=.= 1+ i l_r \,.i 'ilr :,,+' i i 1 a {' F* rn ': j Lr't { I OxfordbasEss SimpleReaditg Activities IILL H A D F I E L D C H A R LE S HA DF I E L D OXTORD TINIVERSITY PRESS Gontents Foreword AL AN M AL EY lntroduction Actlvltles 1, Greetingsand introductions The alphabet Numbers Tellingthe time Personalinformation Countries Nationalities Locatingobjects Feelings 10 Families LL Colours L2 Shapes 13 Partsof the body L4 people Describing 15 Clothes 16 Roomsin a flat L7 Furniture 18 In town 19 Directions 20 In the market 2L Shopping 22 Foodanddrink 23 Leisureactivities 24 Daily routines 25 26 Jobs Housework 27 Abilities 28 Rules:'must'and'mustn't' 29 Describingactions1 30 Describingactions2 Foreword There is a formidable rangeof materialspublishedworldwide for teachersof Englishasa ForeignLanguage.However,many of these materials,especiallythosepublishedin English-speaking countries, assumethat teachersusing them will be working with smallish classesand haveabundantresourcesavailableto them Also many, of not most, of thesematerialsmake implicit culturally-biased assumptionsabout the beliefsand valuesof the teachersand learners This situation is ironic in view of the fact that the vast majority of Englishas a ForeignLanguageclassroomsdo not correspondat all to theseconditions.Typically,classes are large,resourcesare limited, and teachershavevery few opportunitiesfor training and professionaldevelopment.Also, the cultural assumptionsof teachersand learnersin many parts of the world may vary quite significantlyfrom thoseof materialswriters and publishers This book is an attempt to addressthis situation.The authors presentthirty lessonsat elementarylevel,eachwith the same methodologicalframework.The lessonsare explainedin clear, accessible language,and none of them require sophisticated resources.Instead,they call on the basichuman resourceswhich all teachersand learnersbring with them to class.The language points coveredare onesfound in a typical elementarycourse,and the topicsare thosewhich form part of everybody'sdaily lives,for examplefamilies,homes,and leisureactivities Most importantly, however,the book offers a framework for teacherswho lack training and support.The hope and the expectationis that suchteacherswill begin by following eachstep will of a lessonquite closelybut, astheir confidenceincreases, adapt and add to the techniquespresentedhere,respondingto the particular needsand abilitiesof their learners This is an important book: one of the few attemptsto addressthe problemsof the'silent majority' of teachersworldwide who have little or no training, and few resourcesto work with AL AN M AL EY Assumption University Bangkok, Thailand lntroduction Englishis taught all over the world, by all sorts of teachersto all sortsof learners.Schoolsand classroomsvary enormouslyin their wealth and their provision of equipment.Learnersarevery different from placeto place.But, whateverthe conditions in which you are working, there is one resourcewhich is universaland unlimited: the human mind and imagination.This is probablythe one singlemost valuableteachingand learningresourcewe have Nothing can replaceit In eventhe most'hi-tech'environment,a lack of imagination and humanity will makethe most up-to-date and sophisticatedresourcesseemdull; conversely, the most simple resourcescan be the most excitingand useful We havebeen fortunate to spend quite a lot of our time working not only in'hi-tech' environmentswith computersand video,but alsoin classroomswhere thereis little more than blackboardand chalk and someout-of-datecoursebooks.Someof our most interestinglearning and teachingexperiences(asConfuciussaid,a teacheris'alwaysreadyto teach;alwaysreadyto learn') havebeen not in the comfortablewell-resourcedsmall classroomsof a private languageschool,but in classroomswhere only the minimum of equipmenthasbeen available.Equally,someof our most memorableteachingexperiences in'hi-tech' classroomshavebeen when we haveabandonedthe cassetteor video or glossy coursebookand got to work with that most preciousresourceof all, the learners'ownexperienceand imagination Teachersoften haveto usematerialswhich are out of date,or contain subject-matterirrelevantto their