English for refugees - lesson plan for numbers and dates.

This plan is designed to help students revise numbers in English with the purpose of talking about dates and for other uses such as shopping and other financial exchanges. This part of a course I am devising and teaching here in Thessaloniki for refugees and migrants. The different parts can be used in any order and the aim is to provide English language skills and knowledge that will of immediate and practical use rather than a broader based academic course.

Aims

Revise use of numbers 1 to 100 in English as the prelude to talking about dates.

Materials

The photocopy below

Level 

Elementary/intermediate

Numbers 1-100

1 - Hand out the photocopy and go through any pronunciation issues. (you could  ask students to write down the words as well or set this for homework).

2 - Ask students to stand up and form a circle. Explain to students that we'll play a game. You start and the person next to you will say the next number 1,2,3 and so on. If the person makes a mistake they are out of the game and leaves the circle. Start over with the next person in the circle and continue until there is a single winner. If you have a large group you may have to divide the class into smaller groups to ensure the game is over quickly.

3 - Get students to play the game in 2-3s.

4 - Students sit back down and write on a piece of paper (in numbers and words (e.g 44 - forty four) numbers that are important to them.

They can be their age, the number of their home, How many kids they have etc.

5 - In 2-3s ask or guess why their partner's numbers are important.

Days and dates

1 - Explain to students they are going to talk about days and dates. Elicit the names of the days of the week and write them on the board. (you could also ask students to write the Arabic/Farsi on the board)

2 - Ask them what today it is today, will it be tomorrow and what it was yesterday.

3 - Ask some students what is their favourite day of the week? Students then ask each other.

4 - Play game where students take turns in pairs saying the days, when one makes a mistake, they start again.

5 - Introduce months, elicit names of the months of the year, write them on board. Go through any pronunciation difficulties.

6 - Play circle game again in pairs with names.

7 - Ask which months they like the best and why. E,g June because school finishes for summer.

8 - Explain how to say dates. I'd recommend the US system for ease of comprehension and use.

E,g November 7 rather than 7th of November.

9 - Now students ask each other when there birthday falls. and the other person writes in down in full.

10 - Ask students about important dates in their own country/Greece or other places they know. E.g Independence day, religious holidays, New Years's Day etc.

11 - Now explain how to say years in English i.e nineteen sixty, not say One thousand nine hundred and sixty as they do in Greek, for example).


12 Write down a timeline on the board with important dates from your own life.


-----------+---------+---------+---------+------------+----------+----------

             1960       1975      1986    1999           2010        2016

13 - Ask students to guess or ask directly what happened on those dates.

14 - Students write down their own timelines and then mix up the groups and people ask others they don't usually work with to talk about their timeline.

15 - Optional activity. Ask students to write a short personal biography based around the date mentioned for homework.