Balloon Chase

Objective: To build confidence with a pronunciation feature; to practice speaking quickly

Steps:

1. Select a pronunciation feature you want your students to practice. This activity works particularly well with linked sounds, blended words, and reduced forms. Review this pronuncation feature and elicit some examples to write on the board.
2. Have your students stand in a circle. If you have many students, have them form several circles, but demonstrate the activity first with one group.
3. Explain that the aim of the activity is to keep the balloon in the air for as long as possible. Before the balloon touches the ground, the student closest to the balloon must call out, using the pronunciation feature, an expression from the board that has not been called out yet or an example of her own. Then she can tap the balloon back in the air.

Example: The following example is for New Interchange 1, Unit 7: "We Had a Great Time!" The Pronunciation exercise appears on p. 41 of the Student's Book.

On the Board: Before touching the balloon, the students must read one of these sentences or say a sentence of their own using the reduced form of did you.

Acknowledgment: Adapted from The Standby Book, by Seth Lindstromberg, Cambridge University Press, 1997.

Adaptation: This activity can also be used to practice words containing individual sounds, review vocabulary (for example, pieces of furniture), or practice grammar (for example, past participles).