Doodling for Complex Sentences

Are your students struggling with making sentences more complex?

Many students can write simple sentences, and run-on sentences, but they struggle with writing solid complex sentences.

This written activity is a fun way to get students to sculpt more complex sentences using relative clauses and transition words.

Before ANY of this, my students have learned different transition words, how to use them where to use them relative pronouns, etc.

Pre-Activity:  
I usually start by drawing a few random doodles on the board. describe what a doodle is. If students guess scribble, I also accept this word as appropriate.Then, I ask what they see in the doodles. Once they see how doodles can be changed into different forms, we are ready to start!

Activity: This can be arranged in many ways, but I like to have students sit in circles.

Step One Doodle on different pieces of paper and 

STEP ONE Each student gets a paper with a doodle drawn (Note: To make this a no prep activity, students may make the first doodle, but I find giving them a doodle tends to work out better.)

STEP TWO Each student expands on the picture. I know the picture below vague, but notice how the student turned the doodle into a rabbit!

STEP THREE (optional) Have the students write one or two words describing their picture. Again looking at the picture to the below, the student could write something like, "An animal," or, "A rabbit,"

Have a box of transition words and relative prnounouns

STEP FOUR The students pass the paper to another student. The student will form a sentence describing the picture: "The rabbit is tall"

STEP FIVE Pass the paper again. This time students also take (or are given) a piece of paper with a random connecting word.  They are told to find a way to make the sentence longer using that word, "The rabbit is tall; however, he is fat."

STEP FIVE  There are multiple ways to do this. I like having students pass the doodling paper to the right, and their connecting word to the left. The students then needed to add another word to the sentence, "The rabbit, who is furry, is tall; however, he is fat."

STEP SIX At this point you can continue having the students pass connecting words to the left and doodles to the right, or you can give out new connecting words.

STEP SEVEN Continue step six until students become bored you you have had them make at least four rotations.

STEP EIGHT Finally, the last time students don't add to the sentence. Their job is to read through the sentence, which at this point can be quite complex, and make it coherent.

STEP NINE Students present the final pictures to the class as well as the final description of the picture.

 Why it Works 
Students could get bored by this, but because the pictures are so random almost every time it goes like this:
Teacher: OK pass the paper to the next student please.
Student 1: What is that?
Student 2: What did you draw?
Student 3: Oh my god this sentence is ridiculous.

They are ALWAYS entertained!

This is also a great activity to use with adjectives or any other clauses. Basically, anything where students add onto a basic sentence. If you want students to practice speaking you can have them do this in partners.

This activity isn't directly humorous, but I PROMISE you that your students will laugh at some of the doodles created and sentences written.  On August 2nd the deadline for submitting your blog to be part of the ELT Blog Carnival on Humor will CLOSE! Don't miss out!

Jenga in the classroom

Everyone loves playing Jenga. If you watch the video below even cats fall victim to this addicting game! 

How can we take this fun game and make it educational?

There are several ways!

To start: I usually play Jenga with students AT LEAST in groups of two. This way they can help one another. Remember that Jenga technically can be played with unlimited players, but in order to keep students involved I suggest no more then 4 groups.


1. Make it part of a review game.

• Divide your class into two-four teams.
• Have students alternate coming to the front of the class
• Ask a review question. 
• The first student to answer the question correctly wins two point for their team
• Then comes the Jenga... there's a few ways to do this
• They can choose if they want to pull a block, or have the other team pull a block
• They can pull a block, if they get the answer right then the opposition has to put the block on the top. If they got the answer wrong their team has to put the block on the top.
• You can make it point based by assigning a point value to the blocks gets one point, but if you make the tower tumble your team loses 10 points!
• Alternatively, you can just make it so the first team to make the tower fall loses.

2. Make it conversational

• Put conversation questions on the Jenga blocks. 
• You can use a label maker to do this
• The blocks are 1.5 × 2.5 × 7.5, so you can also use labels you can print from the computer.
• Alternatively, you can write directly on the block in sharpie (or other permanent marker). Some teachers use pencil so they can reuse the blocks later.
• Each time a student pulls the block they need to answer the question AND ask it to someone else.
• Depending on the level these can be easy questions (what's your favorite food) or harder questions (If you met God tomorrow what three questions would you ask and why?)
• An alternative would be to make this similar to truth or dare. Have a "dare" on one side, and a "truth" on the other. If the student doesn't want to answer the question they can do the dare. Keep them English related! Have them mime a vocabulary word, or sing a verse of their favorite English song.

