the topic sentence says,
Jack fought a tiger, then the whole
story will be about Jack. You, the
teacher, will control the rounds. Give
students 30 seconds to write a topic
sentence. After this round, you have
them stop. Tell them to pass their paper
to another person. Now you give them
one minute to write another sentence.
The person who writes the second
sentence must read the previous one and
use a transitional phrase. Remind them

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that they must add a sentence that is

logical in the story and remind them that
they can create their own sentences that
differ from the ones they created on the
worksheet. However, verbs must be in
the past tense and they should use a
transition. After a minute, you have
them pass again continuing the process
until they have seven sentences. Because
they have to read the previous sentences,
you must allow them more time after
each round before they pass. (Caution!
Do not allow the students to pass until
you have instructed them to pass.) If
some students finish early, have them
correct any other mistakes they might
see in previous sentences. After seven
sentences, have everyone stop. You, the
teacher, should explain how some films
often have bad endings and now this is
their chance to finish the story in an
interesting manner.
Once they have finished, collect the
stories and read a few of them. As you
read them, have students recognize
transitions or lack there of. Also have
students point out the past tense verbs. If
the transitions or verbs are not correct,
explain how they should be corrected. If
the story is not logical, explain how it
could be changed so that it would be
logical. Read a few stories then hand
them back.

Reinforcement
In groups of three or four, have students
choose one person's story and rewrite it
so that there are less mistakes. Teacher

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should circle the groups helping students

correct their errors. If a group finishes
early, have them rewrite it changing all
the verbs to present tense.
If you are doing this activity with a
younger group, you may have them fold
a bigger paper in eight squares, draw
eight scenes and write the corresponding
sentences.

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Transitional Words for Wild and Crazy Stories

Time(words to help sequence ideas or First, next, suddenly, after, at the same
time, then, meanwhile, then,
transition between sentences or
paragraphs)
Contrast-

but, however, although, in contrast, on the

other hand,

Adding Information-

again, also, additionally, in addition,

furthermore, another, and, besides,
moreover

Examples/Support-

in other words, in fact, for example, for

this reason,

Cause/Reason

Due to the fact that, because, owing to,

seeing that,

Effect-

as a result, then, therefore, so, for this

reason,

Conclusion(words or phrases to help

conclude a piece of writing)-

in summery, in short, in brief, in the end,

in a word, all in all,

Examples of how to use these transitional words

Time- First, we went to school and then we went to the park to play football.
Contrast-Playing football in the rain was fun. On the other hand, it was very cold.
Adding-Moreover, it was windy so it became even colder.
Examples/support -In fact, it was difficult to kick the ball.
Cause/Reason-Due to the bad weather, we cancelled the game.
Effect-As of result of the bad weather, I became sick.
Conclusion- In short, the day started well but then finished horribly.
18

Wild and Crazy Phrases Worksheet

Write a person's name in the first space and a word according to what is in the
parenthesis in the second space. For numbers 21-25 create your own sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

__________ went to the ________ (location).

__________ ate a/an _________(something unusual)
__________ saw a _________ (something unusual)
__________ fought a ___________ (noun- an animal)
__________ drank _________
__________ robbed a __________
__________ had a romantic dinner with __________ (famous person/
interesting person)
8. __________ danced with ___________ (famous/ interesting person)
9. __________ bought a ___________ (an unusual object)
10.__________ crashed a ___________ (something expensive)
11.__________ won _____________ (some kind of prize)
12.__________ kicked a ___________ (unusual object)
13.__________ drank ___________ (something untypical)
14.__________ travelled to ___________ (location)
15.__________ cooked ___________ (something unusual)
16.__________ learned __________ (how to..../ interesting subject)
17.__________ jumped off of/ out of _________ (location)
18.__________called __________ (a person)
19.__________ hit __________
20.__________ broke __________
21.__________ ______ __________
22.__________ ______ __________
23.__________ ______ __________
24.__________ ______ __________
25.__________ ______ __________

19

Character Based Collaborative

Writing by Steven Gomez
email:gomezs1982@gmail.com
(Dark and stormy night....)
Objective
The goal of this lesson is to have
students write a fun story based on a
character profile that they create.
Students will employ the use of various
types of adjectives and describe likes
and dislikes.

( )

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Types of students

All levels of students except for

beginning level.
.
Introduction

Explain that we will be writing stories

based on a character profile.
.
Warm up
Ask students to talk about strange or
interesting characters from movies. Ask
them to describe specific aspects of
these people such as personality,
appearance, like and dislikes. What do
they admire about these characters?

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Activity One
First, on a sheet of paper, students will
draw a person's face in the top righthand corner of the page (take your time
and draw it nicely). Next, Give this
person a name. Now, in the top left-hand
corner of the page write five adjectives
that describe this person's physical
appearance. Next, write five adjectives
that describe this person's personality.
Afterwards, write three things that this
person likes doing. Finally, write who

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the person lives with. After answering

all of these questions, students now have
a character profile, which they can use
to write about.

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Activity Two
At this point, dictate the following
phrase: It was a dark and stormy night
and ... write the name of the person
drawn followed by the word was.
Complete the sentence using your
imagination and add one more sentence.
For example, It was a dark and stormy
night and Jack was shoveling snow. All
of a sudden, he heard a loud scream.
Encourage students to be creative and to
base their sentences on the profile.

2-
,
: It was a
dark and stormy night and ...,

was .

,
. , It was a dark and
stormy night and Jack was shoveling
snow. All of a sudden, he heard a loud
scream.

,

.

Main Activity
Once everyone has completed their
initial sentence, have them pass their
paper clockwise to the next student. The
next students should add a sentence
considering the previous sentence and
the character profile. Remind students
that they can only pass the paper when
you tell them to. If a student finishes
early, they may check previous
sentences for errors or add an additional
sentence. Continue to pass the papers
until students seem uninterested.

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Reinforcement
Read students writing out loud and
listen to them laugh.
Place the stories around the class and
have students read them. They can
decide which the best story is.
Give each pair of students a story and
get them to find errors and correct them.
Have students retype their stories on a
computer and make them into actual
compositions.

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Using Senses for Collaborative

Writing by Steven Gomez
email: gomezs1982@gmail.com

Objective
The goal of this lesson is to have
students write about an apple based on
four senses (touching, smelling, tasting
and seeing) It doesn't have to be an
apple; it can be almost any food.

4
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Types of students
Intermediate to advance students.

( )

Introduction
Explain to students that they will work
in groups of four to write descriptions of
something but don't tell them exactly
what it is.

4

,
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Warm up
Have students close their eyes and pass
around the apple. Encourage them to
feel and smell it. After everyone has
touched it, hide it and ask them to guess
what the item was. Ask them to guess
the color and describe the texture and
shape. Finally reveal what the item was
if they could not guess it.

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Activity One
For this activity, there are four roles:
smeller, taster, seer, and toucher. Put
students in groups of four; all tasters in
one group, all touchers in another group,
and all smellers in another and all seers
in another group. The job of each group
is to write about the apple, using their
assigned sense. For example, tasters
should actually taste the apple and

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describe it. Encourage students to use

metaphoric language and to use as many
adjectives as possible. Allow at least five
minutes or more time as needed.

.




. 5
.

Activity Two
At this point, all students should have at
least a few sentences on their paper.
Have each student in each group take
turns and share their writing. The job of
the other students is to listen and read
the writing- pointing out where the
writing is excellent and where there are
mistakes. Allow 10-15 minutes for
students to share. Remember that
students should revise and add sentences
to make their descriptions better.

2-

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10-15
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,

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Main Activity
Now break up the groups of four and
create new groups of four in which you
have one seer, one taster, one toucher
and one smeller in one group. Have
them read each others writing and
combine it all on one paper. Students can
think logically of how to create an
introduction, which sense to talk about
first and how to improve their overall
description of the apple.

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Reinforcement
Have students make oral presentations
and while one group reads their writing,
have the other group close their eyes.
This will help stimulate their
imagination.
Students can do the same assignment for
homework but rather than an apple, it

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can be any item of their choice.

Have students type their essays in the
shape of an apple. They can cut it out
and place it in the classroom as a
decoration.

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How to Teach Writing by Steven

Gomez email: gomezs1982@gmail.com
(Theory with Examples)

( )

Objective
Teach students three basic methods
(three levels) of how to teach English to
students

3 (
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Types of students

University students training to become

English teachers
.
Introduction
Explain to students that they will be
learning about the theory of how to
teach students writing. Remember to ask
questions and elicit answers from
students rather than simply give them
the information.

, ,
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Warm up
Series of questions:
Ask students how they feel about
writing. Usually, students don't like
writing (compared to the other three
English skills). Why?
What are some other benefits of learning
writing?

.
(

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?
?

1.Helps the learning of vocabularyWhat happens when you hear a new

word? Are you able to clearly hear it and
produce it?
No, because not all students have purely
audio learning. Therefore, writing is
necessary
to
reinforce
learning
vocabulary.

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2. Language Development- Our brains

function in the same way whether we
speak or we write. A message is created
and transmitted. It just sends the
message down a different pipe. If you
take a moment to grab a pen and paper
and write a few sentences you will see
that you cannot write without speaking
out the words in your head. In this way,
writing is a stress free way to practice
speaking. Because we get to write at our
own pace with no audience, we can give
our mind a tremendous amount of
repetition with the grammar, words and
expressions of the language.

2. ,
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3. Learning Style- When you are

constructing language by only speaking,
we must think quickly. However, when
writing we can take time to think about
how we can construct language.
Of all the multiple intelligences, which
one is connected to writing?

