Two activities

Hello everybody!

First of all I would like to congratulate Neda for the course. I'm going to write about two activities which I like because they have been very useful in my class and my students have liked enjoyed them.

Picture dictation

I describe a photograph and my students have to draw what I'm describing. It can be done in a low level class just to practice easy vocabulary and prepositions of place or in a higher level class using more complicated vocabulary and expressions like "in the background", "in the foreground", "at the top", "at the bottom", "on the left side", .... At the end I show the picture to the students and they compare it with their drawing. Then one or two (or more) students describe other pictures, so they can practice listening and speaking.

Dictation (true/false)

The teacher dictates twelve sentences. Six sentences are true and the other six are false. Students have to write the sentences and try to guess if they are true or false. When they have finished, they correct the sentences on the blackboard and the teacher says if they are true or false. You can to do it to practice different grammatical points, for example I usually do it with present perfect, but you can use present simple, past simple .... . Students always like to know about their teacher's life, so they really like this activity.

Example of sentences:

I have never been fined for speeding.

I have written a novel.

I have been to China. 

When we finish the activity we do a pair activity: They have to dictate four sentences to their partners about themselves, two of them are true and the other two are false. They have to write them and guess if they are true or false. Students practise listening, writing and speaking

Mª José Ramos