Using a topic-based
approach for Cambridge
English: Young Learners
classroom activities
Handout: Topic list for Cambridge English:
Starters
Write the examples of vocabulary items from the word cloud on the slide in the most
appropriate place in the second column.
Topics
Examples
animals
the body and the face
clothes
colours
family and friends
food and drink
the home
numbers 1–20
places and directions
school
sports and leisure
time
toys
transport
weather
work
the world around us
From: Handbook for Teachers, pages 12 and 55–60.
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/yle-handbook-for-teachers.pdf
Word Clouds for Kids: http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: STARTERS
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Handout: Topic list for Cambridge English:
Movers
Write down 10 words related to the topic you have been given. Vocabulary should be
appropriate for the level and age of Cambridge English: Movers candidates.
Animals
The body and the
The body and the face
face
Clothes
Colours
Family and friends
Food and drink
Health
The home
Numbers 1–100
Places and directions
Weather
School
Sports and leisure
Time
Toys
Transport
Weather
The world around
us around us
Work
The world around us
From: Cambridge English: Young Learners Handbook for Teachers, Page 24.
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/yle-handbook-for-teachers.pdf
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
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Handout: Vocabulary list for Cambridge English:
Movers
The body and the face
arm back beard blond(e)
body curly ear eye face fair
fat foot/feet hair hand head
Weather
leg moustache mouth neck
nose shoulder smile stomach
cloud cloudy rain rainbow
straight thin tooth/teeth
snow sun sunny weather
wind windy
The world around us
beach city country(side) field
forest grass ground island
jungle lake leaf/leaves moon
mountain plant river road rock
sand sea shell star street sun
town tree village water waterfall
world
You can find vocabulary lists for each topic of the Cambridge English: Young
Learners exams on pages 55–60 of the Handbook for Teachers.
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/yle-handbook-for-teachers.pdf
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
Handout: Topic list for Cambridge English:
Flyers
Look at the topic list from the Cambridge English: Young Learners Handbook for
Teachers and answer these questions:
a) Which topic is new at this level (not in the lists for Cambridge English: Starters or
Movers)?
b) Which topic is different at this level (in the lists for Cambridge English: Starters
and Movers, but extended)?
Animals
The body and the face
Clothes
Colours
Family and friends
Food and drink
Health
The home
Materials
Numbers 1–1,000
Places and directions
School
Sports and leisure
Time
Toys
Transport
Weather
Work
The world around us
From: Cambridge English: Young Learners Handbook for Teachers, Page 36:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/yle-handbook-for-teachers.pdf
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
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Handout: Topics and vocabulary
Look at the lists of vocabulary for these topics and decide which ten words you think
are new at Cambridge English: Flyers level in each group.
Topic 1 – school
alphabet
competition
internet
scissors
answer
computer
know
teach
ask
desk
learn
text
art
dictionary
mistake
timetable
break
geography
lesson
understand
classroom
history
school
website
college
homework
science
write
afternoon
day
Monday
today
a.m.
December
morning
tomorrow
before
evening
never
watch
birthday
every
night
week
calendar
future
quarter
weekend
century
half
sometimes
year
clock
minute
spring
yesterday
Topic 2 – time
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
Handout: Teaching vocabulary and structures
Ideas for activities related to the topic of animals and the Cambridge English: Starters
word list.
•
Describing an animal
E.g. This is an elephant. An elephant has a tail. An elephant is grey. Elephants
are big. Elephants can swim. Children could draw the animals and put the
drawings and descriptions together to make a mini-book.
•
Describing likes and dislikes
E.g. I like elephants. I don’t like giraffes. Children could do a classroom survey of
likes and dislikes, and make a graph/chart.
•
Drawing a plan of a zoo and making labels for it
E.g. There are three hippos in the zoo. The hippos are next to the tigers.
•
A role-play about going to the zoo
E.g. Let’s go to the zoo! What’s the hippo doing? She’s swimming! Children could
make up and then act out a role-play using words you have given them.
•
Guess the animal gap-fill
See the examples ‘A cat’ and ‘A horse’ in the Cambridge English: Starters
Sample Papers Volumes 1 and 2, Reading Part 4.
Song: At the Zoo
A) Watch the video of a song and write down the names of all the animals you see
or hear.
B) Now decide whether the following sentences are true or false.
1) The family goes to the zoo in a blue car.
2) Mummy says ‘Here we go’.
3) The giraffe is looking.
4) Grandma looks at two lions.
