Ok this is a silly little post. I’ve just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and everything’s been a bit hectic (expect a mega-blog-post in the next day or two) but despite being busy, I’m apparently still doomed to see everything through lens of lesson planning. Today’s inspiration for a cheeky lead-in activity came courtesy of Tony the Tiger on the back of this Kellogs Frosties box….
Take an image/photo or some text, grid it, chop into squares and you have yourself a DIY jigsaw. OK, so not strictly language orientated but a good way into a new topic (speculating on theme of picture), or revision (picture contains vocab/images from a previous lesson). Jigsawing text would challenge learners to read and think about syntax and meaning in order to match sentence halves along the edges of the pieces too. Plus, perfect for occupying YLs at the start of class as the stragglers come in.
Disclaimer: I’ve actually yet to try this but wanted to get it down while I remembered. If you have a go, let me know! I’ll update once I do.
Variation 1
Randomly number the jigsaw pieces and hide them round the room. Learners circulate, look at the images then fill in a grid where they think the pieces should go to make a whole. Ask Ls what they think the image is, reveal it, labelled, and see who got it right.
Variation 2
Jigsaw picture dictation. Each student has a piece of the jigsaw corresponding to a grid square (A1, B2 etc). Learners mingle, and describe (without showing) their piece for their partner to sketch in an empty grid. I’m sure some interesting images would result.
Variation 3
Pairs running picture dictation – A combo of the above two. Get the picture?
Must be infinite ways this could work. If you have a go, or have other suggestions for variations. please let me know 🙂
teflwaffle 