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How to Teach Shapes

BY TA R A A R N T S E N 125,179 views

Students may not often use shapes in their everyday conversation or Englis
lessons but it is still worth teaching your students certain basic shapes especially
you are going to tell them to “Circle the correct answer.” on their worksheets o
exams. Knowing basic shapes can also be useful when students try to expla
objects that they do not know the word for because if they can describe somethin
accurately enough, you will be able to give them the correct vocabulary word. Th
article provides some ideas and activities on teaching shapes to preschool an
kindergarten kids and teenagers.

How To Proceed

1 Warm up
Shapes are another topic for very beginners so it is worth spending tim
reviewing the previous lesson. If you choose to do the production activit
suggested in this lesson, you may want to devote some time to reviewin
numbers (http://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities
grammar/numerals_and_dates-worksheets/), description words and bod
parts (http://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities
vocabulary/describing_people_and_things/appearancebody_parts-
worksheets/) as well. You can simply ask students to name the body part o
number you are pointing to as a class or by volunteering. You can als
review all this vocabulary using flashcard
 (http://busyteacher.org/teaching_ideas_and_techniques/flashcards/) or b
eliciting vocabulary (http://busyteacher.org/3772-how-to-elici
vocabulary.html) from your students to see what they can remember. Warm
up activitie
(http://busyteacher.org/teaching_ideas_and_techniques/warmers/) fo
beginning students may take up to ten minutes of your class tim
depending on how much material you feel the need to include. When
comes to vocabulary, repetition is the key.

2 Introduce Shapes
Drawings on the board or flashcards will be the easiest way to introduc
shapes. You may choose to only teach square, rectangle, circle, and triangl
but feel free to include other vocabulary such as star and diamond
appropriate. Use choral repetition (http://busyteacher.org/3812-how-to-dril
drilling-activities-for-your-english.html) for pronunciation practic
(http://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities-pronunciation-worksheets/) an
drill by pointing to the drawings on the board or using flashcards. If you ar
only using basic shapes and working with young learners, have them mak
the shapes using specific hand gestures (http://busyteacher.org/3780-how
to-teach-using-gestures-mime.html) as they practice the words. This will hel
reinforce what the new words mean.

3 Practice Shapes
After practicing the vocabulary as a class, have students practice writing th
words by labeling images on a worksheet or making sentences for eac
image. For example, if there is a picture of a circular clock, students ca
write “It’s a circle.” while if there is an image of a photograph, students ca
write “It’s a rectangle.” You can also continue practicing as a class by namin
familiar objects or objects in the classroom and having students tell yo
what shape they are. Students should be encouraged to use full sentence
when responding to these questions.
4 Produce
At this stage in the lesson students should be able to produce their ow
material. You could have them write as many objects as they can think of fo
each shape, for instance. You could also conduct an activity which combine
students’ knowledge of shapes, numbers, descriptions and body parts
Assuming you have covered all of these topics, you can do this activit
called Monsters. Have students work in pairs sitting back to back. First giv
students time to draw a monster on the top half of their worksheets. Studen
A will then describe his monster to his partner while Student B listens to th
description and draws a monster based on the description he is given
Students will say sentences such as “He/She/It has one small nose. It’s
circle.” When Student A is finished describing his monster, students shoul
switch roles. When both partners have described and drawn a monste
have students compare their drawings. It is amusing to see how differen
they are even if students were listening carefully.

5 Review
If possible, it may be fun to get the class moving and working together. I
the last minutes of class have students position themselves to create th
shape you call out. For example, if you say “Triangle.” students should try t
organize themselves into a triangle. It may be a bit of a challenge bu
depending on the class, may be quite enjoyable as well. It is good t
conduct activities, such as this one, which require cooperation among you
students.

Shapes may not be the most important section of material that students study an
this vocabulary is unlikely to come up repeatedly in the course but teaching bas
shapes is still necessary. Later on when students are taught the adjectiv
(http://busyteacher.org/classroom_activities-grammar/adjectives-worksheets/) for
of these words, such as circular and triangular, at least they will be building upo
previously learned material.
 P.S. If you enjoyed this article, please help spread it by clicking one of thos
sharing buttons below. And if you are interested in more, you should follow o
Facebook page Follow 145K where we share more about creative, non-boring way
to teach English.

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