Body Image – Vocabulary Activities

Aim:	To practice words related to body image and appearance
Interaction:	Individually or in groups
Exercise type:	Filling in the gaps, constructing sentences
Language:	B2 or C1
Time:	15-20  minutes
Materials:	Handouts, an electronic device to reproduce a youtube video

Previously, I posted an activity based on the Illusionist trailer (Kick Me Vocabulary Game – Words to talk about body image and appearance). No need to mention that  I like the trailer and the movie a lot, so much actually that I have developed two more activities based on it. One of them foocuses on collocations and another one on the sentence structure and word order.

1. Start by showing your student the first 90 seconds of the teaser of The Illusionists film and  ask them to complete the collocations in their handout.

You may choose to do an introductory activity to encourage your students to brainstorm the topic and the related vocabulary. Some ideas for the introductory activities for this trailer can be found in the post Kick Me Vocabulary Game – Words to talk about body image and appearance (will open in a new tab/window).

The _____________________ of the body

The ____________ of _______ beauty

The_________ that corporations have on our ________ of ourselves

To ____________ people’s insecurities about their bodies for profit

The ________ with  __________________ beauty is as old as time

The ________ of the ________ body has _______ the central role

75% of “normal” weight women think they are __________

The ________ of body dissatisfaction around the world

90% of women ________ their body size

Our culture’s ___________ ________ physical appearance

The _________ impact our __________________ culture has on women

An interactive online activity is available here Vocabulary – Body Image

Vocabulary workshop body image and appearance

 

Here are the answers: 

1. the commodification of the human body
2. the marketing of unattainable beauty around the world
3. the influence that corporations have on our perception of ourselves
4. to manipulate people’s insecurities about their bodies for profit
5. the pursuit of the perfect beauty has taken the central role
6. 75% of “normal” weight women think they are overweight
7. The epidemic of body dissatisfaction around the world 
8. 90% of women overestimate their body size
9. Our culture’s obsession with physical appearance 
10. The alarming impact our celebrity-obsessed culture has on women.

Make sure that everybody understands all the vocabulary from the previous activity. Provide clarification if one or more of your students are not sure about the meaning of some words or phrases.

Distribute the handout with a chart below.  The students can work individually or in groups.

Instruct the students that they need to arrange the words in each of the lines to make sentences. Remind your students about the word order in an English sentence [the subject always goes before the verb and adjectives go before the nouns that they describe (we say Happy Birthday not Birthday Happy J )]

Tell the students that there is a hint for them:  a capitalized word in each line is the first word of a sentence.

The students need to write their sentences in the space provided in each line.

1.    as  property    Commodification    body   human   treating   means   of   the   a person

2.     models      Runway     set     standards      beauty    unattainable

3.     beauty    perceptions   of    our    Magazines    influence  TV    and

4.     about    Many   bodies   teenagers   insecurities   have  their

5.     new   nothing   is   A preoccupation    beauty physical  with

6.     price    The pursuit   has    of   a  high  price   the   body   perfect

7.     develop    problems   people   Overweight   can  health  various

Both handouts with instructions for the students can be downloaded here: Body image and appearance vocabulary activities

Previously,  I also shared several ideas for speaking activities on fashion and appearance which can be found here and two activities and a matching game on adjectives to describe personality and appearance which can be found here.

Have fun learning and leading in the classroom!

Kick Me Vocabulary Game – Words to talk about body image and appearance

Aim:	To practice words related to body image and appearance
Interaction:	Whole class (any, preferably at least 3)
Exercise type:	Matching, filling in the gaps
Language:	B2 or C1
Time:	15-20  minutes
Materials:	Post-it notes or strips of paper with tape; a handout  with a chart for each of the students

Since the majority of the words that are used in the exercise can be found in the first 90 seconds of the Illusionists trailer, you may choose to do an introductory activity to familiarize your students with the vocabulary.

