Last year I changed my classroom arrangement, so my students could easily work in pairs and in groups. At first some of them didn't like it, and their behaviour was disruptive but I was persistent. I wanted them to talk in English, so I tried to prepare attractive speaking activities for almost each lesson.

This speaking activity was inspired by my post "What's in your fridge?" from 2015. This time I gave my students ready-made cards. They were divided into groups of four and each group was divided into two pairs. Each pair was given a picture of a fridge but there were some differences in the content of fridges. The task was to ask and answer some questions, such as "Are there any apples in your fridge?" to find out the differences.

You can download and print my fridges here:

1) front:

2) back:

 

You can use it to practice different grammar structures: to have got, there is/there are, some/any etc.

Do you have any other ideas how to use my printable fridges? Please, share them in the comments.

Describing wild animals can be fun, but kids can have more fun while describing strange animals. It's even better when it's a game.

All you need is a dice, crayons and a piece of paper.

Yesterday I divided my 3rd-graders into pairs. Each pair got one dice. Each student had to roll twice. They roll an animal on the first roll and a body part on the second roll. Then they drew what they'd rolled.

At first they didn't get it, as it was quite an unusual exercise. But then they created amazing animals and even described them in English.

Sitting at the desk for 45 minutes can be really tedious for students. My teacher in secondary school had this saying: "Move your 'bottom' and your mind will follow". Last Thrusday I decided to try running dictation with my 5th-graders. Most of them were very enthusiastic about this exercise. 

I have to admit that I was enthusiastic, too. Running dictation combines: reading, speaking, listening and writing. It also develops vocabulary and grammar skills.

How did I do it?

1. I divided my students into two groups. I asked them to stand in two lines.
2. The first person in each group was the runner and the second person was the writer.
3.  I put two copies of a short text on the wall opposite two desks.
4. The runners in each group had to run to the wall, read the first sentence of the text, run back to the writers and quietly dictate what they remembered. Then they went to the end of the line.
5. When the writer wrote down the sentence, they became the runner and the next person in the line became the writer. 
6. When both teams were ready with the text, I swap their worksheets. They had to check them for mistakes.

We had so much fun with this activity. Next time we will try to do it in smaller groups or we will do it in the hall, so they will have to run.

Here are very simplified models of sentence structures with the present simple forms of the verbs "to be" and "to have got".