Lego and other weird teaching materials

Yep, Lego! This is something that can be done with all levels. All you need is a bunch of lego bricks and a cardboard box.The basic idea is to create a shape using the lego groups which has to be reproduced by the students. It' s great way to practice language connected with shapes, colours and position (eg. behind, next to, on top of etc.) and comparative forms.


Lesson plan

1 Tell the students they thay are going to play a game but that in order to win they have to know some words/phrases connected with colour, shapes and positions. Write up the three categories on the board and give an example of each.

COLOUR - blue
SHAPE - square
POSITION - in front of

Students then write down as many examples as they can. Feel free to help at this stage.

3 Divide the class into groups of three or four. Now explain to the students the rules and purpose of the game.

-The aim is to reproduce the shape I have made out of Lego exactly.

Rules

-Only one student from the team may look at my shape at any one time.

-Any team heard speaking Greek will have to stop for 30 seconds.

-The person who is sent by the team to look at the original lego shape can't touch his/her team's shape.

-Any team that says that it has finished but has not reproduced the shape exactly has to stop for 30 seconds.

4 Give each team the same pieces of lego that you used to create your shape.

5 Put your shape in the cardboard box and place on your desk. The students then have to come up to your desk look at the shape and then report back to their team. The first one to finish is the winner.

6 Create a new shape and play again.

Instead of Lego you could use a multi-coloured drawing. This is a noisy, boisterous exercise so make sure you clear desks and chairs out of the way.