UPDATE
I've added an alternate to the Town Building Mingler. This practices 'There is' and preposition of place. I'm using it this year along with the town poster because I'm not allowed to do 'mingler style activities'.
Town Builder Race Game
The students do this is in pairs. They do 'Rock scissors paper' and the winner gets to add a building to his worksheet. The initial building is the bank. After the bank students decide what they want to add and make the sentence. As an option they can swap worksheets so the loser has to actually write in the building names on the winners worksheet. For the first win the winner either says 'There is a...next to the bank' and adds a building next to the bank or 'There is a ... across from the bank' and adds a building across from the bank. They do it again. If the same student wins this time they add a new building either beside or across from the bank or beside or across from another building. There are nine places that can be filled. I'd set a time limit and see who fills the most in the time. The remaining part of the sheet is for writing about places they like in their town.
Town Building is a mingler style activity. It should be demonstrated.
Play it in four rounds. Round One is bookstores.
1. Make pairs and share statements depending on how many checks they have. Initially both will say 'There is a bookstore in my town'
2. Do rock scissors and paper. The winner adds a check for bookstores. Then say goodbye and make a new pair.
3. The winner of the previous game will now say 'There are two bookstores'
4. Once they reach 5 they should sit down. Continue until a few students have sat down then end the round and have everyone write one sentence about their imaginary town. 'There are 4 bookstores'.
5. Continue with round two 'parks'
Town Poster
This is a group activity. There is a color poster of a town and an answer sheet. I generally pick 12 questions and each group races to find the answers. The first question I ask 'How many green cars are there?' and one member from each group races to find the answer and bring it to a teacher. If the answer is correct 'there are 13 green cars' then the teacher gives them the next question. They return to their group, repeat the question and a new member brings the answer. I usually do this as a listening and speaking activity but you could use a worksheet and make it a writing activity. The first team to answer all 12 questions is the winner.
My Town Recommendations
Work in groups, pairs or on their own to write a bit about their town.