Warm up Activity for English Lessons

Warm up Activity for English Lessons

Hello dear teachers!

Everyone knows the famous English proverb “A good beginning makes

 a good ending”. The good start is a very important part of any activity.
So, today let’s talk about the beginning of the lesson and doing warm up exercises.

Is warming up activity so important?
It certainly is. Teachers must create a specific atmosphere at the lesson from 

the first minute. Well-chosen activity helps students to feel more confident 

during the lesson, encourage them to focus on English.

There are a lot of different types of activity you are able to use .They depends 

on the age of students , the level of the group and the tasks you have put for the

 lesson.
Here I'd like to share and recommend you the types of activity I use at my lessons .

Warm up  phonetic exercises.

This is a very important type of activity. I use some minutes at the beginning 

of the lesson to correct the students' pronunciation. Different authentic poems, 

proverbs and tongue twisters can be used for these exercises. I also like jazz- chanting. 

It gives an awesome result! Poems always help student to memorize the correct 

pronunciation and what is more, they are full of a useful vocabulary and grammar.
So, to my mind, chanting is one of the best way to start a lesson. Here is the example 

of a jazz chant:

Another kind of phonetic exercises is singing. I use it as warm up activity only 

for my youngest students: their songs are short and don't take much time.  

Kids  like it very much. A merry tune welcomes kids to start a lesson,  revise

 the vocabulary and pronunciation without boring repetition. The good idea 

for kids is to use songs and rhymes with movements. Songs are also useful as

 a warm up exercise if you are going to teach grammar. There are a lot of grammar 

songs for kids! This is one of them:

Vocabulary warm up exercises

 If you want to revise the vocabulary of the last lesson(s) , you can use different

 games:
Ask students to guess what you are drawing, adding line by line the pictures of

 new words(I use this for young pupils )
Ask student to guess the word and read the description of the  words (for well-

prepared groups);
Write down the words with the missing letters on the blackboard     and ask 

them to guess the words;
Use crosswords;
Tell a story with the missing words or picture story (use new vocabulary) and

ask students to complete the story;

 Some of my colleagues state that a teacher should use active games as warm-up 

exercises. I don’t think so , it may lead us to the situation when we'll have to spend 

all the lesson to calm the pupils, especially the youngest of them.
I think, that active games can be used to finish the lesson or to change any 

monotonous activity. 

Lesson Plan : The Home of My Dream

Lesson Plan : The Home of My Dream

The  Home of My Dream

 

1.Start the lesson with the song "Home on the range"

Ask students to complete the lyrics of the song  with the missing words. 

1st Verse:
Oh, give me a…., where the buffalo roam,                              home
Where the deer and the antelope…,                                         play  
Where seldom is … a discouraging ...,                                      heard, word
And the skies are not  … all day.                                             cloudy

Chorus:
Home …  on the range,                                                              home
Where the deer and the antelope….,
Where seldom is ….a discouraging …
And the skies are not …. all day.

Where the … is so pure and the zephyrs so free                      air

The breezes so balmy and …                                                   light

 That I would not exchange my  … on the range                    home

 For all of the … so bright                                                        cities

2. Discussion

What is this song about?  What do people feel singing it?

3. Remind the pupils the famous sayings and proverbs about home :

• East or west- home is best.
• Home, sweet home
• No places like home
• My home is my castle …

4. Inform the   pupils about   different types of  houses in Britain ,show them the most common  houses which they can see in Britain and America and  learn new words which English people use  to name them:

-Terraced houses are built in a row or joined on to others to form a street, or a square or a circus.

-Semi-detached houses are two houses joined together by one common wall and probably with common chimney stacks.

-A bungalow is a fairly modern house built on only one level. Old people prefer living in such houses.

-A cottage is a small, usually old house in the country.

- A flat is a set of rooms for living in, usually on one floor of a large building. The usual American word is apartment.

-A large, grand house is a mansion.

5 . Discussing. Comparing British and traditional house of your country.

What’s this? Is it a typical British house? Do Ukrainians live in such houses nowadays?

