Brainstorm round a word

Procedure: Vocabulary review and enrichment. Take a word the class has recently learnt, and ask the students to suggest all the words they associate with it. Write each suggestion on the board with a line joining it to the original word, in a circle, so that you get a ‘sunray’ effect. If the original word was a ‘decision’, for example, you might get:

The same activity can, of course, be done as individual or pairwork instead of in the full group. Take a central theme or concept of a story (or a technical text) you are planning to read with the group, and brainstorm association in order to open and direct students’ thinking towards the ideas that they will encounter in the text.

Variation 1: Instead of inviting free association, limit it in some way. For example, invite only adjectives that can apply to the central noun, so ‘decision’ might get words like; free, final, acceptable, wrong, right. Or invite verbs that can apply to the noun, for example: you can take, make, agree with, cancel or confirm a decision.

Variation 2: A central adjective can be associated with nouns, for example, ‘warm’ could be linked with: day, food, hand, personality. Or a verb can be associated with adverbs, for example, ‘speak’ can lead to: angrily, softly, clearly, convincingly, sadly.

Damaged property

Procedure: Guessing; using the past tense and passives. Present a brief description of a piece of property that is damaged: a watch that has stopped. You need to have in your mind the reason for the damage; the students try to guess what it is. Allow ‘narrowing-down’ questions (‘Did it happen because of carelessness?’) and give hints (‘It happened while I was cooking..’) to maintain pace and ensure the students’ ultimate success in guessing. The successful guesser can suggest the next damaged item.

You may use the examples given below:

1. A watch that has stopped (dropped into the soup while I was cooking).

2. An umbrella with a hole in it (someone’s lighted cigarette fell on it).

3. Jeans that are torn and faded (done on purpose to be more fashionable).

4. A squashed cake at a picnic (the youngest member of the family sat on it).

5. A hole in the roof (a small meteor fell through it).

6. A broken window (a tree fell onto it during a storm).

General knowledge

Procedure:Announce a general knowledge quiz and then ask the kind of questions given below. The students may be divided into groups of four. Ask the questions and give the students exactly 45 seconds to discuss each questions and to agree on an answer in their group. Each group gives its answer and then you or a student in the role of quiz master give the authoritative answer.

Elementary level

1. Where is Mount Everest? (Nepal/Tibet border).

2. How high is Mount Everest? (8,848 meters).

3. What is the capital city of Uruguay? (Montevideo).

4. What are the differences between African and Indian elephants? (The African elephant has larger ears and longer back legs?).

5. Where is the Eiffel Tower? Which country and which city? (France/Paris).

6. What are the colors of the French flag? (Red, white and blue).

7. What color do you add to blue in order to make purple? (Red).

8. Which is the longest river in the world? (The Amazon and the Nile are about the same length).

9. Which is the highest waterfall in the world? (Salto Angel in Venezuela – 979 meters)

10. Which is the biggest country: the United Kingdom, France or Spain? (the UK: 240,937 km; France; 547,026 km.; Spain: 504,782 km.).

11. Which river flows through London? (The Thames).

12. What is SOS in the international Morse code? (... _ _ _ ...).

13. Where is the Sea of Tranquillity? (The Moon).

14. What are the shortest words in English? (a and I).

Intermediate Level

1. Who is the Queen of the United Kingdom? (Queen Elizabeth II).

2. What was the most famous woman Prime Minister in Britain? (Margaret Thatcher, 1979-90).

3. Who wrote «King Lear», «Macbeth», and «Romeo and Juliet»? (William Shakespeare).

4. What do English-speaking people often say when they are being photographed? (Cheese! Then they look as though they are smiling).

5. If it is midday in London, what time is it in New York? (Seven o’clock in the morning).

6. Which of the Beatles was killed? (John Lennon).

7. What is the boiling point of water? (100 centigrade).

8. Name at least three countries in Europe which have red, white and blue flags (United Kingdom, Czechoslovakia, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway)

9. Which river flows through Cairo? (The Nile).

10. What does UNESCO stand for? (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization).

11. Which is the nearest big city to Heathrow Airport? (London).

12. What is the American English word for the British English word ‘lift’? (Elevator).

13. Which is the bigger, the American billion or the British billion? (The British billion . American billion = one thousand million. British billion = one million million, this is called a ‘trillion’ in American English.

Advanced level

1. It is possible to go by ship to Paraguay? (No, Paraguay has no sea coast).

2. If you were in Freetown in South Africa in August, would you be wet or dry? (Wet. The rainfall is very heavy in August, averaging about 80 cm.)

3. Which three nationalities did Einstein have at different times? (He was born in Germany, then became a Swiss citizen, and later took American citizenship).

4. Which metal boils at the highest temperature; silver, gold or lead? (gold: 2,900 C; Silver: 2,210 C; Lead: 1,740 C).

5. Which President died a violent death in 1963? (John F. Kennedy).

6. When did Elizabeth II become Queen of the United Kingdom: 1948, 1952, 1965 or 1974 ?(1952).

7. What happened if you killed a cat in an ancient Egypt? (You were executed because cats were sacred).

8. What is the symbol of the zodiacal sign Taurus? (Bull).

9. Who was the Iron Lady? (Margareth Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979-90).

10. Who was the Queen of Egypt twice? (Cleopatra, 51-48 BC and 47-30 BC. Her brother was king for one year, then Julius Caesar, helped Cleopatra to get her throne back again).

11. Who arrived in Australia before Captain Cook? (The Aborigines were there 20,000 years before the Europeans. The first Europeans were the Portuguese in the 16th century).

12. Who was the close friend and assistant of Sherlock Holmes? (Dr. Watson).

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 987