Title: 

Musical letters (Junior A)

Topic:

the alphabet

Vocabulary:

letters a–z

Materials:

CD

Description:

Play a song on the CD. Children dance around the classroom, singing along. When you pause the CD, call out a letter. Children attempt to form a ‘statue’ of the letter shape with their body. Continue playing until the end of the song. NOTE: The game can also be played using numbers instead of letters.

Title:

Lipread the word (Junior A)

Topic:

clothes or any other topic

Vocabulary:

T-shirt, trousers, skirt, shoes or four words from any other topic

Materials:

flashcards or real items of T-shirt, trousers, skirt and shoes or four flashcards from any other topic

Description:

Hold up the clothes flashcards or real items, one by one. Children call out the words, e.g. ‘T-shirt’, ‘Trousers’, ‘Skirt’ and ‘Shoes’. Stick the flashcards up on the board or display the real items of clothing, as a visual reminder. Point to the clothes items several times, for the children to call out the words. Then a child comes to the front and silently mouths one of the four words to the class. The class guess which word the child is mouthing. The child who guesses correctly then comes to the front to mouth a different word. Continue in the same way until all of the words have been mouthed at least once. If you wish, children can then play the game in pairs.

Title: 

Where’s Donald? (Junior A)

Topic:

rooms

Vocabulary:

bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room

Materials:

Donald puppet, flashcards of bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and living room

Description:

Brainstorm rooms and write the words up on the board: ‘bathroom’, ‘bedroom’, ‘kitchen’ and ‘living room’. The Donald puppet holds up a room flashcard, with the back of the card facing the class. Ask the class ‘Where’s Donald’? The class put up their hands to guess which room he is in. Answer ‘No’ or ‘Yes’. The child who guesses correctly can come up to the front to help Donald hold up the next card. Continue until all cards have been held up at least once.

Title: 

What animal is it? (Junior A)

Topic:

animals

Vocabulary:

elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, rhino, zebra

Materials:

flashcards of elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, rhino and zebra, an envelope

Description:

The children sit in a circle. Place the animal flashcards in the centre. As you point to each picture, the children call out the words. One child then picks up all of the flashcards, comes out of the circle and secretly puts one of the cards into the envelope. The child then returns to the middle of the circle, does a mime of the animal and asks the class ‘What animal is it?’ Children put up their hands to guess and the child in the middle answers ‘No’ or ‘Yes’. When someone guesses correctly, the child in the middle takes the flashcard out of the envelope and holds it up for everyone to see. The child who guessed correctly then puts a different animal flashcard in the envelope and the game continues until each of the flashcards has been hidden at least once.

Title: 

Find someone with long hair (Junior A)

Topic: 

describing people

Vocabulary:

long/short hair, blue/brown/green eyes

Description: 

The children sit in a circle, with one child standing in the middle. Call out e.g. ‘Find someone with long hair’. The child in the middle goes over to one person with long hair, and says ‘Long hair’. These two children then swap places and the game continues. Continue with further instructions, such as ‘Find someone with blue eyes’, ‘… red hair’, ‘… green eyes’, etc.
NOTE: You can also include clothes, e.g. ‘Find someone with … a yellow T-shirt’, ‘… a green sweater’, ‘… a dress’, ‘… jeans’, ‘… a blue skirt’, ‘… white trainers’.

Title: 

Step forward and sing (Junior B)

Topic: 

appearance and family

Vocabulary: 

blond/black hair, glasses, teeth, Dad, Mum, Grandad, Granny

Materials: 

CD

Description: 

The children stand round in a circle. Play the song Dad’s got blond hair from Wonderland B Lesson 1a and the class sing along:

‘1. Dad’s got blond hair,
blond hair, blond hair.
Dad’s got blond hair
and a big moustache.
 
2. Mum’s got red glasses,
glasses, glasses.
Mum’s got red glasses
and earrings too.

3. Grandad’s got black hair,
black hair, black hair.
Grandad’s got black hair
and a long, black beard.

4. Granny’s got no teeth,
no teeth, no teeth.
Granny’s got no teeth,
just a lovely smile.’

Children with blond hair step forward for verse 1. Children with glasses step forward for verse 2. Children with black hair step forward for verse 3. The whole class steps forward, bearing a big smile showing no teeth, for verse 4.