Photo by Edgarc2

3. Use it for vocabulary practice

•  Start a story and then have a child pull the block. 
• Using the word they pull they have to continue the story. 
• If the tower falls they need to quickly end the story
• While you are telling the story have the whole class write their own version using the blocks pulled. See how many different stories you get at the end!
• This is GREAT with transition words (First, Then, After, Thus, etc.)

4.  Make it a station / center!
If you use stations   (or centers) in the classroom, I think you can easily see how this would be a great station for small groups of students.

• If you want to be able to use one Jenga game with multiple subjects you can have each of the blocks have a number. This number can correspond to a worksheet that the students have with different questions / vocabulary words.
• Students work together to try to answer as many questions as they can!
•  An alternative to questions is to have them work with grammar. For example, if you were working on tag questions perhaps you would write out things like, "Do you own a car?- Negative" and students would need to change it to, "You don't own a car, do you?"

5. For pronunciation

Photo By:  jam343

• If you notice your students are  struggling with some minimal pairs or a tricky sound have this game focus on that!
• This is a free download that has words focusing on S / R made into ready to print labels.
• This printable is setup for K and G. Rather than write on the blocks, it is suggested that you color them and let students grab the matching card to practice. 

6. Treat it like science!

• There's a great freebie on TPT using Jenga to help with inference. This idea is great to help students with expressing their opinions, and thoughts. 
• Because I know this, I think this will happen.
• Also great to have students practice making predictions! 

7. Alphabet Jenga

• This isn't the most academic Jenga, but it is easy and fun. Have students randomly select a category (food, sports, countries, clothing, verbs, animals etc.).
• I normally put them in pairs and they can help their partner.
• When they pull a block they need to say a word in that category with their letter.
• Letters can go in turn (A first, then B, then C, etc.)
• Letters can be written on the block. 
• In this case it can be fun to have the letters written on the square outside that students can see. This way they have some time to think of a word before they select it. They also need to think about location as well as which letters are easier.
• I tend to use the game like this for fast finishers, or if I am having a game day in the class. It could be used with stations / centers for vocabulary practice.  

BONUS!

Make any of these games even more fun by using a GIANT jenga set. Simply ask parents / students for donations of empty "fridge boxes" normally filled with soda. When you get enough (27-30 boxes) you can cover them with wrapping paper, or to try to mimic the appearance of the original Jenga set use contact paper designed to look like wood! Check out LockInLoaded's Blog for a sample of the finished product. Students will love playing with a big set, and if you use any of the games listed above they'll still be learning!
 
There you go seven different ways to use Jenga in the classroom! As you can see many of these ideas could be used for math, science, social studies or any other class! A lot of these are perfect for the end of the year, so I hope you enjoy yourselves!

Cootie Catchers and Fortune Tellers- Listening Activity (A step by step guide on how-to make a cootie catcher)

1. Any piece of paper

2. Even recycled paper

Making a cootie catcher or a fortune teller can be a fun activity for an EFL class to practice many grammar points and vocabulary.

This is also a great activity because it can use recycled paper (and who doesn't have tons of old worksheets, lesson plans and memos that are begging to be recycled?)!

You may remember making these when you were younger. Since students may already know how to do this to make this a really effective listening activity don't tell them what you are going to do, just walk them through the steps.

2. Fold a triangle

3. Cut off the extra paper

 1. You'll need a piece of paper. It can be any size, but your standard 8.5 by 11 seems to be fine. If it is too big or too small it becomes a bit cumbersome to make and play with. If you are giving them a square piece of paper then you can go straight to step 4 skipping steps 2 and 3.

2. To make a perfect (or almost perfect) square instruct your students to "Take the bottom right corner and fold it to the upper left. Make sure that the sides are ever. This means the corner won't match the other corner. That's OK" A perfect square makes things easier, but "nearly perfect" squares will be fine.

