All You Need is Paper (and a little love) ESL/EFL activities

Today I worked with a group of adults who were lower intermediate or maybe high beginners. Well, feel free to name them whatever you want. The topic of the class was places in a city, there is/there are and can. The tricky part was that I had 4 hours with them. So, after the usual homework correction, I explored some pictures with them of some common places in a city. After they showed me they had understood all the vocabulary, I asked them to draw their own cities in groups of 4. They had to draw some but not all of the places mentioned in the book. One of the good things was that they asked a lot of questions and came up with a lot of words on their own. When they were done, each group had to present their city to the class using there is, there are and the negatives: there’s no or there aren’t any . Everybody in the group was supposed to say at least 2 sentences about their city, most said more. They also had to make up a name for their town. After their presentation, I gave t

Asking students to correctly put the lines from a dialogue in order is nothing new, so I added a sentence which was not from the original dialogue to give it a twist. I divided my group of teens into 3 and gave them each the lines of the dialogue all in the same color. They had just a few minutes to order the lines and discover the odd one out. They all then compared their answers and noticed their odd lines were different but they were right. I had written different wrong lines for each group. When they were done comparing, I asked them why they had chosen their specific sentence and why it didn’t fit in. Last, we listened to the dialogue as they followed along with their lines.

I always like to use what my students make as flashcards. They’ll pay a lot more attention and be more engaged if it’s their work you’re talking about. We’ve been studying food and we also listened to a story about a giant and his hunger for a big sandwich so we made giant paper sandwiches.  At the beginning of each class, I use one of their sandwiches to review vocabulary. I not only ask what is this? but also how many, what color, do you like and what’s your favorite. Their favorite question is: Whose sandwich is this? because then they get to proudly answer: It’s my sandwich.   Here are some before and after pictures. 

My fourth grade bilingual class read a story about the life of Ida Lewis, a famous heroic lighthouse keeper who lived in Rhode Island. After we read and discussed the story, I had them choose four important parts of the story. They had to draw these important moments on a paper circle divided into four parts. We then cut out another circle the same size as the first with an opening so we could see each drawing separately. The students put the circles together with a brad. When they were done, they shared their circles with their classmates and had to retell each part of the story to their friends. It was a great way for me to check they had understood the story and knew how to use the new words.

My little ones are now studying food. We started with a salad and a cookie for dessert. I plan to use their work as flashcards in the following classes. Kids are always much more engaged if it’s their work you’re using to teach and review. I also plan to have them ask each other questions about their delicious colorful salads. I was amazed at how much effort they put into making these. Very pleased with the results and the many opportunities of classroom practice they offer.

O ur new unit is about sea creatures and going to the beach. In one class, we made pails and decorated them with the different sea animals we were studying about. Each student got to say what was on their pail. The following class the students helped me count seashells. If the student said the number of the shell correctly, they got to place it in their pail. We later looked for some seashells which were hidden around the classroom. At the end of the class, each student made their own seashell to add to their collection and take home to count with their families. Aren't all the colors beautiful?

My little ones were studying seasons. Although my favorite season is summer, we decided to focus on the cold seasons this time. We talked about what characteristics each season has and decorated our trees with snowflakes and red and yellow leaves. Everyone counted and shared with the class how many snowflakes and leaves their trees had.

Game today, teacher? How many of you have been asked this question? People, in our case, people who are students, love games. I have to admit there are some rare exceptions but most students will eagerly participate in whatever you want as long as you call it a game. And there's no better way to get your students involved and engaged than for you to ask them to create their own game. In this picture, the students were only 5 and 6 years old so I made the base of the game and they drew the words in the squares. The older they are, the more they can do on their own. The game markers can be objects you already have in the class. We used these little paint bottles so each student could be a different color. In most games I have them make, all they have to do to play is throw a dice and move their markers. In this class, wherever they landed, they had to say this is a flower,  for example. If there was a number next to the square, they also had to say the number. If they said the s

Today my Teens group made paper food. I wanted them to be able to practice naming food and food related objects. I first showed them some pictures of food hidden behind shapes. They had to guess what the food was before I removed the shape. After discussing what their favorite dishes were, they made paper food. Next class, they're going to share their work with the group by answering the question: What is on your table? Their answers can be something like: On my table,  there is a fork, a knife, a cup and a plate with some salad, spaghetti, meat and a fried egg. I love how colorful their dishes are! Anybody up for some blue spaghetti?

