“Every family tree produces some lemons, some nuts, and a few bad apples.”
– Wise Author Unknown

Sprout English’s NEW Comparative Adjectives lesson plan for young learners covers everything from the basic grammar explanation to spelling rules and exceptions. After your students learn the rules and practice making comparisons of people, places, and things on paper, be sure to do some oral practice off the page!

Here is a fun activity you can do with your young learners. This Family Tree Craft will help your learners review English vocabulary for members of the family while also practicing comparative adjectives for describing people.

Family Tree Craft

1. Give each student a copy of Tanya’s handy list of Comparative Adjectives for Describing People.

2. Print a Family Tree worksheet for each student.  (more…)

This week’s Spotlight lesson is a Listen and Draw / Read and Draw activity on Hotels, which may naturally lead to a discussion on travel. Travel is a popular topic with students—they love to discuss where they’ve been and where they would like to go next! Expand their travel vocabulary with one of my favorite go-to games that makes learning vocabulary fun. A little competition is great for engaging beginner/low-intermediate or high-intermediate/advanced students and it also helps them remember the new words!

Use the green links below the vocabulary lists to download one or both of the PDFs. The instructions for playing are also below the lists! (more…)

This week in the Spotlight, we’re featuring a lesson from our Library on the Past Progressive. An easy way to start practicing the past progressive is with clock times. Kids love talking about themselves and their lives outside of the classroom. Try this activity after you’ve reviewed the structure of the past progressive.

Preparation: Print and Cut

Print this FREE 3-page PDF to use with the “What were you doing?” activities below.

Page 1: Print as many copies as you need of the Time of Day sheet. Cut the clocks out, and give each student one or more clocks to fill out. Have an envelope or container handy to put the clocks in after students write times on them.
Page 2: Print one page of Days of the Week strips for the class and cut them into strips. Place them in an envelope or container.
Page 3: Print one Day Planner page for each student for the Personal Assistants activity.

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“I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad.” ~ George Bernard Shaw

This week’s Spotlight lesson plan is all about the Great Pyramid of Giza. Have your students traveled to interesting places? Do they enjoy learning about mysteries?

One way to have fun with mysteries is to have your students make word clouds about their vacations and travels. I play a word cloud guessing game with my online learners every time I go on a trip. We do this activity together on my teaching blog, but it can also be done in pairs or small groups in class with a printout or handmade word cloud. The best way to play this game is to demonstrate once (as the teacher) with your own travel memories. Your students will love getting to know you better by learning about a trip you took.

1. Brainstorm

Brainstorm about ten interesting memories from a trip you’ve taken. Look through your photographs for ideas.

2. Make a List

Write a word or two to represent each memory. It can be a noun, verb, adjective, or short phrase. (If you have pictures of these memories, bring them in to class!) I just returned from a trip to New York City. Here are my words. (more…)

Tricky Plural Nouns

Our teaching theme on Sprout English this week is all about the pronunciation of plural nouns. As Tanya pointed out in her recent post, plural endings are tricky. My own son, who is a seven-year-old native English speaker, has difficulty with plural endings. He often ends up tongue-tied when trying to pluralize words that end in “th” (/θ/), such as “months”, or “st” as in “nest”. His tendency is to change the /θ/ to /f/, which is easier to say, or to give the word an /Iz/ ending (nestIZ) rather than the trickier /s/ ending. Helping him work on his pronunciation when the problem comes up (without making a big deal out of it) is my current approach as a parent.

As a teacher, it can be difficult to find time to work one-on-one with kids who are having pronunciation problems. Finding games that the whole class can play is a great way to help individuals without making them feel uncomfortable. One game that can be adapted in a variety of ways is the traditional memory game “In My Suitcase”. In this game, students sit in a circle and take turns adding items (orally) to an invisible suitcase.

I am going on a holiday. In my suitcase I will bring…an alligator.

The second person repeats the first item and adds a second item with the next letter in the alphabet:  (more…)

Spotlight Spin-Off

Have you tried Sprout English’s Spotlight lesson this week? In this week’s featured lesson, Andy sets three goals for the future. The new year is the perfect time for practicing the future tense. Play this future tense guessing game after trying this week’s lesson with your students.

1. Reread the story “Andy” from Sprout English’s Library.
2. Review the use and structure of “be going to” + base verb.
3. Have each student take out a pen and a scrap piece of paper.
4. Tell each student to write out three goals for 2014. They should follow the same format as Andy for expressing their future goals (be going to + base verb):

First, I’m going to learn Italian. After that, I’m going to make Italian friends! Finally, I’m going to find an Italian girlfriend!

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This week on Sprout English, students are practicing the simple past tense. Here is a warm-up you can try with your students after you’ve introduced the simple past. This activity requires zero preparation and is great for practicing irregular verbs. It is also useful for practicing question formation. All you need is a piece of paper, a pen, and a small container. It might get loud!

Remembering Yesterday (more…)