English adventure teaching tips from companion website

Teaching Tips
Title:

Under the Arch

Topic:

animals

Vocabulary:

horse, mouse, cat, dog

Materials:

CD

Description:

Tell the class the magic word, e.g. ‘Dog’. Two children stand facing one another, holding up their
arms in the form of an arch and holding both hands. The other children form a line leading up to
the arch. Play the song The horse is happy on the CD:
‘The horse is happy –
Neigh, neigh!
The mouse is happy –
Squeak, squeak!
The cat is happy –
Miaow, miaow!
The dog is happy –
Woof, woof!’
As the music plays, the children skip through the arch and then round in a circle to come under

the arch again. When the magic word (‘dog’) is heard in the song, the two children forming the
arch pull down their arms to catch the child underneath. Pause the song. The caught child and the
one behind him/her then form the arch. Continue in the same way until the song has been played
through several times. If you wish, you can change the magic word to a different animal each time.

Title:

Blue trousers – hop!

Topic:

clothes

Vocabulary:

trousers, skirt, T-shirt, shoes, colours, action verbs e.g. hop, jump, sit down, stand up

Description:

Call out e.g. ‘Blue trousers – hop!’ All children wearing blue trousers hop. Then call ‘Stop!’ and
they stand still. Continue with more instructions, e.g. ‘Green T-shirts – stand up!’, ‘Black shoes –
sit down!’, ‘Red skirts – jump!’ Children follow the instructions as appropriate.
NOTE: This game can also be played using physical features, e.g. long/short hair and blue/brown/
green eyes.

Title:

Chinese Whispers

Topic:

jobs and countries or any other topic

Vocabulary:

photographer, secretary, Ecuador , Great Britain or words from any other topic

Materials

two pieces of paper, each with a sentence written on it, e.g. ‘I want to be a photographer’ and ‘I
want to be a secretary’, and then folded up

Description:

Children play in two teams. Each team stands in a circle. Hand out the two folded up pieces of
paper, each with a different sentence on it, e.g. ‘I want to be a photographer’ and ‘I want to be a
secretary’, to one child in each team. When you call ‘Go!’, the person holding the paper opens it,
then puts it in their pocket and whispers the sentence to the person on their left. Each child, as
they hear the sentence, whispers it to the person on their left. They may say the sentence only
once each. When the sentence reaches the last person in the circle, they say it aloud, and the first
child tells them if it is correct or not, bringing out the piece of paper. You could play again, using
the following two sentences: ‘My neighbours are from Ecuador ’ and ‘My neighbours are from
Great Britain ’.

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Title:

When I go on holiday, I’m going to…

Topic:

journeys

Vocabulary:

countries, transport, useful equipment, holiday activities

Materials:

a piece of paper for each group of three children and a pen for each child

Description:

Children play in groups of three. Number each child: 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3,’ etc. Give each group a piece
of paper. You dictate sentences for children to write down and complete in secret. Child 1 in each
group begins by writing at the top of their piece of paper ‘When I go on holiday, I’m going to go to
(a place, e.g. a country or city)’. They then fold the paper so that their text is not visible and pass
on the paper to Child 2. Child 2 writes ‘I’m going to travel by (transport)’, folds the paper again so
that their text is not visible and passes on the paper to Child 3. Child 3 writes ‘I’m going to go with
(person)’. The paper is then passed back to Child 1, who writes ‘I’m going to take (equipment)’.
Child 2 writes ‘I’m going to visit (place).’ Child 3 writes ‘I’m going to (activity).’ Then groups pass
their text back to Child 1 who writes ‘And when I get home again, I’m going to (activity)’. Finally
one child opens the paper and reads it to the others in their group. Write the skeleton text (above)
on the board for reference. Groups pass their text on to a different group to correct and then hand
back.

