Where are my Glasses?
Minefields

Level Aims Grammar Time Materials
junior high school second year to Adult To practice prepositions of place: under/on/next to/opposite etc. place prepositions 30 mins Work sheets

Divide the class into groups of four (or three, but not five or six). For a group of three leave out Jenny's sheet. Give each group one set of sheets. Tell the students, or have the JTE tell them, that they belong to a very untidy family, and are always losing things. The large picture on their card shows their family living room. The small pictures underneath show the things they have lost. The object of this activity is for each player to find out from the others where their missing items are, and to draw them in that place on their main picture.

After deciding who starts (Jan-ken), the first player asks "Where is/are my _____?". The response, "Your _____ is/are next to/on/in/behind/in front of (etc.) the _____" is given. At the end of the game everyone can compare their artwork.

Students will need to know the following words: radio, pipe, glasses, cushion, newspaper, umbrella, record, book, glass, socks, football, comb, handbag, bag, pen, cigarettes, gloves, brush, hat, teapot, knitting, cup, basket, slippers, purse; TV, carpet, fireplace, mantelpiece, sofa, armchair, table, chair, rubbish bin, wall, bookcase, lamp; in, on, under, on top of, near, next to, in front of, behind, to the right/left of.

The activity and worksheets come from Jill Hadfield's excellent book, Elementary Communication Games by Nelson Press.

Hints and cautions:

+ Make sure everyone knows the names of the items in the picture. It might be a good idea to make flash cards with pictures of the various items and their places (i.e., the nouns) which the students will have to know, and spend 5 minutes running through these before beginning.

* Players can take turns to answer the questioner (after 3 questions the turn rotates to the next player to the left etc.), or it can be made more competitive by giving the right to ask the question to the player who is first to successfully answer. Thus, the player who answers the most questions gets to ask the most questions, and finishes their sheet first.

+ Tell the students they are not to look at each other's sheets, they are secret. This activity must be conducted vocally to be effective.

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