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