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I Don't Like Working on Weekends!
The activities below provide fun exercises for the entire class when you have extra time. They are designed to be taught with specific exercises in this unit. Click on an activity in the list below or scroll down the page.
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What's your opinion?
This activity is designed to be taught with Exercise 3, "Grammar Focus: Gerunds; short responses."
Time: 10 minutes. This exercise practices giving opinions and making short responses.
- Explain the activity: Each student writes down statements that express his or her strong opinions about five things. These statements should be about things that other students in the class may also know something about. In addition, the statements should be generally of a light and inconsequential nature. Give some examples like these:
I think the food in the school cafeteria is terrible!
I can't stand the color of the new building next door!
I hate heavy metal music!
- Students work individually to write their five statements. Walk around the class and give help as needed.
- With the whole class, students take turns reading one of their opinions aloud. Then they name a classmate, and he or she must make a suitable response with so, too, neither, or either when agreeing, or use other expressions for contrastive responses, like this:
Student 1: I think the food in the school cafeteria is terrible!
Terry?
Student 2: Yeah, so do I. . . . Uh, I love to eat kiwi fruit! May?
Student 3: Ugh! Oh, I don't! I can't stand them. Jay, . . . ?
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Game – Tic-Tac-Toe
This activity is designed to be taught with Exercise 7, "Word Power: Personality traits."
Time: 5–10 minutes. This activity practices forming questions and statements. It can be adapted for use with any unit's grammar or vocabulary.
- Draw a grid with nine squares on the board (i.e., three rows by three columns). Ask students to call out verbs (e.g., write, find, connect) and write them on the board.
- Divide the class into two teams – Team X and Team O. Team X starts by choosing a verb and making either a statement or a question with it. If it is wrong, Team O gets a chance to use the same word in a statement or question. If Team O makes a correct sentence, write an O on the grid. Then it's Team O's turn. The game continues until one team gets tic-tac-toe (i.e., three Xs or Os together in a row, in a column, or diagonally through the grid).
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Sentence-making contest
This activity is designed to be taught with Exercise 9, "Grammar Focus: Clauses with because."
Time: 10–15 minutes. This activity reviews describing people, their careers, and changes in their lives.
Preparation: In the class before the activity is done, each student brings one color magazine picture showing several people doing various activities. Collect the pictures and choose the best ones for this task. The number of pictures should equal the number of groups (e.g., class size 20 = 4 students in each group = 5 pictures needed). Then number each picture (e.g., #1, #2).
- Give each group a picture and explain the game: Students try to make as many different sentences as they can – in three minutes – about the people in the picture. On a separate piece of paper, the group secretary writes down the picture's number and every sentence the group can think up.
- When the first three-minute time limit is up, groups exchange pictures (clockwise around the class) and do the task again with the next picture. On the same piece of paper, the group secretary again writes down the picture's number and all the sentences that the group forms. Continue the activity until every group has written sentences for each picture passed around.
- Now find out which group has written the most sentences for each picture. Then that group holds up the picture while the group secretary reads their sentences aloud to the class.
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Job ads
This activity is designed to be taught with Exercise 10, "Writing."
Time: 15–20 minutes. This activity practices writing advertisements for interesting or unusual jobs. In a group, students write a job ad together and then read it to the class.
- Explain the activity. Then write the following job title on the board and ask students to suggest some of the skills and qualities that a person would need for a job like this. Write their suggestions on the board, too. For example:
| Movie stuntperson |
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strong
like traveling |
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physically fit
not afraid of dangerous work |
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past experience helpful |
- Then model how a job ad could be written, using the students' suggestions – for example:
Stuntperson Needed
R&J Films has an opening for a movie stuntperson. Past experience is helpful but not required. Applicant should like traveling and not be afraid of doing dangerous work. Good salary for the right person. Call Jay Sloan at (310) 348-9021 for more information or an interview.
- Students work in groups and choose a fun job to write an ad for. Go around and give help as needed. Set a time limit of about ten minutes.
- Groups take turns reading their job ads to the class. Encourage others to ask questions. Which job ad is the most interesting or unusual?
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That sounds like . . . .
This activity is designed to be taught with Exercise 11, "Reading: Find the job that's right for you!"
Time: about 10 minutes. This activity gives further practice in describing people's personality traits and characteristics.
- Ask students to write a few sentences describing some personality traits of three of their classmates. (Note: Students should try to be imaginative but, of course, should avoid embarrassing one another.) Encourage students to use adjectives presented in this cycle.
- Students compare their descriptions in pairs. If a partner has a different opinion, he or she should say what it is and why.
- Elicit students' descriptions around the class.
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