Category: Present Perfect

SONGS in the classroom: GRAMMAR GALORE – intermediate / advanced / teens / adults

23/6/2016

Songs always bring a breath of fresh air into the SONGS in the classroom: GRAMMAR GALORE – intermediate / advanced / teens / adults lassroom and are greeted with joy. I usually try to choose songs, which are not only clear and fairly easy to understand but have meaningful content for language learners such as grammar, phrasal verbs or vocabulary pertinent to what we are studying.

A wonderful song full of all kinds of grammar and expressions that is for intermediate / advanced students is HOLLYWOOD – Michael Buble. The catchy tune is fun to listen and sing along to whilst the rich assortment of language leads to all kinds of possible adaptations for practice – some of which I have suggested at the end of the document to download.

You can download the worksheets to the song below. Feel free to delete or translate the Italian into another language.

Can anyone suggest any other songs for practising grammar revision?

Hope you have fun with it!
Susan

michael_buble_-_hollywood_-_students_copy.doc
File Size:	41 kb
File Type:	doc

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michael_buble_-_hollywood_-_teachers_copy.doc
File Size:	56 kb
File Type:	doc

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If you liked this song, check out my playlist for other chants and songs:
YOU TUBE PLAYLIST:
Susan's ESL Learning Videos (Chants & Songs)

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrvV_PywFOlxgfR5RpMw7rLsI6ai3yHai

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PRESENT PERFECT / SIMPLE PAST Game – two fun introductory activities

5/6/2015

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A few of...

my guidebooks...

from my globetrotting days...

Introducing the PRESENT PERFECT in an easy, fun, memorable way and then adding a more complex activity to recognize the structures in contrast to the SIMPLE PAST is always very successful in my classes ranging from teens to adults.

The class is divided equally into teams A and B.

The FIRST GAME is a question of LUCK: it consists in exploiting my favourite hobby, which is travelling, but it can be extended to other fields equally well. I have travelled extensively during my life and so the teams have to take turns in asking me these two questions, which I write on the board (before even introducing the grammatical explanation):

Students; Have you ever been to …………. ?
(only countries)

Teacher: Yes, I have. (win points*)    /   No, I haven’t.
(NO points* - other team’s turn)

Students; When did you go there?

Teacher: I went there in ……….. .
(I write the date and the team member has to read the year correctly to win 1 point)

Rules:
(* 1 point – Europe / 2 points – outside Europe / 3 points – improbable tourist destination)

If a team repeats a question – NO points (it encourages listening to the other team).

As you can see, it’s a question of luck whether they win a point or not because they can’t know where I have been. If you haven’t travelled extensively you could use only cities or only activities or only food etc.. So the game can be adapted to your experience: e.g. Have you ever done bungee jumping? = 3 points / Have you ever played golf? = 2 points / Have you ever played tennis? = 1 point.

The repetitive nature of this activity fixes the structure in their minds before they ever need to know the grammar behind it.

In my classes I have difficulty stopping the activity after 30 minutes because they are so excited to discover where I’ve been…

The SECOND GAME is a question of CONCENTRATION and SPEED: it consists in each student having a column of sentences (see download) to consult.

The teacher has previously printed and cut out a series of sentences which students will alternately (team A then team B) pick out of a bag and read aloud to all the class. The first person in the whole class to find a logical consequence to the sentence from their list to consult wins a point for their team. In this case the whole class participates in looking for the answer. The teacher has both questions and answers to check but sometimes more than one answer may be possible.

This exciting game gets them thinking and although it’s slow at starting, once they have read them a few times it really picks up speed and makes them use their brains rather than the usual ‘easy, automatic’ answers one is often requested to do in books.

Hope you have fun with it!

Susan

present_perfect_:_past_simple_game_-_sentences_to_cut_up.pdf
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present_perfect_:_past_simple_game_-_students_copy.pdf
File Size:	82 kb
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present_perfect_:_past_simple_game_-_teachers_answers.pdf
File Size:	78 kb
File Type:	pdf

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A note regarding the downloads:
To my frustration I can’t seem to find the original documents in my computer so I have had to scan the copies I use at school. Should I manage to find them I will substitute them with the better originals. qui per effettuare modifiche.

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Author

My name is Susan Brodar, born in London into a multilingual family and brought up bilingual English / Italian.

I went to school in London until 15 when we moved to Germany where I finished my British education at Munich International School. I started teaching Italian at evening classes aged only 17 and studied Mass Communications and Journalism at Munich University.

I continued teaching parallel to interpreting at trade fairs and business meetings as well doing translations. After working at the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade for a year I married my Italian globetrotting companion in 1983 and we set up our home near Venice, Italy where we continue to live with our two teenaged children.

Having taken my British High School-leaving ‘A’ Level exams in English, Italian, French & German I am completely fluent in all four languages and am taking a DELE certification in Spanish to complement them.

ENGLISH (native)
ITALIAN (native)
GERMAN (C2)
FRENCH (C2)
SPANISH (B2)

SONGS in the classroom: GRAMMAR GALORE – intermediate / advanced / teens / adults

PRESENT PERFECT / SIMPLE PAST Game – two fun introductory activities

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SONGS in the classroom: GRAMMAR GALORE – intermediate / advanced / teens / adults

PRESENT PERFECT / SIMPLE PAST Game – two fun introductory activities

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