Can you finish the following sentences so that they will be true for you?
- Without my PLN,…
- Twitter enables me …
- Social media is …
- If I weren’t blogging, …
I love using sentence starters as a warmer, filler or a grammar/vocabulary activity.
Whenever you feel you’re stuck in the lesson, dictate some sentence halves and ask your students to finish them so that they will be true for them. Then ask some volunteers to read them aloud, if you have a crowded class and start discussions.
They usually work well, as the students like to talk about themselves and you learn more about them.
Some suggestions:
- When I have some free time I like to —
- I find it very easy to —-
- I would like to describe myself as ———–(adj) and (adj)——-.
- Learning English is ——— because——-
More suggestions:
They work well when teaching Relative Clauses. Tell your students to finish and describe the followings and be as humorous and creative as they can be.
- A teacher is someone —
- A parent is someone —
- A friend is someone —-
They are also very useful as a pre activity before any skills that you want to practise. Choose your sentence starters and ask the students to finish the sentences on the given topic.
- A teacher shouldn’t —-
- A parent has to —
- A teenager is always —–
They are great drills when teaching conditionals. You can start wonderful discussions with these starters.
Hi Eva,
Some great ideas about using sentences stems. What about using them to introduce a topic? Imagine the topic is The Environment. Dictate the sentence beginnings and tell the students to finish them .
Acid rain is caused by ……
The hole in the ozone layer is the result of….
In 50 years time there will be no …….
After they’ve completed the sentences individually put them into groups to discuss their answers and then get the groups to pool their information and come up with one paragraph.
Exchange the paragraphs with different groups and check the writing.
Thanks to Deller and Price Teaching other Subjects Through English
Great for listening, practising writing, spelling and collaborative and individual work.
They call it Elastic Sentences.
Thanks
Leahn
Thanks Leahn for expanding the activities. I think we will have more ideas when we start teaching again in September.
Eva
Hi Eva,
Thanks for your suggestion. I usually plan my first day of class vere carefully despite the seminars and workshops I love attending on the previous days. I Usually don’t have much time… I’ve always had activities I adapt from and now they are going digital. I’m collecting ideas and I’ll add yours. Do you recommend another picture editor?Thanks again,
Cheers from Brazil,
Dani Lyra