Warmer Activities Portfolio

ORAL SKILLS IN SECONDARY

Montse Gato

A Portfolio

Oral Warmer Activities for Secondary

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INDEX ACTIVITY …...........................PAGE

*Battle ships............................3-4

*Blackout …...........................5-7

*Crazy Story............................8

*Find someone who has.................9-11

*Funny Holidays.........................12-13

*Headmaster game......................14

*The World's funniest Joke...........15-18

*Vacation Cards........................19-20

*What's different?....................21

*BIG BROTHER! …....................22-25


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activityBattle Ships

Aim of activityPractice and vocabulary revision

Age / level of learners

Begginers to intermediate

Source iteslj.orj/games

Teaching aids / materials

Procedure 1.Divide the class into groups (4-5 students)

2.The students make the name for their ships for example with the names of animals, cities,movie stars or let them find their own favourite names.

3.The students choose the captain and the shooter.The captain's duty is to memorize his ship's name, so he can reply if somebody call his ship's name. The shooter's duty is to memorize the names of the ships of 'their enemies', so he can shoot them by calling their ship's name.

4.Arrange all the captains in a circle, the ships' crews must line up behind their captains. The shooter is the last crew member in line.

5.The teacher must decide a lexical area of vocabulary, this vocabulary will be used to defend their ships from the attacks. Every students (except the shooters) must find their own words. The lexical area for example, "Four Legged Animals". Give the students 1-2 minutes to find as many possible words as they can and memorize them.


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6. Start the game by calling a ship's name, for example the ship name is "THE CALIFORNIAN". The captain of THE CALIFOR

NIAN must reply with a word from the lexical area given, for example he says "TIGER" followed by his crews behind him one by one, "COW"; "SHEEP" until it is the shooter turns and he calls out the name of another ship and the captain of the ship called must reply and his crews must do the same thing. No word can be repeated.

7. If the captain is late to reply (more than 2 seconds) or his

crew can not say the words or a word repeated or the shooter shoots the wrong ship (his own ship or the ship that has already been sunk) the ship is sunk, and the crew members can join thecrew of another ship.

8. In the last round there will be two big groups battling to be the winner.

Comment - The teacher can change the lexical area for the next round.


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity BLACKOUT (A role-play)

Aim of activityFluency.Focus on expressions used to talk about being afraid


Intermediate

Sourceonestopenglish.com


Role cards copies (1 copy for each pair of students)Two mobile phones

Procedure 1.Write the word Blackout on tne blackboard and let them guess its meaning or explain it.

2.Give a real example of this situation:In the summer of 2003, the state of New York and parts of Canada had one of the

biggest blackouts in history. On August 14 the electricity went out and stayed out for almost 15 hours.

3.Ask the students to brainstorm what they think

happened to people during the blackout.

Ideas:- People were trapped in elevators and subways.

- Restaurants had to throw away lots of food

because the refrigerators didn’t work.

- Nobody could get money from the banks

because the bank machines and the computers

didn’t work...

4.Set up the situation. It is 4 in the afternoon in

New York on August 14...(You may change the location and time)


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5.Each pair of students will be given a role card with a situation and some language on it. They have five minutes to prepare their role-play. The role-play must last at least one minute and they must incorporate the expression on their role cards (for this part

they have to decide who says the expression!).

They mustn’t tell anyone else what their

expressions are.

6.Pairs perform their mini role-play in front of the class. To help the students “get into role” give them each a (turned off) mobile phone to speak into.

7. The rest of the class has to pay attention and try to “spot” the expressions that were on the card.After each role-play,

see if the class can find the expression.

8.After all the role-plays are finished, do a quick review of the new language that came out.

You can follow this role-play up with some questions:

-What would you do if you were in this

situation? -Has anyone been in a similar

situation? What is your advice on what to do

during a blackout?

CommentFor more or less advanced learners, vary the preparation time and presentation time. For lower students give them more language to get them started, for example the first two lines of dialogue (this requires a little more preparation


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on your part). Very creative classes could make

up their own situations for role-play.

BLACKOUT! ROLE CARDS:BLACKOUT!

A: You are in an elevator which is stuck between two floors. There is no light. You are visiting a friend in the building. You call your friend.B: You are waiting for a visit from your friend when the lights went out.

Expression: I’m REALLY afraid of the dark.

BLACKOUT! A: You are a criminal. You see a chance of making some money by robbing a bank during the blackout. You want to convince a friend to help you.B: You are a criminal. Your friend calls you to ask for help, but you are scaredthat the lights will come on. You don’twant the police to catch you.

Expression: I’m terrified we’ll get caught.

