“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”
—Anthony J. D’Angelo
This week we are featuring Sprout English’s NEW Word Bank lesson on Weather and Seasons. After you teach your students weather-related vocabulary and expressions, you’ll need to find some fun ways to practice.
This past weekend in my city it was hot, humid, sunny, rainy, windy, mild, and cold (with a chance of frost!). Fortunately, not every weekend is so variable, though it is handy for reviewing the weather. To practice all types of weather, your class will probably need to take a trip around the world!
Here is a fun weather game to play with English language learners of any age.
Guess the World’s Weather Game
You Will Need
- a mobile device or computer with an Internet connection *
- a weather website or weather app, e.g., www.theweathernetwork.com OR The Weather Channel
- scrap paper for writing down guesses
- printable thermometer score sheets and red crayons or pens (optional)
* If you don’t have an Internet connection in your classroom, see below for an “unplugged” adaptation.
How to Play
1. Your students will take turns being the weather reporter. The weather reporter will go up to the front of the class and hold the mobile device that has the world’s weather on it. (If you’re using a computer, the reporter can stand at the computer.) The reporter will start the game by choosing a city and telling the class to stay tuned:
Stay tuned for the weather in Sydney, Australia!
Now imagine a commercial break…
2. The other students will then have to guess what the weather is like in this city. Your low-level students can write down one word on a scrap piece of paper (sunny, windy, rainy, cold, humid, etc.). Higher-level students can write down one or more sentences. (It is sunny in Sydney today.)
Note: If it is nighttime in the city, your students should guess the daytime weather based on the next day’s forecast.
3. While the students are writing down their guesses, the weather reporter will look up the weather for that city on the mobile device or computer you have provided. Help the reporter search for the city and identify the most important parts of the forecast based on the vocabulary you have taught (windy, cloudy, sunny, hot, cool, etc.).
4. After the weather reporter has determined the weather for the city, he will report it to his classmates. The reporter should include the season, the temperature, and at least two other details about the weather.
It is summer in Australia.
It is 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) in Sydney.
It is sunny and windy. *
5. Any student who wrote down hot, sunny, or windy can give themselves one point by coloring in one square on their thermometer score sheet. They can also write down the city name within that square of the thermometer.
*Help your weather reporters summarize the important parts from the forecast on the website or app. You can tell your students that wind over 30 km/hour can be considered “windy.” Air temperature over 59° Fahrenheit (15° Celsius) may be “warm” while over 68°F (20°C) may be “hot.” It is up to the weather reporter to decide what “counts” as correct.
6. Continue working your way around the world with different weather reporters. Whoever gets the most points (or whoever reaches the top of their thermometer first) wins!
10 Cities from Around the World
If your students take too long choosing cities, you could have them choose from World Capitals. Alternatively, you could preselect 10–20 cities to make this game go more quickly (and to ensure variety in the forecasts). If you preselect the cities and you are using a mobile app, search for the cities ahead of time and add them to your favorites.
Sydney
Vancouver
New Delhi
New York
Dublin
Moscow
Paris
Tehran
Cairo
Tokyo
Unplugged
If you don’t have an Internet connection, you can play an adapted version of this game. For homework, ask your students to contact a friend, family member, or acquaintance who lives in another country (or at least another city). Your students should find out the local weather from this person. (Or if they have an Internet connection at home, they can choose a city and look up the weather.) The following day, give each student a chance to be the weather reporter for the city they inquired about. The other students will guess the weather in the same way as described in the steps above.
Making Predictions
If your students are learning how to use future tenses, you can adapt this game by having the reporter look up tomorrow’s weather. The other students can then make predictions about the city’s weather by using “be going to.” It is going to be snowy tomorrow in Toronto. It is going to rain in New York City tomorrow evening.
Find this lesson in the Word Bank – Nature.
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