Humanising Language Teaching
Year 6; Issue 1; January 2004

Pass the Objects

Primary, secondary and adult

PA MS GB

Time: 5 minutes
Level: Beginners
Material: Some small “holdable” objects, which have a predominant colour, e.g. a blue dog.
Focus: Teaching the names and colours of common everyday objects, adjective – noun, adjective – adjective word order

Procedure:

1. If possible, sit in a circle so that passing the objects around from student to student is natural.

2. . Choose an object and name it by saying for example:

3. . 'This is a blue dog'. The student on your right takes the objects and repeats this is a blue dog while passing it to the student sitting beside them. This continues until the object has been around the circle.

4. . As the activity continues and students understand the activity, you can pass objects more and more frequently and rapidly so that the pace doesn't lag.

Comments:

1. Besides teaching vocabulary, this activity reinforces the idea that in English the adjective goes before the noun.

2. Objects should be chosen while keeping in mind the age of the students. We use common objects found in the office for adults learning English in their company.

3. For more advanced learners you can add more descriptive words to introduce word order. E.g.'This is a soft cuddly blue dog.' Next, give students an object and ask them to come up with three adjectives to describe the object.