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Useful as icebreakers, warm-ups, and fillers. It requires students to form questions using a prompt. The prompts typically spark interesting conversations.

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This activity involves learners by asking them to try to find someone in the class who matches a description or knows certain information. It can be used to practice new vocabulary, to activate background knowledge, or to review concepts. You can also use it as a "getting to know you" activity to build community in the classroom.

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"Find Someone Who" Worksheets | EnglishClub

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Ready-to-go worksheets for the classic 'find someone who' classroom warm-up activity. Printer-friendly PDFs.

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Jigsaw reading can be done in two ways

Two separate stories
If you have two news stories that share a theme - for example two separate stories on crime - prepare comprehension questions for each story. Give one half of the class (Group A) one story, and the other half (Group B) the other. The students read their article, answer the questions and check understanding. Students then pair up with someone from the other group and tell them about their story, and listen to the other one. To help students remember their story you may get them to take notes. Alternatively, the students can keep the article with them to refer to. Be careful though, as lazier (or ingenious) students will either read the article aloud, or simply give it to their partner to read!!

One story split in two
Some stories can be clearly divided in two. Follow the same procedure as above, but giving each group only one half of the story. When the students are recounting their half of the article, make sure that the student with the opening half goes first.

Once the students have orally exchanged stories, they should then read the other person's article.

As a refinement, you can give student B questions to quiz student A about their article.

Jigsaw reading is a great way to introduce speaking into a reading lesson. It provides a real opportunity for genuine communication. In real life, we may tell people about a news article we have read, so this is a classroom activity that is fairly authentic.

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In the jigsaw form of instruction, material is divided, usually into four parts, and distributed to small groups to learn. When these homogeneous expert groups have mastered their material, students regroup into heterogeneous groups to present material and complete a task. Peer teaching and group problem solving are used to complete the jigsaw.

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The use of categories is especially relevant to memory.

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Categories list in developmental order:

Basic - animals, body parts, clothes, colors, days of the week, desserts, food, letters, names, numbers, relatives, rooms, shapes, sounds, toys, words

Early Elementary - beverages, birds, book parts, buildings, characters, coins, collectables, condiments, containers, dinosaurs, directions, emotions, flowers, fruits, holidays, ingredients, insects, instruments, jobs, jungle animals, liquids, things that magnify, things that measure, months, movies, parts of stories, patterns, planets, plants, punctuation, reptiles, rhyming words, seasons, senses, silverware, sizes, solids, sounds, sports, transportation, tools, vegetables, vowels, writing utensils

Late Elementary - abbreviations, abilities, adjectives, businesses, cities, consonants, countries, communication, continents, currency, exercises, habitats, hazards, mammals, materials, measure units, metals, nouns, oceans, odd/even numbers, parts of speech, presidents, punctuation, school subjects, seasonings, sizes, states, symbols, textures, trees, verb tenses, verbs, weather

Secondary - adverbs, 13 original American colonies, ancient civilizations, constellations, cuisine, elements, famous landmarks, fasteners, government types, gasses, gems, internal organs, languages, minerals, mountain ranges, music types, precipitation, reference books, religions, traditions

Category Printable Worksheets and Activities - Basic Activities

Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (1) Category Directions Activity - Basic 1: Doc PDF ; (2) Category Directions Activity - Basic 2 Doc PDF; (3) Category Seek and Find 1: Doc PDF; (4) Category Seek and Find 2: Doc PDF; (5) What doesn't belong?: Doc PDF; (6) Category Puzzle: Doc PDF
Category Worksheets and Activities - Tic Tac Toes and Grids

Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

(1) (2) (3) (4)
(5) (6) (7) (1) Category "grid" or squares 1: Doc PDF; (2) Category "grid" or squares 2: Doc PDF; (3) Category Tic Tac Toe - Connect 3 - Basic Doc PDF ; (4) Category Tic Tac Toe - Connect 3 Elementary Doc PDF ; (4) Category Tic Tac Toe - Connect 4 Higher Level Doc PDF; (5) Tic Tac Toe Template 16 squares Doc PDF; (6) Tic Tac Toe Template 25 squares Doc PDF (1) Basic Category Word Search Doc PDF; (2) Later Developing Category Word Search Doc PDF; (3) Sentence Search: Doc PDF;
Category Word and Sentence Searches

Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.
(1)(5) (6)(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (7) (8) (2) (3) (4)
(1) (2) (3)

Category Pictures

Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

Other Category Worksheets and Activities

Click on picture to view a small preview of each activity. Click on Doc or PDF to download worksheets in preferred format.