particular group of learners.For example,we havehad great difficulty explaining the conceptsof the fridge-freezerand microwave oven to Tibetans.In the sameway,learnerswho have spent all their lives in northern countries might have difficulty with an exercisefrom an African textbook which asksif they prefer yam or cassava.So over the last few yearswe havebeen trying to designmaterialswhich can be usedin aswide a rangeof teachingsituationsaspossible The activities we suggestare as flexible as the human imagination is creative;they are'teacherresourcematerial'which teacherswill be ableto adjustto suit their particular environment.In thinking about universallyapplicable,'lo-tech'materialswe havecome up with a list of criteria that needto be met The materialswill need to: be usablein largeclasses aswell as small be suitablefor adult learnersaswell as secondarylearners,and if possibleeasilyadaptableto a primary context be centredon the universalsof human experience lntroduction cover the main languageskills and have a useful baseof grammar and topic vocabulary - be traditional enoughto be recognizableby all teachers,and thus give them a senseof security,while providing communicative activitiesfor learners -, be non-threateningin the demandsthey make on learners ,, be teacher-based'resource material' rather than books for learners rrr:i assumethat no technicaland reprographicresourcesare available and be basedon the human resourcerather than the technical be culturally neutral,not context-bound,and thus be flexible,easily adaptableby the teachersto their own culture and teaching context be flexible enough to complement a standard syllabusor coursebook Simple ReadingActivities This book containsthirty activities,designedaccordingto the criteria above,for developingthe readingskill at elementarylevel Eachactivity has three main stages: Lead-in-This introducesthe learnersto the topic and focuses their attention Read and respond-This is the main part of the activity The learnersare first encouragedto read through the text quickly.They then read it more carefully Follow-up-This stage,which is optional, givesthe learnersthe opportunity to practisethe other languageskills using material from the readingtext The aim of the lead-in is to get the learnersto start thinking about the topic of the readingtext beforeyou actuallyshow them the text itself,and perhapsintroduce or familiarizethem with a few vocabularyitems from the text.You can usea variety of techniques to stimulatethe learners'interest,questionand answer,pictures,or a short discussion,for example: Lead-in , asklearnersquestionsabout their personalexperiencesrelatedto the topic asklearners'opinionsand havea short discussionaround the topic show a picture of somethingor someonein the text and ask learnersto describeit/him asklearnersto imagine a scene/person like one describedin the text Introduction Lead-in activitiesshould be very short-they should not take more than about five minutes A1l you are aiming to is to engage learners'interestand get their minds focusedon the topic Read and respond Beforethe learnersstudy the readingtext in detail,it is important that they should read it through quickly to get a generalidea of what it is about,rather than trying to understandeveryword straightaway.For this reason,the read and respondpart of each activity after Activity startswith a phasein which the learnersare encouragedto one of two things: Readthe text-or just the beginningand end-rapidly in order to get a generalidea of the theme (often referredto as'skimming') For example,you could askthem to read only the first and last sentenceof the text and then to tell you what they think it is about Look rapidly through a text searchingfor preciseinformation (often referredto as'scanning').For example,you might askthe learnersto find the answersto one or two simple factualquestions about the text as quickly aspossible Evenwhen the learnerscome to read the text more carefully,it is important that they should learn to understandthe main points without gettingsidetrackedby confusingand sometimesirrelevant detail.The techniquesusedin this phaseof the activitieshavebeen designedto practisethis skill They are as