BEGINNER SALON

PICK A CARD --- SENTENCE BUILDING GAME

GOALS OF THE LESSON: To give students practice making grammatically
correct sentences using vocabulary they already have. To facilitate the
sharing of new vocabulary between students. To facilitate practice
communicating in English by helping each other make corrections to their
sentences.

SKILLS used &/or reinforced: Fluency, grammar, vocabulary

YOU WILL NEED: Handout (included in plan) and at least 1 full deck of
playing cards. If using multiple teams, will need a separate full deck of cards
for each team.

WARM-UP: (10 min max) Write a random word the students will all know
on the board (Tree, chair, pen, book, etc). Ask the students how to use this
word in a sentence. (Be patient, elicit responses. This may take a minute or
two.) Write the sentence they give on the board. Check for understanding
of grammar, “Is this right?” If it is not, elicit the correction. Write the
correction on the board.

Beginner Salon / Sentence-Building Pick A Card / July 2015 / D. Prichard Page 1 of 3

MAIN ACTIVITY: (35 min max)
Show the students the playing cards and the handout. Explain that they will
draw a card, then write a sentence with that word. The sentence must have
the correct grammar!

Variation #1 – If the class is large, divide the class into groups of 3. Let
them work together to make sentences and write them on paper. At the
end of 15 minutes, have the groups exchange sentence lists and make
corrections to the lists. After 10 minutes, return the lists to the original
team, see if all the corrections are right. Discuss and provide feedback.
The team with the least errors wins.

Variation #2 – If the class is small (3-6 people) – let one student draw the
card, come to the board, write a sentence. Let the class assist, correct and
provide feedback. The student with the least number of errors wins.

WRAP-UP: Ask students for three new words they learned. Ask them
what they will do after class (practice using future tense.)

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 HEARTS DIAMONDS SPADES(any form CLUBS
of verb)
Ace (A) Mother Dog Laugh Coffee
King (K) Table Toy Cry House
Queen (Q) Cup Noodle Talk Tea
Jack (J) Water Street Eat Teacher
Ten (10) Bicycle Tiger Walk Supermarket
Nine (9) Tree Snake Run Shopping Mall
Eight (8) School Bird Dance Hospital
Seven (7) Book Pig Drink Subway
Six (6) Baby Cow Watch Rain
Five (5) Milk Elephant Read Ocean / Sea
Four (4) Bus Flower Buy Restaurant
Three (3) Doctor Apple Sell Umbrella
Two (2) Taxi Cat Sleep Watermelon

HEARTS DIAMONDS SPADES(any form CLUBS

of verb)
Ace (A) Mother Dog Laugh Coffee
King (K) Table Toy Cry House
Queen (Q) Cup Noodle Talk Tea
Jack (J) Water Street Eat Teacher
Ten (10) Bicycle Tiger Walk Supermarket
Nine (9) Tree Snake Run Shopping Mall
Eight (8) School Bird Dance Hospital
Seven (7) Book Pig Drink Subway
Six (6) Baby Cow Watch Rain
Five (5) Milk Elephant Read Ocean / Sea
Four (4) Bus Flower Buy Restaurant
Three (3) Doctor Apple Sell Umbrella
Two (2) Taxi Cat Sleep Watermelon

Beginner Salon / Sentence-Building Pick A Card / July 2015 / D. Prichard Page 3 of 3