WORKSHOP

CEFR Learning Activities

Group 1

ENCOUNTER 1: An exciting beginning

i. Teacher brings a special bag, with the topic target language inside.
ii. A puppet is used to discover the objects in the bag. The puppet has
discovered something new and teacher wants to share it with the children.
iii. Teacher shows each visual at a time. Says the word clearly. Also introduce
it in a sentence. Have the children repeat after the teacher. Make them
repeat like an echo, going from loud to quiet.
iv. Talk a little about the visuals to provide more language exposure, e.g. Is it
sweet or sour?
v. When all visuals have been introduced, count them together, e.g. Six new
words! Let’s play a game.

ENGAGE 1: Chant a chain

i. Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play chant a chain!
ii. Place the visuals in a line so all children can see them.
iii. Point to each visual and have children chant the words as you point, e.g. a
watermelon, an orange
iv. Turn over one of the flashcards. Point to each flashcard again and the
children say the words, including the one that is turned over!

Extension: As children get confident:

-teacher can ask a child to come to the flashcards and say what is hidden, e.g. It’s sunny. If
the child can’t say the word help them do the mime, then say the word for them or ask the
class to help them say the word. Turn over the flashcard and confirm the child is right.
Praise them for remembering.

Progression notes: Observe which children are becoming confident and easily chanting the
target language, or calling out the new words. Are children saying just the word, or using
sentences or questions?

EXPLOIT 1: The guessing game

i. Announce the game: Let’s play the guessing game!
ii. Begin by placing a set of flashcards on the floor, board or wall, face up.
iii. Using the other set of flashcards, select one to keep it hidden.
iv. Invite individual children to guess what it is, e.g. depending on the topic: What
is it? What colour is it? What’s weather like? Who is it? Depending on the
ability, they can use different questions.
v. If the guess is incorrect, say No, it isn’t. Ask the child to turn over the named
flashcard which is on the floor, board or wall. This helps small children
eliminate and avoid asking the same thing multiple times.
vi. If the guess is correct, say, Yes, it is! And the child who guessed correctly can
 come to the front and lead the game.
vii. Help them ask the topic question and respond using, Yes, it is, or No, it isn’t.
Encourage the class to ask full questions too, e.g. Is it sunny?

EXTENSION
As the children get more confident, instead of using the picture cards use the word cards on
the floor, wall or board.

PROGRESSION NOTES
Observe which children are able to ask full questions and remember the target language.
How easily do children respond to questions when they are leading?
 WORKSHOP
CEFR Learning Activities
Group 2

ENCOUNTER 2: Game – Listen and do!

i. Announce the game, e.g Let’s play listen and do!
ii. Hold the visual and so children can see. Say one of the new words in a
sentence, e.g It’s a green apple.
iii. Have the children mime in response.
iv. Show the visual and praise the children.
Extension:
i. Put the children around the room in small groups. Allocate one to the target
words to each group, e.g This group is sunny. Place the visual nearby to help
them remember.
ii. Have the children listen for their word and mime when they hear it.
iii. Teacher can call out several words, e.g. It’s sunny and hot.
iv. If the topic related to the parts of the body, have children get together in pairs
and join themselves at the part of the body when the teacher calls it out, e.g.
arm along arm, tummy along tummy. Careful with mouth and eyes. Mouth, get
children to blow kisses / air kiss towards each other; Eyes, get children to stare
at each other.
Observe which children are miming immediately and which are taking more time.

ENGAGE 2: What’s missing?

i. Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play What’s missing?
ii. Place the flashcards on the floor, board or wall, face up. Say the English
words as you do this.
iii. Mime and say, “Close your eyes.”
iv. Show mock surprise! What’s missing?
v. Allow the whole group to chorus which flashcard is missing – this is useful
early on in a teaching sequence.
Extension to lead to engage and exploit situations:
-ask children to lead the activity. They should give instructions and remove the flashcard.
Ensure you help them say, Close your eyes, What’s missing? They can also be encouraged
to respond with Yes it is! Or No it isn’t!

