ESL Survival Task

This is a fun activity for a conversation or speaking class. It usually takes about an hour. The task is for students to work in teams to create the best winter survival plan.  

Students are divided into 2 or 3 teams. The teacher explains the survival situation, which is listed below.These activities follow the introduction:

1.  Teams rank items in order of importance for survival.

2.  Teams choose items from the list one by one. Each time an item is chosen, it is removed from the list and unavailable to other teams.  

3.  After the items are all chosen, teams create a survival plan.

4.  Teams present their plans to the group.

5.  Other teams are allowed to ask questions and raise problems with the plan.

6.  After all groups have presented, teacher chooses the group most likely to survive.

Situation

You are on a plane that crashes in Northern Ontario more than 300 km from civilization. Luckily, you and your friends all survive but now face the challenge of getting out of the forest and into safety. Considering the location, the temperature is well below freezing and there is a large amount of snow. After you look through the plane you compile a list of all the supplies that are still available. The list is as follows:

Compass
Map
Rope
Matches
Alcohol
Large tarp
Survival meal replacement bars
An axe
Snow shoes
Pots and pans
Knife
3 winter jackets
Gasoline
First aid kit
Flares
Bottles of water
Metal siding from the plane
A sled
A rifle
Blankets


You and your group must first decide what will be your plan of action. Will you try and travel to safety or wait to be rescued? Consider this before you decide which of the resources you will choose. Rank the objects in order of importance from 1 to 21.

ESL Factory Task

This is a team building exercise that works well for an ESL classroom. It gets students to work together, and it creates a good discussion.

Students are put into teams of about 3-6. These teams pretend to run a factory. The purpose of the game is to be the most successful factory.

What the factories make is entirely up to the teacher. I like a simple activity of making houses out of cards. They place three cards on their edges to make the shape of a capital I. Think of it as the beginning of a card house. 

I have also seen it with making boats out of paper, or other paper folding activities. I have also used blocks and called them towers. Essentially, the product needs to be something a little bit difficult to make, but something that eventually everyone can do.

Taking my example of card houses:

• Start the teams off with a bankroll of $50 - $100.
• There are 3 rounds of 1, 2, and 3 minutes.
• Each round, the students work in teams to make as many houses as possible.
• At the end of the round, I pay them $5 for each house they have built. (hypothetically of course)

Now the part that makes them think and discuss:

• Each card costs them $1. Therefore, they make a $2 profit for each house. However, they can’t return the cards they didn’t use. So, they need to discuss at the beginning of the round how many cards they think they should buy from me, the supplier.

An example:

Group 1 buys 27 cards, thinking they will make 9 houses. That costs them $27. I take $27 away from their initial $50 for a total of $23. After 2 minutes they have made 7 houses. I pay them 7 X $5 = $35. They made a profit of $8. They now have a total of $58. Then they discuss how many cards they want for round two, which has a different time.

There are many variations to this game that simply take a little creativity from the teacher. Some include:

• Making them pay for table space (ie factories)
• Making them pay wages per each round. (Each team member might not be able to build)
• Raising and lowering costs and prices

I really like this game for something a little fun, and a break from the ESL focused games. It is also wonderful for team building.

More advanced students can learn about words like profit margin, supplier, etc.

ESL Food Activities

Food is one of my favourite themes in the ESL classroom. Everyone can relate to food and has some opinion about the topic. 

Talking about food, nutrition, and cooking is a great way to get the students interested. These games tasks and activities work well in a class about food.

Iron Chef

Iron Chef was a famous cooking show that had two contestants in a cooking challenge. It can be adapted to the classroom for a fun activity.

Write the categories of food on the board. Decide with the students what foods from each category you would need for a good kitchen.

Place students in groups of 3 – 4. The teams take turns choosing the foods from the board until all the foods have been eliminated. With the foods they have chosen the teams plan together to make a full meal, with appetizer, salad, soup, main, desert, and drinks. They then present each course of their meal to the class and teacher can later decide on a winner in each category and overall.

Traditional Recipes

The students can either discuss or present traditional recipes from thier countries. They enjoy telling the class about the food and why it is famous. Also, explaining the recipe is a great way to review giving directions.

Food Labels

Food labels provide a great vocabulary activity. Explain to the students the meaning of calories, carbohydrates, protein, etc.
Using their own food products, students can analyze the labels and discuss the similarities and differences.

Canada Food Guide

The Canada Food Guide is a great tool to teach vocabulary. Read the guide wih your students and be sure to discuss the meanings of words like dairy, meat and alternatives, fruits and vegebtables, and grain. This guide also leads to a great discussion of eating healthy and how to make good food choices.

Listening

With the explosion of the Food Network and cooking on television, there is plenty of material to show the students for listening exercises. One option is to show a video of someone cooking something and have the students write down the steps. An Internet video on a specific food can give you a chance to ask them comprehension questions.