Model the dialogue with the OTE:
S1: "What's this?" (show #1)
S2: "何これ?! Oh, is it a cat?"
S1: "No, it isn't. What's this?" (show #2)
S2: "Hmm, is it a cucumber?"
S1: "No, it isn't. What's this?" (show #3)
S2: "Ah! Is it an eggplant?"
S1: "Yes, it is."
Have the students pair up along desk columns and rotate the columns to switch partners, or walk around and talk to random partners, or race in teams up and down the rows to complete the dialogue.
So many options.
These ideas were brainstormed at SDC Jan 2017 in a lesson crowd-sourcing seminar. Many thanks to Joshua Gourdie, Matthew McClellan, Sarah Blackwell, Sara Shaw, Jian-xin Tay, and John Scanlan.
1. 3 hint quiz: Use hints like "This is a sport. This is from England. This is not baseball." Can be used in the "What's this? It's a ~" lesson as well.
1. Oral introduction – ALT and OTE use a short dialogue to explain the grammar point.
For example: (The ALT and the OTE are on opposite sides of the room. The ALT is holding a black pen and the OTE is holding a red pen).
ALT: This is a black pen. That is a red pen (Pointing at your pen, then pointing at their pen).
OTE: This is a red pen. That is a black pen. (Pointing at your pen, then pointing at their pen).
In this game students score points by placing words on the board, and completing sentences.
Preparation
Print, cut and possibly laminate the cards. You’ll need enough sets for groups of ~5 people. There are a lot, so you can probably get away with printing only the first 3 (maybe 2… maybe..) pages.
Print a board (and optional scoresheet) for each group.
Play
1) Pass out the blank drawing worksheet.
2) Demonstrate the activity with an OTE. The one of you who is less comfortable making bad drawings on a chalkboard says “This is an English textbook. It is exciting!” or something similar, and the chalkboard drawer draws his or her image of an exciting English textbook.
Start the lesson by drawing only the top half of a picture on the board and giving two options for what it is. It is good to start with something that the students are familiar with, like Anpanman or Doraemon. Draw on of the characters on the board and then use the following dialogue:
A: What is this?
B: This is Anpanman!
A: Yes, it is!/No, it isn’t.
Once the students have answered, draw the bottom half of the picture.
OTE/ALT holds up pictures and ask “What is this? Students are to guess what the picture is depicting. (This should be a review topic)
OTE/ALT holds up pictures and asks “Who is this?” Students are to guess who the picture is showing.
Teachers may ask “Who is she/he” instead, to highlight the difference between the two.
Teachers have the students practice the new words and repeat after the teacher.
This lesson is inspired by p26 of the One World 1 text book.
1. Read and repeat the phrases “what is this?” and “it is a…”
Using the powerpoint presentations students chant the new words and phrases.
2. The game
This activity is for the grammar point, “What is this?” in the first year of One World.
After introducing the question, “What is this?” and teaching the response, challange the students to guess what some cards you have made are.
For example,
Awesome ALT: “What is this?”
Genki Student A: “It’s a watermelon!”
Awesome ALT: “No, it’s not a watermelon. It’s a…”
“… frog!”
Whole Genki Class: “Heeeeee~!”
Awesome ALT: “OK, one more, what is this?”