5) The elephant is sleeping.
6) The brother likes snakes.
7) The bird is under the lion.
8) The cousins say ‘Wow!’
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: STARTERS
Classroom activity: Habitats
Topic
The world around us
Timing
10 minutes
Materials
worksheet: Places and animals
Rationale
To activate vocabulary related to the world around us and animals,
and practise speaking and writing skills.
Procedure
1. Give out the worksheet: Places and animals and identify the habitats in the
picture (sea, jungle, grass, farm).
2. Say: You’re an animal and you live in the sea. What kind of animal are you?
Choose an animal but don’t say anything. Note: Learners don’t have to move
around the classroom, but they can pull faces or use their arms to mime
movement through water. You may want to choose an animal and move too!
Write any acceptable answers on the board in random order. Do not write the
answers in their groups.
3. Ask: What are you? Suggestions: fish, dolphins, sharks, whales.
Write any acceptable answers on the board so the animals do not appear in their
categorised groups.
4. Say: You’re not in the sea now. You’re walking in the jungle. Be careful! Which
animals are near? Suggestions: monkeys, snakes, tigers, spiders, lizards, bats.
Write any acceptable answers on the board.
5. Say: You’re hiding in some tall grass in Africa. Shh! Which animals can you see?
Suggestions: giraffes, lions, lizards, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, parrots, frogs,
spiders. Again, write any acceptable answers on the board.
6. Say: You live on a farm. Ask: Which animals live on your farm too? Suggestions:
horses, cows, sheep, ducks, chickens, goats, dogs, cats, flies. Write any
acceptable answers on the board.
7. In pairs, learners must copy the animals that are on the board into the appropriate
parts of the circle on the worksheet. Walk around, check spellings and accept any
reasonable answers.
8. Ask learners to write three animals they are frightened of, three of their favourite
animals, and an animal they would like to be on the lines on the worksheet.
Taken from: Fun for Movers: Student’s Book (third edition) by Anne Robinson and
Karen Saxby, © Cambridge University Press 2015.
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
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Follow-up
•
Ask children to mime animals and have others guess the animals.
•
Children play ‘guess who?’ with animals (Child 1 thinks of an animal, and Child 2
asks questions to guess the animal OR Child 1 describes an animal and Child 2
listens and guesses).
•
Children choose an animal and write or record a description of the animal.
•
Children choose a habitat (e.g. the sea) and write about the habitat and its
animals.
Further activities
•
Researching and describing a country: its rivers, mountains, forests, lakes,
waterfalls, cities. Children could write a guide about the country.
•
A diary entry about a trip: a day at the beach, a day in the countryside, a day in
the city. Texts could go on the school blog with some photographs.
•
Researching and writing about how plants grow. Texts and pictures could be
displayed on posters.
•
Creating a map of an imaginary island. Children could make a model of the
island.
•
If your class is taking the Cambridge English: Movers test, use the Sample
Papers Volume 1 Reading and Writing, Part 6 task, where children read a factual
text on the topic of zoos and complete the text with grammatical words chosen
from three options below. See also the Sample Papers Volume 2, Listening Part
2 task, where children listen to a conversation about a trip to a zoo and complete
the words in a page of a notepad.
•
The Sample Papers and audio recordings are available from the Teachers’
Resources section of the Cambridge English website.
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english/resources-for-teachers/
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
Worksheet: Places and animals
Taken from: Fun for Movers: Student’s Book (third edition) by Anne Robinson and
Karen Saxby, © Cambridge University Press 2015.
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
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Handout: Materials
Work with a partner and complete the second column of the table with as many
examples of things made from this material as possible.
Material
Example objects
card
glass
gold
metal
paper
plastic
silver
wood
wool
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
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Classroom activity: Materials and objects
Topic
Materials
Timing
10–15 minutes
Materials
worksheet: Materials and objects; at least one object made of one
of the materials on the worksheet (e.g. a plastic bottle)
Rationale
To activate vocabulary related to materials and everyday objects, and
practise speaking and writing skills.
Procedure
1. Teach or review words for materials (card, glass, gold, metal, paper, plastic,
silver, wood, wool) using pictures of appropriate objects or real things.
2. Give out the worksheet: Materials and objects. Alternatively, show the table on
a slide on the IWB, or draw the table on the board and ask the children to copy it.
3. Show an object you have brought to class (e.g. a plastic bottle) and say: This is a
bottle. What’s it made of? Elicit the answer (plastic). Say: This bottle is made of
plastic. What things are made of plastic?
