Pilgrims HomeContentsEditorialMarjor ArticleJokesShort ArticleIdeas from the CorporaLesson OutlinesStudent VoicesPublicationsAn Old ExercisePilgrims Course OutlineReaders LettersPrevious EditionsLindstromberg ColumnTeacher Resource Books Preview

Copyright Information



Would you like to receive publication updates from HLT? You can by joining the free mailing list today.

 

Humanising Language Teaching
Year 5; Issue 5; September 03

Lesson outlines

Gambling with irregular verbs

primary, secondary and adult

Irina Solokova
Alicja Wujec-Kaczmarek , Poland

LEVEL: elementary and up (choice of verbs will depend on level of students)
AGE: any age group
TIME: a sheet of cardboard
PREPARATION: Prepare 36 cards the size of a playing card. On each card write one form of the irregular verbs you want to practise with the group (infinitives, past forms, past participles and –ing forms), one form per card.
The bad news is that you will need a set of 36 cards per 4 students, so 6 sets, say, if you have 24 students in your class. See Variation for ways of avoiding all this”busy work” for yourself.

IN CLASS:

  • The teacher divides students into groups of 4 and gives each group a pack of cards.
  • The students shuffle the cards and deal them out so that each student has 9 cards.
  • The teacher decides which infinitive to start with (eg.do) and the participant with this infinitive begins by putting it on the table.
  • The student on her/his right has to put down either the past form card (did) or another infinitive.
  • The cards have to be arranged in the following order: infinitive, past form, past participle and -ing form.
  • If the student does not have the correct one s/he misses the turn.
  • When the student puts the card down s/he has to say the verb aloud and the group has to monitor for accuracy (pronounciation, form).
  • If the student is wrong with the form or mispronouces the verb, s/he misses the turn
  • If the group is not sure if the student is correct, the teacher will help.
  • The winner is the student who gets rid of all their cards first.

RATIONALE: The activity is suitable for different students (auditory, visual, kinaesthetic) and helps them to master irregular verbs painlessly.

VARIATIONS:

  1. The infinitive card could be replaced by a card with the infinitive in L1.
  2. Groups could have different sets (with different verbs) and if there is time could swap games.
  3. Students could prepare their own cards.
  4. The teacher prepares the poster with the vocabulary necessary to play the game, eg. miss a turn, you did not pronounce it right , it's your turn and point to it if the students cannot find the right phrases.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Inna Bibanova uses this activity with her students in Moscow.