3.
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4.
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What kind of writing should students

do? It depends on their age, interests and ?
,

level. What can beginners write?

.

4. Writing as a skill - What are the four
skills? What kinds of tasks can you do
with writing?
Write letters, post cards, written reports
(Why is this useful?), personal
statements, job applications, writing
narrative. Email, (everyone should have
one)

27

Simple Poetry, simple sentences, design

a menu for a restaurant. What kind of
writing assignments can advanced
students do?
Plays,
dialogues,
role-plays,
advertisements, poems or anything that
motivates them.
We must consider skills and interests.

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Five types of writing

Copying- practice forming letter shapes
in a handwriting book. (used for the
lowest level)

5

(
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Doing exercises- Students write single

words, phrases etc for specific tasks.. no
creativity. (Low level to intermediate
students)

,
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(

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Guided Writing- You guide students to

write longer texts in controlled tasks by
offering models. (intermediate level
students)

Process Writing - Students write what

they want with help and feedback from
others as they go through the writing
process
and
multiple
drafts.(Intermediate to advanced)

.
( )

Unguided Writing- Students free write

and it will be marked later. (intermediate
, ,
to advanced)
. (
)

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Types of Sequences BeginnerIntermediate-Advance

Activity One- Parallel Writing
(guided)
Beginners can copy the structure of a
writing sample but change the ideas in
order to personalize it.
Students start by looking at the postcard.
Then the teacher checks that students
understand the information. Next, the
teacher asks students to identify four
different
patterns:
the
present
continuous, present simple, Verbless
sentence (postcard style), present
continuous for future.
Next, ask students to look at the
greetings and signing off (formal or
informal and why).

--

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the present continuous,
present simple, Verbless sentence
(postcard style), present continuous for
future .

(
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The students will then produce their own

version of the postcard and then the
teachers either corrects them or has
students share the postcards with others.
If there is enough time, students can
draw a photo on the front of the
postcard.

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We're staying at a lovely hotel near the

beach. We get up late everyday and have a
large breakfast. Then we lie around all
morning, swimming and reading. After
lunch- siesta! Then it's more swimming and
late supper. Paradise! Tomorrow we are
going to Islas Mujeres (Island of Women).

Judy Saunders

See you soon,

Love
Mary

INGLATERRA

6 Turtas Road,
Cambridge CT5 3YR

30

Again, they are writing freely about

these ideas so the focus is not on
accuracy but rather on expressing. By
using controversial topics, students will
remain engaged.
As a follow up exercise, while the
students are debating, have them list all
the positive points and all negative
points about that topic.

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Afterwards, they can write about them

further and counter the opposing points.
This is a great activity for practicing
critical thinking and argumentative
skills.

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Activity Two Altering dictions

Teacher dictates a few controversial
statements and students must write them
down. After writing them down, they
must write whether they agree or
disagree and why. This is useful before
reading or a discussion.
Examples of statements- Women should
not make as much money as men for
doing the same job. Men are the most
important person in the family. Poor
people should not be allowed to make
children because it will keep them poor.
Children aged 16 should be allowed to
drink alcohol.

31

Activity 3
Agony Column or Dear Abby Response
Writing
If you google either of these themes, you
will find a website where people write to
an expert therapist about their personal
problems. Therefore, for this activity
you can have students act like a
therapist. Below is an example. After
reading this, students give their response
and then you can read the response from
the expert to see if the students'
responses are different.

3-
Agony Column Dear Abby

Google ,

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DEAR ABBY: Im happily married to

the man of my dreams. We met after I
had gone through a particularly difficult
breakup, and I often credit him with
saving me. Weve been together 15
years and have two beautiful children.
While we both have professional
careers, I also write romance novels as a
hobby and side business. With every
book authors write, a tiny part of their
lives sneaks into their characters,
storyline, etc.

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2 .
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99

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? HAPPILY EVER AFTER
HAPPILY EVER AFTER:

When my husband reads my novels

as he does often he becomes sullen,
withdrawn and angry. He cant seem to
understand that 99 percent of what Ive
written is fiction. Hes convinced that
everything I write is somehow linked to
an old boyfriend or actual events.
This is causing hurt feelings and
resentment from both of us. Should I
give up writing, or should he learn to
deal with it? HAPPILY EVER
AFTER
DEAR HAPPILY EVER AFTER: Its a

32

fact that talented writers have active

fantasy lives. Authors who come to mind
would be Mary Shelley, who created
Frankenstein; Anne Rice and her
vampires; E.L. James, who shared her
S&M fantasies with the world and
countless male authors including John le
Carre, Daniel Defoe and William
Shakespeare. (Obviously, Ian Fleming
did not do everything that his character,
James Bond, did.)

.

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(
)

Ideally, your husband the man of

your dreams should be able to tell
you if something bothers him without
sulking. And if he trusts you, he should
be able to accept that what you are
writing is fiction.

,


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,
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3-

/
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If thats not the case, rather than your

giving up writing, your husband should
quit reading your books.
Activity 3
Report Writing
This consists of more advanced essay
style/research type of writing. This is
explained in later lesson plans.

Reinforcement

Find a writing activity that uses the

guided writing method.
.

33

Quiz- True or False

1. Free writing activities can be used 1.
with low-level students. (false)

. ()
2. Copying writing is best suitable for 2.

low-level students. (True)

.
()
3. Parallel writing is a type of writing 3.
activity where students follow a model ,
but can be creative. (true)

. ()
4. Writing is not helpful for improving 4.
speaking and reading. (false)
. ()
5. Process writing can be done with all 5.
level of students. (false)
.
()

34

READING
How to Teach Reading
email: gomezs1982@gmail.com

Objective
Students will do a critical reading of an
excerpt of Fredrick Douglass' My
Escape From Slavery, focusing on who,
what, where, and why. In doing so,
students will appreciate aspects of
American history.

My
Escape
From
Slavery

, ,
e
.

.

Types of Students
This reading is suitable for intermediate
university students. However, you can
employ the same strategies using a
different text.

Introduction

Explain to students that they will be

reading an excerpt of an escape story.

.
Warm up
Give students five minutes to think
about the reasons why one person might
be chasing another. With a partner, they
can write about all the possible
scenarios. Chances are they will not say
anything about slavery.
You can also give students a chance to
predict the text by giving them the title
of the text or the first two sentences;
elicit their opinions. This will get them
ready for the text, giving students a
general idea of what the text will be
about.

5
.
.

.
,

,

.

.
35

Activity One
For this activity, explain to students that
they will read the text with a partner
focusing on who (name), what is
happening (main points), where
(locations-cities, places, etc) and why?
In addition, they should underline words
that they are unfamiliar with. For each
aspect just mentioned, students will
make up a symbol that they will use to
mark the text. For example, whenever
students read something about a person,
the can draw a small face above it.
Allow a few minutes to decide what the
symbols will be.

1-

, (),
( -),
( , ,
..)

. ,

.

.
,

,

.
.

Activity Two
Allow enough time for students to read
the text and make notes with their
partner.

2-

,
.

Main Activity
Draw columns with each symbols and
elicit responses from students. For
example, ask which people were
involved and ask students their opinions
on these people. Remember to elicit
details from students to get the
conversation going.
You may also ask thought provoking
questions such as:

,

. ,

-.

.

,
:
?
?

?
?

Why do you think there are colored

cars? Can you imagine living in such a
society? Does this still happen in other
parts of the world? Does Fredrick lie
about his occupation? Is it wrong to lie?
What would you do if you were him?
In addition to these type of questions,

36

you can give students comprehension

questions. For example:
Why did Fredrick Douglass decide to
run after the train rather than buy a
ticket at the station and enter the train
like all the other? What occupation does
Fredrick say he has?

. :

,
,

?
?

Reinforcement
-Have students produce sentences from
the words that were previously unknown
to them.
-Have students predict what they think
might happen next by either talking
about it as a class discussion or by
having them write then talk. For this
activity, remember to provide specific
questions about the characters. For
example, what kind of problems might
Fredrick encounter in the future? Where
is he going and why?

-
.
-

.

.
,

?
?

37

My Escape From Slavery by Fredrick Douglass

-this excerpt was taken from the website below where you may access the complete
text for free.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/99/99-h/99-h.htm
In order to avoid this fatal scrutiny on the part of railroad officials, I arranged with
Isaac Rolls, a Baltimore hackman, to bring my baggage to the Philadelphia train just
on the moment of starting, and jumped upon the car myself when the train was in
motion. Had I gone into the station and offered to purchase a ticket, I should have
been instantly and carefully examined, and undoubtedly arrested. In choosing this
plan I considered the jostle of the train, and the natural haste of the conductor, in a
train crowded with passengers, and relied upon my skill and address in playing the
sailor, as described in my protection, to do the rest. One element in my favor was the
kind feeling which prevailed in Baltimore and other sea-ports at the time, toward
"those who go down to the sea in ships." "Free trade and sailors' rights" just then
expressed the sentiment of the country. In my clothing I was rigged out in sailor style.
I had on a red shirt and a tarpaulin hat, and a black cravat tied in sailor fashion
carelessly and loosely about my neck. My knowledge of ships and sailor's talk came
much to my assistance, for I knew a ship from stem to stern, and from keelson to
cross-trees, and could talk sailor like an "old salt." I was well on the way to Havre de
Grace before the conductor came into the negro car to collect tickets and examine the
papers of his black passengers. This was a critical moment in the drama. My whole
future depended upon the decision of this conductor. Agitated though I was while this
ceremony was proceeding, still, externally, at least, I was apparently calm and selfpossessed. He went on with his dutyexamining several colored passengers before
reaching me. He was somewhat harsh in tome and peremptory in manner until he
reached me, when, strange enough, and to my surprise and relief, his whole manner
changed. Seeing that I did not readily produce my free papers, as the other colored
persons in the car had done, he said to me, in friendly contrast with his bearing
toward the others:
"I suppose you have your free papers?"
To which I answered:
"No sir; I never carry my free papers to sea with me."
"But you have something to show that you are a freeman, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir," I answered; "I have a paper with the American Eagle on it, and that will
carry me around the world."
With this I drew from my deep sailor's pocket my seaman's protection, as before
described. The merest glance at the paper satisfied him, and he took my fare and went
on about his business. This moment of time was one of the most anxious I ever
38

experienced. Had the conductor looked closely at the paper, he could not have failed
to discover that it called for a very different-looking person from myself, and in that
case it would have been his duty to arrest me on the instant, and send me back to
Baltimore from the first station. When he left me with the assurance that I was all
right, though much relieved, I realized that I was still in great danger: I was still in
Maryland, and subject to arrest at any moment. I saw on the train several persons who
would have known me in any other clothes, and I feared they might recognize me,
even in my sailor "rig," and report me to the conductor, who would then subject me to
a closer examination, which I knew well would be fatal to me.