4. Elicit some objects made of plastic and write them on the board. Tell children to
write the names of the objects next to the word ‘plastic’ in the table (i.e. the
second column).
5. Divide children into pairs. For each material, they should think of as many objects
as they can that are made of that material. If you wish, the children could look
through their coursebook to find pictures of suitable objects. They should write
the names of the objects in the second column of the table.
6. Allow up to 5 minutes for the activity. Monitor children as they do the activity, and
help where necessary.
7. Elicit feedback (see suggested key to step 7, below). Encourage use of the
phrase ‘made of’ (e.g. What’s made of glass? A mirror’s made of glass. Is a
postcard made of glass? What’s it made of?)
Suggested key (step 7)
Suggestions (from the Cambridge English: Flyers word list in the Handbook for
Teachers):
•
card: box, birthday card, calendar, postcard
•
glass: bottle, mirror
•
gold: ring, necklace
•
metal: bridge, bicycle, motorbike, key, knife, spoon, fork
•
paper: envelope, book, map, newspaper, magazine, stamp
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
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plastic: comb, ball, bottle, toothbrush
•
silver: ring, necklace, crown
•
wood: chopsticks, chair, guitar, violin, bowl, cupboard
•
wool: scarf, sweater, blanket, socks, gloves
Further activities
•
Children can collect or draw pictures or take photographs of objects made of
certain materials. They then stick and label pictures on to a collage (e.g. This is a
bottle. It’s made of glass).
•
Children find out about one material (e.g. where it is from, how it is made, what it
is used for, how long people have used it).They make a physical or digital poster
to present their research and pictures.
•
Children can play the game in the ‘activities for children’ section for A2 learners
on the Cambridge English website. In the activity called ‘What is this made from?’
(available here: http://assets.cambridgeenglish.org/activities-for-children/f-rw-08what-is-this-made-from/story.html), learners look at five pictures of objects and
answer a question. As they click on the correct object, the monkey picks a
banana and moves up the tree. Children can do this and other similar activities to
practise different areas of vocabulary either at home with parents or
collaboratively in class if you have an IWB.
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
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Handout: Classroom activities
The following activities for the classroom are based around six topics from the
combined thematic vocabulary list for Cambridge English: Starters. This list can be
found in the Cambridge English: Young Learners Handbook. The activities integrate
vocabulary and language structures appropriate for this level, and help children to
develop their language skills.
Classroom activity: At the zoo
Topic
Animals
Timing
20–25 minutes
Materials
worksheet: At the zoo; video: At the zoo (available at:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/parents-andchildren/activities-for-children/pre-a1-level/sing-and-learn-at-the-zoo/)
Rationale
To activate vocabulary related to animals and practise reading skills.
N.B. You will need internet access for this activity, plus access to a computer, laptop
or tablet and IWB or data projector.
Procedure
1. Teach or review words for animals (any of these: monkey, frog, cow, sheep, goat,
giraffe, lion, lizard, elephant, mouse/mice, spider, snake, tiger, bird, crocodile,
duck, hippo, horse, dog, chicken).
2. Tell children that they are going to watch a video of a song. As they watch and
listen, they should write the names of animals that they see in the video. (At this
stage, children could write the names in their first language.)
3. Play the video: At the zoo. Elicit the animals that children saw in the video.
4. Give out the worksheet: At the zoo. Explain that the handout has some
sentences about the video that they just watched. Some of the sentences are true
and some are false. Give children time to read the sentences, and check
understanding.
5. Play the video again. Divide children into pairs, and ask them to compare their
answers. Monitor and check children understand.
6. When most pairs are ready, elicit answers (see key below).
Key for worksheet
1) False 2) False 3) True 4) True 5) False 6) True 7) False 8) True
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: STARTERS
Further extension activities
•
Lyrics and worksheets for the song At the Zoo are available at:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learning-english/parents-and-children/activitiesfor-children/pre-a1-level/sing-and-learn-at-the-zoo/.
•
Describing an animal, e.g. This is an elephant. An elephant has a tail. An
elephant is grey. Elephants are big. Elephants can swim. Children could draw the
animals too, and put the drawings and descriptions together to make a mini-book.
•
Describing likes and dislikes, e.g. I like elephants. I don’t like giraffes. Children
could do a classroom survey of likes and dislikes, and make a graph/chart.
•
Drawing a plan of a zoo and making labels for the zoo, e.g. There are three
hippos in the zoo. The hippos are next to the tigers.
