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Zero preparation,
fun revision
Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived
as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.
Albert EINSTEIN, scientist

Jumping words

Try this brief test to find out if the following

article is useful for you.
YES

NO

1. Learning with fun is the best

kind of learning.
2. I think that CLIL classes should
be about co-operative learning.
3. I want my students to be
more autonomous.
4. In CLIL classes systematic
content revision is essential.
5. My students sometimes
perceive revision as testing
and they feel pressured.
6. My students forget words
from class to class.
7. Some of my students know
the meaning of a word and
use it in English, but dont
know the equivalent in their
mother tongue.
8. Extra revision exercises mean
more preparation time for
teachers.

ards or flashcards

rdc
1 Put 10 wothe
board, randomly,
high on
in any order.

2 Divide your students into small

groups and tell them to choose
a captain.

on the board

3 Say one of the wordths er tongue.

in the students mo

4 Captains run to the board,

jump and take the correc

t word.

5 For each correctly taken word

the group gets a point.

When you finish with the 10 words and start the

next round, tell your students to change the
captain so that everybody can participate.

Classroom management tips

If you answered yes! to at least 5 out of 8
statements, have a look at the proposed fun-forstudents, easy-for-the teacher activities. They put
students at the heart of the learning process and
encourage their autonomy as learners. They also
require zero or almost zero preparation for
the teacher!

Instead of using the students mother tongue,

you can give your learners a description

of the vocabulary item in English.
Another excellent idea is to choose a group
of three students who act as word describers.
The describers describe the word, without
actually saying it.
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It's
brown,
it's like
earth!

It's where
worms live!

Back-to-board

Scrambled letters, missing letters

This is one of the most fun activities for children

and it requires no planning for teachers. It can
create a bit of chaos in the classroom, so we
suggest you use it only on special occasions,
for example as an extra award after a successfully
learnt lesson.

1. Choose a word, e.g. electric and write it on the

board omitting several letters:

class into 3 or 4

r
1 Divide you
and tell each group
groups
to choose their captain.

2 Tell the captains to turn their

back to the board.

3 Write a word

on the board.

4 Group members explain the

word to their captain wit

hout
actually saying it.

t the
5 The first captain to shou
s a point
correct answer score
for his/her group.

76

It's where
you put
plants!

EL

RIC

Tell your students to guess the word.

2. Now, choose a word related to it, e.g. power,
and write it scrambled on the board:
WOREP
Again ask your students to guess it. Underline
the first letter if necessary.
3. Provide another example of related words,
e.g. write hydroelectric plant as:
H

DR

ECT

IC

NLAPT

to make sure everybody understands.

4. Now ask every student to invent a similar
exercise and only after that divide them into
groups to dicuss their fun words together.
5. Call the captains to the front to share one of
his/her groups secret words with the rest
of the class. Other groups guess the word.
6. The group which guesses the most words
is the winner.

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Zero preparation, fun revision

One Minute Heads Together

dents in groups

stu
1 Put your tell
each student to

of 4 and
1 to 4.
choose one number from

2 Ask a content related question

and give the groups one minute

to answer it.

put
The group members
and
er
th
ge
to
their heads
er.
sw
an
e
th
on
decide

4 Call a number. All students

with that number stand
up
and answer the question.

Version 2:
Change the name of the game
When your students become familiar with One
Minute Heads Together, provide more challenging
questions. Ask your students if they need more
time to think. Let them change the name of the
activity as they wish: Two, Three or Four Minutes
Heads Together. This will give your learners a
sense of being appreciated and listened to.

Version 3:
Use fun riddles
You can use the Heads Together activity to revise
content with fun riddles. If the topic you are
teaching is plants or animals, here are some readymade riddles. If you prefer a calmer type of
revision, give each group a photocopiable sheet
with riddles to complete.

5 Praise correct responses, but

show interest in incorrect ones,

as well. Always ask how they
came up with their answers.

To bring more diversity into your classroom, you

can present the same activity in different forms:

Version 1:
Substitute numbers with words
Instead of calling numbers, give your learners
a word card, a flashcard or a magazine clip
representing the content you want to revise.
Tell students to choose one image from those
on offer, for example:
Starfish, clown fish, trout, shark.

Photocopiable Activity Key (next page):

Monkey, lion, whale, deer.

Plant riddles

Ladybird, mosquito, fly, bee.

