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Ss write a short description of an imaginary problem for a magazine 'agony aunt' page. Then they pass the problem on and each student writes a piece of advice before passing to the next. Finally, they get their problem back, read the advice, and then present to the class saying what they thought the best advice was and why.

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Prep statements such as: "Parents should read their child's diary", "Children should dress in the latest fashion", "Pineapple on pizza should be illegal". Then place a FOR and an AGAINST sign on the walls. Read the statements and ask Ss to 'vote with their feet' and run to the signs according to their opinion. Then ask why they voted for or against.

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Give Ss the starting point e.g. "If I had 10 thousand dollars...." and they continue the sentence. Their neighbour has to start with the end of the sentence, making it a condition and develop their own ending.

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Ss are divided in groups. Each group starts writing a story. After 5-10 minutes, they fold the paper and swap it. Only the last sentence is visible. From there, they have to continue with their own story... And then swap it again and again.

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Cool tool to pick a student!

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Ask students to write an haiku (3 lines, 5-7-5 syllables). Brainstorm some vocabulary they may need beforehand (e.g. words to describe nature and feelings)

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Tell your students you are a doctor and they have 3 days to live. Ask them to write down their bucket list and explain meaning ("kicking the bucket"). Discuss.

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The Bucket List (2007) Official Trailer - Morgan Freeman, Jack Nicholson Movie HD

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Bring something to eat, a perfume and a few objects to class. Write on the board:
1. What does it LOOK like?
2. What does it TASTE like?
3. What does it SMELL like?
4. What does it FEEL like?
Start with a blindfolded volunteer. The other students have a list of adjectives and start asking questions: is it salty? is it smooth? is it smelly? The volunteer has to answer. Write the correct adjectives under each category (1-4). A second student then will be asked to describe what the object looks like to the blindfolded student who has to finally guess what it is.

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The "psychologist" writes down a word and each player has to write the first thing that comes to their mind. E.g. APPLE -> Adam. They have 10 secs. Then they submit the cards face down. The psychologist has to choose their favorite. "Patients" can try and convince the psychologist to choose their word (or bluff!). Who wins becomes the new psychologist.

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The Balloon Game is a quiz that encourages students to use their English to stop the balloons from floating away!

This game is a classroom adaptation of a popular Japanese TV quiz segment.

Around four celebrities or comedians stand within a basket with a screen of balloons in front of them. The host or MC asks a question and the contestants have to guess a percentage.

For example:

What percentage of people have travelled to more than 20 countries?

The contestants discuss together and one person guesses the percentage. The difference between the guess and the answer determines how many balloons are lost. So, if the guess is a lot more or a lot less than the answer, a lot of balloons are lost. If the guess is close to the answer, only a few balloons are lost.

The idea is to keep the basking floating the air!

I took the idea of this game and I adapted it to a PowerPoint version that can be played in the classroom.

The number of balloons was reduced to 10.

Each slide contains 10 question boxes.

There are five yellow question boxes. An incorrect answer loses 1 balloon.

There are five green question boxes. An incorrect answer loses 2 balloons.

The basket drops when the final balloon is clicked. (The yellow balloon with the black arrow)

The buttons on the left-hand side of the slide can be used to select the questions.

Click on the image or follow the link below to download the Balloon Game.
Note: Before playing the balloon game in class, please decide whether it is an appropriate game for your students age, level or cultural background.
Please watch the video demo to see how to edit and use the template.

The video run-time is 1 minute and 51 seconds

Download and open the Balloon Game template.

Scroll down to the bottom of the slide.

Add your own questions.

Go to the slideshow ribbon.

Start the presentation.

Click on a number of the left-hand side of the slide to choose a question.

If the students answer correctly, all the balloons remain.

If the students answer incorrectly, they lose 1 balloon for a yellow question or 2 balloons for a green question.

Click on the balloons and they will float away.

Click on the last balloon (the yellow balloon with the black arrow) and the basket will fall out of the sky.

