Задания на отработку лексики

и/или активацию темы:

1. Blogs

A1-C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, voice message, a video

Share an Insta/ VK/ Telegram blog/channel about … (the topic you are working on)
you are following and comment on why it might be interesting or useful to
subscribe to/ why you are subscribed to it/ who might be into this type of content.

1. Articles

A2 (adapted articles)- C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, voice message, a video

Look through an article about … (suggest an article on the topic you are activating).
Pick an item which you find most fascinating/ intriguing/ you know nothing about/
you know sth. about/ which you find most impressive/ most surprising/ pick an
item or two and write about its advantages and disadvantages/ possible positive
and negative outcomes/ predictions. In the chat, provide reasons for your choice.
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

3. Talks and lectures

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, voice message, a video

Choose a video (provide several links of videos on the topic you are activating).
BEFORE watching, think about this topic on your own and come up with at least
2-3 ideas (e.g. the topic is “Conflict” and the ideas the S-s have to come up with
are about the reasons why people have conflicts). Watch the chosen video and
compare your ideas with the ones from the talk. In the chat, write what your
thoughts were before watching and what ideas you picked from the video, whether
you agree/disagree with the latter.

4. Talks and lectures

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, voice message, a video

Choose a video/ podcast (provide several links on the topic you are activating).
Watch/listen to and comment on one idea (directly or implicitly) stated in your
video/podcast: What is your opinion? Who would have starkly different views
with you on this point (some friends or relatives of yours, bloggers or simply the
registered public opinion)?
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

5. “I think you would …”

A1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message

Tag one of the participants/ classmates in the chat and write sth. about them
related to the topic. For example, if the topic is “Leisure and entertainment”, then
write what present this person would love to receive and why. If the topic is “Food”,
write what restaurant you’d invite him/her to and why. For lower levels s-s can use
any grammar constructions they already know, e.g. “I think you wake up at 6 every
morning.”

6. Test/ Questionnaire

A2 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, voice message, a video

Do a test or complete a questionnaire (on the topic you are activating): e.g the topic
is “Personality” or “Psychology” and the test could be
https://www.16personalities.com/.
In the chat:
Share a couple of facts which the test suggests about you and comment
if they are true to life
Share your thoughts of how accurate the test is and what you thought when
reading the results
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

7. “How it affects me”

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, voice message, a video

Analyse what impact something (food, mobile phones, friends and family, work,
etc) has had on you throughout the week. Share one positive and one negative way
in which it affected you. For B2-C2: In what 3 aspects would your week have been
different if it hadn't been for this something?

8. Sources

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message

Scan the list of sources (provide several links of sources on the topic you are
activating, e.g. for the topic “Learning and Education” - links to websites with free
courses, for the topic “Mass Media” - links to different media outlets in English),
open the links to those you are curious about. Choose the one you would give a go
and the one you would never opt for. Write the reasons for your choices in the
chat. Attach a link to a source which you use and like. Write who might benefit from
this source and why.
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

9. Pictures

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message

Look through the memes/pictures which illustrate certain issues connected with
the topic (the T provides s-s with a pool of images).
Choose one and:
1) comment on the issue in the chat (don’t forget to attach the pic);
2) create a poll with a controversial issue to reveal our groups' attitude
to the problem.

10. Who and what

A2 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message

The T prepares two stocks of cards with names (WHO: it could be names of famous
people, characters of popular books, characters from the book you are reading
with the ss or from the text you read in the class/ as h/w) and with actions (WHAT:
these actions must be the topical phrases for the subject you are activating, e.g. the
topic “Feelings” and the actions are “to release pent-up emotions”, “to vent your
anger”, etc.). You can create these sets of cards on Jamboard, Wordwall, Miro.
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

The instructions for the ss:

pick a 'Who' and 'What' card and write what this “person” would do if "action in the
card", using a topical collocation. We'll try to guess on whose behalf you are talking.
The T can give an example in the chat: I got the cards “Cinderella” and “‘to vent your
anger”, but I don’t write who I am. I write only my example: “I would never vent my
anger on my step-mother or step-sisters because I am afraid it might make them
so furious that they will throw me out of the house.”

11. True/False

A1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, a voice message, a video

Pick a collocation from the topical set of expressions and post a statement about
yourself in the chat. We'll try to guess if it's true or false about you.

12. “About me”

A1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer practice, to practise critical
thinking

How ss can do it: text message, a voice message, a video

Make a true statement about yourself using an expression from the set. Post this
statement in the chat and others should ask you questions about this information
but they have to use a collocation in their questions.
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

13. Controversial statements

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, a voice message, a video

Post in the chat a controversial statement with the collocations you've chosen
so that others could comment on it (whether they agree/disagree). For example,
my expression is "Have (no) qualms about sth/doing sth" and the statement is:
“People tend to have no qualms about disclosing personal data to the government
if they feel it is necessary.” What's your take on that?

14. Questions

A1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer context

How ss can do it: text message

Pick a collocation and make a question to a classmate, tagging this person in the
chat. This persona has to answer the question in any form they like (a text
message, a voice message, a video).
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

15. “Sell it to me”

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, a voice message, a video

Pick an expression from the set and try to “sell” it to others in the chat, writing why
it might be useful. Others should tag this message and say if they’d like to “buy” this
phrase and why.

16. “Deduce its meaning”

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer context, to practise critical
thinking

How ss can do it: text message

Pick any expression that catches your eye and post it in the chat in a coded way: in
a sentence. Find examples with these phrases in one of the following sources:

🔗 https://ludwig.guru/
🔗 https://dopeoplesay.com/
🔗 https://context.reverso.net/перевод/
🔗 https://fraze.it/

The aim is to spot such an example that would be illustrative of this expression so
that your partners could deduce its meaning pretty easily. When the sentence is in
the chat, your classmates will try to deduce the meaning of the chosen phrase and
write their guesses in the chat.
Задания на отработку лексики
и/или активацию темы:

17. Purposeful questions

B1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer context, to practise critical
thinking

How ss can do it: text message

Choose the target expression from the corresponding word list and think
of a question that would trigger the use of this phrase in the answer. Choose
2 people from the chat, tag them in your message and pose the question. Wait
for the answers and when one of the participants texts you back, comment on
their answer. The expression the participants might use could be different from
what you intended, so reveal to all of us what phrase you had in mind. The people
who were tagged are to ask more questions on the topic with a chosen expression
in mind. For example, the topic "Feelings and Emotions". The phrase I have in mind
is “ to be in touch with one’s feelings” BUT I’ll reveal it after I get the answers.
The question: Why are they paying so much attention nowadays to helping children
develop emotional intelligence?

18. “Deduce its meaning”

A1 - C2

Aim:

to provide practice for the target lexis in freer or free context (depending
on your instruction: whether you mention the use of lexis or not), to practise
critical thinking

How ss can do it: text message, a voice message, a video

Post a photo in the chat that illustrates sth about you and is related to the topic
we are discussing. Others should guess what it means to you and post their
suggestions in the chat using the target language. The photo should not be
obvious, e.g. the topic is “Leisure” and the photo is this
http://joxi.ru/eAOoQLMhGX9opA, but it doesn’t mean that I love picking
mushrooms. I actually revel in forest walks and I love spotting such little things
as a mushroom hiding in the grass or a flower hidden by a leaf.