Title:

When’s your birthday? (Later-primary)

Topic:

birthdays and months

Vocabulary:

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Materials:

The task is for children to form a circle, going clockwise in the order of their birthdays. They do
this by asking one another ‘When’s your birthday?’ and answering with the month. To check they
have done this correctly, the children then go round the circle saying the month of their birthday.
Then go round the circle again, with children saying ‘I’m older than …’ or ‘I’m younger than …’ and
naming a pupil to their left or right as appropriate.

Title:

Lipread the word (Pre-primary)

Topic:

clothes or any other topic

Vocabulary:

T-shirt, trousers, skirt, shoes or four words from any other topic

Materials

flashcards or real items of T-shirt, trousers, skirt and shoes or four flashcards from any other topic

Description:

Hold up the clothes flashcards or real items, one by one. Children call out the words, e.g. ‘T-shirt’,
‘Trousers’, ‘Skirt’ and ‘Shoes’. Stick the flashcards up on the board or display the real items of
clothing, as a visual reminder. Point to the clothes items several times, for the children to call out
the words. Then a child comes to the front and silently mouths one of the four words to the class.
The class guess which word the child is mouthing. The child who guesses correctly then comes
to the front to mouth a different word. Continue in the same way until all of the words have been
mouthed at least once. If you wish, children can then play the game in pairs.

Title:

Where’s Donald? (Early-primary)

Topic:

rooms

Vocabulary:

bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, living room

Materials

Donald puppet, flashcards of bathroom, bedroom, kitchen and living room

Description:

Brainstorm rooms and write the words up on the board: ‘bathroom’, ‘bedroom’, ‘kitchen’ and ‘living
room’. The Donald puppet holds up a room flashcard, with the back of the card facing the class.
Ask the class ‘Where’s Donald’? The class put up their hands to guess which room he is in. Answer ‘No’ or ‘Yes’. The child who guesses correctly can come up to the front to help Donald hold
up the next card. Continue until all cards have been held up at least once.

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Title:

Order the story (Later-primary)

Topic:

Treasure Planet

Vocabulary:

times, morning activities

Materials:

a set ofstory sentences for each pair of students, as described below

Description:

Before the class, type up the sentences from a story, e.g. Treasure Planet from English Adventure
Pupil’s Book 3 page 22, adding dotted lines to separate each line of text:
-----------------------------------------------John Silver wakes Jim up very early.
----------------------------------------------“Wake up, Jim and get dressed,” says John Silva.
----------------------------------------------“But it’s dark. What time is it?” asks Jim.
----------------------------------------------“It’s five o’clock in the morning. We clean the floors at ten past five ,” says John Silva.
----------------------------------------------“But I’m hungry. What time do we have breakfast?” asks Jim.
----------------------------------------------“Later,” says John Silva.
----------------------------------------------“Is it breakfast time now?” asks Jim.
----------------------------------------------“No! We clean the bottom of the ship at six o’clock ,” says John Silva.
----------------------------------------------Jim is very hungry now.
----------------------------------------------“It’s seven o’clock . Now it’s time for breakfast!” says John Silva.
----------------------------------------------“Here you are,” says John Silva.
----------------------------------------------“Thank you,” says Jim.
----------------------------------------------Jim looks at the food in his bowl.
----------------------------------------------“I’m not hungry now,” says Jim.
----------------------------------------------Photocopy the text for each pair of students, cut it into strips, jumble up the sentences within each
set and clip each set together with a paper clip.
Children work in pairs.
Hand out a set of story sentences to each pair of pupils.
They try to put the lines in order, placing them one below the other on their desk. Go round to
monitor and check.
When they have all finished, the class read out the story, taking turns to read a line.