BLACKOUT! A: You are on the metro when the blackout happens. There is a pregnant woman in the train with you and you think she is going to have her baby. You phone the emergency services for help.B: You work at the emergency services. Give A advice on what to dowith a pregnant woman.

Expression: I’m freaking out here!

BLACKOUT! A: You are a student. You were finishing your homework on the computer when the blackout occurred. You have to phone your teacher and explain that you can’t do the homework now.B: You are the teacher. You won’t accept A’s excuse because thehomework is already two weeks late!

Expression: I was frightened of losing it, so I did it on the computer

BLACKOUT!

A: You are the President of the United States. You want an explanation of what is happening. You are worried

that this is a terrorist attack.

B: You are the Head of the FBI. You were fishing when the blackout happened and have no information.

Expression: Frankly, I’m quite anxious about all this.

BLACKOUT!

A: You are a seventy-year-old man.You are very grumpy. You are waitingfor your daughter to come and makeyou your dinner.

B: You are the daughter. You can’t come to your father’s house now because you have no gas for your car and the gas stations don’t work. Explain how he can make his own dinner.

Expression: I’m so scared!


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity Crazy Story

Aim of activityTo review verbs or any vocabulary and create stories


Any level

Source iteslj.org/games


Pieces of paper

Procedure 1.Ask students to write a word on a piece of paper and tell them not to show anyone. This word should be a verb (or whatever you'd like to rewiew).

2.The teacher starts telling a story, then stops and chooses a student.

3.That student will continue the story and must use his/her word. This student then chooses the next student to continue the story. The last student must end the story.

4.After the story is over, the students then try to guess what words each student has written on his/her paper. The student who guesses the most words wins the game.

Comment


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity Find someone Who Has....

Aim of activityTo practice Short answers for Present Perfect: Yes, I have / No I haven't


2nd -3rd Of ESO

Sourcewww.english-area.com


Photocopy with question list on it. A pencil

Procedure 1.Give the students the photocopy with the list of questions on it.

2.Students have to complete the questions,by writing the appropiate participles on it,but without giving the answers.

3.Students stand up and move around making questionsto their classmates,until finding at least one person who has done each thing on the list.

4.Students have to write his/her name and ask some more questions to that student.

5.Finally, the student has to report to the classs the information that he/she has got from his/her classmates.


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CommentShow your students how to do it by performing an example.There are many other possible grammar aims by playing this game.This is an example.Questions List: Have you ever...

(ride) a horse?

(fly) in a helicopter?

(be) to Africa?

(play) chess?

(go) bowling?

(eat) Mexican food?

(be) on a big ship?

(play) baseball?

(meet) some German person?

(watch) a film in English?

(read) a book in a foreign language?

(find) any money in the street?

(make) a meal for more than 6 people?

(ask) a famous person for an autograph?

(live) in a very big house?

(spend) a whole night watching TV?

(buy) clothes which you have never worn?

(have) a dog?


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(win) a prize?

(write) a poem?

(drive) a lorry?

(forget) your father ́s or your mother ́s birthday?

(lose) your keys?

(sing) in front of people?

(sleep) for more than 10 hours?

-Model answer :Short answers: Yes, I have. / No, I haven ́t.

-Extra questions: -Have you ever ridden a horse?

Yes, I have.

When was it? / did you like it? / was it difficult?/ etc.

-Reporting Information: Nobody has ever ridden a horse.


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity Funny Holidays

Aim of activity1st day activity.To break the ice,getting to know each other.


Intermediate (3rd-4th ESO)

SourceOnestopenglish.com

Teaching aids / materials Photocopy with cards/ Make photocopies

A set of cards for each group (12 students on it )

Procedure 1.Students take a card in turns.

2.If it says truth then they must tell a true story about a past holiday.

3.If they choose a card with a destination or holiday already on it, they must talk about an imaginary holiday they took there.

4.The group must guess which is true and which is false.

CommentEncourage the students to make it as fanciful and detailed as possible.


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You went on a cruise in the Caribbean

Tell the

TRUTH

You went hikingin the mountains

Tell the

TRUTH

You went on a canoe trip in Canada

You went toLondon for an intensive Englishcourse

Tell the

TRUTH

Tell the

TRUTH

You went to New

York City

You watched Tv all day.You didn't go out once.

You went to Australia to visit family.

You won a holiday in Hollywood and Los Angeles


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity Headmaster game

Aim of activityPractice on Reporting actions


Intermediate to upper



Paper for each student and students'dictionaries

Procedure 1.Write on the board: You are the new headmaster of this school. You have two years to make this the perfect school. You can have as much money as you want, but you must spend it all in 2 years.

