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Active Practice for Prepositions

Presented by Sarah Sleasmanssleasma@indiana.edu

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Preposition Example Sheet

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Simple Commands• Focus on listening and speaking• Quick activity to get students moving• Little preparation

Instructions

1. Give learners commands to model and then let them take control by calling on a person to offer the next command2. That student should designate another classmate for the next turn, and so on.

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Airplane Tracking

• Focus on communication and writing• Can be used alone or with group work

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Instructions

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Possible AdaptationsoHave the students do this activity in groups. Ask the

members of the group to take responsibilities, which they will switch so that every member gets a turn with every duty• Pilot (throws the plane)• Air traffic controller (tells where the plane is)• Scribe (writes the sentence) • Checker (confirms the plane’s location and the

sentence’s correctness)oHave the groups make more than one sentence about each

location• Example: The plane is on the bookshelf.

The plane is behind Michael’s desk The plane is beside the pencils.

oUse this activity to practice classroom vocabulary

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Turkey Hunt

•Focus on reading•Great for group work•Can incorporate independent writing

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InstructionsYou’ll need index cards in different colors and an object to hide.To prepare, you will hide clues in the room that lead to the object.1.Divide the students into groups. Each group will be

assigned a color that corresponds to the color of clue cards they should look for.

2.Give the students one clue card to begin. One group member should read out loud to the rest. Together, the students need to decide where to look for the next clue.

3.Each group member should take turns reading a card when it is found. Make enough clues so that each group member will have a chance to read.

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Possible Adaptations

o Hide a holiday object to add some culture to the discussion.

o If the students know past tense and are learning sequences, have them individually write what they had to do to find the turkey.

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Questions or comments?

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Thank you!Contact information:

Sarah SleasmanMA Student: Second Language Studies

Associate Instructor: Intensive English Program

Indiana University

ssleasma@indiana.edu