Title:

Go to the toy (Pre-primary)

Topic:

toys or any other topic

Vocabulary:

ball, drum, teddy bear, train or four words from any other topic

Materials

flashcards of ball, drum, teddy bear, trainor four flashcards from any other topic

Description:

The children sit in a circle. Go round the circle, numbering the children from 1 to 4: ‘1, 2, 3, 4. 1,
2, 3, 4. 1, 2’, etc. Say ‘Number 1’ and the number 1 children put up their hands. Say ‘Number 2’
and the number 2 children put up their hands. Do the same with numbers 3 and 4. Place the four
toy flashcards face up on the floor in front of the children, each in a different area of the circle. Say
e.g. ‘Number 3. Go to the train.’ The number 3 children run to the train flashcard. Wait until all the
number 3s have found the correct flashcard and then encourage the other children to give them a
round of applause. The number 3 children then return to their places in the circle. Continue in the
same way with the other numbers and toys.

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Title:

What animal is it? (Early-primary)

Topic:

journeys

Vocabulary:

elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, rhino, zebra

Materials:

flashcards of elephant, giraffe, hippo, lion, rhino and zebra, an envelope

Description:

The children sit in a circle. Place the animal flashcards in the centre. As you point to each picture, the children call out the words. One child then picks up all of the flashcards, comes out of the
circle and secretly puts one of the cards into the envelope. The child then returns to the middle of
the circle, does a mime of the animal and asks the class ‘What animal is it?’ Children put up their
hands to guess and the child in the middle answers ‘No’ or ‘Yes’. When someone guesses correctly, the child in the middle takes the flashcard out of the envelope and holds it up for everyone
to see. The child who guessed correctly then puts a different animal flashcard in the envelope and
the game continues until each of the flashcards has been hidden at least once.

Title:

Take one step if you like playing football (Later-primary)

Topic:

sports and other activities

Vocabulary:

playing football, swimming, surfing, playing baseball, playing tennis, playing basketball, riding,
diving, scuba diving, skydiving, rock climbing, walking, dancing, washing the dishes, cleaning your
room, doing your homework, eating carrots, going to bed early, getting up early

Description:

Children stand in a line against one wall of the classroom. There needs to be a clear space between the children and the opposite wall. Alternatively, you can mark the end of the game with a
piece of rope lying in a straight line across the floor.
Give the instruction ‘Take one step if you like …’ and follow it with e.g. ‘… playing football’. Those
children who like playing football take one step forward. Continue with other sentences, e.g. ‘Take
one step if you like … swimming’, ‘… surfing’, ‘… washing the dishes’, ‘… playing baseball’, ‘…
cleaning your room’, ‘… playing tennis’, ‘… doing your homework’, ‘… playing basketball’, ‘… riding’, ‘… doing your homework’, ‘… eating carrots’, ‘… diving’, ‘… scuba diving’, ‘… skydiving’, ‘…
going to bed early’, ‘… getting up early’, ‘… rock climbing’, ‘… walking’, ‘… dancing’. The first child
to reach the opposite wall or to cross the rope is the most sporty member of the class.

Title:

Musical letters (Early)

Topic:

the alphabet

Vocabulary:

letters a–z

Materials

CD

Description:

Play a song on the CD. Children dance around the classroom, singing along. When you pause the CD,
call out a letter. Children attempt to form a ‘statue’ of the letter shape with their body. Continue playing
until the end of the song. NOTE: The game can also be played using numbers instead of letters.

Title:

What’s the animal? (Later)

Topic:

animals (Unit 5)

Vocabulary:

giraffe, crocodile, zebra, rhino, hippo, frog, antelope, bug

Materials

flashcards of giraffe, crocodile, zebra, rhino, hippo, frog, antelope, bug, sticky tack

Description:

Hold up the flashcards one by one while the class call out their names.
Then hand out the flashcards, one to each child.

If there are more children than flashcards, some children form pairs and share a card.
Each child writes down three clues about their animal, e.g. ‘It can swim’, ‘It eats meat/grass/bugs/
fish/fruit/leaves’, ‘It’s green/brown/black and white’, ‘It’s got big teeth/four legs’ (you could write these as prompts up on the board to help them).
Go round to monitor and check.
Children then stand up one at a time and read out their clues for the class to guess the animal.
If you wish, when each animal has been guessed, children can stick their animal on the board,
placing them in order of size, starting with the smallest on the left and working up to the largest on
the right.