 It will be very interesting to know  where you live : in  a house or in a flat and where you would like to live.

6. Developing writing skills.

a) Vocabulary work

 Look at the picture of the house and remind the House words

1.backyard 2. garden 3.chimney 4.window 5. roof 6.wall 7.door 8. birdhouse 9. path

10. gate 11 hedge 12.lawn 13.fence 14.driveway 15 malebox 16. garage 17. swimming pool

Bedroom hall Floor Ceiling Bathroom Upstairs Living room Downstairs Cellar

Workout room Laundry room Stairs Recreation room Dining room kitchen

 b)  Reading and making the plan of the composition

   My dream house is located about few kilometers from the big city, in a very picturesque
place near the endless river. I dream about place like this because I prefer clean fresh air
and unpolluted water. It is a very cozy, comfortable, well planned detached house with lots of
big windows.

    If you asked me about the rooms, I must say that I don’t need many of them, but  all the
rooms are  large and light. The modern front door opens into a wide hall, where you can
see many exotic flowers and mirrors. The bedrooms are very large, comfortable and elegant as well. There are soft, huge beds and many antique things there. It makes me feel comfortable.
By the way, every bedroom has a bathroom and a  toilet, which are spacious and modern.
There is no question that the accent of the house is a living room, because it is the place
where I can relax, watch TV, listen to music or just sit and look at the fire. And I also have a
big kitchen in my dream house. The kitchen must be light and have all modern equipment
such as huge fridge, microwave, modern oven, and dishwasher. Oh, and some words about
the furniture. It is so comfortable and elegant!

 Outside the house I would like to have a beautiful shady garden to spend free time
listening birds’ songs and leaves rustling ,a front garden with rose bushes and large lawn.
And there is  a swimming pool next to my house. It’s so nice to swim in it in a hot summer
day. And as the modern life is impossible without cars ,  I need the garage.

  That’s all about my dream house. I hope, that one day my dreams will come  true. It would
be great to live in the  house like this.

c) The plan :

1.      Introduction (The type of the house, the place)

2.      The main part:

·         Inside the house

·         Outside the house

3.      Conclusion.

d)  Now ask pupils to make notes about the dream house. Pupils can use the table :

1.What type of house would you like to have /to live in?

a   bungalow a cottage a detached hose semi-detached house a flat a   mansion

Nice and cozy Simple Comfortable Well planed Fully- equipped Modern Two-storied

2.Where is your dream house situated? Why?

Use phrases because   or    that’s why

I prefer modern style of living, that’s why I would like to live in a big city.

I would like to live in a big city because I prefer modern style of living.

In a city center next to the ocean/sea in a very picturesque place near the endless river/ bottomless lake. in a small town In the countryside at edge of city or a village

I prefer quiet places where you can really relax have a great view of the ocean/sea I want to be close to nature I prefer clean fresh air and unpolluted water I really love active modern way of living It’s easy to get anywhere you wish I love gardening

3.What is there inside your dream house?

Rooms	don’t need many rooms really high ceilings  large and light comfortable and elegant spacious and modern
Decorations	portraits of family members exotic flowers the fireplace Spanish tile Furniture (modern, comfortable, stylish, , elegant) Mirrors, clocks, paintings many antique things
Equipment	Home cinema sports hall with all modern and expensive sports equipment huge fridge, microwave, modern oven, dishwasher the Internet and computer

          

  4. What is there outside your dream house?

  5. Conclusion.Recommend to use the phrases like these:

1. I hope that one day my dreams will come  true.

2.It would be great to live in a house which is in my dreams.

3.One day my dream will come true, and I will have everything I ever want or need.

4. I know my dream will only come true if I work very hard .

7.Listen to pupils stories about their dream houses.

8. Psychologist’s test. (If you have a psychologist at school he can explain the pupils' dreams
and you will get more information about them)

Grammar : Passive Voice

Grammar : Passive Voice

Hello, dear learners!

Today we'll start learning Passive Voice.

How to form Passive verbs?