An Introductory Activity

Show your students the first 90 seconds of a very short teaser of the Illusionists film:

Ask the students the following questions before starting the activity:

• What do you think the film is about?
• Do you think the film approves of cosmetic surgery for vanity?
• What alarming statistics are mentioned in the teaser?
• 
• What do these numbers refer to: 
• Would you consider undergoing a plastic surgery just to change your appearance? 
• Do you know someone who has undergone a cosmetic surgery? 
• Could you name some arguments in favor and against plastic surgeries? 

Preparing for the Activity

1. Take 12 post-it notes and write the following words on them. Write each word on a separate post-it note:

Celebrity-obsessed

Unattainable

Perception

Overweight

Overestimate

Commodification

Repugnant

Rebellious

Prejudice

Epidemic

Pursuit

To take the central role

You can also use strips of paper and tape instead of post-it notes.

2. Stick a post-it note to the back of each of the students without telling your students which word they have. If you have less than 12 students, some students may end up with two post-it notes on their backs.

Alternatively, if you have very few students  (3 or 4),  you can choose to hide words around the classroom (under the chairs, under the desks) or stick them on the walls around the classroom. If you choose this option, then in the third column of the handout the students will need to write down the name of the object on which they found the word and its location in the classroom.

If you have more than 12 students, then repeat some of the words, so that each of the students has a post-it note on their backs.

3. Give each student a handout with a chart.

If you have a very large classroom, you may choose to give one handout for two or three students and allow them to work in a group.

 Activity

1. Each of the students needs to walk around the classroom, looking at the backs of other students and the words that they have.

Remind the students that they are allowed to communicate only in English.

2. Once a student finds on someone’s back a word that fits one of the gaps in the chart, the student writes down this word and the name of the student who is wearing this word.

3. The first student to complete the chart correctly wins and gets an extra point.

4. If you have several students filling in one handout, then the group that fills in their handout first wins.

The handout and the explanation can be downloaded here: Body image and appearance Kick Me Vocabulary Game

 

 

Previously,  I also shared several ideas for speaking activities on fashion and appearance which can be found here and two activities and a matching game on adjectives to describe personality and appearance which can be found here.

Adjective to Describe Personality and Appearance – Two Activities and a Matching Game

Previously I shared several ideas for speaking activities on fashion and appearance which can be found here.

In this post I want to concetrate on the vocabulary to describe appearance and personality. All three activities have been desined for B2 students and have been successfully used in my classroom.

Adjectives to describe clothes activity

Adjectives to describe appearance activity

The first activity is picture based and is aimed at introducing or reviewing adjectives to describe clothes. Check it out in a slideshow below.

Students need to choose the correct adjectives to describe the clothes in each of the pictures. Sometimes more than one adjective can be used to describe a picture.

The next activity is aimed at reviewing the adjectives to describe appearance, the task of the students is to complete the sentences with the correct adjective from the box.

And finally a matching game with compound adjectives.

You can read the description below or download it here together with the cards: Compound Adjectives To Describe personality and Appearance – Matching Game

Cmpound Adjectives To Describe personality and Appearance  – Matching Game
Aim:	To practice compound adjectives related to personality and appearance
Interaction:	Individually or in groups of up to 3 students
Exercise type:	Matching
Language:	B2
Time:	7-12 minutes
Materials:	A set of cut up cards for a person or for a group
Procedure:	Cut up the cards along the dotted lines. Give each student a set of cards (for an individual activity) or hand out one set of cards for a group of students (for a group activity). Set a time limit for the students to match the cards to make compound adjectives (see the answers). An online stopwatch can be of help to keep track of the time: www.online–stopwatch.com Award extra points to the student or the group of students who are the first to complete the puzzle. Have Fun!

Have fun learning and leading in the classroom! 🙂

Film Reviews – Vocabulary Workshop and Lesson Plan.