39

SPEAKING
How to Conduct Speaking Activities
by Steven Gomez
email: gomezs1982@gmail.com

Here in Kyrgyzstan or at least in

Bishkek, it seems that most students and
teachers want to focus more on speaking
than anything else so below I have listed
some strategies and ideas for talking
activities. Remember that the point of
practicing speaking doesn't mean that
the teacher should speak most of the
time; students need a chance to express
their ideas. Moreover, the purpose is
fluency and not accuracy so mistakes for
the most part are ignored. If you insist
on correcting students, you can shadow
what students say using the correct form
in an indirect manner. For example, I go
to China last year. Oh you went to China
last year? In this way, they will realize
their mistake and not feel embarrassed.
It's extremely important to keep a lighthearted environment so that students
don't feel stressed. Most of my
experience here in Kyrgyzstan using
these speaking activities come from my
talking club at the American Corner, in
which there were learners of English
with mixed English skills. These
strategies might not be suitable for your
class but you can adjust the strategy.

.
,

, ,

. , I go to China last year.
Oh you went to China last year?
,
.

.


.

,
.

1. Before starting, greet everyone and 1. ,

share
,
;
, .

40

2. Next, announce the topics that

students will discuss. On index cards,
write the topics and explain each one,
one by one. However, don't simply read
them. Identify key words that students
might not be familiar with, then ask
them to give you examples of how to
use these words. Only after they have an
understanding of the most difficult
words should you read the topic. To
check for comprehension, ask students
to tell you what their task is. Sometimes
you can give a personal example of how
you would answer the question, as a
model of how they could answer.

2. ,
.

,
.



.


.

.

.

3. After everyone has a basic

understanding, split the students into
groups. Try not to have more than six
people in each group. Hand one card to
each and have them discuss the topic
amongst themselves for about 5-8
minutes. After this time, the cards rotate
to a new group until every group has
discussed each card. Of course, all
students want to have personal
interaction with the teacher but with a
group of 50+ it's impossible so as the
teacher you can spend time with each
group and in this way you can give all of
them more personal time. Remember to
allow quieter students to talk and watch
out for students who don't allow others
to speak.

3. ,
.

.

5-8
.

,
,

. ,

, 50

,
,
.



.

4. Once you have discussed all topics,

have students move their chairs or
positions so they can all see you. At this
time, you can go through each topics
and discuss the topics as one big group.

4.

, ,
.

.
41

At this point, students should have

something to say. Encourage students to
take notes while they are in their groups
so that they can contribute to the group
conversation.

5. Compliment students and have them 5. ,

give themselves a hand of applause.
- /
Topics
What inspires you? Who inspired you?
Who or what motivates you when you
feel down?

What do you think will be the most

important languages in the next twenty ?
years? Why?
?
What would society be like if
forgiveness didn't exist? Forgiveness is
considered a positive aspect but what are
the negative aspects of forgiveness?
What happens if we just easily forgive?

,
?
,
?
?

Do you think aliens exist?

What would you do if there was a

zombie apocalypse?
?

If you had a five minute shopping spree

in any store in Kyrgyzstan, where would
it be and what would you get?
,

?
What is one thing in your home that you
couldn't live without?
.
What stereotypes exist about different
parts of your country and what
stereotypes exist about the US?
() ?
42

Would you rather find true love or a

million dollars? Why?
:
? ?
Would you rather be homeless or in -
prison? What are the pros and cons?
?
.

Imagine you had a time machine. Would

you prefer to go back in time to meet
your ancestors or to go to the future and
meet your great grand children?

.
-

-
?

Show and tell. Show everyone an , .

interesting photo and talk about it.
,
.
Do
you
prefer
to
marry
a , /
handsome/beautiful man/woman who is ,
poor or an ugly man/woman who is ?
rich?
What are your pet peeves? What makes -
you really angry?
?
Is it OK for people to divorce? What are
the limits? When is it Ok for people to
divorce? Do you think people divorce
easily?

?
?
?

?

Name some healthy foods and name -

some unhealthy foods. Which do you eat
.

most?
?
Besides going to school, what ,
responsibilities should boys have at
school and at home and what ?
responsibilities should girls have?
What's the best way to stop people from
43

cheating on exams? What should be the ?

punishment?
?
Should men and woman make the same
amount of money for doing the same
job?
?
The day before a friend's wedding you
find out the groom has been cheating on
the bride. What do you do?
.
?
You are an eyewitness to a crime: a man
had robbed a bank, but instead of
keeping the money for himself, he
donated it to a poor orphanage that can
now afford to feed, clothe, and care for
its children.
You know who committed the crime.
But if you go to the police with the
information, there is a good chance the
money will be returned to the bank,
leaving a lot of kids in need. What do
you do?

:
,

-,
-
.
.
,

.
?

Is it OK to lie? In what situation is it ?

OK?
?
You are a doctor at a top hospital. You
have six gravely ill patients, five of
whom are in urgent need an organ
transplants. You can't help them though,
because there are no available organs
that can be used to save their lives. The
sixth patient, however, will die without a
particular medicine. If he/she dies, you
will be able to save the outer five
patients by using the organs of patience
6, who is the organ donor. What do you
do?

.

,

.


. ,

,
. ?

44

If you could write anything on a

billboard and put it anywhere, what
would you write and where would you
put it?

,
,
,

When you think of success, whom do ,

you think of?
?
If you had a scholarship to study for a
PhD, what would you study?
,
?
If you could save any endangered
species from extinction, which would

you choose?
,
?
If you had an extra $100 to spend on
yourself every week, what would you 100 , ?
do?
If you were searching through an online
dating website, what's the #1 ,
quality/trait that would attract you to ?
someone's profile?
What do you think has been the most 100
important invention in the last 100

years?
?

Focus on the five senses. What is the

most beautiful thing to see? What is the
most wonderful smell? What is the best
taste? What is the greatest sound? Which
of your senses is the most sensitive?

5
.
. .
. .
?

45

You are in the hot air balloon, which is

losing height rapidly and you will soon
crash because it is overweight. You are
traveling with a group of children who
will grow up to be famous. You will
have to decide which 5 to keep and the
rest will be thrown over. If you don't do
this, everyone will die.
Students can answer using this structure:
If ______ hadn't ______ we wouldn't
have ______.
The passengers are: Mother Teresa,
Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela,
Charles Darwin, William Shakespeare,
Lionel Messi, Thomas Edison, Albert
Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham
Lincoln, Beethoven, Vincent Van Gogh,
JK Rowling, Steve Jobs, Vladimir Putin,
Michael Jordan.

.

.
5 ,
.
, .

: If ______ hadn't
______ we wouldn't have ______.
: Mother Teresa, Mahatma
Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Charles
Darwin, William Shakespeare, Lionel
Messi, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein,
Leonardo Da Vinci, Abraham Lincoln,
Beethoven, Vincent Van Gogh, JK
Rowling, Steve Jobs, Vladimir Putin,
Michael Jordan.

Should boys and girls play with the

same toys? Why or why not? What kind ?

of toys should they play with?
?
?
Pass out these idioms and see if the
group can figure out the meaning. Have
students share an idiom.
Hit the nail on the head. Between a rock
and hard place. Let sleeping dogs lie.
Take it with a grain of salt. Piece of
cake. On the ball. Best of both worlds.
Back to the drawing board. See eye to
eye. Jump on the bandwagon.

,
.
Hit the nail on the head. Between a rock
and hard place. Let sleeping dogs lie.
Take it with a grain of salt. Piece of
cake. On the ball. Best of both worlds.
Back to the drawing board. See eye to
eye. Jump on the bandwagon.

Does television make people stupid? ?

Why or why not?
?
Is making money for doing a job that ,
you don't like is more important than not
making a lot of money but doing , ?
something that you like?

46

Giving money to beggars is stupid. Why

or why not?
. ?
?
You are stranded on a deserted island
and you can only choose four of the
following items:
sunscreen, toilet paper, a pot, iPOD,
hiking boots, handsaw, flare gun,
inflatable
raft,
flashlight,
insect
repellent, hammock, compass, mirror,
vitamins, water purifier, fishing rod,
rope, hunting rifle, marijuana, first aid
kit, tent, knife, matches, volleyball.

: ,
, , iPOD,
, ,
, ,
, -
, , , ,
, , ,
, ,
, ,
, , .