2. . What changes would you make immediately? 9. What changes must be gradual? 10. What would you do to make it a better school? 11. What changes would you make?

3.Give the students 15 minutes to work alone.

4. Then put them in groups of 3-5 with a leader to organize their thoughts Each group's leader will give its "report" to the other students during the following class period.

5.If your students have a small vocabulary you can help them out by listing on the blackboard areas of discussion: teachers, buildings, classrooms, activities, dorms, lunchrooms,curriculum, sports, playground, library, bathrooms,schedules,music, art,etc.

CommentBe specific. For example, don't say hire better teachers. You must say how you would find better teachers or what kind of teachers you would hire. Also, remember you must think like a headmaster, not like a student! Making school easy and letting the students do no exams or homework will not make parents happy!


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity The world's funniest joke

Aim of activityOral Fluency.Use of Present SimplePausin ang Rhythm when telling jokes


Intermediate +

SourceOnestopenglish.com


Handouts ( one each per group of 3-4 students):-What makes you laugh?-THE WORLD’S FUNNIEST JOKE

Procedure 1. Tell the students to relax to make easier to rememberanything. Ask them to visualise the following:

Think back to the last time you really laughed. Why were you laughing? What happened that made you laugh?

Where were you? Who was there? Were you the only one laughing?

2.WarmerRepeat this once and ask them to get a fixed image of that time in their minds. When they are ready, they should turn to the person next to them and tell them about the last time they laughed.

3.Questionnaire

Now tell the class that they are going to do a speaking activity to find out when each other laugh. Divide the class into groups of three or four.


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Assign one person in each group the role of “researcher”. Tell them that their job is to find out about laughter habits of the others in the group. Give them the first handout (What makes you laugh?). Let this part go on quite a bit if they need it, it is the main focus of the speaking activity.

When they have finished, ask the researchers to report back on what they had discovered.

4.World’s Funniest Joke

Ask how many students laugh at jokes (it’s the last question on the questionnaire).

Write the following words on the board:

"Two hunters / in the woods/ one collapses / doesn'seem to be breathing/ eyes glazed/ other calls emergency/ gasps "My friend is dead! What can I do?"/ operator calm, soothing replies: "Take it easy/ I help / make sure dead."/ silence, then a shot /hunter says, "Ok, now what?"

Ask students to try to make out what the joke is in pairs (they should try to tell it to each other from the cues). Give them a couple of minutes for this, then announce that you are going to tell them the World’s Funniest Joke. Read out the joke as dramatically as possible. When you are done, give them each a copy of you are done, give them each a copy of the joke. Did they understand it? Ask them if they think it is funny.

5.Tell a joke

Tell them now that they are going to practise telling the World’s Funniest Joke in English. They can practise by reading it off the page first, but should try to memorise it. Have students practise in groups. Give some of the following tips:

-Pause dramatically at parts of the joke (e.g. after “his eyes are glazed”, “what can I do?”, “make sure he’s dead” “there is a silence”.

-Put the correct emphasis on the sentences: students should mark the stressed words in each sentence and


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practise getting the rhythm right.

-Make sure you deliver the punch line correctly! Pronunciation problems in the punch line can ruin even the World’s Funniest Joke. So make sure that you can pronounce it all well.

When students have practised, ask them who they think was the best person in the class to tell the joke. As a follow-up you could get students to prepare/translate a joke they know in their own language and tell it in English.

CommentOptional Grammar Point

You might want to draw your students’ attention to the grammar used in the joke. Tell them that in English, the Present Simple is used when recounting a narrative (especially of the joke genre). The reason for doing this is to bring the listener into the story more, to make them feel as if they are living it. When students preparetheir own jokes, they should use Present simple.

What makes you laugh?

You are a researcher doing an investigation about laughter. Interview two or three people and be prepared to make a summary of what you find out.

Here are some questions to help you. Ask more questions to find out more. Be prepared to report back what you find out.

How often do you laugh? all the time/a lot/often/rarely/hardly ever

Do you laugh when you get embarrassed?

Do you laugh when you don’t know what to say?

Do you laugh when you don’t think it’s funny but someone wants you to laugh?

Do you laugh when you feel nervous?

Do you laugh if someone is clumsy?

Do you laugh when other people are laughing?


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Do you laugh when someone tickles you?

Do you laugh when someone is being silly?

Do you laugh when someone makes fun of a third person?

Do you laugh a lot when you are tired?

Do you laugh at jokes?

