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Topic “L2”
List of common synonyms
Some common synonyms:
| Woman | Lady |
| Road | Street |
| Rug | Mat |
| Flower | Bloom |
Understand and use ordinals (1st, 2nd, 3rd etc)
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Write it Writing materials |
| This works best 1:1. Use this activity only with a child who can read and write. With children with less good literacy skills, you will need to talk about what you are going to focus on, but miss out the written support. With children who can cope with larger numbers, you might want to go beyond 10, be careful to explain how numbers such as 21st, 22nd and 23rd are formed. |
| Line up None | This works best with a class or group. You may want to focus more on the front of the line. | |
| PE Equipment as required by the PE activity | This works best with a class. | |
| Small World Small world equipment, including several ‘people’. | This works best 1:1. This activity is more suited to younger children. | |
| Actions Equipment as required by the actions. Visual prompt cards if required. | This works best 1:1 or with a small group. Make sure you stress words such as “first”, “second” etc. Bear in mind the child’s auditory memory – the more instructions you give, the harder it will be to remember them. |
Intermediate Listening Games
Intermediate listening games for groups.
Harder listening games
| Activity name and materials required |
use adjectives to describe and classify objects
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Classify the object 1
| 1. Decide on a common category e.g. "things which are round" or "things which are red". 2. Help the child to sort the items into 2 groups according to whether they fit the category or not (i.e. a 'red' group and a 'not red' group). | |
| Classify the object 2 A selection of common objects (you could use pictures instead) 2 sorting rings (draw two overlapping circles on a large sheet of paper if these are not available)
Category labels (optional) | 1. Decide on two common categories e.g. "things which are round" and "things which are red". 2. Place the sorting rings on the table so that they overlap. 3. Explain that one ring is for items that have one feature (e.g. "round"). Explain that the other ring is for items that have the other feature (e.g. "red"). Explain that where the rings overlap, is where things that have both features go (see diagram on the left). Items which do not fit either category are left outside the rings. 4. Add labels if you are using them. 5. Help the child to sort the items into groups according to which category they fit. | To make this activity more difficult, you could sort according to three categories. |
| Spider chart
| Example of a spider chart:
| |
| What's in the bag?
| ||
| Nicknames No materials required | Works well as a group activity - could be used as an ice-breaker. | |
| I spy adjectives No materials required. | ||
| Books
|
sort items by property and function
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Categories Challenge Picture cards. These can be related to class topic vocabulary | Have each adult and child in the group take it in turns to make the cards into 2 groups (or 3 if necessary). The cards in each group must all share a property or a function e.g. made of metal / transport (encourage the children not to base their groups purely on appearance). Write down the categories that are thought of, so that the children can review them. | This is a very flexible activity, which can be used for a very wide range of vocabulary. If the children can read, you could use written words rather than pictures. |
| Shopping List Flash cards with possible properties and functions written on them (e.g. hard, rough, things you wear, things you use to cut with, things you can read, etc.) A dice | If 6 items is too challenging, use a 1 - 3 dice. You could also extend the activity by having the other children in the group add more items to a group. You could stick the flash card into a notebook, and write / draw each item that is thought of around it. Each time you do the activity you will be building up a bank of words linked into categories. | |
| Add One Assorted picture cards. (They can be linked to class topic vocabulary. Make sure there are cards from a range of different categories) | This activity should only be used with vocabulary items the children are familiar with. When the children have a number of cards, it will be easier if they can make more than 3 groups. If they are finding it challenging, remove the time pressure. This means that each child has as long as they need to make 2 or 3 groups. When each child has finished, everyone then takes an additional card. | |
| Semantic Links This activity requires the purchasing of a commercial programme. SLTs/specialist teachers - help to further develop this sheet by providing an example or description of alternative resources to use in this activity. Worksheet from Semantic Links programme - available from Stass Publications Choose one with 3 choices. |
Developing the skills to understand and express different emotions