What's one of your guilty pleasures?

,
.

Which celebrity would you like to meet?

What would you do if you could spend a ?

day with this person?

?
How long should couples know each
other before getting married?
-
?
If you only had 24 hours to live, what 24 ,
would you do?
?
If you could only have one food for the
rest of your life, what would it be?
-
,
?
If you could live perfectly well without
sleeping, what would you do with your , ?
nights?
If you had the opportunity to be born
47

again, in which country would you like ,

to be born in?
?

Suppose you could go back in time and 10

talk to yourself at the age of 10, what
advice would you give yourself?
,
?
What is the strangest food that you have .
eaten?
If you could be any animal, what animal
would you be and why?
c?
If you could be any age again for one
week, what age would you be and why? ,
?
What is your favorite movie and why?

If you were stuck in a deserted island

with four people, what kind of people
would they be? In other words, you need
people with skills. What occupation
would they have?

4
,
? ,
.
?

Is it OK for women to pay for meals - -

when going out on a date?
?
What do you think about refugees? ?
Would you allow them to come to your
country?
?
Should animals be used for research?

Why or why not?

? ?
Should the alcohol drinking age be
increased?
?
What are the benefits to single sex
schooling? In other words, is it a good . ,
idea to have an all girl school or an all
48

boy school?
Is it OK to spank children? Why or why
not? Were you spanked? Did it help?
If a couple decided to have a child,
should the mother stay home to raise the
child instead of working? What if the
roles were reversed? Would you agree?

What kind
acceptable?

of

plastic

surgery

?

?
?

? ?
,
,

,
?

is
?

Is it OK to marry people from a different

culture or race? What are the pros and
cons?
What makes someone beautiful?

? .
?

Is stealing always wrong?

Poor people should not be able to make ?

babies? Why?
?
Who is the most important person in the - .
family?
What age is too young to get married?

-
?

Who should be allowed to adopt

children?
?
If you could give the leader of your
country some advice, what would you ,
tell them?
?
How does having children change your
life? What do you lose and what do you ?
gain?
?

49

What goals do you have for the summer

(next two months)? If you don't have ( 2 )? ,
any, think of some now.
.
If you could change any law, what
would it be?
,
?
What is any purchase of 100$ or less 100
that has positively changed your life?

?
What are some differences between

children these days and children in your

generation?
?
What are the dangers of cloning? Would

you clone yourself?

?
?

What are some benefits of getting older? ?

What would happen if we erased all
country borders and let people live
wherever they wanted? Would it be a
good thing or a bad thing? What would
you do?
What do you
marriages?

think

of

,
, ?

?

arranged
?

If you had to lose one sense, what would

it be?
,
?
What are some superstitions that exist in
your culture?
?
The pregnant womanA pregnant woman leading a group out
of a cave on a coast is stuck in the
mouth of the cave. Shortly, high tide will
be upon them, and unless she is unstuck,
they will all be drowned except the

.
.
,
50

woman whose head is out of the cave.

Fortunately, (or fortunately) someone
has with him a stick of dynamite. There
seems no way to get the pregnant
woman loose without using the
dynamite which will inevitably kill her;
but if they do not use it, everyone will
drown. What should they do?

(),

.

.
?

If you had to choose, which of the

following items would you least be able
to live without for a year?
The internet, transportation, your
cellphone, your partner, your favorite
food, your family.

: , ,
, ,
, -.

Why is that in society, we consider some

food disgusting, yet in other cultures it's
not disgusting? Why will we eat chicken
but not pigeon or cat? Why do we value
the lives of some animals more than
others?

,
?

?

Would you rather be a popular idiot or a

lonely genius?

?
My mother lives with my husband and
me. Recently, I found out that she walks
around at night because she hears noises
or is restless and outs her ear to our
bedroom too! I was shocked. I think this
is a complete invasion of my privacy
and I was embarrassed to no end. Now I
neglect my husband and he doesn't know
why. I have to be sensitive about what I
say to mom because she underwent
surgery recently and she has a lot of
medical issues. How should I handle
this?

.
, -
,
,

. .



.

.
,

-
51

 .
?
Real men should never cry. Do you .
agree?
?
We should restrict smoking in some
public places. Agree? Why or why not?

.
?
Every child should have a smart phone.
Agree or disagree? Why or why not?
. ?

52

GRAMMAR
Mansion Apartment Shack Housepracticing Future Tense by Steven
Gomez
email: gomezs1982@gmail.com

, ,

Objective

Students will practice the simple future

tense by writing and speaking using will be going to
both will be and going to.

.
Types of students
Beginning level

Introduction
Explain that they will be doing some
activities including an activity that will
predict their future.

,
.

Warm Up
Elicit from students what a fortuneteller
says: you will get rich, you will get
married soon, you are going to have
many children. Make sure to use both
forms of simple future. Ask students
questions about their future. For
example: What will you do next
weekend? What will you do tomorrow?
Once students have a general idea of
how to form the future tense, proceed to
the main activity.

: , you will get
rich, you will get married soon, you are
going to have many children.

.

.
, What will you do next
weekend? What will you do tomorrow?

,
.

Main Activity
MASH- This is an acronym for Mansion
Apartment Shack House- It's a game to
predict the future. More specifically, it
will predict what kind of home you will
live in, the vehicle you will drive, who
you will marry, the job you will have

MASH Mansion Apartment Shack
House .
.
,
,
, ,
53

and in what city you will love.

On a sheet of paper, students draw a
square. On the top they will write
MASH, on the left and on the right, they
will leave four spaces. On the bottom,
they will leave eight spaces because
there are two categories there. (Example
below)
The left hand side represents who the
person will marry. The right side
represents vehicles, and the bottom side
represent cities and jobs.
Each student should fill in two space on
each side. (Remember that the top is
already filled with MASH). The two
choices that they make should be
good/positive choices. Next, their
neighbor will fill in the remaining two
spaces for each side with bad/negative
choices. Take a look at the example
below.

.

. MASH
,
.
,

.
(
.)

.
,
.
2 . (
MASH
)

/
. ,

Once students have filled everything

out, a student will close their eyes, draw
a spiral in the middle, and stop when the
other student says to stop. Next, count
the spaces from the middle of the spiral
until the end and that becomes the count
number. For example, if your count
number is 4, you count clockwise and
eliminate each item until you only have
one item for each section. Once you

,
,

. ,

. ,
, ,
,
.
54

have one item for each section that is

considered your future so students will
write sentences expressing their future.

.
Reinforcement
Teach students how to ask the questions
about the future. Then, students can ask
each other about their futures.
For younger learners, they can draw
their future on the back.

. ,
.

55

Good Better Best Comparatives by

Steven Gomez
email:gomezs1982@gmail.com

Objective
The goal of this lesson is for students to
practice comparatives and superlatives
in a fun and interesting way. The main
activity will be a talent style show.

.
.

Types of students
Beginning Level to Low Intermediate

Introduction
Explain to students that they will be
learning about comparatives and
superlatives while participating in a
talent show.

Warm up
Explain the basic forms or comparatives
(-er) and superlatives (est). The basic
idea for comparatives is that if an
adjective has one or two syllables add er to the end. However, if there is more
than two syllables, typically, you must
add more. Below are two examples

(-er) (-est)

. ,
,
er .
, more
.
:

-She is smarter (than him).

-She is more beautiful (than her)
To express a superlative, that is the
greatest within a set of a group, add -est
to one or two syllable words. However,
if there are more than two syllables it's
necessary to add most. Make sure to
stress the use of the. Below are two
examples.
It is the longest book (that we have
read).
It is the most complicated formula (that
we
will
learn).
Give students a few examples of

-She is smarter (than him).

-She is more beautiful (than her)
,
, est
.
, most
. the
.
.
It is the longest book (that we have
read).
It is the most complicated formula (that
we will learn).
,
56

 .
There are many irregular uses of
comparative and superlative adjectives ,
good bad
but for now just go over good and bad.
.
adjectives and elicit sentence use.

Activity 1
Put students in groups of four and then
set a time limit of about five minutes.
On your signal, each group should write
as many comparative and superlative
statements about the people in the room
as they can. At the end of the time
period, have one group share their
sentences. If another group has the same
sentence as the first group, both groups
should cross that statement off their list.
Continue until all groups have read all of
their statements and any duplicates are
eliminated. The group with the most
statements remaining wins.

1-
4
, 5 .




.
.

,

.
,

, .

Activity 2
Give students 10 adjectives that can be
used to describe people.You may want
to include adjectives like old, young,
tall, fat, happy, funny, etc. Then
challenge them to write a sentence using
the superlative form of each adjective.
The sentences should be about a person
in their family. Once the sentences are
completed, each person should write a
list of the family members who appeared
in their sentences. Pairs of students
should then exchange lists of people but
keep their sentences to themselves. Each
person should ask questions about their
partners family and try to match each
person to their superlative adjective. For
example, a person might ask, Is Su-Jan
the oldest person in your family? The
other person should answer with a yes or

2-
10
. , old,
young, tall, fat, happy, funny, ..

.
-
.

-
.
-
,

-
.

