ALL THE COLOURS OF THE RAINBOW  transmis par Bonnie TSAÏ

Here are a series of classroom activities that have a common theme: colour . They cover a wide range of English language objectives from very simple adjective-noun relationships to working with poetry. Some of them are very structural whilst others allow students to let their imagination take wings and fly. All of them will bring colour into your lessons.

Colour Song

This activity allows young learners to learn the colors while singing a song to the tune of Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes

Here is what you do.

1. Make a large poster with a series of squares featuring the colours you want your students to learn.

2. Start by teaching the colours by pointing to the square that

represents the color. When the class has learned the colors, move on to the next part if the activity.

3. Teach students the tune to Head and Shoulders, Knees, and Toes. Tell them they are going to sing the song using the colours on the poster. Sing the song as you point to the colours on the poster .

It would go something like this depending on how you have arranged the colours on the poster .

Red and yellow, green and blue

 Green and blue

Red and yellow green and blue

 Green and blue

And pink and purple and orange and brown

 Red and yellow, green and blue

 Green and blue.

4. Once students have learned the song. Sing the song whilst pointing to the colours randomly. This keeps students on their toes and gives you added lively practice time with the colours.

5. Let some of the students point out the colours in the order they are to be sung.

 

Pass Around Coloured Objects

This is another activity weIl adapted to young learners. Collect some small "holdable" objects, which have a predominant colour. Eg a small toy dog that is blue in colour.

1. If possible sit in a circle so that passing the objects around from student to student is natural.

2. Choose an object and name it by saying for example,

This is a blue dog. The student on you right takes the objects and repeats this is a blue dog while passing it to the student sitting beside him or her . This continues until the object has been around the circle.

3. As the activity continues, you can pass objects more and more frequently so that the pace doesn 't lag.

This activity besides teaching vocabulary reinforces the idea that in

English the adjective goes before the noun. Objects should be chosen while keeping in mind the age of the students.

The Longest Sentence

This activity can be adapted to all ages by simply changing the base sentence. When working with children, I generally choose a funny sentence that gives students an image to work with while creating the sentence. Eg. The snake loves sandwiches The object of the activity is to make a long sentence by adding adjectives to describe the snake and the sandwich. This can be done by using a while board, squares of paper or Cuisenaire Rods. Cuisenaire Rods are usually associated with teaching math, but also make a useful tool in teaching languages.

1. Display the base sentence so the class can see it.

2. Illustrate how students can add words to make the sentence longer.

(By adding pink to The snake loves sandwiches. We get the pink snake loves sandwiches).

 

3. Students next take turns adding words to the sentence to make it longer and longer. Each time a new word is added, the class repeats the sentence. If there is an error in the order in which the word is placed in the sentence, the teacher can gently put it in its correct place or invite the student to try another position.

Karen's Game

For this activity you need a package of Japanese origami paper, sometimes just called "folding paper ." Otherwise you need a large variety of coloured squares of paper .

1. Lay the paper out so that all the colours are visible to the class.

2. Call out a subject eg something you like to eat. Everyone takes a colour that corresponds to something they like to eat. For example someone could chose red because they like eating tomatoes or green because they like salads.

3. Give students 1 to 2 minutes to talk to each other .

4. Change the subject and at the same time, ask students to change partners.

5. Some subjects I have used in this activity are:

clothes, decoration in my house, music, a good friend, food, a place I like, a holiday, a season, an animal,

This activity comes from a good friend and colleague, Karen Sekiguchi, who has a real love and understanding of Japanese culture-hence the idea of using origami paper. This activity is good for getting even the "shyish" student to speak, because they are holding the coloured piece of paper while they speak.

Al! The Colours Of The Rainbow

Writing a poem can be a big self-esteem boaster to someone learning English. This is because they have sorneone to "perform" at the end and feel good about. This is a simple poem that beginners on up can do.

1. Start out by brainstorming colours. Make a list.

2. Next take each colour and associate things that go with the colour .

 3. This can be done by writing each colour on a piece of paper and circulating them around the room. Ask students to add anything they

 

Here is the poem:

Nothing Gold CAN Stay
Nature's first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf’s a flower
But only so an hour
Then leaf subsides to leaf
So Eden sank to grief
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay

Three Objects :

1. Think of three objects you have that are important to you.

2. Write them down on a piece of paper and then make a sentence in which you hide the three objects so that they are not too obvious. DO NOT mention their colours.

3. Find a partner and read the sentences. The partner guesses what the object are and their colour

 

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