Film reviews are one of the most popular topics in TEFL and this is exactly what we were dealing with over the last week. Coursebooks don’t always do a great job in engaging students especially when it comes to reading and vocabulary exercises, so to assist my students, struggling with vocabulay aquisition, I developed the following vocabulary workshop.

The activity is based on a film review by Movieline and presents new words in context and with other words that they go with (i.e. horizontally). The visuals in the clip add a powerful element and help students to memorize the vocabulary easier and faster.

The activity could also be used to introduse a possible rhetorical structure of an oral film review (possible because there are other ways to structure a review).

Level: B2
Target skill: vocabulary
Other skills involved: reading, listening, rhetorical structure of an oral film review.

 
1.  As a lead-in activity quickly go through some vocabulary that students will need to know in order to understand the ideas and opinions expressed in the film review.

 

 

2. Hand out the graphic organizers and allow your students a couple of minutes to look at them.

*Students can be working individually or in groups of up to four.* 

Ask the students to figure out what information they need to get from the trailer in order to fill in the graphic organizers (the aspects of the movie mentioned in the review; the strengths and weakenesses of the film).

Ask the students to predict possible answers.

An editable graphic organizer can be downloaded here: Graphic Organizer for a film review vocabulary workshop

3. Let the students watch the Amazing Spiderman 2 review by Movieline.

4. Let the students watch the review in parts filling in the gaps with the appropriate word(s). Rewind the video if your students need to listen to the except again in order to fill in the gaps. The questions embedded in the video are multiple choice questions.

Click on the image below to open the EdPuzzle.

Film Review – Vocabulary Workshop and Lesson Plan

http://www.edpuzzle.com/media/53b2e425cf5849013aac2273

If you think it will be too easy for your students, download the paper-based handout with gaps and no options.

The file is also available for download here: Film Review – Vocabulary Workshop: fill in the gaps handout + answers

5. Let the students read the transcript of the film review.

Ask your students the following questions:

What information is included in this review? 

How this information is structured? 

Give the students the rhetorical structure of an oral film review handout. Working individually or in groups, students need to write the number of the paragraph (1, 2 or 3) in which they can find the information about each of the aspects of the movie and the parts of a review (the cast, the plot, recommendation, etc.)

The file can also be downloaded here: Rhetorical Structure of an oral film review – exercise with answers

Draw the students’ attention to the phrases in bold. Encourage them to use these phrases in their post-activity.

6. Allow some time for the students to complete online vocabulary exercise. They can use tablets, phones, laptops or desktop computers if you have an access to a computer lab.

Crossword Puzzle Film Review Vocabulary

http://www.proprofs.com/games/crossword/film-review-vocabulary/

Alternatively, you can assign this activity for independent study at home or use the paper-based version of the vocabulary exercises that can be downloaded here as a crossword puzzle (Crossword Puzzle – Film Review Vocabulary Workshop) or as a matching exercise.

 Film Review Vocabulary Matching Exercise

7. As a post-activity ask the students to prepare a film review at home and either to record themselves or to be ready to present their film  review next class. Once again students can work alone or in groups. Encourage the students to use the new vocabulary and phrases in their own fim review (assign extra points for each of the new words used or a lump-sum extra point).

Hope you enjoyed it and will find it of you.

Please, share your comments, ideas and suggestions. As always, they are always highly appreciated.

Relative Pronouns with comics and jokes: who, which, that, when and where

We use relative clauses to provide more information about a person, a thing or a place.

We use WHO to give more information about people.

We use WHICH when we want to provide more information about a thing.

We can use THAT instead of WHO  or WHICH.

We use WHERE for places.

And WHEN for time.

NB! When we add more information about something by using a relative clause, we use the article THE, not a/an

Also notice that we put the relative pronouns immediaty after the noun about which we are giving more information.

If you want to see all this gathered together and more, then check the  grammar s-show below that I created for my B1 students. I used comic strips and jokes to explain and to illustrate  the use of relative clauses and relative pronouns. As always, at the end of the slideshow there is an exercise to practice the skills and to check understanding.