follows: Readand complete-Learners read a text and usethe information to completea list, table,chart, or picture Readand correct-Learners correctmistakesin a text Read and draw-Learners read a text and draw what is described Readand guess-Learnersread a text and guesswhat is described Read and match-Learners match information in a text with other readingtextsor pictures Read and reorder-Learners read a text in muddled order and number the sentences or paragraphsin the correct order; or they physicallyreorder sentences on separatestrips of paper Read and sort-Two texts are mixed together.Learnershave to sort out which sentences belongto which text There are examplesof all thesetechniquesin this book Introduction Materials Providing learnerswith sufficientreadingpracticeis perhapsthe most daunting problem which facesthe teacherwith limited resources, becausereadingimplies textsin books or on handouts.If you havea photocopieryou can,of course,make a copy of the text for eachlearner.But if you don't, how can you usethe textsin this book?Writing a long text on the board for everyoneto seeis laboriousand time-consuming-and, for all concerned,extremely boring The textsin this book are mostly short enoughto write on the board if you need to, but a much better way to presentthem to the classis by using readingposters A readingposteris simply the text written out in largeletterson a big sheetofpaper Ifyou decideto useposters,try to find a cheap sourceof sheetsof paper.In Madagascar, for example,the teachers we worked with found the sheetsof paper usedfor wrapping vegetables in the market were ideal for making posters.A good way to fix postersto the board is to pin a length of string along the top of the board like a clothes-line.You can then useclothes-pegsto pin your postersto the string! Readingpostershavethe advantage that you can savethem, so you will not have to write the whole text out again the next time you want to use it In this way you can build up quite a library of reading texts at different levels Postersare also usefulwhen you usepicturesin an activity.Again, if you haveyour pictureson posters,it meansthat you not have to draw them on the board everytime This is a particular advantageifyou are not very confidentabout your drawing skills An alternativeto drawingson postersis drawingson smallerpieces of card (but still largeenough for all the learnersto see).Theseare usuallyknown as'flashcards' They are usedin 14,'Describing people' Procedure The main stageof eachactivity has six basicsteps: Put up the text Setthe'skimming' (readingthrough very quickly to get an overallidea of what the text is about) task,or give the 'scanning' (looking for specificinformation) questions.Explain clearly what you want the learnersto and make sure they understand Setthe'read and respond'task.Again be surethat you explain clearlSand that the learnersunderstandwhat they haveto lntroduction Give the learnerstime to read the text and the activity individually At this stageyou will need to walk around the class and deal with any problemsor queries When they have finished the activity, it is often a good idea to askthe learnersto comparetheir answersin pairs.If they discoverthat their answersare different, they have an opportunity to checkthe text againand perhapsdiscoverthe correct answerfor themselves Finally, go through the answerswith the whole classand discuss them Follow-up Readingtextsare avery good sourceof new words and expressions Many of the follow-up activities in this book are aimed at extendingthe learners'vocabularyby focusingon a particular group of words in the text (often calleda'lexical set'),for example, classroomfurniture in 8,'Locating objects',or householdobjectsin 16,'Roomsin a flat'.In many cases,the learnersare encouragedto add more words and expressions to expandthe set Other ideas Wall posters A good way of giving learnersextra reading practice is to use texts they write themselves You can collectin written work and useit to make wall posters,either by choosinga few learners'work and pastingit up on a poster,or if it is badly in need of correction, writing correctversionsyourselfand pastingthem to posters.The posterscan then be displayedon