Topic – Ways to begin a lesson
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As part of Ways to Begin a Lesson 1, share your ideas for a lead-in that would interest students, engage them and introduce the context of the lesson.
1. There are pictures of a dog, a cat, a hamster, a goldfish, a guinea-pig, a rabbit, a turtle, a budgie on the blackboard. Students discuss and predict what the topic of the lesson is.
2. The Teacher shows students the picture of his/her pet and tells them about it.
3. Teacher asks such questions as “Have you got a pet?”, “What pet would you like to have? Why?”, “Do you like pets? Why/Why not?” Students discuss with classmates.Great ways to start a lesson! Lots of images, dinamic and personolised. Thank you!
1. The Teacher tells students about a favourite pet.
2. There are pictures of different pets on the board. Students predict what the topic of the lesson is.I think it could be an idea to put on the board the word pet, and brainstorming ideas that include different aspects of having got a pet: friendship, taking care, feelings, healthy life style, favourite pet of course, but it depends on the age of the students.
Fernanda, this is such a nice idea! thank you for this. I can see students brainstorming topic related ideas in small groups- a very communicative task that will also enrich students’ vocabulary. Brilliant!
I think Brainstormings are really helpful. They are suitable for any topic and can be used in any age or group of students.
I think it’s a great idea with the brainstorming, Fernanda. It makes the topic about Pets wider due to many oppinions from the class.
I think it is always lively to use visual clues as well!
I think I would put a picture of different breeds of pets underneath each chair and would ask students to find the matching pets and group accordingly. I would then ask the groups to tell me what they think the lesson is about.
1. I would ask the students if they had any pets, or -if they don’t have one -what pet they would like to have.
2. Have a list of different pet names on the board. Then play a sound recordings of different animals (i.e. barking, miaowing, etc) and have them guess name of the animal in English.
3. I would have a selection of animal pictures around the room. The students have to pick one, describe it and see if the class can guess what animal it is.I like your idea with describing a pet and getting your partner to guess which animal it is!
1. In pairs, they talk about pets: if they have or had any, or if they would like to have a pet and which one, etc. They can also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having pets.
2. Students move around the room and they read cards which contain different types of information: different people’s experience or anecdotes about pets, fun facts about different animals which can be pets, questions which encourage reflection on the topic… Students start by reading the cards individually, and after some time, they go back to their seats and discuss with their partner their ideas. Alternatively, they could discuss the information on each card with whoever is on the same spot as them at the time. This could encourage them to talk to different people every time.I would start with a guessing game.
With younger students I would play a guessing game with animal sounds and then ask who has a pet.
Other guessing game to introduce the topic could be done by dividing the class into two teams. The teacher reads out a sentence that describes a pet e.g. it has four legs. Teams can try guessing after each sentence. The first to get the
right answer gets a point.
Student picks a card with name of a pet. Others ask closed questions. The first to guess picks the next card.Hello Elizabeth,
I like your suggestion of a guessing game to start the lesson. Younger students and beginners would certainly love it.
There are different ways to beg8n a lesson depending on the class level. For beginners I like the idea shared by many on this forum about pets, either writing the name pet on the board or sticking pictures of pets on the wall or handing out pictures of animals to the students. For an intermediate level the same concept of using images to provoke a discussion could be used with famous paintings, or capital cities or historic characters.
I like the idea of starting the lesson commenting on a picture, a song, an piece of news…to then introduce the content of the lesson and possibly move to the text book.Before introducing the context of the lesson,
I can start with showing them a picture of different pets and tell them to mention their names.
I can sing a nursery rhyme like Mary has a little lamb…I will show them a picture of my pet and tell them a story about how I got it.
I can also ask them if they have got any pet at home.
I like the use of the song “Mary has a little lamb”, it tells the relationship between Mary and the Lamb and therefore explains what pets are.
I also like the use of a song as a resource.
The teacher shows a picture of a man with a tiger, and a picture of a man with a snake, and a picture of a man with an alligator. Then asks the students what hey see in the pictures, and what they think about this. After this he asks does anybody have pets….
Teacher asks students to move round the class and interview 5 people each with the following questions and write down their answers.
1. Name 5 animals that lives in the home.
2. Name 5 animals that lives in the forest.
3. Name 3 animals that are friendly with human beings.Teacher selects 3 people at random to read out their answers to the whole class.
Teacher puts students into pairs or groups and uses a quiz on Pets. Teacher gives some clues to students and ask them to guess which pets are we talking about. After we will have a small debate on a topic like: Do you like pets? Why?
I would bring pictures of different pets and ask the students to discuss in groups what they can see and share with the class what they think the topic for discussion is.
With younger students, I have taken in a cat basket containing a cuddly toy and left the tail hanging out. Students make suggestions as to what the animal is and what they think it might look like.
looks very intersting
I would use a short fun video clip of pets in the home that you can get from Youtube.
teacher then asks the class what did you see? where were they?
what do we call animals that live in our homes?For older children I would brainstorm a general discussion about pets, putting words or phrases on the board.
The teacher could ask what other pets live in our houses?
how do you care for them?For younger children I would do games, sorting pictures and toys with words, listen to a nursery rhyme video with words and actions, cut out pictures and stick them next to the correct word.
I am interested in the flipped classroom technique too. Perhaps giving each child a picture of a pet and asking them to find something out about it before they come to class, what is it, size, colour, so they can talk about it in pairs in class.
Hi MC, I really like your idea of using a video to introduce the activity.
The day before, I would ask the students to bring a picture of their own pets. I would say that if there’s not a pet at home, in that case, the student would have to choose the pet he/she likes the most. Once back in class I would greet the class, after that, I’d ask how students are, and only then I would give a short context about the activity. The first task I would give to the students would be to introduce their pet to a peer, then they would have to ask questions about the pet’s age, where they did he get it, what kind of food he eats an and so on. For the second task, I would ask the class, previously organized in groups of 2 students, to present the pet to the rest of the students. At the end of the presentation, they would be applauded by the class as a way of recognition for the work done.
I really like your idea of using a video to introduce the activity.
Share pictures of a few different animals with the class. Ask them to discuss with their partner what they think the lesson is about. Share a picture of my pet, then ask the students to talk about their pets, or imagined ideal pet.
Have different opinions about pets around the classroom and then talk about them in pairs before feeding back to the class.
In many cases students like to talk about themselves, so asking general questions related to their experiences with pets could be an option, then they get engaged and feel comfortable talking.
I would hang up pictures of animals ( wild animals and pets) on the wall and would ask the students to wander round the room with their peers and discuss which animals can be kept at home and which ones are their favorites.
Teacher makes the students into groups of two and asks them stand in queue . And teacher divides the board into two columns. Each from a group comes out and writes down the name of a pet while other students are writing the names of the pets
When the time is up, the teacher counts the marks to know which group is the winner. .Teacher makes the students into groups of two and asks them stand in queue . And teacher divides the board into two columns. Each from a group comes out and writes down the name of a pet while other students are writing the names of the pets
When the time is up, the teacher counts the marks to know which group is the winner. .I would like to start the lesson by showing a small clip of a pet store and asking them to select a pet for themselves and not say it out loud. At the end of the video, they can announce which animal would they like as their pet.
Second, ask them if they have seen the movie ‘PETS” and then discuss its funny moments as a lead-in.
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