Some teaching resources

 Let's be honest, teachers hate prep time. 

I'm writing this post while eating lunch in my classroom, and I'm struggling to stay awake (as usual). It's Monday, and it's rainy, and I just want to tell my students to complete fill-in-the-blanks all week rather than sit here and plan/prep for the next four days. I was at the beach all day yesterday, want to write today after I run countless errands--this lesson planning HAS to happen now...

...So obviously I decided to blog for a bit instead.

We can call this my Table of Contents for Other Websites/Blogs, my Lena's Late to Work and Needs An Activity Resource Guide. Whatever.  Before I start I HIGHLY recommend this book of 700 instant activities. They're organized by grammar and function, and NOTHING required prep, though you could if you wanted to--extend into full scale projects or use as is for activities. I've used this book as a supplementary source for about a month now, and I swear it's my lifeblood from my elementary to advanced students. I've noticed they have an English Through Drama resource as well and am hoping to take a look.

​As for my list below, I've underlined the activities that may not work with, or may be challenging for, A1-A2 students. 

First, here are a few no prep warmers that I've found work best regardless of age. I may have added a note here and there (#understatement) about the rationale for a specific warmer, but, in general, the goal is to get students thinking in English and help them relax. 

• Banana/Potato/Paper Clip
  • Alright holy shit I don't even know what it is about this game but my students--old and young--LOVE this warmer? Literally they find it amazing. All you need to do is write the word "potato" on the board (or draw, or pull up a picture, wtv). Then you ask them to work in pairs and make a list of things you can do with a potato. Depending on your class you can add limitations or requirements. For example, with my adult intermediate/advanced classes I asked for a 15 item minimum list and none of their responses could include food/eating. I got some creative ideas--ranged from weaponry to pottery to a tooth-brush holder.
• Four Corners
  • More of a lead-in than a warmer, but it still works wonders. Whatever theme you've been working on for the day/week, create a quick list of a few agree/disagree type of questions. For example, during a unit on jobs and careers, I used four corners to discuss unpaid internships and how they are viewed in my students' home countries as opposed to the U.S. I kept my statements list short, googled "unpaid internship" and snagged them from some article headlines. You read the statement, the students move to one of four corners depending on their opinion. They then have to defend their opinion. 
• Fortunately/Unfortunately
  • Goal is for students to tell a story using the transition words fortunately/unfortunately. It can begin with the teacher and follow to a small group or large one.
    • Teacher: "Unfortunately, I had to come to work today."***
    • Student 1: "Fortunately, we are your students and we are amazing."
    • Student 2: "Unfortunately, one of us forgot our homework."
      • ***Obviously you have to know your students if you start a game like that, by the way. I was super sarcastic with my sixteen year olds, because...well...SIXTEEN. But with my younger kids I'd stick with something silly rather than sarcastic.
• Peter Piper Tongue Twister
  • ​Or any tongue twister really. I like putting students in teams and say that I won't give homework to the team with the most students who can successfully say the tongue twister. They have some time to practice, we get a few laughs, and we also draw attention to certain consonant clusters.
  • Here is a great resource for tongue twisters and how they help in the class! 
• Mirrors
  • Okay, admittedly, this is a theater game BUT it's wonderful for easing shier students into role-playing conversations during a speaking lesson. I like putting background music on--something silly like a period drama soundtrack. This game always leads to laughs and makes students recognize it's okay to take risks. 
  • Basically there is a leader and a follower. The follower mimics the leader's movements and the goal is for me (the teacher) not to be able to tell who is leader/follower.
• New Moves
  • ​Another game that's more physical, but again--helps with shier students. Someone walks outside of the classroom and a leader is chosen among the remaining students. That leader decides on a "move" that everyone else must copy (ie. tapping their fingers on the desk, scratching their nose, macarena dance). When the person who stepped outside comes in, they must look around the room, trying to determine who is the leader. As this is happening, the leader makes a "new move" when that person is not looking and the class must copy this new move.
• Two Truths and a Lie (obviously)
  • ​I've found that starting with my own truths and lie works best. I match students up in mid-sized groups, have my statements on the board, and explain the idea of the game.  I tell them to write their own to share in their groups. The groups are to guess which of the lie of each member, and then work together to decide which one of my statements is a lie.
• Zip Zap Zop
  • ​A theatrical pronunciation game. You can make this competitive or use it to focus on vowels. I've used it with my C+ students too even though the pronunciation isn't too much of an issue; it's the combination of movement and speech that forces them to concentrate. I also find it works MUCH better as an elimination game than just something to do. 
    • ​Zip: student claps and passes the energy using their clap to point to the receiver
    • Zap: student claps and passes the energy using their clap to point to the receiver
    • Zop: student claps but throws the energy into the air, using their clap to point up

Now, here are a few websites that have saved my ass for a quick, little-to-no-prep activity--as well as some tips/teacher journals to think about:

• http://www.cristinacabal.com
• https://tefltastic.wordpress.com/
• http://busyteacher.org/ 
  • Do you know how often I've struggled for an idea, googled a grammar term, stumbled on a worksheet that then gave me an idea I could modify so it's not so cut-and-dry? This website is a goldmine if you know what to look for.
• http://www.everythingesl.net/index.php 
• http://www.eslflow.com/Acargumentativessay.html
• http://iteslj.org/
• http://www.fluentu.com/
  • You can find some great explanations of grammar terms here as well as media resources.
• http://www.tesol.org/connect/tesol-resource-center 
  • A GOD
• And here's just another website that links to MORE websites--about 30--full of free content for ESL teachers. (Like I said, this is MY resource sheet, so bug off if you're going to complain that I haven't made my own full complete list).

