Language: Have got . . . / is wearing . . .     Clothes and colours

Skills Focus: Writing

Location: Computer room

Summer is coming and Digital play is taking a break for the summer.  We’ll be back in September with a lot of new activities, articles and lessons.  Our last bog post here today is a dressing up game.  One for the girls.

Girls: Summer holiday

Preparation

• Preteach vocabulary for parts of the body, clothes and colours.  Prepare a basic worksheet for learners to complete. e.g.

• Take your learners to the computer room and get them to play the game and write the description.
• Learners can print off their character.

Post Play

1. Put the characters spread out over the four walls.
2. Read out the learner’s descriptions to their character.
3. The class listens, identifies which picture is being described and go and stand next to it.
4. Put the description by the picture.
5. When all the descriptions are next to a picture get your learners to sit down.  Take down the pictures and ask whose it is.  Hand it back and check if the description by it is also theirs.

HAVE A GOOD SUMMER HOLIDAY!

See you in September

While you’re waiting for us to return, why not post some of your ideas, games played and classroom anecdotes here.

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Level: Primary

Location: Computer room

Topic: Nightmares

Language focus: Directions, prepositions & game vocabulary

Game: Victor’s nightmare

Victor suffers from nightmares and in order to get some restful night’s sleep he needs to learn how to face his fears and vanquish them.

Preparation

Download and a copy of Victor’s nightmare walkthrough.  Either print a copy for each pair in your class (a reading) or a single copy (relay dictation).

Pre-play

1. In the classroom do hangman for ‘nightmares‘ and brainstorm vocabulary onto the board.
2. Set up a relay dictation in the classroom with the Victor’s nightmare walkthrough that you downloaded.  Learner’s should take turns to relay the sentences.
3. Allow enough time for your learners to relay dictate a few sentences the take the walkthrough down.
4. Ask learners to pick up their dictation and take it to the computer room.

Play

1. Before your learners sit down put victor’s nightmare walkthrough on the wall and show your learners.
2. Explain to your learners they are going to play a game and use the walkthrough they copied to start the game.  When they have finished what they copied they can take turns (like they did in the classroom) to use the walkthrough on the wall.  This time they don’t have to write it down – they just tell their partner who plays the game.
3. First pair to finish are the champions.

Post Play

Back in the classroom learners use the Victor’s nightmare walkthrough to make a game dictionary.  After having played the game they should be able to visualise parts of the game using the walkthrough and be able to translate sections.

Alternative reading activity

1. Do the pre-play activity above.
2. Take your learners to the computer room and handout a copy of victor’s nightmare walkthrough to each pair.
3. Learners work in pairs with one playing the game and the other reading the walkthrough to them.
4. After 5 minutes say “change!” and get pairs to swap roles.
5. When first pair finishes get them to look some of the walkthrough words up in a dictionary OR do the game again from memory.

NOTE The house on the right of the path is actually up the path on the left and the house on the left of the path is actually up the path on the left.  You may want to change this as it sometimes causes confusion.  REMEMBER a little bit of confusion can produce some interesting language but be careful to avoid frustration.

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Level: Primary

Location: Computer room

Language focus:  Has got/ is wearing/ colours/ clothes vocabulary/ physical descriptions/ parts of the body

Game: Hero machine

Preparation

1. Either play with heromachine  yourself and both write a physical description of the hero you produce and take a screenshot and print the hero OR download and print a copy of the Superhero Relay Play material (relay dictation text and superhero picture).
2. Read the set up at the bottom of this post.

Preplay

1. Play hangman with ’s u p e r h e r o’
2. Brainstorm some superheroes
3. Elicit some physical descriptions of some of the superheroes on the board (focus on some of the language focus items for this game)
4. Write the name of the superhero you have a picture of up on the board and elicit possible physical descriptions.
5. Learners do a relay dictation of the written description.

Play

1. In the computer room learners use the written description fro the relay dictation to reproduce the superhero.
2. When they have finished learners stand up and compare each superhero on each screen with the printed picture of the superhero.
3. Learners make their own superhero and write a description using the relay dictation text as a model.

Post play

1. Learners print their superheroes out (screen capture at school or at home) and put them on the classroom wall.
2. Taking it in turns they read out the description and others identify the picture.
3. Alternatively learners look at the pictures and predict the description.

How to play with Heromachine

You need to familiarise your learners with hero machine a little so you may either want to present the game in a connected classroom or direct learners through it in the computer room.

1 Choose a body template.  You could do this in the connected classroom by asking the class what you should choose.  e.g. a man or a woman?  Short or tall?

2 As soon as you choose one of the four templates you are given a few loading options.  For the full range of clothes, objects, weapons, companions and body parts etc choose the complete option (the one I usually choose).

3 When your option has loaded click on the little arrow to the right of the lower small window (the one on the bottom) on the right just below where it says ‘component and genre’.  This allows you to open up the different body parts, clothing etc.  Just click on one to add it to your superhero.  Use the slide bar underneath to see more.

4 Use the palette below to add details to the physical appearance of your superhero, access more details by using the slidebar and colour your superhero.  Usually each single detail you have has two aspects to it so you can have two or one colour for each detail you add to your superhero.  For example, you could have green trousers with red stripes.

