Unit 2 Activities

Pair
“Venn Diagram: Likes and Dislikes” (using yes/no)
Estimated time:
20 to 40 minutes (dependent on class size)

Materials:
Paper, markers or pens, chalk board, chalk

Objective(s):
The students will ask and answer questions about their likes and dislikes.
The students will compare answers by creating a Venn Diagram.
The students will present their Venn Diagrams to the group.

Procedure:
The teacher/parent reminds the students about how they have been discussing detectives/solving mysteries, and about the games and activities they have done so far. The teacher/parent asks the students what they would need to know if they were trying to follow someone. Would it be helpful to know what the person likes and does not like? Would it be helpful to know what the person likes to do in a typical day? The teacher/parent tells the students that today they will be interviewing a partner to find out what that person likes and doesn’t like to do. They will then compare their likes and dislikes, and keep that information in their “sleuthing book.”

The teacher/parent writes the following vocabulary on the chalk board, reviewing the material learned in Unit 2 with the students: here shown in English

I like / I don’t like
to play with.../ to play sports, video games, to study, to read, to talk, to listen, to watch, to travel, to work on the computer
to swim, to eat in restaurants, to spend time with my family, dog/cat
to go to ....the movies, shopping, to buy things, to sports games, to the house of my friend, other countries, the beach, the mountains, the lake, the river, the sea, the ocean
to watch TV, to listen to music, to play with my cats, to walk my dog, to read
to read for school, to study, to exercise, to do chores in my house

The students are grouped into pairs, and each student is given a large piece of paper. On the paper, each student should draw two large, interlocking circles (a Venn Diagram, tech: link to sample). The teacher/parent explains that one circle should contain the likes of one person in the pair, and the other circle should contain the likes of the other person in the pair. The shared, “interlocking” space between the two circles is for the things that both people in the pair like.

The students in each pair take turns asking each other questions in the target language about their likes and dislikes (e.g.: “Do you like to play sports?”). Answers for both members of the pair are written in the appropriate place on the Venn Diagram. Once the Venn Diagrams are complete, the pairs can present their findings to the group.

Assessment/Monitoring Progress:
Because of the large amount of vocabulary and the variety of possible responses, this activity could be potentially challenging for some students. Encourage students of varied abilities to work in pairs. For example, if one student is struggling, try to pair that student with a student who knows that material well and can work positively to encourage the other student. Also, try limiting the number of possible responses by writing a smaller number of words on the chalk board. Some students may have trouble speaking in complete sentences. This is fine, and is to be expected at this stage. When students stumble or hesitate, provide the necessary sentence structure to help them along. When students are presenting their work, do not always expect everything to be in a perfect target language sentence. The point is for students to work at their own pace and to produce something meaningful in the target language. Students will enjoy talking about themselves and their peers.

The students can include their work in their “sleuthing books.”

Group
“Chart/Graph: Likes and Dislikes” (using yes/no)
Estimated time:
30 minutes

Materials:
Large sheet of chart paper, markers

Objective(s):
The students will state their likes and dislikes.
The students will compare their likes and dislikes to those of their classmates.
The students will read a chart/graph of their likes and dislikes.

Procedure:
The teacher/parent asks the students how much they know about each other as a group. Do they know what sorts of things their classmates like or do not like to do? The teacher/parent draws a chart on the large chart paper, with activities listed in the target language on the top, and names of classmates listed down the side. As a group, the teacher/parent and students use the target language to ask and answer questions about likes and dislikes for each person, using “yes” and “no” answers. The “yes” and “no” answers are written in the corresponding square for each student/activity. For example, the teacher/parent asks John (a student), if he likes shopping. When John answers “no,” the word “no is written in the target language, in the shopping column for John’s row. If Katie (another student) answers “yes” about liking shopping, then the word “yes” is written in the target language, in the shopping column for Katie’s row. When the chart is complete, the answers can be tallied for each person and for each activity. Students can use this opportunity to practice counting and doing simple math in the target language. A bar graph can be created using the information from the chart. As an extension activity, the students might write a short paragraph about the group’s likes and dislikes, perhaps incorporating the “sleuthing” theme.

Assessment/Monitoring Progress:
Some students may be more willing to participate in this task then others. Try to bring all students into the activity by encouraging their participation. One-word answers in the target language are fine, and are to be expected. Students should be able to answer questions about themselves and their classmates using the chart/graph. If students have trouble, make sure to use the chart/graph as a visual cue, and provide the necessary target language structure to get them through any hesitations. If the class is very large, try doing the activity with a smaller group, so as to create a less challenging chart/graph. The chart/graph can be referred to later to review what they have learned and for fun language practice.

The students can copy their work on a sheet of paper and include it in their “sleuthing books.”