---------------------------------

THE WORLD’S FUNNIEST JOKE

"Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He

doesn'seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other

man pulls out his phone and calls emergency services. He gasps to

the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator in a

calm, soothing voice replies: "Take it easy. I can help. First, let's

make sure he' dead."

There is a silence, then a shot is heard.

Back on the phone, the hunter says, "Ok, now what?"


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity Vacation cards

Aim of activityTo present the theme and vocabulary of the unit to study


Intermediate to upper level



A deck of cards, blackboard

Procedure 1.Imagine a theme that could be crafted into some sort of story. For example, "send the teacher on a vacation". On the board make a list like the following. (You could ask your student for imput.)

. Aexciting

12. 2depressing 13. 3expensive 14. 4heroic 15. 5romantic 16. 6fantastic 17. 7sad 18. 8almost fatal 19. 9cheap 20. 10dramatic 21. Jhappy 22. Qwierd 23. Kchange one option

2.Offer a beginning to the story so the students may start.

3.They then must continue making an oral story by drawing one card and continuing the story along those lines. For example, if they get 4, then the teacher/protagonist must do something heroic or some kind of heroric event must occur.


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4.If the students draw a K (or whatever card you stipulate), then they can change one option. This seems to help keep the momentum in the game.5.Continue through all cards, with the stipulation that the story must be concluded by the end of the deck. Obviously there is a lot of room for variation.

CommentIt is most interesting if you personalize it and insert yourself or a student (assuming he/she wouldn't mind).


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of activity What is different??

Aim of activityRevise tense verbs (present simple or present perfect)


Low-intermediate

SourceIteslj.org/games

Teaching aids / materials None

Procedure 1.Ask a volunteer to go out of the classroom.

2.While the student is out of the room, the other students change their sweaters, shoes, coats and so on, among themselves.

3.Bring the student who went out of the classroom back inside.

4.He/she has to guess the differences using the verb tense that you've decided.

CommentYou can set the students in pairs so they turn round and in two minutes they change or move their belongings or clothes.Then face to face, they reveal to their partner the differences he/she can see.


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ORAL ACTIVITY

Name of teacher MONTSE

Title for activity BIG BROTHER


14-15 YEARS OLD3º ESO


The aim of the activity is: To practise expressions of opinion, agreement and disagreement and adjectives of character orally.

The teacher needs:24. One copy of the rules/Procedure.25. One copy of the Big Brother contestants descriptions.

Procedure 1.Students should be divided into groups of no more than 8 members (if the grou is bigger the teacher should prepare additional descriptions of contestants).Each group will represent the housemates of Big Brother.

2.Each student must choose a number between 1-8. That number will determine which contestant he ́ll be according to the table below.

3.Then each student is given a copy of the next page and finds out who he/she ́s going to be.

Everyboby introduces himself to the group.

4.Students must decide who they ́re going to nominate according to the information provided in the table and any other details they may make up. Once they ́ve taken a decision they ́ll have to nominate one of their housemates face to face, giving their reasons and saying at least something positive about the nominee too. Nominees have the right to defend themselves.


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5.Once all the contestants have nominated someone, the votes are counted and the two most voted contestants try to persuade the audience not to vote to evict them.

Don’t forget to Point out that this practice is a means to promote the using of the language, and not to make nominations on their mates.

Other info. or variations

Comment

BIG BROTHER CONTESTANTS

1.Jane 24 years old

single unemployed

Easy-going, friendly and fun, but very lazy.

Excellent cook.

She loves sleeping and snores.

2. Tom

35 years old

married

mechanic

Cheerful and clever, obsessed with order.

Very athlectic.

He ́s got smelly feet.

3. Sandra 28 years old

divorced

flight attendant

4. John

40 years old

single


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Intelligent and sensible. A bit pessimistic. She sometimes does the housework.

She always tries to flirt with the men in the

house.

surgeon

Introverted and sensitive.

He can talk about his job for hours.

He always helps with the housework.

He snores.

5. Mary 52 years old

married

tourist guide

Generous and kind. Very noisy sometimes.

She can ́t cook or clean properly.

She often tells dirty jokes.

6. James

22 years old

single

student

Easy-going, talkative and sporty.

He thinks it ́s not neccesary to have a shower

every day.

He can cook and eats a lot.

7. Brenda

20 years old

single

student

Clever and sensitive.

She misses her dog Toby and usually talks

about it.

8. David

25 years old

married

computer engineer

Very self-confident and talkative.

He ́s often late for everything. A bit untidy.

He usually tells funny anecdotes.


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She can spend hours combing her hair,

putting make up on and trying on clothes.

He loves chocolate and sweet things.


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Warmer Activities Portfolio