Title:

When’s your birthday? (Junior B)

Topic:

birthdays and months

Vocabulary:

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Materials:

The task is for children to form a circle, going clockwise in the order of their birthdays. They do this by asking one another ‘When’s your birthday?’ and answering with the month. To check they have done this correctly, the children then go round the circle saying the month of their birthday. Then go round the circle again, with children saying ‘I’m older than …’ or ‘I’m younger than …’ and naming a pupil to their left or right as appropriate.

Title: 

What’s the animal? (Junior B)

Topic:

animals

Vocabulary:

giraffe, crocodile, zebra, rhino, hippo, frog, antelope, bug

Materials:

flashcards of giraffe, crocodile, zebra, rhino, hippo, frog, antelope, bug, sticky tack

Description:

Hold up the flashcards one by one while the class call out their names. Then hand out the flashcards, one to each child. If there are more children than flashcards, some children form pairs and share a card. Each child writes down three clues about their animal, e.g. ‘It can swim’, ‘It eats meat/grass/bugs/fish/fruit/leaves’, ‘It’s green/brown/black and white’, ‘It’s got big teeth/four legs’ (you could write these as prompts up on the board to help them). Go round to monitor and check. Children then stand up one at a time and read out their clues for the class to guess the animal. If you wish, when each animal has been guessed, children can stick their animal on the board, placing them in order of size, starting with the smallest on the left and working up to the largest on the right.

Title: 

Order the story (Junior B)

Topic:

Any story from the pupils’ book

Vocabulary:

times, morning activities

Materials:

a set of story sentences for each pair of students, as described below

Description:

Before the class, type up the sentences from a story, adding dotted lines to separate each line of text:

-----------------------------------------------
John Silver wakes Jim up very early.
-----------------------------------------------
“Wake up, Jim and get dressed,” says John Silva.
-----------------------------------------------
“But it’s dark. What time is it?” asks Jim.
-----------------------------------------------
“It’s five o’clock in the morning. We clean the floors at ten past five,” says John Silva.
-----------------------------------------------
“But I’m hungry. What time do we have breakfast?” asks Jim.
-----------------------------------------------
“Later,” says John Silva.
-----------------------------------------------
“Is it breakfast time now?” asks Jim.
-----------------------------------------------
“No! We clean the bottom of the ship at six o’clock,” says John Silva.
-----------------------------------------------
Jim is very hungry now.
-----------------------------------------------
“It’s seven o’clock. Now it’s time for breakfast!” says John Silva.
-----------------------------------------------
“Here you are,” says John Silva.
-----------------------------------------------
“Thank you,” says Jim.
-----------------------------------------------
Jim looks at the food in his bowl.
-----------------------------------------------
“I’m not hungry now,” says Jim.
-----------------------------------------------
Photocopy the text for each pair of students, cut it into strips, jumble up the sentences within each set and clip each set together with a paper clip.
Children work in pairs Hand out a set of story sentences to each pair of pupils. They try to put the lines in order, placing them one below the other on their desk. Go round to monitor and check. When they have all finished, the class read out the story, taking turns to read a line.

Title: 

Take one step if you like playing football (Junior B)

Topic:

sports and other activities

Vocabulary:

playing football, swimming, surfing, playing baseball, playing tennis, playing basketball, riding, diving, scuba diving, skydiving, rock climbing, walking, dancing, washing the dishes, cleaning your room, doing your homework, eating carrots, going to bed early, getting up early

Description:

Children stand in a line against one wall of the classroom. There needs to be a clear space between the children and the opposite wall. Alternatively, you can mark the end of the game with a piece of rope lying in a straight line across the floor. Give the instruction ‘Take one step if you like …’ and follow it with e.g. ‘… playing football’. Those children who like playing football take one step forward. Continue with other sentences, e.g. ‘Take one step if you like … swimming’, ‘… surfing’, ‘… washing the dishes’, ‘… playing baseball’, ‘… cleaning your room’, ‘… playing tennis’, ‘… doing your homework’, ‘… playing basketball’, ‘… riding’, ‘… doing your homework’, ‘… eating carrots’, ‘… diving’, ‘… scuba diving’, ‘… skydiving’, ‘… going to bed early’, ‘… getting up early’, ‘… rock climbing’, ‘… walking’, ‘… dancing’. The first child to reach the opposite wall or to cross the rope is the most sporty member of the class.