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

Here's something I tried in two different classes with completely different grammar points. All you need is a blank sheet of paper for each student and a marker to write on the board. The first group of students I did this with was a group of teenagers. We were studying conditional sentences, first conditional to be exact. I projected eight phrases on the board which they would have to complete, for example: If it's sunny on Saturday, ... I then asked them to fold their sheets 3 times right in the middle so that when they opened the sheet there would be eight squares made from the creases created by folding the paper. They were then instructed to complete the sentences, one per square, but not to copy the first part of the sentence only write the part they had thought of. They were also told not to write the continuation of the phrases in order but in random squares. Maybe writing the first one in the last square, the second one in a middle square and so on. When they were...

Poetry. Not an easy topic for most people, especially if you want students to write one. And writing a poem in a second language may be even scarier. So, today I got a class of advanced students to "find" poems. I saw this idea on Pinterest which is a paradise for teachers looking for new ideas for the classroom. All you need for this activity is paper. Well, not really, all you need is an old book. I had a book lying around the house that I didn't really care for. After discussing what they thought a poem was, I gave them each a page from the book and asked them to "find" their poem. These poems are called "Found Poems".  After they had created their poems, I collected them, mixed them up and handed them out again at random. They were then supposed to read the poem they had gotten, think about what it meant, then, find the student/author who had written it and discuss if what they understood was what the person had actually meant. The were exci...

We know now, although most teachers tend to do little about it, that movement helps us remember and/or actually learn something new. I won't go into details about that but here's a link if you want to do some extra reading. It all makes sense now why kids, being little learning machines, cannot sit still. We know they can't but that's still what we want them to do. ( Me included but I have been trying to change and it has made a difference.) But it's not only small kids who need to move, it's all ages. Well, bearing that in mind here's an activity for the first or second day of class when you are letting students know your classroom rules. Last semester, I made a Keynote presentation with these rules and showed my students on the first day of class. Later, maybe 2 months into the semester, when I reminded them of certain rules, some were very surprised and had an "Ihavenoideawhatyouaretalkingabout" look on their faces. So, this next semester, I...

This activity can be used as an icebreaker or a warm up activity for a specific unit in which the title and/or topic is love. You can also do this in February around Valentine's Day. I cut out a heart for each student around the size of my hand. My hearts were red but you can use any color your heart desires. Each student is given a heart and asked to write 2 things they like about themselves and two things they like about the person to their right. It can be one word or how they like the way the person does something. Each thing is written on a round "tip" of the heart, 2 on the front and 2 on the back. Tell your students they are not supposed to let anyone see what they are writing. When they are done, collect the hearts and tape them up on the walls with the back tips folded back (sort of like a butterfly on a wall). Ask your students to get up and go up to the hearts and try to find out who the hearts are referring to. It's a nice way for them to get to kn...

I've always been in love with paper. I love the different textures and colors you can find. The way it can be fun or serious, discreet or a big attention getter. Paper is easy to find and carry around. It's also something familiar to everybody, unlike all the new technology seen in classrooms nowadays. Not that I am against the use of computers or tablets in the class, I use my iPad basically every class, but paper is easier and a lot more accessible to everyone. So, without further ado, (I've always wanted to say that) let's show you our first activity and how you can use it. Remember that anything we talk about can be adapted, expanded and maybe spark something completely new in you. We hope it does. :)

This blog is the result of a workshop given at a one day BRAZ-TESOL conference in Brasilia. We'd like to share our ideas and findings on how we can use activities which involve paper in the classroom.