Progression notes: Observe which children are becoming confident and call out the target
language. Are children saying just the word, or using sentences or questions?
EXPLOIT 2: The stepping stones game
i. Announce the game: Let’s play the stepping stones game!
ii. Point to the space in the middle of circle time. Explain it is a deep river and that
they can only cross it using magic stepping stones – the topic flashcards.
iii. Place the flashcards across the space, reaching from one side to the other, and
demonstrate what to do. Jumps on each flashcard and say what it is.
iv. Invite a confident child to jump across the river. Encourage them to name each
flashcard they jump onto. If they can’t remember a word get them to ask the
class for help, Help please!
v. Praise children who cross the river successfully, with help or not. Everyone
should clap and say Bravo! Sarah can do it!

EXPANSION
As the children progress through 4+ and 5+ they should be using phrases / sentences as
they jump across the river, e.g. I’ve got brown eyes; A red car, I’m in the classroom; I like
curry.

PROGRESSION NOTES
Observe which word or expressions children have more difficulty with and plan to focus on
these in following lessons.
 WORKSHOP
CEFR Learning Activities
Group 3

ENCOUNTER 3: Game – Stop

i. Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play STOP!
ii. Say one target words in a sentence, e.g. It’s a thorny durian.
iii. Have the children to mime in response.
iv. Call out ‘STOP’! for the children to freeze into a statue.
v. Praise the children who manage to freeze, e.g. Good statue! If a child
moves, ask them to sit out for a round, e.g. Oh dear, you moved! Sit down a
bit!

ENGAGE 3: The pair game

i. Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play the pair game!
ii. Shuffle a set of two flashcards of each image and then place them in an
orderly fashion on the floor or on the board, picture side down.
iii. Model how to play: Let’s find a pair, two the same! Turn over one flashcard
and say what it is, e.g. It’s a yellow banana! Turn over another and say what
it is. This can go two ways, there are the same or they are different. If they
are the same – it’s a yellow banana. Hooray! They are the same. Leave the
flashcards face up. If they are different – It’s a green watermelon! Oh, they
are different! Turn the flashcards face down again.
iv. Ask each child to turn over two flashcards to find a matching pair.
v. As each card is turned over, the class should chorus the word in English.
vi. If the child succeeds in finding a matching pair, help them say: They are the
same! And the flashcards remain in place, with the images showing. If they
don’t, they can be helped to say: They are different and then turn them face
down.
Extension to lead to engage with an individual response
-once the children have become more confident with a set of target words and expressions,
instead of chorusing together, each individual child should say the word as they turn over
the card. If they can’t remember they should be encouraged to ask for help, e.g. Help,
please!

Progression notes: Observe which children are confidently and calling out the target
language. Are the children still using the mimes?
EXPLOIT 3: The glory game
i. Announce the game: Let’s play the glory game!
ii. Place the topic cards in the form of a snake across the floor.
iii. Divide the children into four teams. Ask each team to choose a mascot, e.g. a
teddy, a doll, a car.
iv. Place the mascots at one end of the flashcard snake. The objective is for them to
get to the other end of the flashcard snake, but landing on the flashcards and
naming them.
v. One child at a time represents their team, throws the dice, counts that number of
flashcards and places their team’s mascot on the flashcard hey landed on. They
should say what it is they have landed on. Encourage them to use It’s a … or I
can …
vi. If they have difficulty, remind them to ask their team for help, Help, please! If
their team can help, their mascot stays on the flashcard. If it can’t, the mascot
returns to where it was.

PROGRESSION NOTES
Observe which children can confidently count and use the topic language.
 WORKSHOP
CEFR Learning Activities
Group 4

ENCOUNTER 4: Game – Listen and point!

i. Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play Listen and Point!
ii. Place the visuals around the room.
iii. Ask about each of the new words, e.g. Where’s sunny?
iv. Have the children point and say There!
Extension:
-teacher can ask the children to say the target language too, e.g. There’s sunny!
-teacher can ask individual children to point and say There!
-teacher can ask individual children to point and say There’s sunny!

Progression notes: observe which children are becoming confident and using the target
language spontaneously.

