Why? Because!

Why? Because! [Writing Activity]

Why? Because! This writing and speaking activity usually produces some unexpected laughs! Students quickly write some “why” questions and answers on slips of paper. I let them know that their questions and answers don’t have to match or make sense. They then take turns choosing random questions and answers to read aloud, producing some surprising results! Why is the sky blue?Because I’m so Read More…

Name Ten

Name Ten [Writing Activity]

This writing activity is very low-prep and can be used as a general warmer or as a lead-in to more complex vocabulary or concepts. In Name Ten, students work with partners (or small groups, depending on your class size) to quickly brainstorm a list of ten words. The goal is to produce unique words that other groups won’t write, as any repetitions will cancel each other out! Playing Name Ten Read More…

An Amazing Trip

An Amazing Trip / 7 Day Journals [Writing Activity]

A Little Context I recently taught a class where students had to practice using “will” or “[be] going to”. They learned that will is used for promises, predictions, and refusals, whereas [be] going to is used for plans, intentions, and predictions from clues. I’d taught this lesson before, and developed “an amazing trip” narrative, where students were invited to choose a destination and emRead More…

Categories [Speaking Activity]

Categories is a simple no-prep warmer that’s suitable for any level! This speaking & listening activity relies on students’ existing knowledge, so make sure the topic is familiar. It can be used to bridge topics and get students thinking. For example, if teaching a lesson about immigration, I might play Categories using the topics “jobs”, “transportation”, and “countries” to activate backgrouRead More…

Exquisite Story Header

Exquisite Story [Writing Activity]

A little history first! The Exquisite Story is a simple writing activity based on the Surrealist drawing game, the Exquisite Corpse. When studying Fine Arts at university, this was a favorite pastime of my friends and I! While I wouldn’t recommend drawing games for EFL classes, I think the original game is too interesting to not share: The Exquisite Corpse In the drawing version of Read More…

For Sale Signs Header

For Sale Signs [Writing Activity]

I recently taught a class (~B2) by using For Sale Signs as a template for a vocabulary review challenge. Our reading was about animals, so I used that as our starting point. You could alternatively use your own vocabulary lists or random things. The Activity Students first chose a Random Animal, as pictured below: Screenshot from: https://www.randomlists.com/random-animals After Read More…