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Title:

Dancing animals (Pre-primary)

Topic:

animals

Vocabulary:

bird, butterfly, fish, rabbit

Materials:

The children sit on chairs facing outward in a circle.

Description:

Go round the circle, naming the children as animals: ‘Bird, butterfly, fish, rabbit. Bird, butterfly, fish,
rabbit. Bird, butterfly’, etc.
Call out ‘Birds!’ and the bird children stand up and dance round the outside of the circle like birds –
one hand held up to their nose like a beak.
When you say ‘Go home!’ they continue dancing in the same direction back to their seat.
Do the same with the other animals. The butterflies flutter their arms like wings, the fish mouth ‘O’s
as if blowing bubbles, and the rabbits jump.

Title:

Musical chairs (Early)

Topic:

any

Vocabulary:

any

Materials:

CD
Children sit on chairs facing outward in a circle.
Give each child a name, e.g. ‘Wendy, Peter Pan, Lilo, Stitch. Wendy, Peter Pan, Lilo, Stitch’, etc.
Play a song from the CD. All the children sing along as much as they can.
Call out one of the character names, e.g. ‘Peter Pan’. All the Peter Pans stand up and skip or walk
clockwise around the outside of the circle. When you pause the CD, they continue skipping or walking in the same direction back to their seat (they should not run). The last child back to their seat

turns their chair to face inward.
Continue in the same way until you have just four children still facing outward – one for each
character. (The children facing inward can continue to play, skipping or walking inside the circle.
Alternatively, if you prefer, they can just join in with the singing.)

Title:

Step forward and sing (Later)

Topic:

appearance and family

Vocabulary:

blond/black hair, glasses, teeth, Dad, Mum, Grandad, Granny

Materials

CD

Description:

The children stand round in a circle. Play the song Dad’s got blond hair from English Adventure
Pupil’s Book 2 page 7 and the class sing along:
‘1. Dad’s got blond hair,
blond hair, blond hair.
Dad’s got blond hair
and a big moustache.
2. Mum’s got red glasses,

glasses, glasses.
Mum’s got red glasses
and earrings too.
3. Grandad’s got black hair,
black hair, black hair.
Grandad’s got black hair
and a long, black beard.
4. Granny’s got no teeth,
no teeth, no teeth.
Granny’s got no teeth,
just a lovely smile.’
Children with blond hair step forward for verse 1.
Children with glasses step forward for verse 2.
Children with black hair step forward for verse 3.
The whole class steps forward, bearing a big smile showing no teeth, for verse 4.

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Title:

Swap the pictures (Pre-Primary)

Topic:

food or any other topic

Vocabulary:

apple, biscuit, banana or three words from any other topic

Materials:

flashcards of apple, biscuit and banana or three flashcards from any other topic, sticky tack

Description:

Stick a series of three flashcards in a row on the board, e.g. the food flashcards: apple, biscuit and
banana. Chant the words from left to right to the class, e.g. ‘Apple, biscuit, banana. Apple, biscuit,
banana.’ Then say the chant again, encouraging the children to join in. A child comes up to the
board and swaps the position of two of the flashcards. The class chant the words in their new order. Another child comes up and swaps two cards and the class chant again. Repeat the process
until all children who wish to have had a chance to swap two cards.

Title:

Yuck! A crayon! (Early)

Topic:

classroom items

Vocabulary:

crayon, pen, eraser, book, pencil case

Materials:

Donald puppet, a crayon, a pen, an eraser, a book, a pencil case

Description:

Hold up the Donald puppet. He greets the children, saying ‘Hello’. Then he says ‘I’m hungry!’
Donald goes around the classroom, picking up items and putting them to his mouth, as if to eat
them. Each time he tastes an item, he says ‘Yum!’ The teacher then takes the object from Donald,
saying e.g. ‘Yuck! A crayon!’ Repeat this phrase, encouraging the class to join in. Continue in the
same way, with Donald ‘eating’ and children then taking from him any of the following items around
the classroom: a crayon, a pen, an eraser, a book, a pencil case. Each time a child takes an object
from Donald, the class call out e.g. ‘Yuck! A pen!’