Background Information

Information that can be organized in some manner is most easily retrieved (Nippold, 1998). The organization of words into categories provides effective neural "hooks" for retrieval and an effective "filing cabinet" for storage. Many words fall neatly into categories that help this storage and retrieval, while many other words require some linguistic manipulation to find category relatives. The philosopher Immanuel Kant claimed that categories are essential in understanding the world (Pojman, 1998). The notion that things exist independently of human categories which are then imposed upon those things in order to better understand them has long been a deeply influential concept in human thought.

Examples are the opposite of categories. For example, spring and summer are examples of the category of seasons. The term "superordinate" is frequently used in linguistic circles to refer to categories. "Subordinates" is used to refer to category members. For example, trumpets and flutes are subordinate members of the superordinate class of instruments.

The use of categories is especially relevant to memory (McCormick and Schiefelbusch, 1990). Short term memory relies on techniques such as chunking, while association is key to long term memory. Chunking and association both use categories. The use of categories also aids us in describing related words, allowing us to more effectively communicate our knowledge of these words.

Commonly used assessments with categories include the EOWPVT, PLS, TOSS-P, TOSS-I, and the LPT assessments.

Goal Suggestions

Grumpy will identify one picture of an age appropriate category when presented with various foils, e.g. "Point to a vegetable."

Sleepy will identify three pictures of age appropriate categories when presented with various foils, e.g. "Point to three reptiles."

Bashful will name age appropriate categories when given three members, e.g. "What are ostriches, robins, and cardinals?"

Doc will label three category members of age appropriate categories, e.g. "Name three consonants."

Elicitation Ideas

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Categories - word lists, activities, worksheets, and more

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Categories list in developmental order: Basic - animals, body parts, clothes, colors, days of the week, desserts, food, letters, names, numbers, relatives, rooms, shapes, sounds, toys, words Early Elementary - beverages, birds, book parts, buildings, characters, coins, collectables, condiments, containers, dinosaurs, directions, emotions, flowers, fruits, holidays, ingredients, insects, instruments, jobs, jungle animals, liquids, things that...

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Suitable for checking the prior-knowledge and revision.

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Students develop their communication skills and also learn to act by using thetarget vocabulary and grammar.

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Tips on successful classroom role-play

Introduction
Incorporating role-play into the classroom adds variety, a change of pace and opportunities for a lot of language production and also a lot of fun! It can be an integral part of the class and not a 'one-off' event. If the teacher believes that the activity will work and the necessary support is provided, it can be very successful. However, if the teacher isn't convinced about the validity of using role-play the activity "will fall flat on its face just as you expected it to" (Gillian Porter Ladousse 1987). Therefore, if you think positive and have a go, you may be pleasantly surprised!

What is role-play?
Role-play is any speaking activity when you either put yourself into somebody else's shoes, or when you stay in your own shoes but put yourself into an imaginary situation!

Imaginary people - The joy of role-play is that students can 'become' anyone they like for a short time! The President, the Queen, a millionaire, a pop star ........ the choice is endless! Students can also take on the opinions of someone else. 'For and Against' debates can be used and the class can be split into those who are expressing views in favour and those who are against the theme.

Imaginary situations - Functional language for a multitude of scenarios can be activated and practised through role-play. 'At the restaurant', 'Checking in at the airport', 'Looking for lost property' are all possible role-plays.

Why use role-play?
It is widely agreed that learning takes place when activities are engaging and memorable. Jeremy Harmer advocates the use of role-play for the following reasons:

Quieter students get the chance to express themselves in a more forthright way

The world of the classroom is broadened to include the outside world - thus offering a much wider range of language opportunities

In addition to these reasons, students who will at some point travel to an English-speaking country are given a chance to rehearse their English in a safe environment. Real situations can be created and students can benefit from the practice. Mistakes can be made with no drastic consequences.