4. Unfold the paper

5. Fold another triangle.

3. "Take your scissors and cut off the extra paper that is not covered by your triangle"

4."Unfold the paper" This should now be a perfect square with a crease going from the bottom left to the upper right. I marked the crease with pink so you can see it more easily.

5.  "Now take the bottom left corner and fold it to meet the upper right corner." If your students did steps 2-4 correctly the corners should match perfectly, if not that's OK. Some students who are perfectionists may want to re-cut and fold their paper now. If you have time allow it, otherwise insist it will be fine and move to step 6.

6. Unfold the paper.

7. Fold a corner to the center

6. "Unfold the paper." Now your creases should have made a big X on the paper. The second crease has been highlighted in orange to make it clearer.

7. "Now we can see where the lines meet in the middle. Take the bottom right corner and fold it to the middle." With younger students I go around and put a big dot in the middle so they can find it without a problem.

8.  "Now take the bottom left corner and fold it to the middle." By now your students get it and steps 9 and 10 are a snap.

8. Fold a 2nd corner

9. Fold a 3rd corner

9. "Take another corner and fold it to the center." If you want to be specific walk them through the corners "upper right, upper left, etc." again, but at this point it usually isn't needed.

10. "Take the last corner and fold it to the center." In a perfect world if you have done everything right then all of the triangles should meet in the center without overlapping or seeing the lower layer. That's the ideal to be aiming for. However, if that doesn't happen it will be fine.

11. "Now we have a square so flip it over and do the same thing."

10. All the corners!

11. Flip it over.

12. "Take the bottom right corner and fold it to the center."

13- 15.  "Fold all of the corners to the middle." This is a little harder that the last few steps since the paper is thicker now and a bit more difficult to fold. Be sure to get them to fold it well. Creases make it easier later.

16. "Fold the paper in half vertically so that all of the triangles are on the inside and you can see squares"

12. Fold to the center.

13. Fold to the center

17. "Unfold and fold it in half again this time horizontally"


18. This part takes a little finesse. At this point the best you can do is try to explain and then help the students that are struggling. "Put your fingers inside the squares" Some people do this differently. I've always had each finger get its own compartment except for the pinky which shares with the ring finger. It's easier to do this with their dominant hand.

19. "Now, spread your fingers out and get the paper to open a bit" This part can be tricky, but once students see others doing it they can usually find a method that works for them. If not, assign helpers.

14. Fold to the center.

15. Fold to the center.

20. "Enjoy making the paper move" Especially with younger students making the paper open and close is a tough motor skill. Have them practice and enjoy their handmade toy.

So there you go how to make a cootie catcher in 20 easy-ish steps! I have done this project with students as young as 5 years old. They struggled a bit with nice creases and I had to re-do some of them, but overall they did pretty well. My high school students realized what we were doing right away and whipped through this in about 10 minutes.

16. Fold in half

17. Fold in half again

I advise that you fold along with the students so they have an example.

I also suggest that you go around as they are folding to be sure everyone is on task. It is easy to rescue one mishap, but if you miss it when it happened it can be hard to figure out where they went wrong.

As you can see this activity can be adjusted to use more ordinal numbers, transition words, etc. I kept it simple by mainly using directions (left, right center) and shape words they should know.

18. Put your fingers inside

19. Pop the squares!

 What to do now? If you want to go straight into another activity, check out the Cootie Catcher Speaking activity for several variations appropriate for ever English level.

If you only had enough time for this activity today tell your students to put their names on it and save it for later.

This is one of the items I can be found making at banks when there are rowdy children. After, we use them as puppets. You could do this too in your class and decorate the "face" to tell a story.

Optional: My creature!

20. Practice moving

If you are studying body parts tell them to add, "12 eyes, 3 ears and 2 noses" to their creature and see what they end up creating. To the right you can see my 6 eyed, two tongued, purple haired creature (with a green nose of course).

Below you can see a few more professional options. If you'd like a creature prettier than my creature on the right, check out the Fortune Wookiee! If your students are still into story time read them Arthur and the Cootie catcher. This is a great story about not believing everything they hear (and then they can make their own), or (just to prove I am not crazy) there's a book designed to teach vocabulary using cootie catchers!