Title:

Memory Game (Later)

Topic:

Silvia Maria Clemente Magalhães

Vocabulary:

Brazil

Materials:

Flash cards with pictures and words

Description:

After presenting the cards to the students, put the pictures up on the wall all around the room and

give the cards with the names the students. Say the name of one picture and the students with the
corresponding cards stand up and walk to the picture. Repeat until all the cards are used up. This
activity can also be done without the written words (according to the students’ level).

Title:

Find someone with long hair (Later)

Topic:

describing people

Vocabulary:

long/short hair, blue/brown/green eyes

Description:

The children sit in a circle, with one child standing in the middle. Call out e.g. ‘Find someone with
long hair’. The child in the middle goes over to one person with long hair, and says ‘Long hair’.
These two children then swap places and the game continues. Continue with further instructions,
such as ‘Find someone with blue eyes’, ‘… red hair’, ‘… green eyes’, etc.
NOTE: You can also include clothes, e.g. ‘Find someone with … a yellow T-shirt’, ‘… a green
sweater’, ‘… a dress’, ‘… jeans’, ‘… a blue skirt’, ‘… white trainers’.

Title:

Pass the picture (Early)

Topic:

toys or any other topic

Vocabulary:

ball, doll, boat, teddy bear, car, train, kite, yo-yo or words from any other topic

Materials:

flashcards of ball, doll, boat, teddy bear, car, train, kite and yo-yo or flashcards from any other topic

Description:

Children sit in a circle. Sit in the circle with them, and hand the child on your left a flashcard of e.g.
the ball. As you pass it to the child, say ‘Ball’. Each child passes it to the child on their left, saying
the word as they hand it over. Send the next flashcard round in the same way. Continue the process until all of the flashcards are back with you. Next, play the game again, but instead of handing
out the flashcards yourself, give them to different children in the circle to start off the game.

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Title:

For lunch I’ve got … (Later)

Topic:

food

Vocabulary:

cheese, chips, pizza, chicken, fish, sandwich, banana, chocolate, peas, bread, salad, ice cream,
spaghetti, milk, milk shake

Description:

The children sit in a circle. The first child says ‘For lunch I’ve got …’ and names a food, e.g.
‘cheese’. The child to their left says ‘For lunch I’ve got cheese and …’ and names another food,
e.g. ‘chips’. The child to their left says ‘For lunch I’ve got cheese, chips and …’ and names another
food. Continue around the circle in this way. When someone cannot

Topic:

Animals or any other topic

Vocabulary:

dog, mouse, bird or three words from any other topic

Materials:

clothes pegs, a washing line, old newspapers

Description:

Stick a series of three flashcards in a row on the board, e.g. the animal flashcards: dog, mouse
and bird. Chant the words from left to right to the class, e.g. ‘Dog, mouse, bird. Dog, mouse, bird.’
Then say the chant again, encouraging the children to join in. Repeat this several times. Then turn

over one of the flashcards, e.g. the mouse, so that the back of the card shows. Look questioningly
at the children and ask ‘What’s this?’ The children answer ‘Mouse’. Chant the words with the class
again, this time naming just the two visible animals and making a ‘beep’ noise for the one which
has been turned over: ‘Dog, [beep], bird.’ Then turn back the flashcard of the mouse, and turn
over one of the other two flashcards. Continue in the same way until each of the pictures has been
turned over and turned back at least once.

Name:

Elenora Chessa

Country:

Italy

Title:

Round the World

Materials:

Flash Cards

Description:

One child stands next to another child who is sitting at their desk The flash card is shown and the
first child to answer gets to move to the next desk and compete against the student. If the sitting
child says the word first, he/she stands and the other one sits. The child who is now standing
moves on to the next desk and begins again. The first child to go round the whole class without
sitting wins.

