Activities bank

Activity

Educational purpose

Differentiation

Ideas

Find someone who

(S.O.)
Ice breaker for the
beginning of the course for
helping students become
comfortable with their new
classmates
To foster communication

It can be adapted to
different levels. Lower
levels: provide written
information or images.

- Use with all subjects

- make a chart
- watch a video and find
someone who said
blablabla
- ask sts to introduce
someone and say
something about that
person
- when they find a friend to
add to their sheet, they
should ask the friend how
to spell their first name

To identify mistakes
(grammar, word choice,

Visual learners:
illustrations instead of
words

Learners use a checklist as

they walk around the
classroom trying to find a
person who has a certain
characteristic. When they
find someone with those
characteristics, they write
that persons name on
their checklist and move
on to the next person. The
goal is to meet and talk to
as many people as possible
within the time limit in
order to put one name by
each of the characteristics.

Find the English

mistakes in the
sentences on the

SS create their
sentences for
another student

board
Rank words /
sentences in order

To order, classify, compare

- Give slow learners clues

(eg first word with capital
letter, last word with a full
stop)

Look at the objects

and decide how
they relate to
someones life

(F.O.)To develop cognitive

skills
Guessing, hypothesising

Give students the

structures and multiple
choice (eg It could be)

Ask the right

question i.e.
students have to get
their partner to say

To foster communication,
to review previous
knowledge.
Creative thinking

Miming

Learners put a list of

words/sentences in an
order

- Same activity with

pictures (5 paintings from
oldest to most recently
painted).
- PE: 10 verbs in order of
use in a sport
- Maths: 7 names of shapes
from least number of sides
to most number of sides
- ICT: 5 developments in
ICT in the past ten years
Students bring their own
objects to introduce
themselves (beginning of
year), offer options instead
of discovering (younger
learners), create a story
with the objects, write
about the objects, to
practise modal verbs...
Miming, drawing.

the word on their

paper without
saying the word
True / False game in
two rows with two
chairs at the end

To review previous
knowledge
To form correct sentences

Advanced learner can take

the teacher role.

Teacher gives personal

information.

Jigsaw reading

To foster communication
(introduce speaking into a
reading lesson)

Adapted to different topics.

News articles.

Mark the stress of

words with a box,
beating the stress
with your hands,
humming
Role plays
incorporating target
language

To improve word stress

Find an appropriate text for

each literacy level and
then students get into
heterogeneous groups to
share their findings with
their peers
Auditory sts.
Kinaesthetic sts.

Lower sts: use visuals

Record and watch, tie

down the situation, assign
characters and role (more
guided), in a big group
(brainstorm, verb tenses)

To answer, sts run to the

True or False chair.

(S.O.) To develop creativity

Cuisenaire rods to
represent stressed and
unstressed syllables

Dance around room.

When the music
stops say something
you have learned
this week and
explain its meaning

To reflect.
To take a quick energy
break (brain breaks).

Kinaesthetic learners.

Students choose the music

Musical chairs

Story about
someones life to
practise two
problem sounds
Mushrooming
groups e.g. for a
debate. Start off
with two students,
them form a group
of four and then
eight etc.

To improve pronunciation

Visual learners:
illustrations
Auditory learners:
recordings

Use different lexical

groups: I went to the
supermarket and I
bought.../ I went to the
park and I saw...

To reflect
To foster communication

Mixed groups

To build up a story

Jigsaw listening

To integrate listening and

speaking skills
To encourage collaborative
learning

Lower students:
illustrations/give more
clues

Favourite song of the

moment. Print lines in
strips, cut up and
distribute. Weaker sts:

Learners hear different

parts of a text, then

exchange information with

others in order to complete
a task

fewer strips; stronger sts:

more strips

Silently mouth the

pronunciation of
sounds to show how
they are made and
then students hold
up cards when the
hear the correct
sound

To identify sounds mimed

by the teacher

To work individually with

slow learners

Stick the cards around the

classroom and students
have to run to touch the
correct one

Dance to music and

then elicit a word or
phrase when the
music stops

To have students come up

with a word on their own

For visual learners:

flashcards
For older learners: mind
maps

Provide a definition and ask

students to supply the
correct word
Ask the learners questions
that require them to
answer using a particular
grammatical form
Act it out and ask

Self-correct
homework using
symbols

To optimise learning
opportunities from
mistakes learners make in
written tasks

Provide students with the

table of symbols
Give them only 3 symbols

To select the most

interesting mistakes and
prepare a worksheet for
the class to work on

Teacher shows the learners

where the mistakes are and
what kind they are, and they
try to correct them

Order words on a
timeline

Walk around the

room and find
someone with a
matching answer to
you or fill in the
missing preposition
and ask the
question and get an
answer. Then
change partners
Appoint a leader
and timekeeper for

together
Ask students to correct
their work in class and
share some of the
corrections with the group
To display information in
visual form
To help students
understand the chronology
of historic events

For visual learners:

illustrations
Cooperative learning: work
in pairs

Timeline of their own lives

Use realia and artifacts
Use templates

To work on prepositions
To make questions

With images to provide

clues

Different grammar
structrures eg
a) What does / What
do
b) they like? /she like?

To improve the
effectiveness of

To rotate individual roles to

develop students skills in

Leader: Makes sure that

every voice is

group work and

agree on the rules
for an effective
group before
students begin

collaborative group work

group work

heard/Focuses work around

the learning task
Timekeeper: Encourages
the group to stay on
task/Announces when time
is halfway through and
when time is nearly up
Recorder: Compiles group
members ideas/Writes on
the board for the whole
class to see during the
presentation
Presenter: Presents the
group