the wall with a reading activity Learnerscan read the postersin their sparetime or if they finish an activity early.This is a good way of revisingstructuresand vocabulary you have recently taught Readingcards If you can get hold of a number of different short readingtextsbut haveno photocopier,/ou c:ln make readingcards.Eachcard should havea text and comprehensionquestionson the front, and answerson the back or on a separatecard.The cardscan be kept in boxesfor easeof useand organization.They can be graded according to the level of difficulty of the text You will need more cardsthan the number of learnersin your class.Learnerscan then usethe readingcard box asa lending library, choosinga card at their level of difficulty and exchangingit for another when they havefinished.It is a good idea to keep a record of which learners have read which cards lntroduction Buildinga lesson There are four companion bools to this one,PresentingNew Language,SimpleListening Activities,SimpleSpeakingActivities, and Simple Writing Activities.All,of thesealso contain thirty activities' and in all five books the topics and the languagepresentedand practised correspond.So,for example,activity I in all five books is about'Greetingsand introductions'and activity 30 is about 'Describing actions'.The activities in eachbook are graded, following a basic structural syllabus.This means that you can designyour own lessonor sequenceof lessonsusing material from any,or all, of the books, depending on your learners'needsand the time available 24 Daity routines LANGUAGE 'Everydayactions'vocabularyarea(for example,get up, wash,have breakfast) Telling the time TEcHNreuE Readand reorder MATERIALS Text,on a posteror on the board; sheetsof paper of all the learners pREpARArroN Preparethe posterifyou are using one TIME GUrDE 40 minutes aaaaaaaaaaa Lead-in L Write up the following list of everydayactions: havebreakfaat qeL dreooed qet up brush teeLh waeh Ask the learnersto write down the actionsin the order in which they them in the morning Discussvariationsin their daily routines,for example: Who has breakfastbefore getting dressed? Who brushestheir teeth after breakfast? Read and le-ordel Put up this text The sentencesare in the wrong order A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O F 54 ThenI qet dreeeed and go downetaira I waohand brush my teeth and then I wakethe children I 4et up at aeven ln the afhernoonI the ehoppinqor clean the houae I makesure the childrenqet waahedand bruah their teeth My huebanddreasesthe children I work until one and then I havelunch I pick the childrenup from echoolat four o'clock Thenmy huobandtakes the childrento achool Weplay or read toqether until my huabandcome6 back from worK I make breakfast for everyone After they've qone to bed we read or talk or write lettera Thenweall havedinner Weueuallyqo to bed around eleveno'clock I catch the bus at half paot ei7htto qo to work Thechildrenqo to bed at ei1ht o'clock Dairy 4routines Getthe learnersto skim the text quickly Ask scanningquestions like: Who takesthe children to school? What time is the bus to work? When the children go to bed? Seehow quickly the learnerscan find the answers Give eachlearner a sheetof paper.Put them in pairs and tell them to copy the text One learner in a pair should copy sentencesA to H, and the other sentencesI to P.When they have copied the sentences,they should cut their sheetsof paper into strips with one sentenceon eachstrip Tell the pairs to lay out their strips of paper and to rearrangethe sentencesin the correct order Follow-up When the pairs have finished, ask them to tell you the order of the sentences(C, B, E, R A, K, I, O, G, D, H, L M, R L, N) They can rearrangetheir sentencestrips if they have any in the wrong order Put times of day in three circleson the board and askthe learners to copy them Earlg Mornivrg Eveni^s Get the learnersto put verbs from the text in the three circles according to what they at different times of day for example, 'get up' in the'early morning' circle and'write letters'in the 'evening'one.Ask the learnersto add other activitiesto their circles,for example'godancing'and'watch TVi Supplyvocabulary when learnersrequestit 