Topic:

Monsters

Vocabulary:

face, eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, ears, hair, scary, big, colours, numbers

Materials:

paper and crayons for each child

Description:

Give a picture dictation to the class. Say e.g. ‘Draw a scary monster. She’s got a big face. … She’s
got three yellow eyes. … She’s got a blue nose. … She’s got a big mouth … and scary teeth. …
She’s got four black ears. … She’s got purple hair. … What’s her name?’ Children each draw the
monster and write a name underneath. Then they compare pictures.

Topic:

numbers 1–5

Vocabulary:

numbers 1–5

Description:

Hold up the fingers of one of your hands one by one, for the class to count 1 to 5. Then do this
again, writing each number up on the board as you do so. Call out the numbers in order, for
children to draw the numbers in the air using a finger. Repeat this, but calling out the numbers in
random order. Children then work in pairs. One child writes a number on the other child’s back
with their finger. The other child guesses the number, and the first child answers ‘No’ or ‘Yes’.
NOTE: The game can also be played using letters instead of numbers.

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Name:

Ece Sevil

Country:

Turkey

Title:

The Washing Line

Materials:

clothes pegs, a washing line, old newspapers

Description:

This is a good vocabulary activity to use with younger learners. To teach items of clothing, have
your students cut a page of a newspaper in the shape of gloves, trousers, a hat, etc. Then, using
a washing line and clothes pegs, ask your students to hang their ‘clothes’ on the washing line. The
students repeat the names of the clothes as they go. After teaching the vocabulary of clothes, ask
them to close their eyes while you hide some of the clothes. Then, ask them to open their eyes,
name the missing clothes and then find them. This activity is both very useful and enjoyable for the
students.

Name:

Susanne Mmattison

Country:

Denmark

Title:

Animals

Materials:

Toy animals - the pupils love to bring them for you to borrow

Description:

Teach the names of the animals by playing Kim’s Game. Put all the toys on a table or a tray, and
ask the students to remember what is there. Then, cover the table with a cloth and take one toy
away. Ask students “Which animal is missing?”
You can repeat this to cover all the animal names, or to practise colours and sizes. Then ask pupils to hide an animal somewhere in the classroom - when all the animals are hidden, ask “Where

is the .....?” to find them all again.

Name:

Victoria Komisar

Country:

Ukraine

Title:

Lost Things

Materials:

Clothes: jeans, sweater, shorts, dress, socks, cap, skirt, shirt...

Description:

Before the lesson, hide the things in different places around the classroom.
When children come in, the teacher says that there has been a very messy child (any hero from a
cartoon or Longman course book), who has not put their things away.
The students must find the things in the classroom by saying “Where are (name of character)’s
shorts?”, “ Where is (name of character)’s sweater?”
This is good for practising clothes vocabulary, possessives and singular / plural of to be.
Do it in small groups to avoid undisciplined behaviour. Good luck!

Name:

Victoria Komisar

Country:

Ukraine

Title:

Picnic

Materials:

Items of food, drinks, plates and cups, etc

Description:

Before the lesson, the teacher needs to set out items of food like hamburgers, pizza, apples, biscuits, milk, etc. At the beginning of the lesson, students are given plates and cups. The students
are told that they are going to have a party or a picnic and they need some food in case they get
hungry.
In groups of 3- 4, they must do the shopping. One student asks “Do you like milk?”, “Do you like
bananas?” and so on. At starter level, the answer is “ Yes” or “No”. At beginner and elementary
level, the answer could be “Yes. I do Let’s take it (them)” or “No, I don’t I hate it (them)” Finally,
when the students have done the shopping, you can go on a real or imaginary picnic (A real picnic
is more exciting!).
While setting the table with the plates and cups, ask the students to find out if everybody has a
cup, a fork, a bowl.... by asking “Have you got a bowl?”, “Yes, I have” / “No, I haven’t” and “Here
you are” and “Thank you” this is a good activity for practising Present Simple questions, countable
and uncountable nouns, articles and suggestions.

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