One More Time

I created a powerpoint music video for Daft Punk's One More Time. You can use this as a warm up in the beginning of class and it is timed to the song. If you have the song great! If you don't I am sure you can figure out a way to get your hands on it!!

Daft Punk One More Time PP

3rd year (JHS) Have you ever~

The question have you ever is another really fun lesson that the students enjoy because it allows them to express themselves and their experiences. After the a warm up activity I get right into "Have you ever~?". I usually do this by going around the room and asking students the target question. If they can answer great, if not I answer for them in a different voice. Then I go over the verbs they will be using by drilling and giving them a short verb conversion quiz:

The students have two minutes to finish the quiz and then we review the answers. I find this to be helpful for them to keep later on to study with. I also have large print outs of verb charts so that they can reference them later on in the lesson. After we complete this short quiz I move on to the powerpoint that has examples of what they could ask. A lot of them are silly and that's the point! After this review I give them their main WS:

 

As always I demo this in class with both the JTE and students that I feel are already fairly confident. First the students need to complete the written areas. Depending on the class this takes about 5 to 10 minutes. Then they get up and ask their friends the questions that they have written. Some of the students get really into it and ask things like, "Have you ever lived on the moon?". I find that the more sill the better. When they finish they come to me to get an OK stamp. I tell them to practice on the back with this sheet:

I find that a lot of the verbally shy students like to write me little notes to find out more about me!

Here are all the materials needed for the lesson:

Verb Conversion
Have you ever WS
Have you ever backsheet
Power Point



I-Phone Pass Game

This is a game I learned at my company's training and it is very very easy to demo and implement as a regular activity in your class room. Kids, possibly everywhere, really like i-phones. I printed two of them out and I believe they are actual size (though I have no idea because I don't personally have an I-Phone). After I printed them I laminated them so that I can use them again and again. This is another question and answer game that can be played in a couple of versions. First demo the game. I walk around and make some music up as I walk and pretend that I am passing the phone through the row of students. Then I say, "Stop!" and pretend to have a conversation with myself. This is a question and answer game and I use grammar points that we already used so that it is more of a review. Then I play the actual game with them. I like using fun songs like Daft Punk's "Around the World", whatever is upbeat and fun works. The students really enjoy seeing who will get the phone, and laugh a lot. Here is an example dialog:

Me: Hello, how are you?
Student: I'm fine thank you, and you? (some of the more advanced students will say they are sleepy or hungry, but most have the former memorised).
Me: I'm OK! Do you like baseball?
Student: Yes, I do

And then I play the music again. The second version of this game is that both phones are being passed around the room. One has a Q for question and the other has an A for answer. When the music stops the students have to create their own dialog. I really only recommend this for later on in the year with 3rd year students and after you have played the game several times so there is little explanation needed.

2nd Year (JHS) I think that ~ Powerpoint and Worksheet

For the second year students we have been focusing on

"I think that~",

"What do you think?"

"I agree" / "I disagree"

This can be a really fun lesson because the students will learn to express their opinions. I begin with an introduction to adjectives that the students can use. I used beautiful, cool, exciting, fun, interesting, busy, delicious, famous, great, special, kind, popular, difficult, wonderful, and cute. Most of the 2nd year students are familiar with these words.

 

Before we begin I did a front, back, left, right game with a previous grammar point. Then we practice the adjectives. I ask them if they know the words in Japanese just to make sure they have a firm grip on their meanings. After this I walk around the room and demo the target grammar, I usually say "Hello, I think that ~ is ~, what do you think?" and if the student can answer that's great, but usually they can't because it is new to them so I pretend to be them, change my voice a little, and answer for them. I do this a few times and then we drill the new grammar with repetition. I also introduce how to make question negative with the word not. We practice a couple of times and then we play a practice game with powerpoint slides. I made signs with my A4 flashcard holders that say "I agree" / "I disagree" with happy and sad faces. I place them on opposite sides of the room and then demo what they are supposed to do when I read the question. They are to pick if the agree or disagree and then move to that side of the room. It's easy and for the most part the kids get into it. There will always a be a small group of boys that just stays in disagree, but there isn't much that can be done about this. This activity takes about 5-7 minutes depending on how easy it is to wrangle them. I have large classes so sometimes it is difficult to get them to pay attention if they are moving around the room.

After this they take their seat once again and I give them a warm up worksheet that has all the answers and questions printed on it. It is pair work and intended to get them acclimated to using the new grammar.