ENGAGE 4: The mime game

i. Do the mime and then ask a question, e.g. (mime it’s a banana) and ask
What’s is it?
ii. Ask a volunteer to mime a flashcard shown to him. Repeat until all or a
number of children have volunteered.

Extension
-instead of showing a flashcard, whisper a topic word / phrase into the child’s ear. This will
be quite challenging as the child will have to understand what they heard to be able to
mime correctly.
-if the topic is related to the parts of the body, have children come up in pairs and join
themselves at the part of the body they want their peers to say, e.g. Mouth, get children to
blow kisses / air kiss towards each other, Eyes, get children to stare at each other.

Progression notes: Observe which children are able to remember the mime and which are
able to answer correctly in English. If you whisper the target language, is the child able to
understand?

EXPLOIT 4: The describing game

i. Announce the game: Let’s play the describing game!
ii. Begin by modelling how to play. Select one of the target language objects.
According to what it looks like, begin to describe it, e.g. It’s small and green.
What is it?
iii. Invite individual children to guess what it is. Depending on ability they can use
different questions, A car? Is it a car?
iv. If the guess is incorrect, say No, it isn’t
v. If the guess is correct, say Yes, it is! And the child who guessed correctly can
 come to the front and lead the game.
vi. Help them describe the object and respond using Yes, it is, or No, it isn’t.
Encourage the class to ask full questions too, e.g. Is it a teddy?

PROGRESSION NOTES
Observe which children are able to describe the objects. Using full sentences, and ask full
questions.

WORKSHOP
 CEFR Learning Activities
Group 5

ENCOUNTER 5: Help the teacher!

i. Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play help the teacher!
ii. Hold the visuals so teacher can’t see them, but the children can, e.g.
flashcards facing the children.
iii. Ask about each visual one at a time, e.g. Is it a red apple?
iv. Have the children say Yes! or No!
v. Keep asking until you discover the visual is.

ENGAGE 5: The telephone game

i. Announce the game: Let’s play the telephone game!
ii. Begin by helping children whisper. Say or chant the target language in a
whisper together.
iii. Look at the flashcard without showing it to the children. Place it on the
floor, board or wall face down.
iv. Whisper the flashcard word into a nearby child’s ear. Put your hand in front
of your mouth and emphasise that it is a whisper for the child only.
v. Encourage the child to pass on the word they have heard you whisper. Help
them cover their mouth with their cupped hand.
vi. Help the children pass on the whisper. If they have problems hearing, get
them to say: Pardon, please repeat! Follow the whisper around the circle.
vii. When it reaches the last child, ask them to say it out loud. Turn over the
original flashcard and ask them if it is the same. If it is, different, say Oh no!
The telephone is broken!
viii. Play another time, this time going in a different direction around the circle.

Extension
-ask a child to begin the game and to be in charge of the flashcard to compare the word that
gets passed around at the end.
-instead of using a single word, use a question or a sentence, e.g. It’s hot and sunny.

Progression notes: Observe which children are able to ask for repetitions and who
successfully whispers the word.

EXPLOIT 5: The thinking game

i. Announce the game: Let’s play the thinking game!
 ii. Place a maximum of five flashcards or objects on the floor, the wall or board for
the children to see.
iii. Begin by modelling how to play. Select one, but keep it secret. Say, I’m
thinking of a toy, it isn’t the car, it isn’t the doll, and it isn’t a spinning top.
What is it?
iv. Invite individual children to guess what it is, e.g. Is it a puzzle?
v. If the guess is incorrect, say No, it isn’t. if the guess is correct, say Yes, it is!
And the child who guessed correctly can come to the front and lead the game.
vi. Help them to select an object – they should whisper it to you first. Then help
them say which toys it is not and to respond to questions from the class, using
Yes, it is, or No, isn’t. encourage the class to ask full questions, e.g. Is it a
teddy?

