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Recorded sounds lesson

Here's a simple idea for a lesson, or part of a lesson for intermediate or advanced students. You could possibly combine it with the tired daily routine topic. Get a digital recorder or use your phone and record as many sounds as you can around the house. Here are a few you could easily record:
  • running a tap
  • flushing the toilet
  • boiling a kettle
  • using a can opener
  • pouring a drink
  • opening a bottle of fizzy drink
  • pulling a wine cork
  • running the washing machine or dishwasher
  • opening the fridge door
  • opening and closing doors
  • hoovering
  • using the microwave
  • closing the oven door
  • laying the table
  • scraping a chair across the floor
  • switching the radio on or off
  • typing on the PC
  • switching on a light
  • using a whisk
  • cracking an egg
  • opening a packet
  • cutting with scissors
  • dropping ice into a glass
  • blowing your nose
  • chopping or peeling vegetables
  • climbing stairs
  • dropping an object (e.g. cutlery or unwanted crockery!)
You could play the sounds in sequence whilst students note down in the target language what is being done. They should always attempt an answer. Then students could compare answers orally in pairs.

An alternative, to make the exercise accessible to less advanced learners, would be to produce a set of sentences for a matching task: match sentence with each sound.

You could build in some grammar practice by describing in present and past tenses. I'm sure imaginative teachers could come up with other, better ways for exploiting such sounds.

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