55 ,^r f,/^ 4v J obs L ANGUAGE Readand complete T ECHNIQUE Descriptionsof jobs, on a posteror on the board; )obs chart, on the board M AT ERIAL S Preparethe postersif you are using them Draw the jobs chart on the board PREPARAT ION T IM E Lead-in 'Jobs'(for example,nurse,farmer, postman) vocabularyarea GUIDE t 40 minutes Ask learnerswhat their job is, or what their father'sor mother'sjob is if they are still at school.Ask more questionslike: Do you/Doeshe/sheget up early? When you/doeshe/shestart work? Do youiDoeshe/shewear a uniform? Do you like your job/Does he/shelike his/herjob? Readand complete Put up thesedescriptionsof jobs: A I etart workat Lenat ni4ht I arrive and put on my uniform then I 4o up to the ward.Firet of allthere ie a meetinqto discues the patiente, f,henI qo round the ward to checkall the patiente After that-it dependa!)ome ni4hte are very quiet, eomeare very buoy.)ometimee I haveto deal with emerqencieo I finish workat aix in the morninqand 4o homejuot a6 everyone elee io goinqto work.I havebreakfaet with my family and then I qo to bed lt'e a hardjob, bu| I like workinqwith people.lt'a very rewardin4 B I etart workat five in Ehemornin7.lt'e a very buoyjob FireLof all I haveto milk the cowe,then I feed allthe other animale ThenI qo to the fielde.Myjob dependeon the seaeon.ln eprin4 I haveto plou4hthe fieldaand aow the aeed,then in aummerI haveto the weedinq.Autumn io very buoy-thaL'e harveaL time ln winter I can relaxa bit! Thereet of the year I work until eevenor eiqht at niqht! Eut I enjoyworkinqoutdoore C My job starte at aix in the morninq.Firet I haveto qo to Lhe main office to sort the lettere for my round.Thenat about half paot oeven,I qet on my bicycle with my ba4 of lettero and qo round the houaea.It'a a nicejob I knoweveryoneon my round and they're alwayo pleaeed to oee me-eapeaally the old people!Theylove to qet lettere I deliver letters until about ten, then I qo back to Lhe office and aort lettera aqain.I a secondround of deliverieeat about midday,then aL two o'clock 56 2ffi robs my work ie over.I like my afternoono IL'e nice to be free when everyoneelse is workinq Ask learnersto scanthe textsquickly and to decidewhat jobs the three peopledo (A-nurse; B-farmer; C-postman) Teachkey vocabularyat this stage,for example:'ward','checks', and 'patients'inA;'milks','ploughs', and'sowsseed'in B, and'sort', 'deliver'and'round' in C Write up this chart on the board Tell the learnersto copy it Nurae Farmer )tarDe work Jobe Fostman a,m diecueepatiente COW9 sort check other animala deliver_ dealwith olouah aqain lellers aow weedinq Finieheework secondround a.m, Ask the learnersto read the text again and fill in the missing times and words Comment Go through the chart with the whole classasking for answersand filling it in If the descriptionsare too Iong for your class,useonly one or two of them and adaptthe chart ara araraaraaa Follow-up Write the following three groups of words on the board: bue driver author police officer dentiet doctor qardener qrow6 drivea helpo writes arrests lookoafter peoplee'teeth a bue 6ick people criminale planto booka Get the learnersto make sentenceswith words from the three groups,for example: A gardenergrows plants 57 26 Housework L ANGUAGE Readand reorder T ECHNIQUE M AT ERIAL S Lead-in Read and re{rdel Text,on a posteror on the board Preparethe posterifyou are using one PREPARAT ION T IM E 'Housework'vocabularyarea(for example,wash up, sweepthe bedroom, scrub the stairs) Presentsimple tense GUIDE " "'i";;k 40 minutes ,il;learn;;; closetheir eyesand think of all the housework their mother or father does,or ihey do, in a typical day.Get them to open their eyes.Collect suggestionsfrom the class.Elicit or supply key houseworkvocabularyfrom the text ('wash','feed', 'scrub','carryout rubbish',etc) by askingquestions,for example, 'Who carriesout the rubbish?'