Archived from Englipedia.
Originally submitted by Lynn Bunter / Ben Jacques-Parr on Mar 15, 2008.
DETAILED EXPLANATION:
- First, I taught them body parts: legs, arms, heads, eyes, ears, noses, hands, foot/feet. Then we reviewed plurals: 1 leg, 2 legs. 1 head, 205 heads. 1 foot, 5 feet. Then, I handed out the worksheet (attached, 1 2-sided page). They learned that when talking about body parts, we said "I have..." (for example, "I have two legs." NOT "I am two legs"). I put the pictures of body parts and words on the board.
- Then, I told them that I was going to tell them about some monsters and they would draw them. For the first monster I would say the sentences very slowly and then write them on the board with their help. For example, "I have three heads. I have six eyes. I have one foot. I am green." Then, they'd fill in the sentences and take about 5 minutes to draw and color the monster. With monsters #2 and #3 I would only speak the sentences, not write them down on the board, so they had to listen carefully. While they were drawing the monsters, I would go around and correct their writing.
- With the last monster, they get to design it themselves and write the appropriate sentences.
- They really liked this activity and I thought it was interesting to see all the different monsters they drew with the few instructions they had. It really shows that they're not just a big one-brained blob and allowed them to express themselves individually. I had to split this activity between two classes, as one monster takes about 10 minutes to do and I didn't want them to get bored so I had other activites and stuff the rest of the time.
VARIATIONS:
- You can have the students tell their partner about their monster after they are finished draiwng if you want to practice speaking.
- If you want to do this for later years, you could make it more difficult by saying things like "I can fly" or "I have ten large tentacles" or something of that nature.
Ben's Variation:
- Teach/revise body parts and how to turn singular words into plural e.g. apple -> apples, arm -> arms etc.
- Hand out the attached sheet and describe a monster: "This monster has X limb(s)." Have the students fill in the number of said body part and cross out the incorrect word for the description: "5 eye / eyes." After each body part is called out the students will draw that part of the monster, giving about 30 secs for the drawing and crossing out of each body part.
- When the monsters have been finished, allow the students to name them and show them to their friends/class, usually fun to name the monster after the other teacher for a cheap laugh
- Now comes the good bit; give a student a ball/stuffed toy/object and tell them they get to call a part of the body and number "This monster has X limb(s)" again they will write the number of body parts, but this time they also have to write the body part and decide if it is a plural. After the student has said the body part, they pass the ball to someone in the immediate vicinity so others get to have a go speaking.
- When the monsters have been finished allow the kids to name them and show them to their friends/class.
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