Three word stories - or let's warm up with Benedict Cumberbatch

Well, I don't know about you... but sometimes I feel we have already done all the good vocab recycling activities - bingos, explanations, hot chairs, made up sentences... etc.

Thank God, there's always a good talk show segment that inspires me!

So, here's one for you and here's how I go about it in the class:

Level: intermediate +

Time: 10 mins

Materials: post-its (optional), a set of words you'd like to revise, the video

Procedure:

1. Give 5 post-its to each student and ask them to write a word (that you learnt during the previous lesson) on them. (or you can write the words yourself in advance and just distribute them - in this way you save a bit of time)

2. Tell the students that someone else is going to explain them what they'll have to do with the words them have in front of them.

3. Play the video from 0:00 to 1:13. (Jimmy explains the rules of the game and they demonstrate it with Benedict.)

4. Check for understanding.

5. Put the students in pairs. (Optional: Ask the pairs to give their sets of post-its to another pair. Every student should have a new set. - in this way it's more of a challenge)

6. Ask them to play the game, give them 5-8 minutes.

7. If you're students are over 18 or you think that they can handle the rest, proceed:

- ask them whether they know the meaning of the word 'booty' (they might know that the first meaning is a 'butt' but the other one is 'treasure' or 'money')

- play the rest of the video and enjoy :)

Comments:

I've already played this game with at least 4 groups and they absolutely loved it. (They were advanced learners, though). They usually went crazy when they saw Benedict Cumberbatch (try it with English majors... ;) ) and they saw a great challenge in the game as well.

Make sure they only put single words (and not expressions) on the post-its and be there for them to monitor what they say.