Design Team Challenge: A pair activity to practice prepositions of place
I’ve offered a couple of ideas in the past for prepositions of place. See Quirky Questions and Scenic Portraits. Since I’m now covering this topic with my beginner student Natasha, I began to think of additional ways to put these structures into her communication with me. Admittedly influenced by the American TV channel HGTV (Home and Garden TV), I’ve decided to use an activity called Design Team Challenge. See my Design Team Challenge_handout.
If you’re working one-on-one, as I am, you can design the interior of a room with your student, letting your student take the lead in deciding where to place the majority of objects. If you’re in the classroom, you can increase the fun factor by having pairs present their ideas to the class. After the presentations, tape the papers to a wall and ask the class to vote on the best design (without voting for one’s own).
Explore posts in the same categories: GrammarTags: basic grammar, English With Jennifer, Jennifer Lebedev, JenniferESL, prepositions, prepositions of location, prepositions of place
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May 18, 2012 at 1:07 pm
Great idea, Jennifer. I am an ESL teacher (have taught in S. Korea and all over Europe) and I just want to thank you for doing this. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to get through the first few weeks of teaching English to adults in my English immersion class in Oxford, England. Your videos saved my life (and my dignity, lol). Thanks again, and keep up the great work!
May 18, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Wow! Thank you, Anna, for writing. I’m so glad the materials were there to help you get started. If you ever think of topics that I have yet to create activities for, let me know. It’s good to have the EFL perspective. Good luck in your teaching!
May 21, 2012 at 5:27 am
Thanks so much for this handout! I can’t wait to try out this activity with my students.
Quick FYI, though – I noticed that there’s a typo in “window” on Handout B. Thought I’d let you know.
All the best, and thanks again for all the hard work that you share with us all!
May 21, 2012 at 9:40 am
Hi Laura!
Thank you so much for catching the typo. It’s been corrected. Unfortunately, my eyes sometimes fail to see my own mistakes. It’s the “right under your nose” phenomenon!
May 22, 2012 at 8:04 am
My pleasure. That happens to me all the time, too. No matter how hard I try to catch all the mistakes, one or two always end up slipping through!
Again, thanks for everything you do here for us. It’s very much appreciated!
July 18, 2012 at 10:40 pm
Thank you, Jane. You don’t have any idea of how much you’ve been helping me. My students love when I use your activities!
July 19, 2012 at 9:49 am
I’m very happy to know that some of my materials are working out well for your classroom.
Best regards to you, Rosangela!
August 13, 2012 at 10:31 pm
hi jennifer i always watch your videos on you tube, its a big help for me
August 14, 2012 at 10:17 pm
That’s wonderful to hear. Please consider visiting my website and joining the forum, too.
Have a great day!