This is what we did today

Language for talking about books and reading

Warm up to get ss thinking: Think about books you have read. Note down a few titles. Keep your notes for later use.

Activity 1

        - Matching sentences exercise

        -  Match above sentences with meanings (another way to say it)

     - In groups of three, talk about the books that you noted down. Use the language given.

Activity 2

Teacher gives ss a slip of paper with an unfinished question. Ss must finish it and add two more (like for a survey). Leave a space in between to write answers. Then ss have to ask as many people as they can and later report to the whole group, e.g. “more than half of the people identify with characters in books”.

Using short stories (3)

 Thinking dice from Amazon

Surprise, surprise, the layout of the room has changed while we were out for coffee!

But it wasn't done by elves for Claudia told us later that she had spent 20 minutes moving tables and chairs. Is she trying to save money on the gym?

Activity 1

Speed dating in groups of three. There are six groups and six colour coded dice. Dice have unfinished questions written on every side and each colour is for a category in Bloom’s taxonomy. Throw the dice and complete the question  you get but you must  think of one of the stories we have read in class. Write down at least one question. Then pass on the die to the next group. Repeat the same procedure.

The purpose of this activity is not to answer questions but to ask them. You practice question making and, thinking about the stories you read, is a good comprehension exercise. It is also a meaningful speaking activity because you have to agree on the question and the story it refers to.
Can we use the THINKING DICE in our class? 
We can get some ideas from http://www.thinkingdice.com

Activity 2

Listening activity as a follow up for “All summer in a day” from http://www.brainpop.co.uk/

The video is about bullying. Araceli shared a nice idea: to use real examples from the news, a story the pupils might have heard about.

Using non fiction

Warm up: anticipation guide using a continuum and a true/false exercise.

Activity 1

Reading a page from a book called “Bad Food Britain. How a nation ruined its appetite”

Activity 2

We prepared activities in the computer room