Sponge, mussel, butterfly, snail.
Now, ask the students which animal group they
represent (1-fish, 2-mammals, 3-insects,
4-invertebrates). When calling students, instead
of numbers call for fish, mammals, insects or
invertebrates. etc. When they guess, continue
with other questions.

1. a plant / 2. roots / 3. a leaf / 4. a seed

5. germinate / 6. a stem / 7. water and minerals;
from roots to leaves / 8. a trunk / 9. on branches,
on twigs / 10. a photosynthesis
Animal riddles
1. an amphibian / 2. an omnivore / 3. invertebrates
4. fish / 5. an arachnid / 6. a scorpion / 7. a whale
8. a worm / 9. a jellyfish / 10. a penguin
Note: these riddles are suitable for 3rd grade Primary.

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Plant riddles
1. I am a living being, but I cannot run, jump, or move around.
Who am I?

2. Plants and flowers have me, but you cannot see me.
Who am I?

3. I can be wide or thin like a needle. I can be big or small. Usually I am green, but in autumn
I sometimes change my colour. Who am I?

4. I am very, very small. But give me some soil and water, and you will be surprised!
Who am I?

5. You discovered me in riddle 4. If you give me light, water, air, soil and minerals I will do
an action. What will I do?

6. I am green and upright. I transport nutrients. Who I am?

7. Now that you know me, tell me what I transport and from where to where?

8. I am similar to my friend in riddle 6, but I am much bigger. Trees have me.

Who am I?

EDELVIVES Photocopiable sheet

9. I am a tree. I have roots, trunk and leaves. Where can you see my leaves?

78

10. I am a process. I transform different elements into energy to make plants grow.
What is my scientific name?

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Animal riddles
1. I am cold-blooded, but I am not a reptile and I am not a fish. Who am I?

2. I am not choosy about food. I eat everything: plants and animals. Who am I?

3. We represent 98% of all animals on Earth.

Who are we?

4. Birds and amphibians produce eggs. But I produce even more eggs then them! Who am I?

5. I look like an insect, but I cant fly. Insects have six legs and I have eight.
Who am I?

6. I am one of the creatures in riddle 5. I live in deserts and I can be poisonous.

Who am I?

7. I look like a fish, but Im not a fish. And I am really, really big.
Who am I?

8. I am slimy and moist. I work underground and I dont have a backbone.

Who am I?

10. I am a bird. I have a beak and wings, but I cannot fly. I am a good swimmer.
I live in the North, where its very cold.

EDELVIVES Photocopiable sheet

9. I live in the sea and I am almost transparent. Thats because my tissues are 95% water.
Dont touch me!

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I LEARNED
THREE NEW
WORDS
LAST WEEK!

17:02

REALLY? ME TOO!
I LEARNED GAS,
SOLID AND
LIQUID.

Pgina 80

I LOVE THE WORD

PRECIPITATION!

Old friends, new words

beginning of the week

the
1 At
n3
ask students to write dow

week
words they learned last
lish.
Eng
in
e
nic
nd
and that sou

2 Tell them to walk around,

pretending to be friends who
havent seen each other for a
long time and who now have
many things to say to each other.

like: Do you
Introduce phrases
I learnt 3 new
ek
we
t
know that las
, thats interesting.
words?; Oh, really
word mean?;
And what does that
rds. Do you
wo
w
I also learnt 3 ne
?
rds
wo
my
want to know

4 Act out the dialogue with one

of the students before doi
ng
the activity as a class.

5 At the end of the activity ask

students to get back to their
desk and write 3 sentences
with the words their old
friends told them.

80

PRECIPITATION?
SOUNDS FUN!
I LIKE
MY
WHAT DOES
SOLIDIFICATION!
THATMEAN? FAVOURITE
DO YOU KNOW
WORD IS
COLLECTION. SOLIDIFICATION?

Wordsearch

r students to choose 10

you
1 Tell abu
lary items on two related
voc
ise.
but different topics to rev

2 Put the students in pairs and give

each student a grid of 12 x 12 (use
the photocopiable sheet at the
end of this article).

rds
s to fill in the 10 wo

nt
3 Tell studerd
can
square. The words
in the wo
tally, diagonally
be written horizon
and vertically.

4 Tell your students to fill

the remaining fields wit

h
just any letters.

5 The students swap the grids in pairs

and circle the 10 words.

6 The students check their answers in pairs.