1.

Inside Out (Intonation)

This exercise is a fun and effective way for students to practice English intonation. It will help students learn how
intonation can be used to express emotions, feelings and attitudes in English.
For this activity, assign each student a specific emotion or feeling (such as “excitement,” “fear,” “sadness,” “confusion”
and so on, just like in the popular kids’ movie “Inside Out”) and have them communicate using the emphasis and pitch
that reflects their feeling.

For beginner classes, you might want to create the sentences (or pull from the resources mentioned above) beforehand in
order to save class time. But for your intermediate and advanced classes, feel free to have them come up with their own
sentences that coincide with their assigned emotion.

2. Who Do You Think You’re Talkin’ To? (Stress and Pitch)

The way you speak to your boss is probably not the same way you’d speak to an annoying younger brother or sister. We
speak differently to people depending on who they are and how we feel about them.

This is incredibly important for ESL students to know when learning English, so they don’t go through life speaking
sarcastically to everyone they encounter. This activity helps them get used to adjusting their intonation depending on
their audience.

Put students in pairs and have them read sample sentences to each other. But when they read each sentence, change the
dynamic by having them pretend they’re speaking to a stranger, a close friend, a parent, someone they don’t like and so on.

Listen as you walk around the class and pause, correct or discuss with students where necessary. At the end, gather
students for a group discussion about the ways they modified their pitch and word stress depending on their audience.

3. SYNONYM SONG

4 ANTONYMS Find your partner

5. NOUN – specify the general.

6. Four MacroSkills: LISTENING

Icebreaker: the Wright Family Timeframe: about 10 minutes Background: Have the entire group
form a circle. Have each person write their name on a small piece of paper. Tell the group that
you are going to read them a story. Every time they hear the words “right” or “left”, they are to
pass their sheet of paper to their right or left, depending upon what they heard. Start reading
slowly so they have a chance to catch on to what you want them to do. The story: One day, the
Wright family decided to take a vacation. The first thing they had to decide was who would be
left at home since there was not enough room in the Wright family car for all of them. Mr.
Wright decided that Aunt Linda Wright would be the one left at home. Of course, this made
Aunt Linda Wright so mad that she left the house immediately yelling, “It will be a right cold
day before I return.” The Wright family bundled up the children, Tommy Wright, Susan Wright,
Timmy Wright, and Shelly Wright and got in the car and left. Unfortunately, as they turned out
of the driveway, someone had left a trashcan in the street, so they had to turn right around and
stop the car. They told Tommy Wright to get out of the car and move the trash can so they could
get going. Tommy took so long that they almost left him in the street. Once the Wright family
got on the road, Mother Wright wondered if she had left the stove on. Father Wright told her not
to worry, he had checked the stove and she had not left it on. As they turned right at the corner,
everyone started to think about the other things that they might have left undone. No need to
worry now, they were off on a right fine vacation. When they arrived at the gas station, Father
Wright put gas in the car and then discovered that he had left his wallet at home. So Timmy
Wright ran home to get the money that was left behind. After Timmy had left, Susan Wright
started to feel sick. She left the car saying that she had to throw up. This of course got Mother
Wright’s attention, and she left the car in a hurry. Shelly Wright wanted to watch Susan get sick,
so she left the car too. Father Wright was left with Tommy Wright who was playing a game in
the backseat. With all of this going on, Father Wright decided that this was not the right time to
take a vacation, so he gathered up all of the family and left the gas station as quickly as he could.
When he arrived home, he turned left into the driveway and said, “I wish the Wright family had
never left the house today!” Questions for discussion: ƒ What made this activity difficult to
accomplish? ƒ How hard was it to listen and pass the paper at the same time? ƒ How much of the
story can you remember? ƒ What can this activity tell us about communication, and doing 2
things at once (listening and changing papers)

6. Picture Telephone Materials: - Paper -Markers Directions: 1. Get into groups of about 10-12 people 2.
Every person in the group is given a piece of paper as well as a maker 3. The first person writes their
name and a ridiculous sentence at the very top of the page (holding the paper vertically) leaving plenty
of room. ONLY USE ONE SIDE OF THE PAPER 4. Now, pass the paper to the person on your left. 5. This
new person is now in charge of drawing an image for the sentence that they see. This person then folds
the paper back so that the sentence is not shown. 6. Pass the paper to the left 7. This next person is now
in charge of writing a sentence for the picture that they see. This same person folds their paper down,
hiding the picture above their sentence. Pass the paper to your left. 8. Repeat step 5-7 until there is no
more room on someone’s paper. 9. When there is no more room on the paper, unfold the paper, and
return to the name that is on top. 10. When everyone has received their paper, let at least 5 people
present their original sentence, the pictures, and other sentences that are now on their paper. Purpose:
Communication is important whenever you are trying to teach or facilitate. Without getting your point
across clearly, you leave others in the dark, leaving them to figure it out themselves. So make sure you
are communicating effectively when guiding others

7. VERBS
 Do What I Said, Not What I Say
Grades 4–6
The Actions
Teacher (or student) stands facing classmates. This leader calls out a
command. Students must follow the previously given command, not the
immediate one.
The Words
Leader says: “Stand on one foot!”
Students do nothing.
Leader says: “Hop on one foot!”
Students stand on one foot.
Leader says: “Flap your arms!”
Students hop on one foot.
Leader says: “Pat your head!”
Students flap their arms.
Leader says: “Sit down!”
Students pat their heads.
Leader says: “Fold your hands on your desks!”
Students sit down.
Leader says: “Fold your hands on your desks!”
Students fold their hands on their desks and are ready for the next lesson or
activity of the day.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

ADJECTIVES

1. Expanding Sentences

This simple activity not only reviews adjectives with your

students but gives them practice putting them in the right
order. Start by writing a simple sentence on the board. (The
boy is holding a book.) Tell your students that adjectives make
a sentence more interesting by giving details. Challenge your
 students to add adjectives to the sentence you have on the
board, one at a time, to make a more interesting sentence. As
they add adjectives, point out the correct order in which to
place them. (For a simple summary of how to order adjectives,
see this adjective lesson plan on learn4good.com.) Once
students are familiar with the process, put them in pairs and
give them some additional simple sentences. Give students a
few minutes to expand their sentences as creatively as possible
and then come back together as a class to share what students
have written.

2.

Adjective Elimination
Divide your class into two (or more) teams to play this
adjective elicitation game. One at a time, students come to
the front of the room. (If possible, you may want to put some
type of divider between the students or use an easel so neither
person can see what the other writes.) To play one round, show
the two students (and your class) a picture. For the next sixty
seconds, each person must write down as many adjectives to
describe the picture as he or she can think of. At the end of the
minute, have students compare their lists. Any word both
students listed gets crossed off. Each student gets one point for
every remaining adjective and minus one point for every word
which is not an adjective for his team. Continue until everyone
 has had a turn up front. The team with the most points wins the
game.

Word formation/ sentence construction