I demo this with the JTE, the students ask each other in pairs and check off what their partner responds with. It takes about 3 minutes. When they finish I tell them to file this and hand them their next worksheet, which has a similar set up but they get to write their own opinions.

 

They really enjoy this and some of them even like to use adjectives that I didn't list in the tool box. The last two can be anything they want and I got some pretty interesting responses. Make sure that the students know they can use the same words listed in the tool box multiple times. I had some students crossing them off and not using them again. I said if you want to write that everything is cool then you can! After they complete the writing part they get up and, you guessed it, collect signatures while asking their friends the target grammar. When they complete the WS they get an OK stamp. I usually put some extra practice on the back for super advanced students that involve asking me questions. They seem to enjoy writing me personal notes, and I am more than happy to answer them.

 

 

Link to materials:

 

I think that ~ Powerpoint

I think that ~ practice WS

I think that ~ production WS

I think that ~ back sheet practice

Agree/Disagree Signs









Front, Back, Left, Right or "Criss Cross"

I'll take the time now to explain this very simple game. I ask the students to please stand and then I say, "Do what I do and say what I say,"we practice front, back left and right with movement and repetition. This is easy to teach on the first day and they know exactly what is about to happen. You can pick any target question grammar and for this it was "Did you ~?" because it was what they had learned in the previous lesson. Ask a "did you question" and then any student can raise their hand and say "Yes, I did" or "No I didn't". I have the question and the answer written on the board. The student that answers gets to pick front, back, left, or right. Depending on what they pick the students to the front, back, left, or right of them gets to sit down in a row. For example, if the student says front, all of the students in front of them get to sit. It's a great warm up and easy to demo on the first go. You will not need to demo it again and it's also easy to use as an evaluation tool if you have a few extra minutes at the end of the lesson.

3rd year (JHS) Have you ~ yet? Rilakkuma Worksheet

Recently I have been doing past participle lessons, which can be extremely confusing even for me! I usually turn to Learn American English Online when I am in doubt about the correct form of verbs. He has a pretty good chart here. We have gone over these a lot in class lately so I didn't really need to spend a long time reviewing the verb forms. I do use a verb chart and a power point to get them reacquainted though. We also play a short game of Criss Cross (which I actually call "Front, Back, Left, Right" (more on that later)) with the question "Have you ever ~?" because they had just learned that grammar. Then we do a listening test/reading test that involves a copy of my schedule. This is actually a pretty accurate representation of how I spend my day and it only takes most of them 2 minutes. Their midterm was also coming up so I thought that it was important to get some listening practice in.

 

Once they complete this they file it and they receive their next worksheet, which is more fun and gets them out of their seats, because like many of my activities, it is a signature collection game:

 



I always, always make a big version of the worksheet and put it on the board with magnets. I say, "This is my worksheet, and I am writing my name and class". I write with a big purple marker. Then I demo the WS by walking around and asking a few students the questions from the start. On this WS they must ask the question and then write their friend's response as Y or N and then say, "sign please". When they have gotten to the finish they receive an OK stamp from me and go back to their seats. This activity takes about 10-15 minutes and is very easy practice for them. On the flip side is bingo.

On this Bingo sheet they write the second part of the question, for example: "studied English yet?" I demo this with my big copy and when they complete it I demo the activity, which is simply to ask me any of the questions that they have written down. If I say, "Yes, I have", then they can cross out that box on their sheet and it is also applied to the rest of the class. So, if one person says, "Have you read a book yet?" and other students have that written down, then they can also cross off their block. If a student gets bingo they receive an OK stamp.

All of these combined with a short review of the verbs at the beginning should take about 45-50 minutes.To be fair I did borrow these ideas from a fellow ALT who runs the website English Web Book. It is a fantastic resource, but sometimes he uses things I don't like, such as Starwars (I know it's very unpopular to have that opinion, but I don't give 2 hoots about that space western). I also like to make my own materials. There is absolutely no problem with borrowing any of the ideas you see here, contributing your own in the comments, or simply using the worksheets that I have created. Sharing is Caring. :D

Link to materials:
Schedule
Rilakkuma have you yet WS
Rilakkuma have you yet bingo
Powerpoint Review

You Say Goodbye, I say Hello

The Beatles are an excellent band for JHS students becuase their songs are easy to sing and many of them already know quite a few Beatles songs. I am not the biggest fan, but their songs are really great for ESL learners. Because I am a fan of trying to get my students excited I use their song "Hello, Goobye", which I created a powerpoint music video for. You can download and play this powerpoint with the song and all animations are timed to the lyrics. My next music video project in the works is "One More Time" by Daft Punk.