Note: If you want more than 10 questions, copy the slide a write another set of 10 questions. Questions will always have to be in groups of 10. For a group of less than 10 questions, delete the remaining question boxes and the associated buttons.
Information Questions

If you use information questions for the template that require an open answer from the students, you will need to make sure you have the answers written down either on a piece of paper or within the notes area of the PowerPoint slide.

Survey Questions

If you use survey questions for the template that require the students to guess a number or percentage, you will need to conduct a survey in class before playing this game. The advantage is that is more personalized to your students, but the disadvantage is that you need to spread it across two lessons. You will still need to make sure you have the answers written down either on a piece of paper or within the notes area of the PowerPoint slide.

Established Fact-based questions

As an alternative to survey questions, you can play the game using pre-existing survey information and/or facts that are available on the internet. One of my favorite resources is the Guinness World Records website. The students can still make guesses with facts and figures and the game can be set up and played within one lesson. If the facts are interesting enough, they will engage the students and keep them motivated.

When creating this kind of game, choose the questions carefully and make sure they are appropriate for the classroom.

If you use information questions or established fact-based questions, the game can be created by the teacher and played within one lesson.

If you use survey questions, the game will have to be set up in the first lesson and played in the second lesson.

The First Lesson (Survey Questions only)

During the first lesson you will need to conduct a class survey. The class survey can be based on questions created by the teacher or questions created by the student.

A few things to consider:

The questions will eventually be typed into the template for the second class.

The number of questions has to equal the number of question you will use in the template.

You will need to provide the students with a handout with the pre-written questions or space to write their own questions.

Students may work in groups to write down their 10 questions.

This example encourages the students to practice frequency adverbs.

All the surveys need to be collected by the end of the class so that they can be used to create the game.

You will have as many questions as you did groups multiplied by 10. So, for example, if you had two groups, then you will have 20 questions. This allows you to be selective of the questions you will use in the final version

The Second Lesson (All Question Types)

Before the second lesson, the PowerPoint template needs to be edited and the questions added. Make sure you have the answers written down or typed into the notes section of the PowerPoint slide.

Allow yourself time to prepare the PowerPoint.

Divide the class into groups of 4-6 students.
Although this is played as a team game to keep all the students engaged, it is important to understand the students are working together as a class. If one team wins, the whole class wins.

Select one group at random to choose the first question.

The question is open and any team can choose to answer it.

If the answer is correct, no balloons are lost.

If the answer is incorrect, click on one or two balloons and they will float away.

The team who answers correctly may choose the next question.

The students may win a reward of the teacher's choosing if there are balloons remaining at the end of the game,

Do you have any suggestions for playing the Balloon Game?

Please leave a comment if you have any ideas you would like to share or if you have any questions about the template.

Alternatively you can send me a message on my Facebook page or on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and take care!
You may also like to read:
Spaceman is an alternative to hangman. It uses easy to draw shapes, it follows the same rules and it is easily identifiable by its name.

Can your students guess the mystery word before the spaceship flies away?
The Balloon Game was designed with Microsoft PowerPoint 2016. Animations and sounds may differ when opened in other presentation software. Microsoft® Office® is a copyrighted product of the Microsoft® corporation. All media that accompanies the Balloon Game is for educational purposes only.

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The Balloon Game is a quiz that encourages students to use their English to stop the balloons from floating away! This game is a classroom adaptation of a popular Japanese TV quiz segment. Around four celebrities or comedians stand within a basket with a screen of balloons in front of them.

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A 'find someone who' activity is a speaking activity which involves learners trying to find someone in the group who matches a description.

The group are practising using the present perfect for experiences. Amongst the group there are learners who have to:
find someone who has been abroad
find someone who has eaten something really strange
find someone who has done a bungee jump

In the classroom
This is a very versatile activity, which can be adapted to almost any language aim. For example, learners can practise multi-word verbs ('Find someone who has fallen out with their partner') or character vocabulary ('Find someone who is a lone wolf').

