Back-to-school activities

Here are two activities for the first week of school.

1) CIRCLE PUZZLE

What you need is a circle shaped wooden board and pieces of a cardboard puzzle of the same size and shape.

Step 1

Give each student a white piece of puzzle and get them to write their name on it and decorate it with colours, pictures, words describing themselves.

Tip: draw a cross at the back of the pieces. This will help in the assembling phase.

Then ask students to make the puzzle: before adding their piece they should speak about themselves and explain the symbols they've drawn.

The teacher listens, watches,helps and takes notes.

Step 2

Using the information , the teacher prepares a crossword about the class, which students do the following lesson. This is a learner-centered  activity .This way they:
- work on language
- learn classmates' names
- get to know each other
- start realizing the idea of the class as a group, a team.
To create puzzles , you can click here.

Here is an example of a crossword made using information provided by Middle School Students. Students read the clues and have to fill in  their names.

2) "CHECKING" SUMMER HOMEWORK

This activity is ideal if you plan on teaching the same class you had in June. For summer homework, you set a creative task, 

ie " invent a game to practice the past simple and the irregular verbs ". 

In September, students work in groups, checking their homework and testing the effectiveness of their creations.