Mrs. Pınar's classes :)

Can you play basketball in your classroom?

For a while I've been working on to help my students about the difference between present simple and present continuous. It's OK when I first teach them but right after we study a new topic they forget the basic rules .Then, I decided to make a revision activity.The details of the game are below: Teacher prepares two basketball hoops and sticks them on the board or you can use real, mobile ones that kids play at home. Over them, stick titles as "EVERYDAY" AND "TODAY". Then, put a sack or a basket under each hoop.Divide the class in two and ask them to line up in front of each hoop and basket. Give a sack full of balls with target verbs on them, to each group and tell the rules.Teacher plays a catchy music while students are trying to throw a ball from their own sacks to their own hoops one by one.Both groups will race at the same time. When the music stops,teacher counts the balls inside the basket and announces the winner. Then, beginning with the winner group, students come one by one, picks a ball from their own sack, look at the verb on the ball and try to make a sentence using that verb according to their tense: present or present continuous.This goes on same with both groups till they finish all the verbs in their baskets. You can use this with all age levels. If yours is a higher level, you can ask them to make sentences which are connected to each other and forms a story. You or one of the students can write the sentences while they are telling them. At the end, each group can read their own story out loud. You might have really funny stories. I wish it works in your class, too. Have fun:)

FLYING VERBS

It's really crucial to know how you plan and do your activities if you're teaching young learners. That's why I always try to make learning much more enjoyable and fun but also effective. Since my students are only 9 years old, fantastic stories always work. Besides, working on their imagination is easy for me.

 I've been trying to teach past tense forms of the verbs for a while and last week we were going to just practice some of them and add new ones. It was going to be done by using a box full of verbs. I was supposed to pick the present forms of the verbs first and then the past forms. Unfortunately,  I forgot to take the box to the class. As soon as I realised it, I immediately replanned the lesson. I asked my students to close their eyes, lean back and relax.Then, I wanted them to visualize what I was going to tell them. I started to act out this short dialogue:

Mrs. Pınar: Hey, Mr. Magic, welcome to our classroom.

Mr. Magic: Shhh, be quiet, don't move, I have a present for you and I'm here to give it.

Mrs. Pınar: What? A present?

After a few seconds...

Mrs. Pınar: Oh my Goodness! What is this, Mr. Magic? I can't believe my eyes. Millions of stars surrounded me. They covered  my body. Oh my God, is this magic?

Mr. Magic: Yeah, and you can use it now.

Mrs. Pınar: Ok, I want to use it for my lovely students. Hey everybody, I'm sending you my verbs they are all flying around the room. You can see "publish, invent,travel, post,bring,discover, find out" they are all flying over you. Hey, “publish” is moving, it's coming towards you, catch it in the air with your hands, jump, don't miss it. OK, now put it into your left pocket.Did you?

Class: Yes.(Their eyes were still closed and they were trying to move and catch the verbs and put them into their pocket. They did the same for all verbs. )

After they put all the words in their pockets, I gave the next instruction.

Mrs. Pınar: Now, I'm going to put spell on your pocket: Hokus, pokus, abracadabra, pofff,huffenpoff.(Here, you can use real magical sound)Hey, you all have glittery, shiny stars coming out of your right pocket, they tingled your leg, can you feel?

Class: Yes, Mrs. Pinar.

Mrs. Pınar: They are coming out of your pocket. Look "published” is flying with two white wings, hey "discovered" flung out, we see the same verbs but they changed a bit, they all have “-ed” at the end.What other verbs are coming off ?

Students started telling the words one by one and I wrote them on the board. Afterwards, I asked them to open their eyes and look at  the board. At the end, they all could tell and make sentences using the second forms of those words correctly. I wouldn’t be that glad that I forgot to take my materials.