(mime if thev don't understand) Put up the text below Feedthe baby,qet up, call the five children,waah the children ?ut the children to bed, tidy up, aweepthe kitchen, feed the baW Givehuabandand the childrentheir eupper,fetch more water from the yard, waoh up 5crub the etaire and hall,go out and buy food for the day Give huebandand the childrentheir breakfaat,huaband4oeo to work,aend the children to echool,have own breakfaat Clearaway and waahup the breakfaet thinqe,carry down rubbiehand carry up water from the yard, waohthe clothea, hang the clothee out to dry, oweepthe bedroom,waehand drese the baby,feed him Havelunch,feed the baby,mendclothea,waahand iron clothes B Childrencome back from achool,feed the baby,huebandcomes back from work,cook everybody'e6upper Go to bed Tell the learnersthat this is a day in the life of a housewifein 1900 Shelived in London in two rooms and had six children s8 26 Housework Ask somequestions,for example: How many times does she feed the baby? How many meals does she cook? How many times does she have to fetch water? Get the learnersto scanthe text and find the answersas quickly as possible Follow-up The first and last lists of actionsare in the right placebut the others are in the wrong order Tell the learnersto read the text more slowly and write the numbers of the lists in the right order Then askthem to comparetheir answersin pairs.Checkthe answers with the wholeclass(1, 5,6,4,7,8,3,2,9) Ask the classhow this day compareswith their own or with their mother's and father's.Is life easiernow? Extend vocabulary by teachingthe namesof householdobjectsand gadgets.Ask the learnersto match a pieceof equipment in list A with a'use'verb from list B (Someusesneedmore than one item.) A E clothes line washthe clothee oroom cook the dinner bowl dry the clothee cooker waoh up duebpanand bruah polioht.hefurniture moP clean the ffoor Pans dusLer contains rubbieh bin iron the clothes ecrub the floor ocrubbin4bruah iron Alternatively, get the learners,in pairs, to write the day in the life of a man or woman working at home in the present day.Discusshow things have changed,if at all, over the years.If appropriate you could elicit/teach the following vocabulary: vacuumcleaner elecricitv raPs 4ao 59 Abitities 27 L ANGUAGE Readand guess T ECHNIQUE Texts,on a posteror on the board M AT ERIAL S Preparethe poster if you are using one P REPARAT ION T IM E Lead-in Abilities' (for example,climb, run, drive) and'qualities' (for example,adventurous, energetic,ambitious) vocabulary areas GUIDE t 40 minutes Pre-teachthe following vocabulary: adventurous energetic ambitious entertaining patient fit healthy Ask the learnersto discussin pairs which qualities they have or haven't got Can they think of a job that would suit the qualities they have got, for example,explorer-adventurous and energetic; teacher-patient and entertaining? Write thesewords on the board: climb lie lauqh run drive read play the 7uitar act knit Explain any that learnersdon't understand.Again ask them to discusswhat they can and can't and what jobs theseabilities are useful for Readand guess Put up the following texts on a poster or on the board: I 5UE I am a4ed 2B and veryfit I am adventuroue and I like travellinq, eepeciallyqoinq on very lon4 journeyo.I can play the quitar and ein6 ao I can entertain everyone on the way! 60 27 Abilities AMY I am youn4,fit, and healthy.I can cook, oew,knit, read, oinq, dance, paint, act, clean,and entertain I can makeeveryonelau7hand I am verypatient I can eolveprobleme and end quarrelo RON I am 34 yeara old and havea loL of experiencein thie work.I have4ood eyeei4ht and am fit, healthy, and thin I can climbtrees - and drainpipeeI I can run veryfaet and drive very fast whenI need to Ask scanningquestions,for example: Who likes adventure? Who can cook and sew? Who can sing? Get the learnersto scanthe texts as quickly as possibleto find the answers Write the following jobs on the board: mother aetronaut bur7lar Tell the learnersthat the text is parts of letters applying for jobs Tell them to match the jobs with the texts.Get them to work in pairs Check the answerswith the class (1 Sue-astronaut; Amy-mother; Follow-up Ron-burglar.) Write thesewords in two columns on the board: Qualitiea Jobs adventuroue enerqetic ambitioua entertaininq amuainq fit patient explorer eoldier doctor clown footballer teacher nuroe Ask learnerswhich qualities the different people should have.Get them to think of other appropriatequalities,for example,'brave' (for a soldier or explorer),'intelligent'(for