30 minutes:   

• 2 fifteen minute activities or 3 ten minute ones.  
• Mainly done at the table in pairs or threes.   
• Do the SAME type of activity for ALL lessons that day/ that week.  
• Make your life easy and your lessons better by keeping things simple.    

Choose between the following activities:    

• Make a list of the activities you like to do in class.    
• Keep in mind the point of ANY activity (especially if your students, like ours, mainly come once a week).
• All activities are MEANINGFUL and should facilitate reading, writing, speaking and comprehension skills.   
• Students LEARN as they DO.    

 

This is our list:   

Read ’n Match, Flip ’n Read, Bingo, Flashcards, Go Fish, Conversation Cards, Math cards, Quiz Questions, Reading Puzzles.

 

As you can see, there are many activities to choose from.   1 week, the students might do Read ’n Match with a quiz and then Go Fish (also with a follow up quiz).   The following week, I might change it to Flashcards and Bingo.   The kids don’t get bored because the activities are different.      

 

ALL the activities complement each other and the My English Book and Me texts, so it doesn’t really matter WHICH activity the students do.   ALL activities are good and facilitate learning.       They will learn the same things in different ways.

 

10 Minutes:  Question Time.

 

In pairs or threes when students can read.   As a whole group if students can’t read.     When students can read, they will ask and answer MORE questions in question time.    Our students can usually read the question cards 3 months after beginning lessons. 

 

We use the question cards that go along with the My English Book and Me texts.     The questions become more difficult with each text.    If 1 set is too easy, the students level up to the next.     There are also MANY different questions per text (90 to go with My English Book and Me 5).    

 

Higher levels are encouraged to give longer answers and ask follow up questions.     The question cards are just the beginning of what should develop into free conversation.    (In fact, we will use the same questions with Jr High School / High School and Adult students as the basis for free conversation).   

 

20 minutes:  Writing Time

Writing time IN CLASS is essential for elementary students.   So, the teacher can ‘test’ the kids and check they can read and write on their own with no hints.   

 

Students do the ‘test” that they practiced in a notebook for homework IN CLASS.  The teacher writes the score.   Previous tests with low scores are reviewed (mistakes erased, re – done and re – scored).    Test and review in the home book. 

 

When done with tests and review in the home book, write in the classbook.   Each student works at THEIR PACE and will often be on different pages than their classmates.   We like this.    There is NO COPYING.        

 

As you can see, lesson planning is VERY easy.     We only need to think of 2 or 3 activities per class.    The rest of the lesson is already planned with question time and writing time.   

 

How about your lessons?