. , Is Su-Jan the oldest
person in your family?
57

an explanation. No, Su-Jan is only four

years old. Give your groups ten to
fifteen minutes to ask each other
questions, and then see who in your
class figured out the most family
member qualities!
Main Activity
For this activity put students into three
or four groups (no less than 5 and no
more than 8 people in one group).
Hand each group the Good Better Best
Worksheet and pre teach the adjectives.
Also, explain what their task is for each
category. They may need to translate a
few sentences. Note: Although there are
more than 10 categories, you may
choose to assign less because of lack of
time or because of not enough students.
All students must participate at least
once. Allow time for them to write their
names on each category.
Once the worksheets are filled out, call
one person from each group up in front
of the class. Imagine this activity like a
talent show. For example, for tallest
person, line up the students and arrange
them from shortest to tallest. Say: you
are tall, he is taller and she is the
tallest. You will follow this pattern for
every category. After the first two
categories make students say the
comparatives and superlatives together
with you or at least have them repeat
after you. Each team will earn three
points if the member of their team gets
first place, two points for second and
one point for third. Keep score for each
team and at the end add the score and
announce the winners.

,
. No, Su-Jan is only four
years old. 10-15

.

3 4
( 5 8
)
Good Better Best

.

.
. :
10
,

.

.
.
,

.

. ,

, you
are tall, he is taller and she is the tallest
.
.
,


.
3 , 2- 2 ,
3- 1 .

,
.
58

Good Better Best

1.__________biggest hands.
2. _________ tallest person
3. _________ highest jump
4. _________ best jump rope
5. _________ best english song (can be a group- up to 4 people)
6. _________ best dance
7. _________ best soccer up-keeps (students may use their feet, heat, knees etc. to
keep the ball in the air.
8. _________ funniest face
9. _________ strangest special talent (for examples; flipping eyelids back, finger
flexibility,)
10. _________ best splits (leg flexibility)
11._________ Longest English sentence
12. _________ smallest feet
13. _________ longest hair
14. _________ longest tongue
15. _________ loudest scream
16. _________ smelliest shoes
17. _________ funniest laugh
18. _________ longest handstand
19. _________most push-ups
20. _________ (you may add your own ideas here)

59

Practicing Past Tense Verbs by Steven

Gomez
email: gomezs1982@gmail.com

Objective

The goal of this lesson is to talk about

the past using the past tense verbs.
.
Type of students
Low level students

Introduction
Get out a calendar and ask students to
show their birthdays, Christmas and
other holidays. Then point past dates to
elicit, yesterday, last week, last month,
last Monday etc. Next point to future
dates and elicit tomorrow, next week,
next month etc. Although students are
not practicing the future here, it's
important for students to understand the
contrast.

, , ..
.

,
,
, , ,
, ..
, ,
, , ..
.

,

Warm up
Take a rope or if you are outside use
chalk to draw a line on the floor. Lay the
rope on the ground and have all the
students stand on it- they should all be
facing you so you should be horizontal
to the rope.
Now demonstrate: jump one step back
and shout yesterday. Jump one step
forward onto the rope and shout today.
Jump in front of the rope and shout
tomorrow. Have students jump
forward, back, and tomorrow and at the
same time shout tomorrow, today, and

,
.
,
,

.
: ,
yesterday .
, today .
,
tomorrow

.

60

tomorrow. Have them go faster and

faster until they can't do it anymore.
Do the same thing but you the teacher
will shout randomly and students must
listen and follow your ideas. You can
trick the students by calling out the same
command twice in a row.

,
.

,
.

,
.

Activity 1
Pre teach the following verbs by writing
the present tense verb on the board and
having students turn it into the past tense
verb. Remember to use the words in a
sentence: be, have, go, take, get, do,
leave, start, see, buy, live, finish, listen
to, watch, meet, learn, choose, feel,
keep, wear, think, clean, know, like.
Make sure students can pronounce both
present and past tense sentences and tell
about regular ed verbs and irregular
verbs.

1-


.

: be, have, go, take, get, do,
leave, start, see, buy, live, finish, listen
to, watch, meet, learn, choose, feel,
keep, wear, think, clean, know, like.


ed
.

Activity 2
Spread the flash cards out on the floor;
the verb cards on one side and
expression cards on the other. Without
looking one student will pick two cardsone time expression and one verb and
make a sentence in the past tense form.
Every student gets a turn until there are
no more cards.

2-
-
,

, .
,
,
,

Main Activity
In the Past Card Game
Print one copy of the worksheet for
every four students and cut out the cards
and shuffle them.
Split the class in groups of four and give
each group a set of time expression

,
. 4
,
61

cards and verb cards. Students must

practice sentences by making true
sentences about themselves. The time
expression cards should face down on
the desk so no one can see them and the
verb cards should be dealt out equally
between students in the group (each
student should have six cards.)
Students take turns in taking one time
expression card and using it with a verb.
If they say the past tense sentence
correctly, and it is a believable sentence,
then the student can discard those cards.
However, if they make a mistake
(incorrect grammar) or if the sentence is
not believable, then they keep their card
and the next person takes a turn. Remind
students that they can challenge
sentences. The aim of the game is get rid
of all your cards- first one is the winner.

.

. ,

. 6
.

,
.

,

,

,

.

.

,
.
,
.
Give students a text that has all present
tense verbs and have them re-write them ,

in to past tense verbs.

,

.
Reinforcement
Have students play a few times and/or
make new cards with more complex
verbs.
Have students write about what they did
yesterday using the past tense verbs
from the list. If this is too challenging,
students can do it in groups.

62

63

MUSIC IN THE CLASSROOM

Music in the Classroom by Steven
Gomez and Oksana Maltseva
email:gomezs1982@gmail.com

Objective
The goal of this lesson is to use music in
a variety of ways to stimulate students'
interests in listening and speaking.
Specifically, students will practice their
listening skills from the song, The Way
You Are- by Bruno Mars. In addition,
students will focus on the grammatical
structure of present simple verbs and
possessive pronouns. Lastly, there are a
number of activities used to reinforce
learning beyond this activity.

,

.
,
Just the way you are
.

present
simple

. ,


.

Types of students

All level of students but it depends on

the song and difficulty

Introduction
Explain that students will focus on

listening to pop music.
.
Warm up
Ask students what kind of music they
like. What genre? What artists? Why do
they like these songs?
Next, play a few songs that they might
know and have them guess who the
artist is. The important component with
the introduction is to find music that
your students will like.

? ?
?
,

,
.

64

Activity One -Describe this person

Since the focus of this song is on Bruno
Mars, create a kind of hat or headband
with his face and/or name. Do not show
it to the students. Ask a volunteer to
wear the hat. At this point, the students
have to give clues and say things like he
plays the guitar, he sings, he dances. The
person wearing the hat can also ask
questions like: Is he American? Is he
young? And so on. Eventually with
enough questions back and forth, the
volunteer will figure out who the artist
is.
Next, ask the students what grammatical
structure they were using to give clues.
The answer should be present simple
verbs. Explain the usage of this structure
by eliciting examples from the students.

1-

,

.

.
, .

: he plays the guitar, he sings,

ha dances.

: Is he American? Is he
young? ..
-

. ,

. present
simple
verbs

.
,
.

Activity Two
-Students will listen for verbs in the
present simple tense and write them
down.

2-
, present
simple tense ,
.

Main Activity Pass out worksheet-one

listening for each task

.
Students will complete task one by ,
listening to the song and filling in the .
blank.
For the second task, students will listen
and fill in the pronouns.
,
.
For task three, students will listen and ,
put the lyrics in the correct order.
.

65

Reinforcement

-Have students sing the song together.

(Give students the lyrics to the song.)

. (
).
-Have students write 10 verbs on the - 10
board and have them write sentences ,
with those words.
.
-Have students personalize the song so -
that it's about them. For example, her
will be changed to my and he will . , her
be changed to I. Call on students to do my , he I .
this and go from beginning to end.

.
-Have students clap hands when they - present simple
hear the present simple.
, .
-Other ideas on how you can use music -
in the classroom:
:
-background music- play soft music in -
the background during
.
-Music can be a stimulus for speaking- -
play a piece of music and have students
talk about it. For example, you can play ,
the song Money- by Pink Floyd and . , Pink Floyd
use that to start a conversation.
Money ,
.
-Music can inspire visualization- have
students listen to music with their eyes
closed and have them write what they
see. Where are they? What are they
doing? Who is there? What do you see?

-


. ?
?
? ?

66

Bruno Mars
Just the way you are
Look at the pictures and fill in the gaps:

26.

Oh, her _____, her _____

Make the ______ look like theyre not shining

Her ______, her ______

Falls perfectly without her trying
Shes so beautiful and I tell her every day

27. Fill in: I, me, she, her, it

Yeah, ____ know, ____ know
When ____ compliment ____
____ wont believe ____
And ____s so, ____s so
Sad to think ____ dont see what ____ see
But every time ____ asks ____
Do ____ look okay?
____ say
28.

ut the
events
in correct order:
___ Just the way you are
___ And when you smile,
___ Cause you're amazing
___ There's not a thing that I would change
___ When I see your face
___ Just the way you are
___ The whole world stops and stares for awhile
___ Cause girl you're amazing

67

MUSIC VIDEOS IN THE CLASSROOM

Using Music Videos to Teach English
by Steven Gomez
email: gomezs1982@gmail.com

Objective
The goal of this lesson is improve
students' listening, speaking, reading and
writing skills. Specifically, students will
identify the use of various vowel sounds
and also be able to produce these sounds
according to proper intonation and at the
same time practice spelling.

, ,
.
,
,

.

Types of Students
Upper Beginner to Advanced- song
should be chosen according to students'
level.

Introduction
Explain to students that today they will
listen to hip hop music and write rap
lyrics. They will practice listening,
reading, writing and finally rapping.

-
,
. , ,

.

Warm Up
Play a few different hip-hop songs and
get students to identify the rapper. While
you play the music, make the students
stand up and dance and move to the beat
as if they were in a concert. Get them
excited about this activity!!!

