need who,what where,when, activities

[Amy lynne]

Help, I need activites for Who,what,where,when,how, and why.
Anyone have any ideas that could be used to fill a 2 hour class????????????

[gfell]

Hard to help you out without knowing the age of your students and their ability. Can you describe your class and student profile? A "Who" activity for a group of 5 year olds would be obviously different than it would be for a group of adults or even private students.

[Amy lynne]

Sorry you're right that might help. Okay my class are teens and adults tue. will be their 2nd class. They are mostly beginners,learning quite fast. We meet tue. & thur. 2 hours. Thanks.

[gfell]

What about a game like "Guess Who?". This would allow you to use all of Who / What / When / Where / How / Why.

Place students in pairs or small groups to come up and discuss which character / thing / person to use. During this brain storming session, the group should describe all the characteristics of their chosen person etc. After that, the groups separate and mix with other groups. The goal is to guess based on who that person / thing is.

Eg:
Where were you born?
Are you a person?
Are you still living?
How did you die?

Anyway, you get the gist I hope. Make it like a competition. The first person to guess the correct answer jumps up and then writes their name on the board. The pair / group then switch so that each has a turn in questioning and answering.

Using your imagination you can really go a long way in the ESL classroom.

[AdvantageEnglish]

This is just my own opinion...but I generally try to think of a FUNCTION for a lesson....not just a GRAMMAR POINT.

Think about the FUNCTION of the words "Who, What, When, Where, Why and How" and try to think of practical situations in which students may use those words in the real world.

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY:
Looking at a photo album and asking questions about the people;
Who is that ? What is he doing ? Where is this photo ? Why did you go there ? etc...

But the same questions could have very different Functions...

Why did you decide to study English ?
Why is that shop closed on Tuesday ?
Why don't we go to the movies tonight ?

My suggestion; Think of a function or functions that is/are right for your students and create a series of Communicative, Listening, Speaking and Writing activities based around that function. You may realise that you need to branch out and give some other vocabulary such as a list of verbs or something else that will accompany the topic and allow for greater student communication.

Activities;

Intro - how was was your week... what's new ?
If students are talkative, spend time on it. If it turns into one student speaking for a minute with 10 students sitting quietly and waiting their turn...CAN IT !

1-5 mins

1. Start with something guided and simple; such as a formulaic role play in which students follow a conversation pattern but substitute a word or expression here and there, following an example given.

or an information gap activity where students work together to complete the STUDENT A, STUDENT B worksheets, ending up with the same information on both sheets.

5 mins

2. Work into something less guided and more free-conversation or role play.

5 mins

3. Do a listening activity where you speak or play a recording (on the same Function theme) if you have something appropriate and students must take notes, complete a table of information, fill the blanks in a script, answer questions on a worksheet etc...

5mins

4. Do a writing activity - I love RUNNING DICTATIONS for kids and adults alike.

Place a written text (short is sweet) at one end of the room out of eyesight. Students have a pen and paper at their desk. Stand up, go and look at the written text, return to desk and start writing it from memory. Don't pick up or carry the text, paper or pen. Run back and forth reading, remembering, returning, writing...as many times as it takes or until time limit of say, 5 minutes. Place the same text around the room in multiple locations so people don't fall all over eachother.

5mins

5. Introduce a list of vocabulary for the lesson topic. 10 words is the magic number... If there7s a chance that they may already know some of the words, go for 20 and perhaps they'll get 10 new ones each ! Write the words on card and flash them fast for students to day. If they're pictorial, such as simple nouns, have the picture on the back and flash with picture side only... If they're not pictorial, such as abstract nouns, "Honesty" ask students to use them in a sentence or a definition.
Play a game --> Students sit in a circle, go around the circle, flashing cards at students one at a time and have the student make a sentence with the word...give a 20 second limit and see how fast you can go around the circle.

10 mins

Students copy words down and Homework --> Write a sentence for each of the words.

Anyway.... With a couple more ideas, you'll be pushing that up to the 1st hour mark. Then get back into the function of the lesson... Introduce a video clip on the topic if possible... If you have a vcr in your room, you should be looking out for clips all the time - record TV shows and go thru them...there's always something useful if you look hard enough.

Video and discussion or comprehension activity 5-10mins

Good luck with it.