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A 'find someone who' activity is a speaking activity which involves learners trying to find someone in the group who matches a description. The group are practising using the present perfect for experiences.

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Ss create a storyboard for a film trailer. They have to decide what type of film they are going to create, choose the target audience, decide how they are going to present it etc. Afterwards, give them all personalised feedback and some advice about things to improve. And if they like it.. Why not shoot the trailer and add a Hollywood-style voice over?

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Start a lesson comparing two TV ads that used poems as voice over. Discuss.

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by Brett Vogelsinger
Today's post offers two poems for the price of one. Both are in video format, for the poems have been adopted by companies in hopes of making their brand appeal to the hearts and minds of customers.
First, we have Charles Bukowski poem "The Laughing Heart" found in a Levi's commercial.

Second, we have Maya Angelou's "The Human Family" found in an iPhone commercial.

Using one or both of these poems, discuss these questions as a class: Brett Vogelsinger teaches freshman English students at Holicong Middle School in Doylestown, PA where he starts class with a poem each day. Follow his work on Twitter
What does the company seek to communicate about their brand using this poem? What associations do they want you, the audience, to make with Levis or Apple? What connotations are they developing for their brand?
What are your thoughts on using poetry for the purpose of advertising? Does it devalue the poem that someone besides the author is using it to make money? Or does it bring poetry, framed professionally with images and music, to a vast audience, making poetry more approachable?
It may be worth noting that both of these commercials were produced after the death of the poets who wrote the poems, so someone other than the original poet had to give permission to use the poem in this manner. If you were responsible for the copyright of a famous poet's work, what questions would you ask before granting permission to use the poet's work in a television commercial?

@theVogelman.

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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by Brett Vogelsinger Today's post offers two poems for the price of one. Both are in video format, for the poems have been adopted by companies in hopes of making their brand appeal to the hearts and minds of customers. First, we have Charles Bukowski poem "The Laughing Heart" found in a Levi's commercial.

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Telephone

Fortunately / Unfortunately

How was your weekend?

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Conversation game & ice-breaker. Start by writing 2 truths and 1 lie about yourself, then ask students to ask you questions to guess what the lie is. When they do, ask them to write down their truths and lies and do the same either in pairs or as a class.

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Story Starters: Creative Writing Prompts for Kids | Scholastic.com

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Scholastic’s Story Starters kids’ writing activity generates creative writing prompts, from general fiction to adventure, fantasy, and science fiction.

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Books/Films

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Keira Knightley Plays the 'Would You Rather' Game | Glamour UK

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Keira Knightley plays 'Would You Rather?' for November GLAMOUR cover. Want even more? Subscribe to Glamour UK HERE: http://bit.ly/W6aASQ CONNECT WITH GLAMOUR MAGAZINE UK: For celebrities, makeup and fashion visit: http://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/glamourmaguk Follow Glamour on Twitter: https://twitter.com/glamourmaguk Follow Glamour on Instagram: http://instagram.com/glamourmuk ABOUT GLAMOUR Glamour is for the woman who sets the direction of her own life and lives it to its fullest and chicest.

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1. Could you spot the [Italian] breakfast in the video?

2. What food was there?

3. Is that what you have for breakfast?

4. What do you usually have for breakfast?

5. They say “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day”. Do you agree?

6. What is a “healthy breakfast”?

7. Do you eat healthy food? Why?

8. What is “comfort food”?

9. What food is your “comfort food”? When do you have it?

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Shout it whenever there is too much noise in the classroom... Students can't talk with a bubble in their mouth!

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Fill a bag with all the new words written on separate cards. When it's full enough, use the cards for activities such as story telling or board games such as Bankrupt.

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Have the students listen to audio clips from films and ask them to draw and write the descriptive words that go with the scene that they imagine. Then they watch the actual film clip and discuss the differences between what they imagined and the movie.

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Drawing Workshop

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by Beyonce