-
,

. ,

,
.
.

Attention!
Below are a number of activities but you
don't need to do them all. Choose the
ones that you feel more comfortable
with. These activities are designed for a
song that I made called Kyrga-what?

.
.
Kyrga-what?
68

However, you may do this activity with

almost any song as long is it is suitable
to the students' level. Also, keep in mind
that these activities can be done with any
part of the song. Here is the link to the
song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH
O4Hnw2oaI
You can also type in Kyrga-what? into
youtube.

.
, ,

.

. Kyrga-what

,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHO
4Hnw2oaI youtube
Kyrga-what? .

Activity 1
Watch and Describe ( Only verse one
and chorus)
Put students into pairs and have them
face each other sitting down. One
student has their back to the screen
while another one is looking at the
screen.
Play the video with no sound. The
student who can see the screen should
describe what is happening in the video.

1-
, (
)
,
,
, - .

.


.

Activity 2
Freeze the Image and Describe (Verse
one and Chorus)
Students switch places. Similar to the
previous activity but this time, the
teacher will freeze the image. The
students who can see the image must
describe it to their partner but they
should not directly say what it is. The
students listening (who cannot see) must
guess what the image is based on the
students' descriptions. Freeze the video
periodically and allow students to work
with various images. Since the student
who has their back to the screen has
already seen the image, they will have a
general idea of what it is. This will boost
their confidence.

2-
, (
)
.
,
.


,
.

.
,
.

,
.

69

Activity 3
Prediction Speaking
Again, with no sound, play portions of
the video and in pairs have students
write what they think the video is about.
By this time, they should have an idea of
what the video is about because they
have already seen the images. Have
them share some of their ideas with the
class.

.
3-

,

.
,
.
-

Activity 4
Students will come to the board and
write down words that they think they
might hear in the song.
Have students watch the video but this
time with sound.
They should identify words that they
had previously predicted and the same
time write down words that they
recognized. After watching the video, go
over the words written on the board to
see which ones were in fact in the song.
Ask them to share new words that they
heard.

4-

.

.
,
.
,
,

. ,

.

Activity 5
(Task one from the worksheet)
Listen to the first verse again and have
them put the sentences in the proper
order by numbering which is first and
second, etc. If they are lower level
students, allow them to work in groups
and play the song multiple times.

5-
( 1-)
,

, ,
.

Activity 6
(Task two from the worksheet)
Students will pair the words that rhyme.
If any students finish early, have them
write new words that rhyme with the
example words. After everyone finishes
play an instrumental beat and have

6-
( 2-)

.

. ,
70

students count to the beat.. 1,2,3,4. Then

have them count, 1,2,3 rhyme...
1,2,3,rhyme together going through the
list of rhyming words. This will give
students an idea of the rhythm and
students get to practice pronunciation.

, 1,2,3,4
.
1,2,3 ,
.


.

Activity 7
(task three from the worksheet)
Students will first list words that rhyme
with the words in bold. Once they have
completed that, elicit words from them
and write them on the board. Next, they
will use those words and create
sentences. After they have finished, they
can demonstrate their rap skills. They
may write their raps on the board and
have everyone rap together.

7-
( 3-)
,

. ,
,
. ,
,
. ,
.
,
.

Activity 8
(task four from the worksheet)
Students will complete the cloze
exercise for verse two.
Give students the worksheet that doesn't
have lyrics and have them translate from
Kyrgyz to English

8-
( 4-)

.

,
.

Activity 9
Give students the words to the song and
have them listen to the second verse.
Have them underline words that rhyme.

9-

Activity 10
(optional for advanced groups) Now that
they have an idea of most of the words
have them write the lyrics as they listen.

10-
(

,
,
.

71

Reinforcement
Again, use one or two of the activities to
reinforce the lesson. Remember that you
don't have to teach the whole song. You
may choose to teach the whole song in a
series of lessons.

.

.
.

72

Using Music Videos in the classroom: Kyrga-what? Worksheet

Task 1 (put the phrases in the proper order by labeling them)
Different from my home and it's very far
It's in Central Asia next to kitai
what she say? I'm not sure.
I made this beat
look at the map
Yeah it's kind of bizarre and a little bit crazy
Task 2 (pair the words that rhyme below)
Love, Fox, liar, miss, head cry, hit, toast socks, son, fire, list, rug, rip, ghost, fly,
bread, one,
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Task 3 (look at the words that are in bold and write as many words that you can
that rhyme with that word). Then use the line below to write a sentence always
keeping in mind that the last word should be a rhyming word from the list
My name is ____ and I came to say ________

________

________

________

____________________________________________________________________
English, and Kyrgyz is what I speak ________

________

________

________

____________________________________________________________________
________is my favorite thing to eat _________ _________ ________

_______

_________________ is what I like _________ ________ ________ ________

____________________________________________________________________
73

In the summer I go to Issyk-kul lake _________ _________ ________ _______

____________________________________________________________________
And in winter, I play with snow

_________ _________ _________ _______

____________________________________________________________________
This my rap and now I am done

_________ _________ _________ ________

Task 4 Students will listen to verse two and fill in the blank.
1.Welcome to Bishkek, the _______ city
2.Where You'll see _____ cars and girls that are pretty.
3.Some people are generous and some have no ____
4.But at the end of the day the struggle is gritty
5.You _____ see me buying borsok at narodni
6.But you won't see me getting drunk at coyote
7.You might see me ______ at FaiZa, or arzu
8.Is the food delicious _____? yes this is true
9Five finger Bishparmak, eat with your hands
10.you haven't lived til you had plov from a Kazan
11.I mean Kazan food made from you ___
12.Handmade in the _______ manti and Lagman
13.If you want to be strong and get the force
14.Drink Cummis, it's milk made from a _____
15.Horse milk? Yup yup that's what's up!
16.Take my cup fill it up fill it up!
17.Put Em up in the ___ lets make a toast
18.To the national hero we _______ the most
19. from Osh to issukul all the way to tallas
20.All in KG Pay ______ to Manas

74

Kyrgy-what?
Gettik gettik yeah
I made this beat
To teach you about KG
so take a seat
Gettik gettik we are getting deep
listen up cause I'm about to speak
I live in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgy what?
Kyrgyz Stan , Kyrgy what?
Man why don't you understand,
I'm gonna say it one more time, Kyrgyzstan
Ok so tell me where is it at?
look at the map
Can you guess? Give it a try
It's in Central Asia next to kitai
There's a famous road called jibek jolu
And it's not near Pakistan, don't get confused
Different from my home and it's very far
But I always have fun at the bazar.
Yeah it's kind of bizarre and a little bit crazy
But the stuff you buy there is simply amazing Isik nan what she say? I'm not sure.
When I don't understand I just say jackshy


Welcome to Bishkek, the capital city
Where You'll see fancy cars and girls that are pretty.
Some people are generous and some have no pity
But at the end of the day the struggle is gritty
You might see me buying borsok at narodni
But you won't see me getting drunk at coyote
You Might see me eating at FaiZa, or arzu
Is the food there delicious? yes this is true
Five finger Bishparmak, eat with your hands
you haven't lived til you had plov from a Kazan
I mean Kazan food made from you mom
Handmade in the kitchen manti and Lagman
If you want to be strong and get the force
Drink Cummis, it's milk made from a horse
Horse milk? Yup yup that's what's up!
Take my cup fill it up fill it up!
Put Em up in the air lets make a toast
To the national hero we respect the most
from Osh to issukul all the way to tallas
All in KG Pay homage to Manas

-?
, ,

KG

, ,
,
, -?
. -?
, ?
,
, ?
, .
?


,





!
?



,

,



,
-





,
? ,



, -

75

-?
, ,

KG

, ,
,
, -?
. -?
, ?
,
, ?
, .
?


,





!
?



,

,



,
-





,
? ,



, -

76

Classroom Games, Activities and Warm-ups

Classroom Games, Activities and
Warm-ups

Here is a list of proven activities and

warm-up activities that I have used in
various classrooms. Again, as I have said
before, adapt them to your classrooms
and use them anyway you can. I hope you
will not only use these ideas but I hope
these activities spark new ideas for new
activities.

. ,

,
.
,
.

Unscramble the Sentences

,

, -
. , morning
hadn't eaten wish that donar kebab I at
this 5 am.
Hwy didnt' I dusty ta vieyunrsit?

You may use this at the beginning of

class and even encourage students to
create their own scrambled sentences in
groups then give them to other groups in
the class.
morning hadn't eaten wish that donar
kebab I at this 5 am.
Hwy didnt' I dusty ta vieyunrsit?
Travel Brochures (group project)
Put students in groups of 2-4 and hand
them an A4 paper. They will fold that
paper into three even pieces in such a
way that it looks like a brochure.

(
)
2-4
, 4
. 3
.

:
Short history section

three must see sites
3 cc
Best time of the year to travel-including ,
weather

a recommended daily budget

include at least one photo/drawing
/ /
Could have the following topics:

Guidelines
Must have the following topics:

77

Festivals and/or holidays

places to stay
Places to eat

Group Tasks
Look at the lists of Must haves and
Could haves. Decide which you will
do.
Decide who will do what page and how
and who will present the information to
the class. You could have everyone
present or just one person.

,
.
,
.


.

Common Phrases- language section

Brief history must be in passive voice (At

passive
voice
least 50 words)
(
What is active and what is passive voice? 50 )
Active passive voice ?
Similar Projects
Where do you live?
Where have you been?
Where would you like to go?
Project can be more complex and require
research,
particular
grammatical
structure, and word length.