5 Finally if you learners make any mistakes they just have to click on the item they want to change and then make the change.  This could be changing a hairstyle, clothing or the colour.  Have fun!

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Language Focus: Alphabet

Skills Focus: Pronunciation

Game: Alphattack

This game is used to practice and consolidate the pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet.  It can be played either in a connected classroom or a computer room.

Bombs drop from the sky and need to be stopped before they destroy the city. Destroy the bombs before they do by pressing the corresponding letter on the keyboard.

Pregaming Activity

Lower levels
To do this you need to have a data projector, a computer with internet access and Flash player installed. Seat the class in rows in front of the data projector. Go to the game and skip the instructions so that the game is started as quickly as possible.

1. As the bombs start to fall look at the screen and call out the letters. If you want, don’t touch the keyboard and point to the letters. This means that you lose the game but encourage the learners to call out the letters as this is happening.
2. When the game ends start again and encourage the learners to call out the letters but this time you move to the keyboard and type in the letters that the learners call out. At this stage it is not neccessary for you to look at the game on the data projector.
3. When you have completed a stage ask for a volunteer or nominate one of your learners to come and stand by the keyboard.
4. Start the next stage of the game. The learner at the keyboard now listens to the others calling out the letters and the learner types in the corresponding letters on the keyboard.
5. Move to the computer room so the class can play the game in pairs (see gaming activity below).

Higher levels
To do this you need to have a data projector, a computer with internet access and Flash player installed. Seat the class in rows in front of the data projector. Go to the game and put the instructions on the board. Choral drill (all the class reading at the same time) the instructions on the screen. Then start the game. Pretend you don’t know how to play the game at the start and ellicit from the class what you should be doing? As the class tells you what to do play the game. Then conduct the game from stage 3) above.

Gaming Activity

In the computer room sit two learners (A and B) to a computer. Learner A sits in front of the screen with their arms folded. Their role is to “look at the letters and tell your partner”. Learner B sits in front of the keyboard and CAN NOT see the screen. Start the game and monitor to ensure that Learner A is calling out the letters in English (correct pronunciation) and learner B is not taking a look at the screen. Once a pair completes a stage or loses a life the learners can swap roles/ seats.

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Topic: Picture dictation

Listening focus: Describing a Christmas Ecard (prepositions of place)

Time: 30 minutes

Preparation: A copy of  the Ecard Wordsearch for each learner.  A single copy of the Ecard Picture Dictation or a screenshot of a finished ecard.

Game: xmas ecard maker

Screenshot of the finished picture dictation

Key Language: Snowman, path, buttons, hat, snow, roof, window, mask, presents, star, light, transparent, robin, chimney, stocking.

Pregaming

Use the word search in the classroom to raise awareness of the language items that will appear in the picture dictation computer room activity.  Fast finishers can start to decorate the edges of the word search with pictures of the vocabulary items.

Gaming

If you have ever done a picture dictation then you’ll know how to do this activity.  Use either the image above or download the dictation.

Image If you are using the image above describe the picture for your learners to reproduce.  As you monitor their screens ‘tweek’ any individual or class differences by providing greater detail.  When the class has finished show them the image above and ask learners to look at the pictures the rest of the class has produced  and find any differences.  Award points to those that find differences.

Dictation As an alternative to dictating from looking at the image above you can print off a copy of the picture dictation text.  You may find that sticking to the text means that learners produce ecards that are loyal to the dictation but that differ from the target image.  This may be an advantage in that more language can be produced talking about the differences between the ecards.

Postgaming

Learners can make their own Christmas Ecards and send them to friends and/ family.  They could also write a short text describing their Christmas Ecard using the Ecard Picture Dictation text as a model.

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Topic: Christmas

Focus: Christmas vocabulary

Time: 30 – 45 minutes

Game: Junior’s Christmas

Junior wants to get a present from Father Christmas but there are a few things getting in his way.

screenshot of Juniors Christmas

 Key Language: Carpet, cookie jar, key, hug, cupboard, knock, feather, wing, box, tail, elf, tickle, window,  bird house, hammer, ribbon, scissors, shelf, plate, bird seed, lever, nest,

Preparation: Connected classroom or computer room. One printed copy of Junior’s Christmas activity worksheet for each learner. One photocopy of Teacher’s notes with  walkthrough.

Pre-gaming

Hand out a copy of Junior’s Christmas activity worksheet to each learner.  Tell them to read exercise 1 and ask them if they understand all the words.  Show the game to the class and ask them to watch the opening sequence of the game and answer the questions in exercise 1.  The opening sequence is like a short video and shouldn’t be skipped.  As long as ’skip’ at the bottom isn’t pressed you will see the kids stand in line and get seen by Father Christmas.  The sequence will stop when Junior reaches the front.  The game then Feedback and then do exercise 2.  Alternatively, before doing exercise 2 you could brainstorm vocabulary which can be seen in the game.

Playing

In the computer room, learners work in pairs playing the game.  Tell them they can start the game without watching the first part by clicking on the word ’skip’ at the bottom of the game.  Learners use the sentences in exercise 3 to complete the game.  As they play they match the sentences on the left with the sentences on the right.

Post-gaming

In the classroom feedback on the answers and discuss the answers to exercise 4 in open class.

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