a doctor), and'kind' (for a nurse) If they don't know the word in English,translateit for them 6l Rures 28 Must, mustn't No -ing Imperatives L ANGUAGE Readand guess T ECHNIQUE Notices,on a posteror on the board M AT ERIAL S Preparethe posterif you are using one PREPARAT ION T IM E Lead-in GUIDE 1, 30 minutes Draw thesetraffic signs on the board Ask the learnerswhat they mean Tell them the English words if they don't know them Then ask the learnerswhere you might see thesesigns Readand guess v rs lToRs ARE NOT A L L OW E D TO SMOKE Put up the posterbelow: NO ENTRY KE EP O F F THE GRASS NO OVERTAKING 62 !'s,c 2E Ru'es DOGS NO EATING SILENCE OR DRfNKING NO TALKING NOT ALLOWED DO NOTTOUCH IN HERE v f s t roRS MUET LEAVE BY 5.oO PM VI SI T O RS M UST NO T FEED THE A N IMA L S Ask the learners to scanthe texts quickly and tell you which of the rules apply in the classroom Tell the learnersto work in pairs and decidewhereyou might see thesenotices(for example,in a hospital,on a road, in a park, in a library, at the zoo, in an art galleryor museum) Follow-up , ' o" " Ask the pairs to tell you their suggestions Write them on the board ;;;#;;;;;'y by putting theseactionson the board: drop litt'er eat and drink emoke pick flowera run ehout touch lean out of the window talk loudly Ask the learnersto put the actions into three categories: Thingoyou muetn't in a park Thinqeyou muetn't' in a library Thinqoyou muetn't in a train 63 29 Describing actions LANGUAGE 'Actions'(for example,digging,fighting, climbing) vocabularyarea Presentcontinuous rECHNreuE Readand sort MATERTALS Text,on a posteror on the board; sheetsof paper for all the learners IREIARATToN Preparethe posterif you are usrngone TrMEGUrDE 40 minutes Lead-in 1- Write thesewords on the board: di4qinq fiqhtinq climbinq eweepinq feedinq rabbita choppin4veqetablea oleepin7 Ask the learnersto divide them into two groups,'indoor'and 'outdoor'.Somewords can be included in both groups R ea da n dso r t''''''"";'';;;;;i l ;.,i r,,"r , " r ' A lt'e a lovelyaunny day and my family are all outeide My parenta are both workin4hard D My familyare all at homeat the moment,ln fact they'reall in the kitchen C My father ie workin7in the qarden-he'o dig4in7the ve7etablea and my moLherie han4inqout the waehinq.Everyoneie enjoyinq themeelves D As for the reet of the family-oome are helpinqand someare juot beinqlazy One of my brohheraia reading a book in the corner near the door E Twoof my brothere are playin7 football, F Another brother ia waahinqthe diehee, G lt'e reallycrowded!My mother ie cookinqwhilemy father ia eweepinqthe floor H and the other Lwoare fi7hLingunder the table I another io climbinqa tree, J My older sieter ie feedin4the rabbits-ahe haLeedoin7 Lhie! )nly one peraonian't busy: K and the two youn4eat.areplayin4'catch',with my youn7er aiater L My aistere are choppinqveqetableoand talkinq about the dance laet ni6ht, M and my 4randmotheria tellinq everyonewhat to as uaual N my qrandmoLheris eleepinqpeacefullyin the eunshine 64 Describing actions 29 Ask the learnersto read rapidly and sayhow many families are described.Give eachlearner a sheetof paper and ask them to work in pairs Tell one learner in eachpair to copy A to G, and the other learner to copy H to N Tell the learnersto cut up their sheetsof paper into strips so that eachpiece of text is on a strip They should then put all the strips on the desk,and try to sort them into two different descriptions When they have finished, ask them for the letters of the piecesof text in the first descriptionin the correctorder (A, C, E, I, K, J,N) If the learnershave any sentencesin the wrong order, they can rearrangethem as they listen Go through the description, asking a few comprehensionquestions,for example: How many brothersand sistersare mentioned? What is grandmother doing? Readthe description aloud, and then the sameprocedurewith the second(B, G, D, R H, L, M) It's a lovely sunny day and my family are all outside.My parents are both working hard My father is working in the garden-he's digging the vegetablesand my mother is hanging out the washing Everyoneelseis enjoying themselves.Two of my brothers are playing football, another is