Household stuff: Great tools for teaching... exam classes! Part 2

Hi everyone!

I hope you enjoyed last week post http://larissaslanguages.blogspot.it/2016/03/household-stuff-great-tools-for.html!

Today's item is... 

ICE CREAM STICK

€1,50 (100 pcs)

PURPOSE: I used ice cream sticks to teach an exam-focused class. Students were trained to practise Cambridge FCE Reading and Use of English PART 4.   

[This part of the exam is called KEY WORD TRANSFORMATION. Each question consists of a sentence followed by a ‘key’ word and a second sentence with a gap in the middle. You have to use this key word to complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.]

WHAT I DID BEFORE CLASS: I wrote some sentences on the ice cream sticks using present perfect simple/continuous and past simple. I wrote some sentences with the same meaning - using different tenses - and some "distractors'" which were wrong. 

E.g. Stick 1 --> My nephew began to play tennis in 2010.

Stick 2--> My nephew has been playing tennis since 2010.

Stick 3 --> My nephew has been played tennis since 2010.

The first two sentences have a similar meaning while the third one is wrong.

STUDENTS: (4-6) Teenagers

WHAT I DID IN CLASS: I told my students we were going to play a game to revise the use of PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE/CONTINUOUS and PAST SIMPLE and I showed them the ice cream sticks in a clear plastic bag.

Afterwards, much to their surprise, I dumped the sticks on the desk. I said they had to pick up two sticks with the same meaning without moving the others. (See the rules of the game MIKADO)

WHAT MY STUDENTS DID: 

When they picked up two right sentences without moving the other sticks, they got 2 points.

When they picked up two right sentences moving one or more sticks, they got 1 point.

When they picked up a wrong sentence, they got no points.

They had a lot of fun!

Until the next item ;-)