?
?
?

,

One-hour task or even a task that students

do over a period of days.
More than just travel- sport activities,
advertisements for businesses or even a
menu for a restaurant
Students can do something based on a
topic they like.

,
.

.

78

Class Magazines
Students may include: biographies,
interviews, crossword puzzles, word
search puzzles, articles with a question
section, coloring section related to the
theme.
Once students finish this, they can swap
with another class.

:
, , ,
,

,
. ,

.

Surveys
Students can go out and do actual
research to find real answers. Below are
example topics.
Food, restaurants, movies, family,
fashion, careers, dreams, etc.
-Create 10 questions relevant to the goal
of their survey.
-Students go out and ask people their
opinions.
-Collect information
-Present information as a graph,
paragraphs, or even poster
-class discussion

,
.
: -,
, , -, ,
, , ..
- 10
.
- ,
.
- .
- ,
.
- .

Guess who it is
Have a student hold a paper to his head
with the name of a famous or well-know
person. This student cannot see it. Now
you can have students give clues and the
student with the paper has to guess or he
can ask questions and student have to
answer. Questions can be open-ended or
yes-or-no questions.

,


.
/
.

79

Word Guessing
Give students clues/words and students
must guess the topic/word. Below are
some examples.
You can either dictate the words or write
them on the board and have students
guess.
Apples, tomatoes, stop sign, roses, blood,
strawberries,- things that are red.
Whales, dolphins, fish, shrimp, seal,
stingray, crab, jelly fish,- animals in the
sea.
Division,
multiplication,
numbers,
equation, x, subtraction, order of
operations, exponents-math.
Stars, sun, moon, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto,
Venus, Nepture- Solar System/Space.
Istanbul, Izmar, Ankara, Antalya,
Trabzon, Konya, Gazaiantep, Urfa, Van,Turkey

/
, / .
,
,
. Apples, tomatoes, stop
sign, roses, blood, strawberries, .
Whales, dolphins, fish, shrimp, seal,
stingray, crab, jelly fish, -
.
Division,
multiplication,
numbers,
equation, x, subtraction, order of
operations, exponents- .
Stars, sun, moon, Jupiter, Mars, Pluto,
Venus, Nepture- /
Istanbul, Izmar, Ankara, Antalya,
Trabzon, Konya, Gazaiantep, Urfa, Van,

Word-Relay
Put students into two even groups. Have
them line up single-file facing the board.
For this relay race, the first student writes
a word on the board and the next student
must write a word that begins with the
last letter of the previous word. Students
will go until everyone has participated or
there is no more room on the board.
Whoever finished first, wins. However,
you must make sure that words are
spelled correctly; otherwise they don't
count. For more advanced groups, instead
of simple words, they can write
sentences. The same rules apply but
sentences must be grammatically correct.

2 ,

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80

Land Mines (Blind-Folded)

Students will be able to give directions.
Split the class into two groups.
One person from one group will be blindfolded while the other members from the
same group will give commnds to the
blind-folded person.
Pre-teach the following words: go
forward; go backward; stop; rotate left;
rotate right; baby steps forward, back,
left, right, etc.
Place chairs randomly throughout the
classroom as these chairs represent
landmines.
Choose one starting point and one ending
point. The goal is to guide one person to
the ending point. If a person touches a
chair/landmine, they are eliminated.
First one group will go then another
group will go until everyone has a chance
to be blind-folded.
The team with the most points wins.
To make things more difficult, you can
allow members of the opposite team to
yell out the wrong direction. Also you
may move the landmines during the game
if you feel that it is too easy.

( )

. .
,

.

: go forward; go backward;
stop; rotate left; rotate right; baby steps
forward, back, left, right, ..

.

. ,

.
/
, .
, -,
, .
.
,

.
.

All About You

Practicing do, don't, does and doesn't Do, don't, does doesn't
auxiliary verbs

Do you like structure will be practiced
where one student will ask another Do
you like? while the student answering
the question will either say: Yes. I like
or no I don't like.
Students fold a page into four parts. Give
them a few minutes to draw four pictures
that represent their personality (e.g. a
piano, Nutella, football and their friends).
Collect the drawings and redistribute

Do you like Yes. I like or no I

don't like
- -
.
.

(, , Nutella,
,
).

,
81

them randomly. Students must ask . questions to each other and guess whose

personality card they have.

.
Bang Bang (demonstrative pronouns)
Students will learn how to use
demonstrative pronouns.
Get everyone in a circle. The teacher will
stand in the middle and students must
copy the actions and repeat words. The
teacher will say such commands as: This
is my gun! These are my guns all
while shaping their hands to look like
guns and pointing them in the air.

- ( )

.
,

-

: This
is my gun! These are my guns,

.

For example: Teacher: This is my gun!

, : This is my gun!
Students: This is my gun!
: This is my gun!
Teacher: These are my guns!
:These are my guns!
Students:These are my guns!
: These are my guns!
After a few commands, the teacher will
say Bang! and shoot someone. That
person must duck down and the two other
students on the left and right must then
shoot each other. In other words, students
must be quick to shoot the other students
by pointing their hand and saying
bang! The faster student wins and the
slower student gets eliminated until there
is only one winner.

,
, Bang! .
,
- Bang! .
, ,
.

.

Freeze Drama Game

Students will practice the form He/She is
He/She
is
going
going to...
to... .
Split the class into two teams.
Give a dramatic scenario to two students
to act out.
For example: two students play husband
and wife. The husband comes home and

2 ,
2
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, 2
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82

the wife is angry. Then, they begin to

argue.
The teacher says Freeze in the middle
of the argument.
The actors stop then the teachers asks the
students: What is going to happen?
Each team will answer using the correct
structure and earn a point. The team with
the most points will win.
Allow students to create as many
sentences as they can. The goal is for
them to come up with creative scenarios
as to what will happen in the future.
Teacher can have actors continue the
same scene and escalate the drama until
it's not fun anymore.
Then the scenes can change. For
example, two football players,
storekeeper and a thief, the police chasing
a thief etc.
Scavenger Hunt
Put students into groups and give them
various tasks that they have to do in order
to win. You may do it in such a way that
they must take photos or collect a
signature from a witness. Below is a list
but you may expand on this and
personalize it.
Spell the word English with your
bodies. Find something purple. Propose
to someone. Create a still war scene. Find
someone who was born in March. Create
a fishing scene. Find someone who has a
big and small brother. Create a human
period. Sing an English song to the
teacher.

. .

Freeze .

: What is going to
happen? .

, .
.

.


.
,

.
.
, ,
,

, ..

,

.

.
English
.
.
.

.
.
.
.
.
83

Board Games
For game pieces, you can use coins,
buttons or even paper clips (game board
provided below). For this activity, you
can make categories in which students
have to speak but you may also have your
students create their own categories. Here
are some examples below of categories
and a sample game board.

,

(
).



.

84

85

86

Dice Rolling Verb Game

For this game, put students into teams
then on the board or on a worksheet,
draw two 12 squares in two separate
columns. On each square write the
numbers 1-6 so that means that you will
have two pairs of each number. Assign
pronouns like I, he, you, etc, to the first
column and verbs to the second column.
Example below.
1- I
1- eat
2- you
2- drink
3- He
3- wash
4- She
4-buy
5- They
5- go
6- We
6- take

,
12 .
1-6 ,

.


. ,
1- I
1- eat
2- you
2- drink
3- He
3- wash
4- She
4-buy
5- They
5- go
6- We
6- take

So for example, if a student rolls a 1 and

a 5 they would then have to make a
sentence using the combination of those
words- I go to the lake. Each correct
answer earns the team one point.
You can assign different types of verb
tenses to the second category so that
students can practice more complex verb
patterns. Below is an example. You can
integrate various other types of
grammatical
structure
such
as
conditionals, modal verbs, the use of
possessive
pronouns
and
even
prepositions.

,
1 5 ,
2 ,
.
.


. .

,
,

,
,

.

1- past
2- present
3- future
4- future progressive
5- past perfect
6- present progressive

1- past
2- present
3- future
4- future progressive
5- past perfect
6- present progressive

1- eat
2- drink
3- wash
4-buy
5- go
6- take

1- eat
2- drink
3- wash
4-buy
5- go
6- take

87

ESL Beer Pong

Normally this game is played with beer
by many university students around the
world, but there is no drinking involved
in this game! You will need about 20 cups
and a ping-pong ball. On a long table or
two short tables put together, 10 cups
opposite of each other. However, these
cups need to be arrange like bowling
pins. In other words, you will have a row
of four, a row of three, a row of two and a
row of one, where the row of one faces
the middle of the table. Below is an
example of how it should look.

Again, inside the cups, there won't be any

beer but instead you can put pieces of
paper inside. On that paper, you can write
letters or questions. One team will be on
one side and another team will be on
another side. Students take turns
bouncing the ball into a cup. When the
ball lands in the cup, the team obtains a
letter and remove the cup. After all the
cups are gone, the teams must spell as
many words as they can. This type of
game is suitable for beginning level
students. For more advanced students,
you can put various types of questions in
the cups. When a ball lands in a cup, they

,

. 20
- .
2

.
,

.
, 4 ,
3, 2
1
.
.

.
,
. -
-
.
, ,
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,
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88

must answer the question correctly in .

order to remove the cup. The team, which ,
eliminates all cups first, is the winner.

.
.

Put your class in two teams and draw Tic

Tac Toe squares on the board. The goal of
the game is to put either three x's or three
O's in order to win. The first player/team
goes first putting in X in a square of their
choice then the second player/team goes
second. Players/teams alternate until they
have three in a row. However, there can
also be a tie; in which the game is
repeated until someone wins. See
example below.