climbing a tree, and the two youngestare playing'catch'with my youngersister.My older sister is feeding the rabbits-she hatesdoing this! Only one person isn't busy: my grandmother is sleepingpeacefully in the sunshine! My family are all at home at the moment In fact they're all in the kitchen It's really crowded! My mother is cooking while my father is sweepingthe floor As for the rest of the family-some are helping and some are just being lazy.One of my brothers is reading a book in the corner near the door Another brother is washing the dishes,and the other two are fighting under the table My sistersare chopping vegetablesand talking about the dancelast night, and my grandmother is telling everyonewhat to as usual at *3 Follow-up aaaaaaraaa.araaa Extend vocabulary for actions.Write thesewords on the board: )weepinq the floor eatin7 plantinq eeede diq7in4 watering dryinq the dishes weeding ocrubbin4 cuttinq the graee waehinqup laying the table choppinqveqeLableo Ask learnersto divide them into two groups-'Things you in gardens'and'Thingsyou in kitchens' 65 Describing action s2 30 L ANGUAGE Readand draw T ECHNIQUE Poem,on a posteror on the board M AT ERIAL S Preparethe posterif you are using one P REPARAT ION T IM E Lead-in 'Town' (for example,sidewalk, subway,elevator) vocabulary area Presentcontinuous GUIDE 40 minutes 7- Write thesewords on the board: sidewalk eubway elevator taxi crowd hurry qrumpy Teachany that the learnersdo not know Tell the learnersthat the words come from a poem called'Singa song of people'.Ask them to predict what the songwill be about Read and draw Put up the poem Cover everything but the title and the first two and the last two hnes 5ing a oong of people )inq a son7 of people Walkin4fast or olow Feoplein the city Up and down they qo Teopleon Lhe oidewalk Feopleon the bue Peoplepaooinqpaooin4 ln backand front of ua ?eopleon the oubway Underneaththe qround Feopleridin4 taxie Koundand round and round Teoplewith their hate on Goinqin the doora Peoplewith umbrellae Whenit raine and pour6 ?eoplein tall buildin4e And in ohopobelow Kidinq elevators Up and down they 4o 66 Teoplewalkinqein4ly Feoplein a crowd Feopleoayin7 nothing ?eopletalkinq loud Feoplelauqhinq,emilinq Grum?y peopletoo Teoplewhojuet hurry And neverlookat you! 9in4 a eon4 of people Wholike to comeand go 5in4 of city people Youeee but neverknow! Describingactions2 ffiro Ask the learnersto read the lines which you haveleft uncovered Discusssomeof the things the city peoplemight be doing Write the learners'suggestions on the board Uncover the whole poem Readit aloud with the learners,then ask them to draw a picture of the people in the poem Get them to compare their pictures with a partner Ask for a volunteer to come to the board and draw somethinganything-from the poem Ask for other volunteers to add to the picture until all the things in the poem havebeen illustrated Comment This poem is about an American city.'Sidewalk','subway' and 'elevator' are allAmerican English words The British English equivalentsare 'pavement','underground', and 'lift' Follow-up Extend vocabulary with the following exercise.Put thesewords on the board: pavement office block road zebra croaeinq ehope litter bin buo otop traffic li7hta lamp-poot Draw this picture of a streeton the board SUPERfVIARKET Ask the learnersto copy it and label the picture using the words on the board Ask the learnersto draw five stick people on their own pictures Thesepeoplecan be doing any actions.Put the learnersin pairs and get them to describetheir pictures without showing them to eachother They should draw in their partner's people on their picture 67 o level, allof them Thisbookcontains thirtyactivities atelementary dailylives,for dealingwithtopicswhichformpartof everybody's theteacher example,families andleisure activities.The onlymaterials paper, are needaretheboard, instructions andclass andpens.The additional clearandeasyto followandtheauthors haveprovided methodological supportin a shortIntroduction Pictures andtextsforteachers to copy Tipsonproducing reading texts forreading withlargeclasses Suggestions vocabulary forexpanding ldeas Adaptable activities OXFORDENGLISH s B N0 - - 4 - I 780 94 + 1737