Tips on successful classroom role-play
Prepare for success
Role-play is possible at elementary levels providing the students have been thoroughly prepared. Try to think through the language the students will need and make sure this language has been presented. Students may need the extra support of having the language on the board. I recently did a 'lost property office' role-play with elementary adults and we spent time beforehand drilling the structures the students would need to use. When the role-play began the students felt 'armed' with the appropriate language. At higher levels the students will not need so much support with the language but they will need time to 'get into' the role.

The role of the teacher
Some of the possible teacher roles are:

Facilitator - students may need new language to be 'fed' in by the teacher. If rehearsal time is appropriate the feeding in of new language should take place at this stage.

Spectator - The teacher watches the role-play and offers comments and advice at the end.

Participant - It is sometimes appropriate to get involved and take part in the role-play yourself.

Bring situations to life
Realia and props can really bring a role-play to life. A group of my young learners recently played the roles of pizza chef and customer. A simple cone of white card with CHEF written on it took a minute to make and I believe it made the whole process more fun and memorable for the class. As soon as it was placed on their heads they 'became' the pizza chef and acted accordingly.

Rearranging the furniture can also help. If you are imagining you are at the tourist information office or at the doctor's surgery try to make it as real as you can. Students can even leave the room and make an entrance by knocking on the door.

Keep it real and relevant
Try to keep the roles you ask students to play as real to life as possible. It may be hard for students who have little opportunity to travel to imagine they are in 'Ye Olde Tea Shop' in the heart of the English countryside. However, it may be within their schema to imagine they have been asked to help an English speaker who is visiting their own country. This may involve using some L1 to explain about the local culture or to translate local menus into English for the guest to their country.

Students working in the business world may find it easy to role-play a business meeting with colleagues visiting from abroad. If you are working with young children, try to exploit their natural ability to 'play'. They are used to acting out a visit to the shops or preparing food, as that is how they play with their friends.

Feed-in language
As students practise the role-play they might find that they are stuck for words and phrases. In the practice stage the teacher has a chance to 'feed-in' the appropriate language. This may need the teacher to act as a sort of 'walking dictionary', monitoring the class and offering assistance as and when necessary. If you are not happy doing this and you feel that the process of finding the new language should offer more student autonomy, you could have 'time-out' after the practice stage for students to use dictionaries to look up what they need.

As mentioned in the role of the teacher section, feeding-in the language students need is fundamental. By doing so, they will learn new vocabulary and structure in a natural and memorable environment. It is a chance to use real and natural language.

Error Correction
There are many ways to correct mistakes when using role-play. It is rarely appropriate for the teacher to jump in and correct every mistake. This could be incredibly demotivating! Some students do like to be corrected straight after a role-play activity, while the language is still fresh in their minds. Sentences with errors can be written on the board for the group to correct together.

Self-correction - If you have the equipment to record the role-plays either on audiocassette or on video, students can be given the opportunity to listen to the dialogue again and reflect on the language used. They may find it easy to spot their own mistakes.

Peer-correction - Fellow students may be able to correct some mistakes made by their peers. Students could be asked to listen out for both great bits of language they'd like to use themselves, and some mistakes they hear. Be careful to keep peer-correction a positive and profitable experience for all involved.

Making a note of common mistakes yourself and dealing with them in future classes ensures that the students don't lose motivation by being corrected on the spot or straight after the role-play. Negotiate with students and ask them how they would like to be corrected.

Use your imagination and have fun Bibliography
The most successful role-play I did last year was with a group of teenagers and was used as a spring board activity after listening to a song. The song was Avril Lavigne´s Skater Boy. The class worked in pairs to act out the scene of Skater Boy finally getting to meet his ex-girlfriend after the concert. The results were humorous and I was surprised that they all really got into the roles they played.

Role-play can be a lot of fun. If you still feel reluctant to use it in the class I suggest you begin to integrate it slowly. Why not extend an appropriate reading or a listening from a course book and turn it into a role-play? You may be pleasantly surprised by the results!

