Mª TERESA FERNÁNDEZ

 Activity: Guess the topic.

Target group: 2 Year of ESO.

Skills: Listening, speaking and writing.

The aim of the activity is to guess the next topic to be talked about in the class. We watch the first 10 seconds of Ed Sheeran´s commercial without audio. Then, they give ideas about the topic. Most of them say: "Music" so this is the right moment to ask them about their favourite type of music, song, singer or band, when they listen to music, where and so on. This is a great idea to encourage them to speak and interact with each other.

But, I tell them that this is not the real topic (sounds of disappointment!!). However, I explain that at the end of the lesson, I attach a link with one of Ed Sheeran´s song.

Next, we watch the whole commercial with audio and when it finishes all of them say: "Food". Bingo!! It is time to start working with vocabulary and questions related to the topic. First, I boost them to say the words related to food and restaurants they have just seen in the commercial. Second, it is time to ask them to write on the board the name of the meals and introduce questions like: What´s your favourite meal? or food? What do you usually have for breakfast?.

Finally, it is time to brainstorming food vocabulary. Students are divided into two teams and I draw on the board word clouds with headings like: Fruit, vegetables, meat, drinks, dairy products... Ready, steady, go.... one student from each group go to the board and write one word in one of the clouds and they hand off the chalk or marker to the next student in their team . This student runs to write another word for his/her group. After each student has participated, we make a revision of the pronunciation as a whole group and I add some new words and expressions.

The topic of food has been introduced in a different way and even the shiest and low level students are involved. As a reward they can work with the activity related to the song by Ed Sheeran working at the same time with the listening skill (CLICK ON THE PHOTO BELOW)