1. Southampton 14-18 November 2016
Creating activities and motivating materials for the Secondary Classroom
Southampton November 2016
Ms Claudia Fontana

2. M. Lewis : The Lexical Approach
An approach based on teachign the active use of
Words/compounds,
Collocations pay a visit
Lexical chunks terrible accident
Scaffolding language (grammar and vocabulary)
Set phrases: I have pleasure in…..
approach

3. Selection criteria to teach basic vocabulary
It’s impossible to teach all the
words of the English language! Luckily
we use only around 3500 of them….
How to choose the most important words to teach?
Grading in use most used…
Range of context most commonly used
Usefullness (especially in E.s.p.)
Frequency, See Oxford

4. How to teach collocations
Collocations are essential to speak and write like a native. The wrong collocation can misplace meaning, or it can sound akward:
Underline collocations
Tell learners to highlight them
Encourage them to use them over and over
Make games on them (memory game)
Revise every now and then

5. Recycling vocabulary
Use mind maps, crossword, anagrams, picture dictionaries
Gap filling
Record audio files and keep listening to them
Repeat vocabulary topics every 2 or 3 weeks
change to a similar context where vocabulary can be used again
Prepare a kahoot! Quiz game
Make a wordspot, a spidergram

6. Memory games Flashcards on www.studystack.com Picture + word
Word + definition
Word + sentence in context
Word in collocations
Annotated posters
Board games,
Gap filling
Crosswords
Quizzes on
Find games and puzzles ready on

7. Total Physical Response
Physical movement reinforces memorization!!
Ideas:
Stick part of a story on the wall, pupils must rememeber and write
Stick images to recreate a story
Stick dates to revise history

8. Ice Breakers and Warming Up
Find someone who….
When was the last time you….
Quiz hunt
Board games
Tell 5 words related to…
Kahoot quiz games using mobiles
to choose or create a game
to play

9. Group work: Jigsaw reading
Choose an informative text, not a story
Divide it in 4 parts
Divide the class in 4 groups and give a part each
Each group will read, make notes, summarize
1 pupil form each group will tell his part to the representatives of all groups.
They will compare and comnplete info and write a longer summary

10. When and how to use Mindmaps
Useful for brainstorming before a lesson
Useful for revision after a module
Summarising, conceptualizing, visual learners
Tools:
to make spidergrams
to make interactive mindmaps
to make posters

11. Word clouds and Concept Maps
A nice way to visualize:
(also on smartphone)
A concept map shows the logical/chronological Links:
(free download)

12. Mini Sagas Writing a short story is fun and useful!
Structures, tenses, vocabulary, linkers are put into practice in a short but organized text.
Mini sagas are short stories made of 30, words.
Decide a theme and organize a competitions
Collect mini sagas in mini books
Publish your mini book on to see it unfold just like a real book!

13. Traffic light game Good practice for public speaking
and recycling vocabulary and structures!
Pair work, students will speak in turns
Decide a controversial theme and do some brainstorming about pros and cons
Student 1 starts speaking in favour if the traffic light is green,
When the trafficl light is red, he must speak against, trying to continue his flow of ideas
At the teacher’s command they will shift roles

14. Gambits
They are chunks used to start or follow up a conversation, to express one’s ideas. They give a natural lively flow to the communicative process:
On the other hand….
But then again…..
Anyway, … even so …, ok but…
But in the long run…
Very true but…
To make up for it…

15. Graded Library
Make reading interesting by giving students the freedom to choose what to read!
Buy different books in different levels
Organize a lending system, keeping record of names and dates
Let students choose their book and their level
Suggest activities to do after reading a book: a file, a review, a summary, a film script, an interview
Prepare reading files of different levels:from simple factfiles to literature analysis

16. Fun with English!
Do you want to make your pupils happy? Need a bit of fun in the language classroom? Try these!!
gap filling on authentic youtube song videos!
any kind of games! Try “Who wants to be a millionaire?”
funny mistakes with translations all over the world!

17. Great Resources Find tutorials and materials on
plenty of free materials
how to use digital tools
tutorials
great videos, to subscribe