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Talking about different emotions - Photographs of different people showing different emotions - you could get these from magazines, newspapers or by internet search. - Emotion symbols - click here to print. - Paper and pens | 1. Look through the photographs together - talk about what feelings or emotions the person is showing - you may have different answers from each other. Talk about why they may be showing emotions. 2. Can you match the symbols to the emotions. Talk about the differences you notice in peoples' faces. 3. Can you think of times when you felt this emotion - use the paper and pens to write this down. Compare your experiences. | You may want to start with basic emotion words such as happy, sad, cross and excited, before introducing more complex emotion words. |
| Feeling Dictionary - Exercise book/note pad/sheets of paper - Emotion symbols - click here to print. You can draw your own if you prefer. | Definitions: Happy: This is when I feel good about something. I might smile or laugh. Sad: This is when I don't feel good about something. I might cry. I might show I feel this way by being cross. Angry / cross: This is what I feel when something is not fair, or is bad. I might feel like shouting or punching or doing something to someone. Bored: This is when I'm not interested in what is happening, and just want it to finish. I might sigh, or lean my head on my hand. Upset: I might feel like this when something is not fair, or when someone is unkind. I might cry, or feel like shouting. Frightened / scared: This is what I might feel if I don't know what is happening, or if I am unsafe. I might cry, or scream, or just try not to move. I might want to find someone I know, like my mum or my teacher. Surprised: this is what I feel when something good happens that I didn't expect. I might smile, open my eyes wide, and say something like 'wow'! Excited: This is what I feel when I know something good is going to happen soon. I might smile, move around, and keep thinking about what is going to happen. | |
| If you're happy and you know it... - Emotion symbols (click here to print)or feelings Dictionary (see above) - Time-line of a day | You could choose a different feeling each day to work through the timeline. You could also display the timeline, and encourage the child / children to identify how they are feeling at different parts of the day. |
Appropriate touch and proximity
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| Proximity game | Have the children stand facing each other in pairs. Tell them to walk forward until they feel they're the right distance away. Discuss how close you can be to others. | Don't let it turn into a boisterous ' bumping into each other game' |
| Brainstorm Photos of familiar people e.g. adults leading the group, class teacher/s, head teacher, all children in the group, other children from the children's class/es, etc. photos of unfamiliar people e.g. child, baby, man, woman, police officer, shopkeeper/ market stall holder, bus driver, person at ticket booth at station etc. - from Flash-pro or internet image search | ||
| Colouring activity Outline drawing of the body e.g. from "pictures, please" or "language steps" for each child red and green pens/pencils | It's ok if children colour different areas, as they may feel differently about being touched e.g. most girls will say they don't want to be touched on their chests, but boys may say it's ok |
Adjust language in different social contexts
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| What you would say Photos of familiar people e.g. adults leading the group, class teacher/s, head teacher, all children in the group, other children from the children's class/es, etc. Photos of unfamiliar people e.g. police officer, shopkeeper/ market stall holder, bus driver, person at ticket booth at station etc. - from Flash-pro or internet image search. Comment suggestion cards: comment cards can say things like: Hello Hi, mate How old are you? What's your name? How are you? What do you want? Please can you be quiet Shut up Get out of the way! Get lost! Can you help me, please? Good morning Excuse me Oi, you! Are you a boy or a girl? Alright? | 1. Put the photos where the children can see them and check they can identify who every one is. 2. Have a child pick a comment card and decide which people they could say it to and which people they couldn't 3. children can suggest other comments |
Say how you would feel in situations
| Activity/strategy name and materials required | How to do the activity | Key principles for doing the activity and comments |
|---|---|---|
| How would you feel if?: - Pictures/photos of different emotions - a printable set of emotion cards are available here. | 1. Print and cut out the resources. 2. Introduce the activity by having a quick discussion of how it's fine if different people feel differently about the same situation. 3. Take turns to choose a situation card and discuss it together. See if you can match how you would feel to the emotions symbols or pictures. 4. Some children may be able to explain why they'd feel that way e.g. "I'd be scared if I saw a spider because I don't like them'. | Reinforce the idea that there's no 'right' answer. |
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