Another Fun Filler - Would you Rather....

There is almost always a time when you've got 5 minutes left at the end, in the middle, at the start of your class where you just want the students to let their hair down and have fun. Rather than just turning on yourtube and watching a students favourite video, which can have little or no language pay off, why not have try this little activity.
I love playing Would you rather..... I like to start by giving a few examples. I sometimes use http://yourather.com/ to get students going. Giving students really imaginative silly options always brings out the best answers and the best questions from your students.
Would you rather have glitterball hair or a glow in the dark tongue?
I like to get my students to give a reason for their decision and make sure they choose one.
Next I get the students to write two or three of their own and go around asking their classmates.

Now don't get me wrong I'm not video bashing. I love using videos in class, rather than a filler though I prefer to use them as a planned activity and that usually takes a great deal more work than just throwing in a game.

I love this game, it never fails to make people laugh and almost always brings about lively debates on more serious subjects.

Zombie Outbreak

Constant speaking exam practice can be rather dull for both teachers and exam students. Sadly, as we all know what's important during the exam isn't the students' opinions, it's the language that they use. Creating new, more interesting, speaking exams can engage your students a great deal more and lead to a much livelier debate.

Below is an idea which will forever be popular among teenage students, even more so now with the ridiculously popular TV show the walking dead.

I have to give huge props to Matt www.tiredwireframes.tumblr.com for the Zombie idea.
As always the PowerPoint and worksheet are availiable for download @ https://sites.google.com/a/thenglishouse.com/harry/

So now you've got them interested, how do you get them to use relevant language and stop repeating themselves over and over again? More on that later.