As usual, let's start our lesson with the examining of the table Verbs' Forms :
 Passive Voice:

As you can see, the passive voice is formed with the verb to be in its forms of Present
(am, is, are), Past (was, were) or Future  (will be) for Simple and Continuous and
 its  perfect form( to have been) for Perfect + Past Participle (V3) of the main verb.
So, if you see any form of the verb to be +V3, you may say it is one of the Passsive
 forms of the verb.

If we compare this table with the table of Active voice, we'll see that in the Passive
 voice we have got only three groups instead of four in Active , they are : Simple,
 Continuous and Perfect.We haven' t got Perfect Continuous and Future Continuous
 forms!

The rules for tense usage in the Passive are the same as in the Active: Present Simple
 to express habit; past simple to express a finished action in the past; Present Perfect
to express the action that related to the present and so on.

Why should we use the  Passive voice?

We use the forms of the Passive Voice

•  to make the statements more   formal or more polite.These forms are often 
• used in news reports, instuctions, headlines, advertisements,etc.;
• when the action is more important than the agent;
• when the person who does the action is unknownor unimportant .

. As we have just learnt, The Passive forms are often used in newspaper columns,
so try to find them in these sentences.

Cally Simpson was on holiday at the Villa Marina resort in Salou, Catalonia,
with her dad Steven and grandmother when she was found unconscious.

The girl, from Arbroath, Angus, was pulled from the pool by another tourist and
 attempts were made to resuscitate her.

She is now said be in a stable condition at the intensive care unit at a children's
 hospital in Barcelona.

A Facebook page, Saving Cally Simpson, was set up to raise funds to pay for Kate's
 travel costs and now has more than 1,500 supporters.

 Check yourself:

Cally Simpson was on holiday at the Villa Marina resort in Salou, Catalonia, .
with her dad Steven and grandmother when she was found unconscious.

The girl, from Arbroath, Angus, was pulled from the pool by another tourist and attempts were made to resuscitate her.

She is now said be in a stable condition at the intensive care unit at a children's 
hospital in Barcelona.

Grammar. Passive Voice: Present,Past, Future Simple

Hello ,dear learners!

This is the second lesson devoted to the Passive voice.

Today we'll learn the  Passive forms for  Simple.

  The main formula of this group is to be + V3(past participle).

NOTES

• Hope, you remember the forms of the verb to be, we studied them . 
• You should revise the list of the irregular verbs to use the correct V3 forms.

To change tenses (present, past or future), you should only change the forms of 
the auxiliary verb to be, V3 is the same for all the tenses! Look here:

The email is checked every morning. (Present Simple pas.)
The email was checked an hour ago (Past Simple Pas.)
The email will be checked tomorrow. ( Future Simple Pas.)

The rules for tense usage are the same as in the Active voice :

• regular action for Present Simple;
• finished action in the past for Past Simple;
• future action for Future Simple.

If you want to make a negative sentence and a question you should use the first 
auxiliary verb (it is the general rule for all the tenses in the  Active and Passive voice).

Are the flowers watered every day?
Were the flowers watered yesterday?
Will the flowers be watered tomorrow?

Hockey isn't played in summer.
Hockey wasn't played yesterday.
I think,hockey won't be played in a week.

What is the difference between Active and Passive statements?

 And why do we have two voices in English?

Let's see. As you know, English sentences have a strict word order  : 

Subject (who or what makes /does an action) - Verb (action) -Object. 

The word order is the same for the active and passive sentences .  So,where is 
the difference?
 It's here: 
  in the active sentences                    the subjects              make /do the actions:

in the passive sentences          the objects                make / do the actions :

NOTE

We use by + agent to show who or what carries out the action.
We use with + instrument/ material/ ingridient to say what the agent used.

The door was open by the gurglar with a knife.

Practice
You should find the passive forms in this text .

Britain today took a dramatic step towards leaving the European Union after

 David Cameron was humiliated in his bid to block 'arch federalist' 
Jean-Claude Juncker getting Brussels' most powerful post.