Tic Tac Toe
,
Tic Tac Toe
.
3 3
. /

, .
/ 3
3 . ,

,
.

Normally a player/team can simply write

an X or O in the square that they choose
but for this game, they must answer a
question correctly before allowed to write
their symbol. Ask questions to individual
members of a team rather then the whole
team. In order to do this prepare a list of
questions for students to answer; they can
be questions related to a new lesson or
review questions. Remember that

/

,

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,

.

.

ESL Tic Tac Toe

89

students must answer the questions

grammatically correctly and answers
must be in complete sentences or they
don't get the chance to write in their
symbol. Below are some example
questions.

, ,
.
:

1. What kind of films do you like? I like

action film. (romantic, comedy, drama,
horror)
2. What kind of music do you like? I like
rock and roll. (classical music, rap,
traditional music, soft music)
3. What is your job?
4. How many children do you have? I
have no children. I have one child. I have
two children.
5. How is the weather today? Today it is
raining.
6. Who is your favorite actor? My
favorite actor is...
7. At what time do you eat breakfast? I
eat breakfast at..

1. ?
. (,
, , )
2. ? -

(,
,
, ).
3. ?
4.

. .
.
5. - ?
.
6. ?

7.
?
.
8.
?

(, , , )
9. ?
(,
, , )
10. ?
( )
11. ?

12. ?

13.
?
14. ?
25-.
15. ?

8. What is your favorite season? My

favorite season is.. (fall, summer, spring,
winter)
9. What is your favorite sport? My
favorite sport is... (basketball, tennis,
soccer, hockey, baseball)
10.
What did you do yesterday?
Yesterday I ..... (past tense verb)
11. What is your favorite color? My
favorite color is....
12. Who is the president of the US? The
president of the US is...
13. Which country is east of Kyrgyzstan?
14. When is Christmas? Christmas is
December 25th.
15. What time is it now? Now it is....

90

Getting to Know Each Other

Make slips of paper with questions or
statements on them and put them into a
cup or basket. Go around the class and
have each student choose one slip of
paper. Give them a minute to think about
their answer or opinion about the
statement. Students then find a partner
and tell them about what is on their paper.
After each partner has talked about what
is on their slip of paper they trade papers
and find a new partner. I have done this
activity with beginning through advanced
learners and find that it is a good ice
breaker or general warm up activity.

Grammar Basketball
Most of the time, grammar is boring but
with this activity students will have a
great time. Split your class into groups.
Place a trashcan in front of the class and
place a seat about 2-3 meters away. On
A4 paper, write one sentence or question.
You can have students identify the
grammatical pattern, have multiple
choice, fill in the blank or even find the
mistake. Have a student sit down, and if
they answer the question correctly, their
team earns one point. Then they get to
crush the paper into the trashcan for an
extra point. If they get it wrong, the paper
goes to the bottom of the paper stack.
Naturally,
the
most
difficult
sentences/question will be at the end.
When students finally get the answer
correctly after getting it wrong, they feel
very happy to be able to crush the paper
and throw it.

, ,

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,
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,
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. 4

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91

.
Go Fish ESL
This a classic card game in the US in
which players play with cards which have
numbers on them but for this game, you
can write any kind of word on the cards.
First, you will need to create cards and
you can do this by folding A4 sheets of
paper and cutting them up with scissors.
For a group of four students you would
want roughly 40 cards. Create a list of 20
words, write them on the board and
review these words with your students.
Next, have them write each word on one
card, so that means each word gets
written twice; you should have pairs of
each word.
Review the structure of different ways to
ask for something and ways to answer.
This is the dialog students will be using
for the game:

,

.
4

. 4
40 . 20
,
,
. ,

,
,
.

.

:

Do you have a ______?

Can you give me a _____?
Would you happen to have a _____?
No. I don't have _____. I am sorry Go
fish.
Yes. I do have _____.
Yes. Here you go.
Now that you have reviewed this, mix the
cards and pass out five to each student;
students should be sitting in a circle and
should never show their cards to other
students. The rest of the cards should be
in the middle facing down. The goal of
the game is for students to get rid of their
cards by making pairs. Note: when
passing out cards to students, make sure
no one has pair. One student will ask a

Do you have a ______?

Can you give me a _____?
Would you happen to have a _____?
No. I don't have _____. I am sorry Go
fish.
Yes. I do have _____.
Yes. Here you go.
,

,
-

.

.
,
.
:
,
92

random student for example, Do you

have a shark card? If the student has the
card then he/she must give it up. Then the
student will put down that pair to show
that he has it. Since he was able to
successfully get a card from a student, he
gets to ask again. They can ask anyone.
But, if the student does not have the card
they are looking for, then the student
responds with a go fish response as
seen in the dialog. Students take turns
clockwise asking each other for cards.
Again, the student who gets rid of their
cards first wins but if two students get rid
of their cards at the same time, the
student who has the most pairs wins.
Continue to play until you have 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th place.

. ,
Do you have a shark card?
. ,

. ,

.
.
, go fish
.

-
.

,
,
,
. 2-3-4
.

Snow Ball Review

At the end of class, have student write
something that they learned on an A4
paper. Then have them stand up and start
a snow fight. Throw the papers to each
other then say stop. At this point, they
pick any random paper and read what is
on it. You can also do this activity in the
form of question and answer where
before they crush the papers into balls,
two students write a question and answer
about the lesson on separate papers. After
the the snow fight students pick a random
ball and try to match the answer with the
question. Review questions and answers
together.

,
4
. ,

.
,
, .
/
: 2
,
,
. ,
.
/ .

93

SELF-STUDY RESOURCES
Teach Yourself English -Encourage

Self Study:

Use mobile apps and web resources to
empower your learning

It's great for students to have a teacher

who really cares about them but
ultimately it's the responsibility of the
student to learn; especially outside of the
classroom. Therefore, these resources
are useful for students to teach
themselves and become independent
learners.

,

,

.

.

Free Mobile Apps

Duolingo, Memrise, Quizlet, Lingua.ly,
LingQ, Learn English Grammar (UK
and US)
Johnny Grammar's Word
Challenge, MyWordBook2, Phrasalstein,
English Central, American English
Mobile App (Android only)

Duolingo, Memrise, Quizlet, Lingua.ly,
LingQ, Learn English Grammar (UK
and US)
Johnny Grammar's Word Challenge,
MyWordBook2, Phrasalstein, English
Central, American English Mobile App
(Android only)

Language Exchange Interactive

Websites
Speaky, LingoGlob, American English,
Voices of America, Busuu, Italki,
LiveMocha, My happy Planet, Hello
Talk, Share America, English Central,
News in Levels.com, Speaking Pal
English, conversation exchange.com,
Youtube- Easy English, Esl-Lab,
ListenAMinute.com, five minute.com

Speaky, LingoGlob, American English,

Voices of America, Busuu, Italki,
LiveMocha, My happy Planet, Hello
Talk, Share America, English Central,
News in Levels.com, Speaking Pal
English, conversation exchange.com,
Youtube- Easy English, Esl-Lab,
ListenAMinute.com, five minute.com

Youtube-EFM TV (English Full Movie), Youtube-EFM TV (English Full Movie),

Snagfilms.com (Free English TV Snagfilms.com (Free English TV
Shows)
Shows)
English movies with subtitles - English movies with subtitles http://filmy-na-anglijskom.net/
http://filmy-na-anglijskom.net/
Websites for films and television

94

More than 500 movies, cartoons in

English - http://baskino.club/original/
English
serials
http://namba.kg/serials/category.php?id=
21
Movies
in
English
http://namba.kg/serials/category.php?id=
21
English films online - http://englishfilms.com/
Movies
and serials in English http://ororo.tv/
Movies in English- http://goldenglish.ru/
Movies,
cartoons
in
English
http://vasabi.tv/video/movie/
Greys
anatomy
in
English
http://anatomia-strasti.com/online/

More than 500 movies, cartoons in

English - http://baskino.club/original/
English
serials
http://namba.kg/serials/category.php?id=
21
Movies
in
English
http://namba.kg/serials/category.php?id=
21
English films online - http://englishfilms.com/

Other ways to read

American English (free e-books, text
and audio) OpenCulture.com (over 700
e-books for ipad and kindle), Breaking
News English (English in news in 7
levels)
Listening
resources:
NPR.com,
American
English,
PodcastsinEnglish.com,
Listen-toEnglish.com,Youtube, Itunes

American English (free e-books, text
and audio) OpenCulture.com (over 700
e-books for ipad and kindle), Breaking
News English (English in news in 7
levels)
Listening
resources:
NPR.com,
American
English,
PodcastsinEnglish.com,
Listen-toEnglish.com,Youtube, Itunes

English Courses Online

MOOEC.com (collection of free online
English lessons provided by universities
and colleges)

MOOEC.com (collection of free online
English lessons provided by universities
and colleges)

Movies
and serials in English http://ororo.tv/
Movies in English- http://goldenglish.ru/
Movies,
cartoons
in
English
http://vasabi.tv/video/movie/
Greys
anatomy
in
English
http://anatomia-strasti.com/online/

95

The End
I hope this book has been useful to you. Feel free to reproduce
it and/or pass it around. Again, this book was not written to
make money but to share knowledge. For me, writing this was a
step in the direction of a bigger project which will manifest itself
soon. Again, I want to thank everyone who has supported me.
-Steven Gomez
English Language Fellow- Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan 2015-2016

96


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, .
, ,
.

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-
, 2015- 2016

97