EXTENSION
Playing with multiple topics works especially well if the children have been playing with
the topic sets of words and expressions.
 Instead of using a set of flashcards or realia from one topic, use target words from
four topics.
 Model how to play: I’m thinking of a word. It isn’t a family word, it isn’t a toy
word, what is it?
 Encourage children to ask you using sentences.
 Respond and ask children to tell you which set belongs to: Yes, it is! What set is it?
 It’s a classroom word

PROGRESSION NOTES
Observe which children are able to successfully use whole sentences to play the game.
 WORKSHOP
CEFR Learning Activities
Group 6

ENGAGE 6: The head and toes game

i. Announce the game: Let’s play the head and toes game!
ii. Begin by dividing the topic flashcards into two halves. Place one half
towards the top of the wall or board space. Place the other half towards the
bottom. If teacher wishes, draw a line separating them.
iii. Explain that when teacher says something with a word in the top set they
touch their head, if teacher say something with a word in the bottom set they
touch their toes.
iv. Demonstrate what the teacher means.
v. When the teacher begins to play with the children explain that if they make
a mistake they have to sit down for two calls.
vi. Call out full sentences, e.g. It’s sunny today. Alternate and repeat so
children are caught out. They will enjoy being challenged.
vii. Praise children who don’t make mistakes.

Extension to lead to an exploit situation

-ask a confident child who is not making mistakes to come to the front to call out the target
language
-use different topic sets, e.g. colours at the top and weather at the bottom. Children respond
according to the topic that the teacher calls out, e.g. I like blue or It’s rainy today.

Progression notes: Observe which children are able to quickly respond by touching their
head or toes.

EXPLOIT 6: The alphabet game

vii. Announce the game: Let’s play the alphabet game!
viii. Place the flashcards on the floor, wall or board.
ix. Hold one of the topic word cards hidden from the children.
x. Say, I’m thinking of a colour word beginning with…
xi. If a child guesses correctly say, Yes it is and show the word card. Point to the
first letter and say it with the children. If it is easily sounded out, do this too.
xii. Incite the child to come to the front and select a word card tor the topic. Help
them say I’m thinking of a colour word beginning with… and Yes it is, or No it
isn’t.
NOTES
Using the word cards helps reinforce the children’s word recognition skills.
When you show the word card you can ask children what other words they know that begin
with the same letter in different topics.
EXTENSION
Play with multiple topics
 Place the flashcards on the floor, wall or board
 Select a word card and hide it from the children.
 Say, I’m thinking of a word beginning with….
 When children have guessed correctly ask them if they can see any other words that
begin with the same letter in the flashcard collection. Look for the matching word
cards together and compare the letters. If the words are easily sounded out, do this
too.

PROGRESSION NOTES
Observe which children are able to recognise letters an think of different words that start
with similar letters.

REMEMBERING ACTIVITY 1: Who can remember how to mime?

Materials: Flashcards or realia from last lesson and one from the previous topic

1. Show a flashcard from the last lesson and one from the previous topic. Ask the
children: In the last lesson did we look at the feeling?
2. Ask if they can remember any of the mimes they learned. Show each flashcard and
say the words clearly. Have children repeat after you and remember the mime. It’s a
boy. Can you say? Show me the mime
3. As the teacher introduces the visuals, place them where all children can see.
4. When all visuals have been introduced, count them together, e.g. Six words! Let’s
see some more!
5. Introduce a few more of the topic words, using the Circle Time 2 strategies.

WORKSHOP
 CEFR Learning Activities
Group 7

ENGAGE 7: The run and collect game

i. Announce the game: Let’s play the run and collect game!
ii. Begin by placing a set of flashcards in two sets on the floor at the end of the
room.
iii. Divide the children into two teams and decide upon a name for each team,
e.g. a colour, a favourite cartoon character. Nominate a set of flashcards for
each team.
iv. Teacher will need to collect team points, so arrange either to write tallies on
the board or use blocks, Lego, plastic coins, beads etc. as representative of
each team point.
v. Two children begin, one child from each team. Explain that the teacher will
call out a word and they should run to their team’s flashcards, pick up the
flashcard and bring it back to the teacher. The first child to return gets a
point for their team if they can say the word correctly.
vi. Call out the target language in a sentence, e.g. It’s rainy today!
vii. When the children return with the flashcards, ask them what they have
brought to the teacher. What’s the weather like Sarah?
viii. Award a point to the child who arrived first and can successfully say what is
on the flashcard. Either mark a tally on the board or place an object to
represent the point.
ix. Keep going until all children have a go at running.
x. Count the points. Start with the team with the fewer points. Count them with
the children. Write the number for the children to see. clap the team. Do the
same with the winning team. Ask the children who has the most points and
clap the winning team.

