English Firsthand Cafe: Supplementary Activities

EF1 UNIT 1

What does that mean?

Preparation: Decide on 8-10 items of personal information to use about yourself (see the procedure for examples). (Optional: prepare a large sheet of paper – B4 or A3 for each student. If magic markers are available, they are useful, too.)

Procedure: On the board, write 8-10 items about yourself. Write only the information, not sentences. Some of the items should be a little unusual, funny or interesting in some other way.
Examples: important dates (birthday, anniversary, etc.), age, shoe size, items (food, music, free-time activities) you love or hate, hometown, etc.
Also write these on the board: Does mean…? Is your…?
Have students work in pairs or small groups. They talk about what they think the items mean and how they will ask. They can not ask, “What does mean?” They have to guess.
When they guess, give 2-3 extra bits of information about each answer.
Once they understand the activity, they take a large sheet of paper and write items about themselves. (If large paper is not available, they can write in their notebooks.).
They work in groups of three or four. They guess what items mean in the same way they did with your information.


About me – mind map

Preparation: Prepare a large sheet of paper – B4 or A3 - for each student. (Optional: If colored pencils are available, they are useful, too. You may want to do your own mind-map in advance, either on an OHP transparency or on regular paper. If on paper, make enough copies so everyone can see it.)

Procedure: On the board, draw a “mind map” (also called a “schematic map”) about yourself. It will be similar to the design on page 55, but the topic will be different.
• In the center draw a circle or some other shape. Write your name in it.
• Extending from the center, draw lines. Add words or pictures to tell more information about yourself and your life.
• These are some possible topics: family, pets, interests/free-time activities, personality, experiences and important events, interesting facts about you, your dreams.
• Note – Do not write full-sentences. Use 1-3 words. Simple pictures are good, too.
As you are writing, encourage students to take with each other about what they think things mean.
When you have finished, either tell them about yourself or encourage them to ask questions about your map. When they ask, add extra information about each point.
Then have them make mind-maps about themselves. It is a good idea to write the list of topics above (family, pets, etc.) on the board to give them ideas.
When they finish, they work in groups of 2-4. They show their mind maps to their partners and introduce themselves. If possible, have each student work with 2-3 sets of partners so they practice introducing themselves several times.
For more on mind-maps, see Firsthand author Marc Helgesen’s Innervoice page:
http://www.mgu.ac.jp/~ic/helgesen2/paper2.htm
The section on mind-mapping is in the middle of the page. There are two visual examples so it should be easy to find.