Role Play - Gillian Porte Ladousse (Oxford 1987)
The Practice of English Language Teaching - Jeremy Harmer (Longman 1989)

Joanna Budden, British Council, Spain

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Tips on successful classroom role-play Introduction Incorporating role-play into the classroom adds variety, a change of pace and opportunities for a lot of language production and also a lot of fun! It can be an integral part of the class and not a 'one-off' event.

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Role playing games and lesson idea - Fun for the whole class! We've got tons of them for you to choose from - and everything is free. Click here to start!

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Games and role play (ages 6-10) | Oxford University Press

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Get English language teaching and learning resources for teaching English to young learners, teenagers, and adults.

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Brainstorming allows students of different experience and knowledge to work together in groups. Everybody can contribute with what they are good at. This is particularly beneficial as well as comfortable for weak and/or shy students. As there are no wrong and right answers, the sessions provide students with a platform where they can voice their thoughts without a fear of failure. Working together also motivates participants to listen to each other.

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A brainstorming session is a useful tool to generate ideas or find solutions to a problem. These sessions explore and expand a student's ability to think critically and laterally. As students get actively involved, the sessions aid the process of learning and improve academic performance.
What are the benefits of brainstorming sessions?
Brainstorming in the classroom motivate students to freely express their ideas and thoughts on a subject. As there are no wrong and right answers, the sessions provide students with a platform where they can voice their thoughts without fear of failure.

The sessions give the class a chance to tap into their previous knowledge and form connections between the current topic and what they have already learned. It also encourages them to listen and consider others' ideas, thereby showing respect for their fellow classmates.
How to get started?
Brainstorming sessions may seem like an unstructured activity, however, laying down some rules may ensure smooth functioning of the session. Here are some ideas that may aid the brainstorming sessions:

Discussing and not fighting: There is no winning or losing team while brainstorming. All the ideas and thoughts are considered and given equal preference. The teacher should moderate the session so that the discussion is amiable and students are learning. Also ensure that everyone contributes to the session.

Generate answers: Frame the question that needs to be brainstormed carefully so that maximum ideas may be generated. Teachers should prepare a list of sub-questions that may help direct the thoughts of the students in the right direction in case the discussion hangs or the students get side tracked. Instruct the students to record their ideas so that it won't be missed and there is no repetition.

Set a time limit: Set a time limit on the discussion. The time set would depend on the nature of the topic. At the end of the session, a student can summarize all the ideas that were discussed.

Teacher facilitates: The teacher should coordinate and manage the session without adding their evaluation or comments on the ideas presented.
Tips on facilitating brainstorming
Here are some methods by which the teacher may smoothly facilitate brainstorming sessions in the classroom:
Simple brainstorming
Write down the discussion question on the blackboard or a flip chart and encourage students to add their inputs. After the time is over, the students can voice the ideas written on the board or chart.
Brainstorming in groups
The class may be divided into groups. They may all be given the same topic, a paper to record their ideas and instructions on the time limit. Once the time is over, each group will choose a student who may read out their ideas. The students may also be given a second paper to note the ideas that they have missed out. In this way, students are able to generate and understand all the ideas presented in the session.
Paired brainstorming
In this strategy, the students are divided into pairs and each pair discusses their ideas and notes them down.
Pie method
A circle is drawn and the topic written in the center. The teacher divides the circle into 4 or 6 parts, representing sub-topics. Students are instructed to generate ideas for each sub-topic and these are written down. At the end of the session, the diagram represents all the ideas that make up the total topic.
Card method
In this method, students are asked to list their ideas on a stacked card and pass it to their right. The student on the right reads the idea that was written and adds to it. In this way, the card is passed around the class with each individual contributing to an idea. In case someone has no contribution, they may write a question which could be discussed by the other students. Once all the cards have been passed around, the teacher may collect them and read back the ideas to the class.

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Discuss here: What are some ways you have facilitated brainstorming in the classroom?

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How can I Facilitate Brainstorming in the Classroom?

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Brainstorming in the classroom motivate students to freely express their ideas and thoughts on a subject. As there are no wrong and right answers, the sessions provide students with a platform where they can voice their thoughts without fear of failure.

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Brainstorming exercises for ESL and writing classes.

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Brainstorming exercises that help prepare and engage students with topics and also expand their knowledge of vocabulary and encourage critical thinking.