Language pyramids

         The following activity is suitable for elementary students of English as a foreign language, especially those who are slow, unmotivated, unfocused, immature or unapt. It will not only boost memory and practise stress variation in word linking, but will also sensitise learners to the mechanisms of word order and structure building.

How to do it?

1. Write a sentence pyramid on the board.

Example:                                      weather
                                                 the weather
                                              the weather can
                                            the weather can be
                                        the weather can be cold
                                   the weather can be pretty cold
                            In Scotland the weather can be pretty cold.
                     In northern Scotland the weather can be pretty cold.

2. Read each line out loud and ask the students to repeat in chorus.
3. If you have time you can ask individual students to repeat as well or read the pyramid by themselves.
4. The last task is the most challenging and creative - given a pilot word ( e.g. box, summer, bottle ..., etc.), the students build their own language pyramids.

Describing shapes

Here's another activity to eliminate boredom in the classroom and enhance speaking and listening comprehension.

1.Prepare a sheet of paper with different shapes on it (like the one shown above).
2. Make several copies ( the number will depend on the number of students in class - the students may work in groups or in pairs)
3. Cut the sheets of paper along the lines so you now have sets of shape cards.
4. Divide the students into groups or pairs and give each group/pair a set of shape cards, which they spread on the desks.
5. Ask a volunteer student to be the speaker and give him/her a sheet of paper with the original arrangement of the shapes.
6. The speaker then describes each shape so that all other students can arrange the shapes in their original order.
7. At the end of the activity the students compare their arrangements with the original one.

Freedom

Describe the picture /sculpture of Zenos Frudakis/ and discuss the topic of freedom in the context of the modern world.

Useful link: http://zenosfrudakis.com/sculptures/public/Freedom.html

How to get rid of plastic bags

BBC News Thursday, 2 August 2012 10:05 UK

Supermarkets 'should charge £1 a bag'

Everyone should be charged a small fee to get a plastic bag with their shopping, according to a group of environmental pressure groups.
Samantha Harding, of the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England, says a fee of 5p would "seriously reduce litter and pollution... which is having a massive, massive effect".
Judith Holder, author of Grumpy Old Women, believes that a five pence fee would not work.
Her life is "full of bags", she told the Today programme, "my problem is I've never got them when I got to the till."
People need to be charged £1 for a bag so that they remember to take them in the shop, she suggests.

Do you agree? How do plastic bags affect our life?

Useful link: http://www.riograndeguardian.com/green_story.asp?story_no=4