And because I'm procrastinating particularly well today, here are a few of my favorite fast activities listed alphabetically by Target Grammar and Skill. As in the warmers, I've added notes on how I've used them in class.

• Causative Verbs: Location Prompts
  • Causative verbs include verbs like let, make, get, and have. After showing students the grammatical structure and identifying the implications ("Let implies permission; have shows responsibility to act..."), assign students a location (you can make location photo cards, put a list on a board, whatever). Ask that students create a series of actions, using causative verbs, that must occur at these locations.
  • At School:
    • The teacher lets the students leave early.
    • The teacher made the students take an exam.
    • The students have to get a 100 to pass the course.
    • The students get their principal to throw a pizza party.
• First Conditional: Murphy's Law
  • I actually got this one from one of the above websites. If you want to read about it, take a look at this link. You can either verbally tell the students the directions and transcribe important points on the board, or make a handout. Depends on how much time you'd like to prep!
• Past Perfect: Mr. Bean
  • This is a gem because you can make the prep time as complicated or as simple as you'd like.  I cut the activity short in some areas, extended it in others. For the full lesson plan, take a look at this link. In summary, you  review phrasal verbs in any manner you see fit (I do a variation of the card match listed below), show them "Mr. Bean Makes a Sandwich," use some discussion questions to list the steps to Mr. Bean's lunch-making  process, and then start using key past perfect word indicators (before, while, after). 
    • After that you can have students make their own timelines and sentences of difference scenarios using the past simple. You can even make this is a Speaking activity on social etiquette extended by the four corners task listed below. 
• Preposition: Card Match
  • Alright most of my stuff have been "no prep" goal-oriented, but this one requires maybe ten minutes of prep. So yeah. Sorry I lied. You can maim me later. Essentially this is a word sort. I made cards of common prepositions and common word pairs (for example, think about), scramble them, then ask students to work in groups and match the correct pairs. I made sure to include words that can fit more than one preposition so that when students are finished and we are sharing answers, I can review such nuances. Below, you'll find the prepositions and word pairs I suggest for a B+ level--these can obviously be adjusted if you have only just introduced prepositions of place/time to your students. Keep in mind that these are out of order (as I grabbed them from my scrambled cards).
  • Prepositions: from, in, about, of, for, at, bad, on, with
  • Word Pair: ask, interested, scared, plan, bored, good, bad, think, tired, worried, believe, forget
• Speaking: Four Corners
  • I know I put this up in the warmers section as well, but it really is a great activity that can either be extended or cut short depending on your goal for the class. In order for this to be a full lesson activity, I would use four corners to help students consider various ideas, offer their opinion, and kickstart discussions. Maybe the last statement you offer them could be your lesson's main topic? Maybe they get to choose one of the statements at the end to prepare a longer paragraph that they will then summarize and share at the end of the class. Regardless, four corners gets students speaking (and moving, so keep this one handy for slow days). 
• Writing: Dialogue** C+
  • ​I designed this activity specifically for my C+ Creative Writing class, so it will definitely read/look more like your standard Lit class when executed, though I'm sure someone could use this to teach Punctuation in Dialogue (commas, quotations marks, em-dash).  Basically, you compare why real people talk to one another versus fictional characters. Answers will vary, but the goal is to guide them to something along the lines of "increase tension and advance the plot." Then you read them a scenario (making this a good Listening exercise as well). Depending on your class is could be a serious scenario (The sky is gray with clouds. A man and a woman meet up outside a hospital...) or humorous, and they're quick to find. Work with students to determine what the characters in these scenarios desire, how said desires conflict, and how that conflict advances the plot. When students have their notes, take ten minutes for them to write a dialogue; let them switch with a partner, and then you walk through the groups work-shopping and offer spot corrections on style (for an advanced class) or punctuation (for an intermediate class).
• Writing: Point of View
  • ​Quick, print a bunch of picture of people doing stuff! Dad teaching his daughter how to ride a bike. Famous soccer star going for a penalty kick. Teenager ignoring their parents. Now get some poster paper and markers. When you get into class you can introduce Point of View however you'd like: bring in short examples based upon your students' reading levels, ask them "What is point of view?" then make a chart together as a class. Afterwards, split students into groups and give each a picture. Their job is to make a placemat activity chart (shown above) telling the picture's story in all five different points of view. 
• Writing: Sentence Cycle
  • This can be modified to any level and for any theme. Choose a topic, tell students to write either one sentence on the topic or for a specific amount of time. When they have finished that sentence (or the time is up), instruct them to pass their paper to the person sitting next to them. That person must continue the story or prompt. You can have students work in groups or--for a challenge--as a whole class. 
    • I've modified this at three different levels. Advanced (C+), Intermediate (B), and Beginner (A). For my advanced, they worked in groups of 5-6, rotating papers on the minute and writing based solely on an initial sentence prompt ("I was terrified when I heard the phone ring...). For my intermediate students, I played songs in the background and told them to write according to what the song feels like (we had been doing a unit on storytelling, so this may be difficult without some initial exposure). Finally, for my beginner students, I had them write a letter to a friend, family member, or celebrity; they were extremely basic responses, mind you, but still got my students writing more than "Hello. My name is..."
    • When it's done, I liked to workshop the pieces. Students identify one another's mistakes, and I ask for grammar that they either corrected or were unsure of. Usually, this leads to a nice quick grammar review at the end of class!

After putting this together I guess I struggle with designing listening activities. Huh. So if anyone wants to help me out in that category, I'll probably name my first born child after you or something. Well anyway. Now that this small resource is done...I guess I have to get back to planning. 

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