Seasons

                 Level: elementary

               Objectives:

-         to develop pupils’ speaking skills on familiar grammar and vocabulary;

-         to encourage pupils to make personal response;

-         to develop pupils’ skills to work in pairs and groups;

-         to develop creative thinking and imagination;

Equipment: handouts, pictures of the seasons

                                           PROCEDURE

I. INTRODUCTION.  

T: Hello, dear children. How are you today?

Ps: We are OK, thank you.

T: I’m glad to hear that because today we are having guests at our lesson. So, children, get ready. (The teacher opens the door and senior pupils dressed as a Year and four seasons come into the classroom.) You are welcome!

II. WARM-UP.

               Mr. Year: Hello, dear children. I’m glad to see you. Can you guess who I am. You

                               can read it.

Ps: You are a Year.

Mr. Year: You are right. I’m a Year and today we’ll play a lot of games, and do other      interesting activities. Let’s start. So, how many months do I have?

Ps: Twelve.

Mr. Year: Well done. Can you name them? Everybody, tell one month and then write it on the card:  (Mr. Year gives the children cards and felt pens. Everybody writes the month he or she named. Then they put the cards with the months on the desk or the floor.)

P1: January.                                                        

P2: February.

P3: March.

P4: April.

P5: May.

P6: June.

P7: July.

P8: August.

P9: September.

P10: October.

P11: November.

P12: December.

         

Mr. Year: Very nice. You are very clever. And now meet my four assistants. I’m sure, you know them. (Four children dressed as the seasons of the year come into the classroom)  Let’s greet them! (The pupils clap.)Great! And now, please, name them.

P1: Spring.

P2: Summer.

P3: Winter.

P4: Autumn.

Mr. Year: OK. And now, please, write their names. Everybody writes one letter. You already have one of the letters. (The pupils are given the cards with one letter written, it can be any letter. Every pupil writes one letter and passes the card to the other pupil. Mr. Year and the teacher help.)

Mr. Year: Very nice! Now let’s pin these words on our seasons. (The pupils take cards and pin them on the senior pupils who are the seasons. Mr. Year helps.)

Mr. Year: Great! Well, let’s go on. What season is it now?

Ps: It’s winter.

Mr. Year: OK. Let’s begin with winter. Please, Winter, you are welcome.

III. MAIN PART

Winter: I’m the season when everything’s white,

             And the snowflakes sparkle bright.

             I’m the season when you can ski,

             Or simply sledge down the hill.

 Hello, children. I’m winter. It’s my time now. I’m glad to be here with you.

Ps: Hello, we are glad, too.

Winter: OK. Come here and choose my months, please. (Winter invites three pupils to choose the winter months.) That’s right, now you are my team.

1. A GAME “Snowballs”

Winter: And now let’s play the winter game “Snowballs”. Do you know how to play it? No? Then, listen! You’ll make a snowball from words. The snowball must be about winter weather. The first pupil tells one word about the weather in winter, the other pupil repeats this word and tells a new one, the third pupil repeats the first two words and adds one more and so on. Let’s make a very big snowball. Ok?

P1: Cold.

P2: Cold and frosty.

P3: Cold, frosty and snowy.

P4: Cold, frosty, snowy and slippery.

P5, P6, ….

Winter: Nice! I like your snowball!

2. PAIR WORK.

Winter: Are you good detectives? Can you find things quickly? Let’s see who is the best detective. (The pupils are given cards.) You must find 10 words about winter. The pair that does it the first is the winner.

(spring, cold, winter, hot, warm, autumn, slippery, summer, sky, sunny)

3. RELAXATION. A MARCHING GAME.

T: Children, I think it’s time to do some exercises. Let’s play our marching game, and chant the months. (The children stand in a line, one after another, like a train, and then they march between the rows of desks chanting the names of the months.)

 

 Spring: I’m the season when the sun melts the snow,

              And green grass starts to grow.                                                                                             

                               This is the season when snowdrops bloom,

                                When nobody likes to stay in the room.

                  Hello, children!

  Ps: Hello. We like you.

                Spring: Can you, please, choose my months?

                (Three pupils take the names of the spring months and read them.)

                Spring: Thank you. You are my team.

               4. WRITING.

Spring: Look at the board, everybody! I have a problem. I have a telegram but some letters are missing. Can you help me?

Ps: Yes. (Pupils go to the board and write the missing letters in the words).

Hello, Lady Spr..n...It’s w..rm now. The sk.. is blue. It is su..n... The tr…s are gr…n. The flo..ers are r..d,..el..ow, and bl..e.

Lady Spring: Thank you very much. You are so clever. You worked hard so now let’s relax and play a game.

5. A GAME “Lady Spring”

Spring: Stand in a line in front of me. You must make up sentences about spring. Each sentence is one step to me. But before telling your sentence you must ask me:

“Lady Spring, may I speak?” The winner is the pupil who comes to me first. 

Summer: I’m the best season for you              

               It’s time for fun and

               You don’t go to school

               You just splash in the pool

    Hello, everybody!

Ps: Hello, you are the best season.

Summer: I’m glad to hear that. I’m the best, so we are going to have fun together. I’ll show you what I usually do and you’ll guess. OK?

Ps: OK.

6. PANTOMIME

(Summer mimes different activities, e.g. swimming, playing football, tennis, and the pupils guess.)

Summer: Oh, I have forgotten. Will you choose my months, please? Thank you, you are my team. Take your seats now.

Autumn: I’m the season when the sky is grey,              

               The sun isn’t warm, and it sometimes rain.

               I’m the season of vegetables and fruit,

               And it’s time for you to go to school.

               It’s the season when birds fly away,

               And the children don’t have time to play.

Autumn: Hello, my little friends. Please, take my months. Thanks a lot. Do you like to play? OK. Let’s play and we’ll see what season is the best.

7. GROUP WORK. RUNNING DICTATION.

Autumn: I have a massage for you. And each season team must write it. But first choose in your groups a “runner”, a “messager”, a secretary and a reporter. A runner runs to the table reads the message and then runs back to tell a messager. He can read the message sentence by sentence and he can run to the table as many times as he needs. The messager dictates the message to the secretary and he writes it down. When the message is ready a reporter reads it. The winner is the team that reads the message first.

(A message: It is autumn. It is November. The weather is cold. It often rains. The sky is grey. There are no leaves in the trees. People wear coats and hats.)

8. A SONG.

                      Spring is green,

                      Summer is bright,

                      Autumn is yellow,

                      And winter is white.

9. A PROJECT.

T: And now we’ll make a little project about seasons. Each season team will make a project about its season. (The groups are given prepared big sheets of paper with some prompts. See an example below.)You must read the words on your papers and draw the pictutes, just how you imagine them. Then we’ll have a presentation, your small stories about the seasons.

                          Colour                                                                    Flower

                                                                Weather

                                           Children                                                             Trees

T: I see you are ready. Please, make your presentations. (Example of the presentation: Spring is green. It is warm and sunny. The trees are green. The flowers are red, yellow, and blue. Children play outside)

(Groups come in front of the classroom and present their projects, others clap)

T: Thank you very much! Your pictures are great! Let’s make an exhibition here.

(Pupils may stick their projects on the wall.)

IV. SUMMING UP. Home assignment.  

T:Thank you, everybody. Thank you, my dear seasons and Mr. Year, for your help. Dear children, I hope you enjoyed the lesson. You worked hard and deserve only good marks. Your home assignment is to write a story about your favourite season.