You can also hear me going through the slideshow in a video that was made for the university I am currently teaching at.

To Like and To Be Like

“What does she like?” and “What is she like?”

These two questions can be very confusing for learners. This slideshow will  bring some clarity to the use of “To Like” and “To Be Like”.

The slideshow also includes an exercise to practice the skills and to check the understanding.

You can also hear me going through the slideshow in the video that was made for the university where I am currently teaching:

USED TO for past habits and routines

I made this slideshow to explain the use of USED TO to my B1 students, it seemed to help them quite a bit.

The slideshow also includes a gap-fill exercise to practise the skills.

You can also hear me going through the slideshow in the video that was made for the university where I am currently teaching:

Using too much/too many, (not) enough and very

Being able to express the reason, cause and result of actions is essential in any language. In English we use too, (not) enough, very, too many and too much for this purpose and they can be pretty confusing for learners. The following slideshow clearly explains the difference between them and includes a gap-filling exercise to practice the use of each in real context.

You can also hear me going through the slideshow in the video that was made for the university where I am currently teaching:

Conditional sentences, type 0, 1 and 3 – Grammar game

CONDITIONAL BATTLE FIELD
Aim	To practise the use of conditional sentences type 0, 1 and 2
Interaction	Groups of 3, 4 or 5 students
Exercise type:	Filling in the gaps, correcting mistakes
Language:	B1
Time:	15 – 25 minutes
Materials:	A marker and a whiteboard, a set of question cards for the class.
Procedure:	Project on a whiteboard a slide with a 4*5 grid in which each cell is numbered in order from 1 to 20. Alternatively, you can draw a 4*5 grid on a board and number each of its cells. Cut up the questions handout so that each card features one question. Divide the class into teams of three or four. Each team needs to select an easy-to-draw symbol (a circle, a star a triangle, a smiley face) or a letter to represent them. Tell the students that the 20-square board is a piece of land that they  are  trying to conquer. In order to conquer each piece of land the students need to correctly answer a question on the card. The teams decide the order in which they will play the game (for this purpose, the students can roll dice, play rock-paper-scissors game, or draw pieces of paper with numbers corresponding to the number of teams). Each of the teams draws a question card from the pile, collaboratively, the teams decide on an answer. Allow a certain amount of time then, ask each of the teams to read their question card aloud to the class and to suggest an answer. If the question is answered correctly, the team can draw their symbol in the square corresponding to the number of the question. If the answer if incorrect, the teacher collects the question card without giving the correct answer and puts the card at the bottom of the pile, later this card has to be drawn again by one of the teams. The game is over when all question cards have been answered. The team that manages to put their symbol in the greatest number of squares, wins.

The game is available from download from Slideshare and here >>>  CONDITIONAL BATTLE FIELD

Conditional Sentences – Grammar Game

The aim of the game is to practice the use of conditional sentences type 0, 1 , 2, and 3 as well as mixed conditionals.

The game is designed for upper-intermediate students, but you can easily modify the questions.

The game includes three types of questions:

1. Filling in the gaps, where players need to put the verbs in brackets in the correct form (Fill category);

2. Finding and correcting mistakes. Each sentence in this category has a mistake or two in the use of conditional sentences, the task is to find the mistake(s) and to correct it/them (Fix category);

3. Choosing the most suitable option out of two (Choose category).

The game has a main screen with a Jeopardy board, the students select the type of question and its value (more difficult questions value more) and click on a corresponding button.

This will take a student to a question slide. When the students give their answer, click on the question mark button in the bottom righ-hand corner, this will take you to an answer screen.

On the answer screen, click on the house icon to return to the main screen with the jeopady board.

Have fun learning and teaching!

Click here to download the editable Conditional Sentences Grammar Game > Conditional Sentences Jeopardy 1, 2, 3