This was an art project I did with my bilingual 4th grade class. We had been studying communities and they had to paint a cityscape but we did it with a twist. First, the students cut pieces of masking tape and taped them on a paper. Each piece of tape had a different size. Then, each student chose a color to paint their paper or rather city sky. The following class when the paint had dried, we peeled off the tape. It's best of you peel off the tape from top to bottom so the paint doesn't come off, too. So, now you have white rectangles of different sizes with a painted background. Students filled in the rectangles with windows and doors to make the city buildings. They also added airplanes, antennas and other details to their cities. Last, we glued their cities onto black creative paper for a more dramatic effect. At the end, you can have your students describe their cities to their friends, either in pairs or to the whole class. I love color and thought the final resu

Well, they aren’t really preposterous, are they? But prepositions do seem utterly absurd sometimes. Here’s an easy way for kids to practice them. All you have to do is make this bed. Yes, a bed. This paper box bed is easier than it seems. Just draw a rectangle in the middle of a paper and cut 2 lines at the top (around 2 inches long) and then at the bottom. Fold all the sides of the bed and glue the ends together. Have the kids draw a character to sleep on the bed. They can decorate and glue anything they want on it, except the character. Make sure they color and decorate the beds before gluing them together. You’ll need popsicle sticks for the bedposts too. When the beds are ready. Explain that they have to  place the character they made according to what you say. You can tell them to place the girl, boy or even a teddy bear on the bed, behind the bed, under or next to the bed, even between beds. Depending on how old your students are, they can even tell each other where to place th

This city took us several classes to make but my six-year-olds never got tired of it. They would beg me to play with it every class. We used it to practice transportation related vocabulary and sentences like: Let’s go by car! or I go to school by bus . There’s no better way to get kids engaged than by having them use their own work and creations to learn. It was also a great way to review every class. There were trains, planes, cars and lots of buses driving kids to school.

Here’s a great theme for young learners! There’s so much you can explore and create. My kids started with boats and then today we made cars. Of course, paper was our material of choice. Our sea needed fish and our boats needed sails and some decorations. Our cars will drive through the streets of the big floor map we’re going to make and play with next class.

Carrot Feet! Here’s to Easter! Got this idea off Pinterest , one of my favorite places to browse. The idea worked and students were tickled. Literally. I painted their feet and they laughed through the whole process. A lot of paper towels involved in the cleaning up but so very worth it. They then cut different shades of green creative paper to glue to taste. 😊 They were able to practice saying feet, foot and of course Happy Easter ! 

What do you have in your backpack? Well, my 5 year olds have a pencil, an eraser, a ruler, glue, crayons, and scissors. I made these paper backpacks and drew the school material for them but depending on how much time you have, the students can draw the objects themselves, which of course would be much better. After a class and a song about these classroom objects, they colored and cut out the school material. Next class, they’re going to use I have to tell me about what they have in their backpacks. We are also going to have a race with the backpacks lined up in front of the classroom. I’ll have one student say: I have (a pencil) in my backpack. The first student to run to their backpack and get the correct object, wins! There are lots of ways we can use their work to practice vocabulary and structures. What would you do?

I loved this paper shape so much that I decided to use it with several different groups. Students were given a square sheet of paper which they folded connecting the tips to make 4 triangles. They then cut on one of the creases just to the middle of the square. The two bottom triangles can be overlapped and glued together so that the paper stands up, like in the pictures. This 3D shape can be used for so many different activities and with so many different ages. All it takes it some imagination and creativity. In the first two pictures, we were studying the Present Continuous. Each student had to write two sentences and draw the pictures for their sentences. One sentence had to be in the singular and the other one in the plural, for example: She is playing ball/They are playing ball. I then covered their sentences with a triangular piece of paper and placed their work around the class. The students had to walk around the classroom, look at the pictures and write down in their n