TEFL Resources and Lesson Ideas

Note: this is a splice of an activity I found in Trouble with Prepositions, Articles, Nouns and Word Order? and another I found on the British Council’s teaching English website, here. The vocabulary revised relates to household furniture.

Preparation:

Materials: whiteboard; pens; a rucksack or bag; some objects (e.g., pens, tapes - the usual equipment you might carry with you to class).

Procedure:

1. Board round, into, over, under, onto, around, from, to, out of. Then board a picture of a cat’s journey through a room, going round, jumping onto and off, going under and around, etc., various objects (chairs, books, tables, vases, etc.) and out of the window.
2. Encourage students to tell you the cat’s journey.
3. Ask them to draw their own rooms and imagine a cat’s journey through that. Monitor and help with vocabulary.
4. Pair the students and ask them to recount the journey to each other.
5. Play a game of preposition basketball: screw up a piece of paper into a ball, and open your bag or rucksack; place the bag in the corner of the room furthest from the students; and throw a few objects (books, tapes, pens, etc.) around the outside of the bag. Stand at the other end of the room with the paper ball and ask students if 3 or 5 points should be awarded to anyone who can throw the ball into the bag from here. When the students answer, explain that they can also get 1 point for each correct preposition that they use to say where the ball is. Tell them that they will have 1 minute to use as many correct prepositions as they can. Demonstrate this activity: throw the ball (aim to miss), then use prepositions to describe where it is (e.g., "it’s by the door, it’s between the tape and the folder, it’s opposite the window, it’s under the ceiling," etc.). Retrieve the ball and throw it towards one of the students, who starts the game by standing at the opposite end of the room from the bag and throwing the ball at it. NB: if any student gets the ball into the bag, give them 3 or 5 points (whichever the class has decided), then tip the ball out onto the floor and allow them a minute to accumulate even more points.