German Chancellot Angela Merkelsaid: 'It was made clear yet again that the idea 
of an ever-closer union, as it is stated in the treaties, does not mean that there is
 equal speedamong the member countries but there can be different speeds that
 member countries  adopt to come to ever-closer union.

'We also stated that the concerns the UK has will be addressed also as regards 
the European developments.'

Britain today took a dramatic step towards leaving the European Union after David Cameron was humiliated in his bid to block 'arch federalist' Jean-Claude Juncker
 getting Brussels' most powerful post.

German Chancellot Angela Merkel said: 'It was made clear yet again that the 
idea of an ever-closer union, as it is stated in the treaties, does not mean that
 there is equal speed among the member countries but there can be different speeds 
that member countries adopt to come to ever-closer union.

'We also stated that the concerns the UK has will be addressed also as regards
 the European developments.'

Verb Tenses

Verb Tenses

   

Very often we can hear the students' complaints about difficulty in using verb tenses in English. And they are right. English language has got a lot of verb forms. But we shouldn't memorise all of them. We just have to understand the system of verb forms. Let's look at this table:

In the first line you can see the formulas for making the verb forms (to be Ving, to have V3, to have beenVing) and you have to memorise them. Changing the forms of the auxiliary verbs (to be,to have) you'll get all the tense forms.

It's really easy!

NOTE     In this table V is a symbol  for a verb.

                 V2 and V3 are the forms of the irregular verbs.

In our example they are   drink (V)- drank (V2)- drunk (V3)

He drinks./ he drank. /he will drink

He is drinking ./ he was drinking./ He will be drinking.

He has drank. / He had drank. / He will be drank.

He has been drinking./ He had been drinking./ He will have been drinking.

Meanings of the groups

• The  Simple verbs just  name the action in present, past or future,
•  The Continuous verbs express unfinished action in present ,past or future
• The Perfect verbs ,conversely, express the finished action in present,past and future and show its result.
• Perfect-Continuous emphasises the duration of an  action which started in the past and continues till the moment in present, past or future.

Hope, this table of adverbs and time expressions will help you 

to overcome the difficulties connecting with the recognizing tense forms of English verbs.

Certainly, each of the tense forms of English verbs has some peculiarities of using. But step by step we'll learn all of them.

Snow song by Sara Teasdal

Snow song by Sara Teasdal

Snow song by Sara Teasdale

Hello,dear readers!

Have you ever thought about a snowflake as a symbol of love? No?  Then you should read this romantic winter poem.

Fairy snow, fairy snow,
Blowing, blowing everywhere,
Would that I
Too, could fly
Lightly, lightly through the air.

Like a wee, crystal star
I should drift, I should blow
Near, more near,
To my dear
Where he comes through the snow.

I should fly to my love
Like a flake in the storm,
I should die,
I should die,
On his lips that are warm. 

Winter-Time - Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Winter-Time - Poem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Hello everyon

It's winter! This is a fantastic season of  falling snowflakes, biting frost,hot drinks,warm blankets and fairytales  for children and adults. It brings us  the most exciting Christmastime !!! This season really makes adults feel like kids. Maybe this is the reason we like winter so much!

This lovely wintry poem is one of those outstanding creations,which let us see,hear and feel like the author did it many years ago. It's a masterpiece,and we are ready to read and enjoy it!

Late lies the wintry sun a-bed, 

A frosty, fiery sleepy-head; 
Blinks but an hour or two; and then, 
A blood-red orange, sets again. 

Before the stars have left the skies, 
At morning in the dark I rise; 
And shivering in my nakedness, 
By the cold candle, bathe and dress. 

Close by the jolly fire I sit 
To warm my frozen bones a bit; 
Or with a reindeer-sled, explore 
The colder countries round the door. 

When to go out, my nurse doth wrap 
Me in my comforter and cap; 
The cold wind burns my face, and blows 
Its frosty pepper up my nose. 

Black are my steps on silver sod; 
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad; 
And tree and house, and hill and lake, 
Are frosted like a wedding cake. 

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