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Theme: Times of year – changes in the weather and personal preferences
Lexical area: Seasons, weather, activities specific to each season
Instructions for language assistants in Italics
Classroom materials
Introduction
This lesson is based around the topic of the four seasons. Certain activities may or may not be appropriate depending on where you are working and how extreme the seasonal variations in the weather and way of life are. If you are in a place that doesn’t have big seasonal changes students may still be interested in the topic but Task 2 should be omitted or adapted.
Task 1 gives students a chance to think of words connected to the four seasons. Students work in groups for Task 2 to speculate about each others’ favourite seasons. Task 3 is a competitive vocabulary game called ‘word tennis’ and Task 4 is a reading text with questions for discussion. Task 5 and Task 6 are more creative. Task 5 is a group project to plan and organise a (real or imaginary) summer party and for Task 6 students produce seasonal posters to display in the class.
1. Four seasons
Put the four columns on the board. Students think of as many words as they can connected to each season. You could do this task as a team activity and award points to teams who have original words that no other team got.
If you can, bring in a picture of a photo to represent each season. You can elicit the seasons from the pictures then stick them on the board on the columns to inspire the students!
Task 1 Four seasons
Work in pairs or teams and see how many words you can think of connected to the four seasons.
| Spring |
Summer |
Autumn |
Winter |
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How many words did you put that no other team in the class had on their lists?
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2. What’s your favourite season?
Put students into groups of six. If possible let them group themselves with friends. Ask them to write the names of their group members in the first column of the table. Then ask them how well they think they know their class mates. Do they know what their favourite food / type of music / sports are? Do they know what their favourite season is? Ask them to guess their group members favourite season and give a reason why. Then they ask them and find out if they were right or not.
To demonstrate the activity have a few guesses yourself. Eg. “I think Pablo’s favourite season is winter because he loves skiing. Am I right? Pablo – what’s your favourite season? …..”
Task 2 What’s your favourite season?
- Choose five class mates you think you know well.
- What do you think are their favourite seasons and why?
- Write your guesses in the first column.
- Then ask them which their favourite season is and why and write the answers in the second column.
| Name |
My guess |
Real answer |
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- Were you right or wrong?
- Compare your answers with the other groups.
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3. Seasonal word tennis
This word game is played in pairs facing each other. It’s a word association game. Students all start with the same word (in this case use the seasons then weather words) as the starting word then the person in the pair who’s going first says a word they associate with the starting word. Then the partner says one they associate with their partners’ word.
Eg. Teacher – “Summer”
Student A – “Beach”
Student B – “the sea”
Student A – “swimming”
Student B – “football” etc. etc.
It goes on like this until one of the pair either repeat a word or can’t think of anything to say. The winner of each round could get a point.
Task 3 Seasonal word tennis
You’re going to play a game called Word Tennis. Listen carefully to your teacher’s instructions.
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4. Is that an ant in your salad?
This is a reading task from the Trend UK website. It’s about how the way of life in Britain changes as the summer comes. You could give students some examples from your own experiences of how the British way of life changes to a certain extent when the sun shines!
Task 4 Is that an ant in your salad?
Before you read the text discuss these questions with your group:
- If your way of life very different in the summer and the winter?
- Do you eat different foods depending on the season?
- When is the best season for tourists to visit your country? Why?
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Salad days - Winter soups and stews are replaced with salads. Vegetables are replaced with more fruit and tea with refreshing cool drinks. Restaurants and cafes not only open their windows and spill out onto the street they also change their menu to reflect the change in mood and seasonal fruits and vegetables. Strawberries and cream are a favourite in summer and are linked to summer sporting events like the Lawn Tennis Championships at Wimbledon.
Family fun - As well as the change in what we eat there is also the change in where we eat. We venture outdoors to have picnics in parks, by the seaside or at amusement parks like Alton Towers during a family day out. Pub gardens are also a family favourite as both adults and children get the chance to enjoy the sun.
Social evenings - We don’t have to travel any further than our back garden if we want to eat outside. Barbeques (BBQ’s) are becoming increasingly popular and affordable in the UK and are a great way of socialising with family, friends and work colleagues. You can buy gas and electric BBQ’s or use the traditional coals, which adds the perfect smoky flavour to food. Do it yourself (DIY) enthusiasts often build their own BBQ. BBQ’s are popular with both young and old people because of the endless possibilities of food you can cook. Burgers and sausages for the kids progressing to steaks, chicken and seafood for adults and the more adventurous. But watch out, as not only is it easy to burn your tea you have to watch for the change in weather as well.
June 2004 This text originally appeared on the TrendUK website. http://www.britishcouncil.org/japan-trenduk-archive-antsalad.htm |
After reading the text answer these questions:
- Do British people eat differently in the summer to the winter?
- According to the text do they do different activities?
- If you were going to visit the UK and could go at any time of year, when would you choose to go? Why?
- Do you think the change in the seasons affects people’s moods?
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5. Summer party
If you are using this activity at the end of term and there’s a chance you could organise a real end of term party for your class you could do this task and actually have the party you plan. If not viable it’s still a good way to get students to talk – an imaginary party is better than nothing! Put students in groups, they can discuss the questions and make a party plan then present it to the other groups and you could vote on which party sounds the most fun.
Task 5 Summer party
You and your class mates are going to organise a party to celebrate the arrival of summer. You will need to think about the following points and then explain your ideas to the rest of the class.
- Where will you have the party?
- What day and time?
- What music will you have?
- What entertainment will you have?
- What food will you eat?
- What drinks will you have?
- How will you invite the guests?
- Who will serve the food?
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6. Seasonal posters
This is a creative task probably better suited to younger students with a reasonable level of English. Let them work in pairs or groups. You could divide the class into four groups and give each group one of the seasons to work with.
- An ‘acrostics’ is a way of linking words together using the letters within a stem word. For example:
Windy days
Icy hailstones
Night falls early
Temperatures low
Everyone’s sad
Remembering the summer
The first letters could also appear in the middle of words to make it easier. Students should work together to produce the acrostics then display it on a poster with images of the season as the background. If you have space these would make a nice wall display for the class or the corridor. For younger students it can be really motivating for them to see their work on show.
Task 6 Seasonal posters
You are going to work in groups to make a poster about your favourite season. Plan your poster here:
Internet links
http://www.britishcouncil.org/This site has the original text from the reading and some other related articles.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/ This BBC site has an interactive quiz on the seasons.
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