Extension to lead to an exploit situation

-ask a confident child to be the caller

Progression notes: Observe which children are able to pick up the correct flashcard and
name it confidently.

ENGAGE 8: The making sets game

i. Announce the game: Let’s play the making sets game!
ii. Mix up the flashcards and place them in a bag, a box or in a pile on the
floor.
 iii. Invite confident children to come up and take out or turn over a card.
iv. Ask them to name the picture, if suitable help them make a sentence using
It’s …. Or They’re…
v. Check with the class that the image has been correctly labelled.
vi. Ask the children, What set is it? Is it the colour set? The family set? Or the
number set?
vii. Elicit what they think and start making sets.
viii. Once all the flashcards have been put into a set, count how many there are
in each set, are there any missing? Help the children remember what else
belongs in the set.
VERSION 2
i. Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play the making sets game!
ii. Call out questions like: Who’s got long hair? Get all children with long hair
to make a group together (all or most of the group). They can chant loudly
I’ve got long hair! Any remaining children can make a circle around them.
iii. Ask, Who’s got long hair? Get these children to separate and form a
separate group. They can chant loudly I’ve got long black hair! Count the
children in this set.
iv. Who’s got a pet? Who’s got a cat? Who’s got a brother and a sister?
v. Don’t forget to have children chant when they create a set, e.g. I’ve got a
cat.
EXTENSION
Mix word cards and flashcards.
Or once the sets have been created, ask children to find the matching word cards.

PROGRESSION NOTES
Observe which children are able to pick up the correct flashcard and name it confidently;
or children who are able to confidently listen for a descriptor and respond.

WORKSHOP
CEFR Learning Activities
Group 8
ENGAGE 9: The touchy-feely game
i. Announce the game: Let’s play the touchy-feely game!
ii. Begin by placing on object in a bag or box, hidden from the children.
iii. Ask individual children to come and feel what’s in the bag. First feel outside,
then put their hand inside. Say, What’s in the box/ bag? What do you think it is?
Can you guess?
iv. Help them to use a sentence when they finally name it, it’s a….
EXTENSION TO LEAD TO AN EXPLOIT SITUATIONS
Get the children to describe it as they are touching, e.g. It’s big, It’s small. The children
will need to ace encountered this language before they can use it, however.
Children can also be asked to find the correct word card for the object they’ve guessed.

PROGRSSION NOTES
Observe which children are able to pick up the correct flashcard and name it confidently.

REMEMBERING ACTIVITY 3: Game – Pick up a card

Materials: Flashcards or realia from the topic

 Place the flashcards in a pile in the centre of the circle, or in a bag or in a box
 Announce the game, e.g. Let’s play pick up a card!
 Have the children come up individually and take a flashcard and name it in English
 Praise children who label it correctly, expanding it necessary.
 If a child is unsure, provide options for the child to choose from.
 Help the child to recognise that they need help and show them that there is nothing
wrong in asking for help. Teach the question , Help please!

REMEMBERING ACTIVITY 2: Who can remember how to say?

Materials: Flashcards or realia from last lesson

1. Hold the flashcards and encourage the children to tell you what they remembered:
Who can remember the (weather) words?
 2. As they call out what they remember in English, show the associated flashcard and
place it where children can see it.
3. When there is one flashcard left, ask children to look at the flashcards they have
already remembered. What’s missing?
4. Once it has been remembered, praise the children for remembering all the language
from the last lesson.
5. From here you can move into playing a game, e.g. What’s missing?

PROGRESSION NOTES

Observe which children are able to remember language from a previous session.