Category Activities and Games
Vocabulary and Context Clues
ESL and EFL learners find many words they don’t understand in their reading. Rather than stopping to look up each new word in the dictionary, they can use context clues to guess the meaning of new vocabulary. This lesson, adapted from a Douglas Learning Centre handout, explains the clues students can use to ascertain meaning and become […]
Love on a Leash
While dogs, “man’s best friends,” have long occupied a special place in US homes, keeping a dog as a pet in Ecuador is a relatively new custom. Certainly dogs have worked in the fields for centuries, but many Ecuadorians and other peoples are unaware that dogs have a remarkable ability to bond with humans. This makes […]
Chance Encounters
This activity uses pictures of a wide range of people for whom students will write dialogues that might occur if the individuals had a chance meeting somewhere in the world. The lesson plan is adapted from one created by Allegra K. Troiano, Senior English Language Fellow (ELF), US Embassy.
Brainstorming: Part Two
Peace Corps Ecuador Volunteer Kate Barba produced this PowerPoint presentation and workshop for the University of Machala’s ESL teacher candidates. Prewriting is covered in more depth than in the previously posted “Brainstorming” PowerPoint as these prospective teachers have higher English fluency. Volunteers who are teaching college students or advanced speakers will find this resources useful.
Chicago Food Tour Cultural Exchange
We love food, especially food that stimulates and surprises! EFL students and teachers are usually surprised to learn that the US population comprises every nationality on Earth. Realizing how diverse our country is–waves of immigration have been our history–many EFL learners understand that our language varies across the nation, not to mention internationally. This lesson […]
Prewriting Brainstorming
Teaching the writing of academic English to Ecuadorian college students who wished to study abroad taught me that prewriting is critical to all successful writing. My favorite prewriting technique is brainstorming and creating cluster or bubble maps. This PowerPoint explains the why and how.
Sharing the News(letter)
Asking your students to share news, culture, traditions, and life stories with students in the US by writing a newsletter (or creating a video) with a partner Peace Corps World Wise School is a rewarding experience for both sides.
Role Play Scenarios
Peace Corps Ecuador TEFL staff provided volunteers with this list of role plays for duos to use in planning classroom activites with our counterparts, high school teachers and their students. These scenes, in most cases, could be expanded to include roles for more students, which is helpful when teaching shy students or beginners.
Pastimes Mingle
In this activity and lesson plan, adapted from an article from the US Department of State’s English Teaching Forum 2014, No 2, students mingle and interact, in pairs and then with the rest of the class, as they discuss pastimes.
Vocabulary: a powerful weapon
Peace Corps Regional Volunteer Leader Nikki Rowley created two PowerPoints that show the importance of vocabulary and offer games to teach it in the classroom.
Idiomatic Expressions
Learning idioms is a challenge for any second language learner as they vary: by the country and even the region in which the language is spoken; over time and with new ideas and technologies; and by the context in which they are used. Students usually have a lot of fun ascertaining the meanings, and teachers can […]
What Did She Do?
This activity allows students to review formation of and especially irregular verbs in the the past tense. It’s a quick warm-up exercise as well.
Spelling Bee Guide
Several Peace Corps Ecuador TEFL volunteers orchestrated a regional spelling bee, which the students and school staff loved. The spelling bee required much planning and practice, but what good things don’t?
Who Knows, Knows Competition
Ecuador promotes school festival weeks, where students have the opportunity to present artwork, theater, dance, sporting events, and English competitions! The game the English department devised this year for the spring festival is called “Who Know, Knows.” Middle school students formed classroom groups and competed with other classrooms to answer the questions on the PowerPoint, […]
Gratitude Tree
We “grew” a Thanksgiving tree on the school’s wall leading to the library. The tree, constructed of poster board, held hundreds of paper leaves on which students from many of our English classes had written words of gratitude or thanksgiving. This culminated a week of learning about Thanksgiving, using Teach Like a PCV resources such […]
Teaching Writing
Peace Corps Ecuador created this presentation for TEFL volunteers to help them teach writing in their classrooms.
Creating a Mini-book
In this presentation, Peace Corps Volunteer Jazzy Osh shows teachers how to plan and design mini-books for a classroom unit project.
Implement Projects in the Classroom
In this presentation, Peace Corps Volunteer Jazzy Osh tells teachers how to implement projects, specifically a mobile, in the classroom that help students meet specific objectives and learning goals. She also discusses the valuable skills student learn as they take on project responsibilities and, in doing so, help teachers manage the classroom more effectively.
Use Dialogues and Role Plays Effectively
Improving students’ speaking skills is one of the greatest challenges TEFL teachers face. We know that communication is a primary goal, yet our students have few opportunities to practice English outside the classroom, making dialogues and role plays essential to our toolbox. This presentation talks about the benefits of using these tools and how to […]
English Club Monster Mash
English clubs are part of the Ecuadorian curriculum, and, of course, many EFL teachers around the world start English clubs to give students an opportunity to have fun while learning the language. Successful club activities require planning and preparation and should have objectives, just as our lesson plans do. Here we offer some activites based on […]
Simple Past and Present Perfect Activity
This activity helps students review the difference between simple past and present perfect by asking and answering questions using both tenses.
Affixes
The objective of this presentation is to help teachers, and their students recognize and use the most common affixes– prefixes and suffixes– to increase their vocabulary and their understanding of academic texts.
Using Authentic Materials in the Classroom
This presentation discusses the benefits of using authentic materials and realia in different teaching contexts.
Vocab Scavenger Hunt
Using realia is a proven way to teach vocabulary, especially to beginners. Teachers can present the vocabulary in chunks of related objects, e.g., kitchen utensils, over a series of classes based on the class language learning level. The finale will be a scavenger hunt to review the vocabulary presented during the week or unit. This […]
Phrasal Verb “Break”
English sometimes seems silly to ESL and EFL learners. We have a lot of rules, but we also like to break those rules. We have those confounding phrasal verbs (verb + preposition or particle) that form a single phrase that may have more than one meaning. The meaning of the phrasal verb often cannot be […]
Using Songs in the Classroom
Students love songs, and songs can be used to teach the four skills–listening, speaking, reading, and writing–at different learning levels. In this presentation by Peace Corps Ecuador volunteer Emily Aiken, teachers will learn how and when to use songs effectively in their classrooms.
Spice Up Your Dialogues!
Teaching students to communicate effectively is a key goal of Peace Corps TEFL programs. This presentation lists the benefits of using dialogues to reach this goal and provides classroom activities that will help students understand everyday conversations and speak confidently.
Teaching Useful Expressions
Informal English conversations are often chockful of utterances and expressions whose meanings are not defined in a dictionary. This lesson plan includes strategies (using voice intonation, facial expression, body language, and repetition) to convey the meaning and intention of the speakers in our textbook dialogues.
More Backwards Design Planning
Regional Peace Corps Volunteer Leader Nikki Rowley created this presentation, which explains why and how Backwards Design planning enables teachers and students to reach their goals and objectives.
Dressing Up at the Farm
Ecuadorian students love to draw and certainly follow fashion trends via their favorite celebrities. In this lesson, we set our their imaginations free drawing clothing and personal accessories on farm animals. Then the students name each item alongside their artwork.
Teach Like A PCV 