The possibilities are endless and I'd love to know how you use them in class!

A Subordinating Conjunctions Song

A while ago I found a song about subordinating conjunctions created by another teacher from her blog That Ridiculous Girl I loved it and have used in in class ever since!

I altered it a bit and added another verse, but students really tend to commit it to memory. Here's the basic gist:

Now, using this to help students memorize subordinating conjunctions is great! But as always remember Bloom! Try to get them to use higher level thinking!

Can they:

1. Rewrite the song in your own words.
2. Transition words can be divided into different categories (addition, contrast, comparison, etc.). Sort the subordinators listed above into their different categories.
3. Find a song which uses them, and punctuate the lyrics correctly.
4. Write a comic strip/short story which uses three of these (and punctuates correctly)
5. Add another verse with missing subordinating conjunctions
6. Make an acronym or initialism which will help you remember subordinating conjunctions.Make their own song (be in a rap, pop hit, etc.)
7. What if a conjunction were a person. What kind of person would "if" be? What about "whenever"? Draw a personification of the word and explain it to the class.

How else do you help your students use subordinating conjunctions?

Balloon Categories

This activity requires a bit more prep than most of mine do, but I think it is a great way add some extra fun into an activity...after all balloons make everything fun!

MATERIALS

String / Yarn / Ribbon: If you are using the same colored balloons then make sure to use different strings.
Sharpies : Again, this works a LOT better if you have different colors, however it would also work with just one color if needed. One color per group would work best.
Balloons: If you only have one color for ribbons you really need differently colored balloons.
Helium : I suppose this could be done without floating...but the floating really adds something to it.






PREP

1. Blow up the balloons with helium (or without if helium is not available).
2. On each balloon mark a different category. You want AT LEAST as many balloons as groups you will divide the students into. These can be topic based (Fruits, Vegetables, Animals, School Supplies etc), Alphabet (each balloon gets a letter), Parts of Speech (Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives) or anything. In my case my students are reviewing transition words, so we'll put the different categories: Addition, Cause and Effect, Contrast, Exemplification etc. I would also write a sample sentence e.g. CAUSE AND EFFECT: I like John _______ he is rich.
3. Tie a ribbon to each balloon. The ribbon should be long enough that if it floats to the ceiling it can still be grabbed by your shortest student (or to add some fun jumping make the ribbons shorter). If you have differed colored balloons then the ribbons don't matter. If you have the same color then use different ribbons. 

 ACTIVITY

1. Divide the class into groups. I'd suggest partners, but depending on your class size this may not be possible. Ideally you want each group to have a different colored sharpie. 
2. Explain to the class that you are setting a timer for 30 seconds (I like projecting http://www.online-stopwatch.com/ onto the board). They have 30 seconds to grab a balloon, talk to their partner and write a word that fits the category (or in my case a transition word that fits the category and sentence).
3. After 30 seconds they grab another balloon (this is why the different colored ribbons or balloons are helpful)  and repeat the process, only this time they have to make sure that they don't repeat a word that a different group has written. 
4. If they can't think of a new transition word they simply re-release the balloon.
5. Once all groups have had a chance at each balloon I give a 2 minute free for all where they can grab any balloon and write down more transition words that fit that category and have not already been used.
6. At the end of the activity gather the balloons and as a class (without saying who wrote what) go over the answers. Does everyone agree that "Honest" starts with an O? Is "In the other hand" a transition word? etc.
7. While you are reviewing the answers (as a class) tally up the points per group (via the color sharpie) give 5 points per correctly written word. 

POST ACTIVITY
Give the winners a prize (or bonus points, or let them pop all the balloons)  and congratulate yourself on a game well done!

Variations:
As always I encourage variations!

• No helium? No problem! Filling the room with balloons on the floor is fun too! (Though I do like the jumping and grabbing of ribbons effect the helium gives)
• You can also alter the game completely and make it a game of "don't touch the floor" where each time they touch a balloon they need to say a word in the category. Sort of a balloon volleyball.
• Instead of organizing via 30 second spurts you can simply give 5 minutes of free for all. A little more chaos, but if you have a good grip on your class it should be fine.
•  

Any adaptations that you think would work? Have you done something similar with your classes? How was it?