•
A role-play about going to the zoo, e.g. Let’s go to the zoo! What’s the hippo
doing? She’s swimming! Children could make up and then act out a role-play
using words you have given them.
•
Guess the animal gap-fill. See the examples ‘A cat’ and ‘A horse’ in the
Cambridge English: Starters Sample Papers Volumes 1 and 2, Reading Part 4.
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: STARTERS
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Worksheet: At the zoo
1) The family goes to the zoo in a blue car.
2) Mummy says ‘Here we go’.
3) The giraffe is looking.
4) Grandma looks at two lions.
5) The elephant is sleeping.
6) The brother likes snakes.
7) The bird is under the lion.
8) The cousins say ‘Wow!’
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: STARTERS
Handout: A weather mind map
1
2
Arts and crafts
Geography
climate
3
Arts and crafts
daily
4
Arts and crafts
weather
rainbows
weather
5
6
Maths and IT
Music
Add the descriptions of the activities below to the boxes 1–6 in the mind map above.
A. Children make or paint a picture of a
rainbow. They label the rainbow with
the names of the colours in English.
B. Children imagine that they are going
to visit a hot/cold country. They write
a list of things to take, then draw the
open suitcase and items.
C. Children collect information about the
weather (e.g. rainfall, temperatures).
They complete a spreadsheet with
the data.
D. Children sing a song in English about
a rainbow and invent actions for the
song.
E. Children research hottest/coldest/
driest/wettest/sunniest/windiest
places in the world. They could
collect more information about
these places.
F. At the start of term, children make a
weather poster with words and
pictures. At the start of each lesson,
the teacher asks: What’s the weather
like? Children complete the chart.
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
Classroom activity: Weather quiz
Topic
Weather
Timing
5–10 minutes
Materials
none
Rationale
To activate vocabulary related to the weather, and practise superlative
forms and speaking skills.
Procedure
1. Teach or review these words for weather: hot, cold, dry, wet, windy.
2. Write the following sentences on the board, or prepare a slide for the IWB:
a) The hottest place in the world is …
b) The coldest place in the world is …
c) The driest place in the world is …
d) The wettest place in the world is …
e) The windiest place in the world is …
3. Divide the children into pairs or small groups. Give them 2–3 minutes to discuss
and complete the sentences.
4. When most groups are ready, stop the activity, and elicit some answers.
5. Give the answers (see key to step 5, below).
Key (step 5)
a) The Lut Desert, Iran
b) Vostok, Antarctica
c) The Atacama Desert, South America
d) Meghalaya State, India
e) Antarctica
Further activities
•
Ask children to make or paint a picture of a rainbow. They must label the rainbow
with the names of the colours in English.
•
Children sing a song in English about a rainbow. They invent actions for the song.
•
At the start of term, get children to make a weather poster with words and
pictures. At the start of each lesson, ask: What’s the weather like? and get the
children to complete the chart.
•
Ask children to collect information about the weather (e.g. rainfall, temperatures).
They must complete a spreadsheet with the data.
•
Ask children to imagine that they are going to visit a hot/cold country. They must
write a list of things to take, and draw the open suitcase and items.
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
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•
Get children to research the hottest/coldest/driest/wettest/sunniest/windiest
places in the world and collect more information about these places to present to
the class.
•
Use the Cambridge English: Movers Word List Picture Book, available here:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/images/199238-young-learners-movers-wordlist-picture-book.pdf. This has lots of large, busy pictures which you can use with
children to focus on various vocabulary areas, and some ideas for
teachers/parents for exploiting the pictures. For example, there is one called ‘The
weather’ on pages 16–17. You could display this in the classroom and ask
children to find things in the picture, play ‘guess what object I’m thinking of/which
day of the week I’ve chosen’ and use it as a springboard to other work on the
topic of the weather.
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: MOVERS
Classroom activity: A town plan
Topic
Places and directions
Timing
10 minutes
Materials
worksheet: A town plan
Rationale
To activate vocabulary related to directions and places in a town, and
practise listening and speaking skills
Procedure
1. Give out the worksheet: A town plan or alternatively, show the plan on an IWB,
or draw the plan on the board, and ask children to copy it quickly into their
notebooks.
2. Elicit things that children can see on the town plan (West Street, London Road,
East River, a bridge over the river, six buildings).
3. Point out the text ‘YOU ARE HERE’. Tell children to imagine that they are in this
place. Explain that you are going to describe a walk through the town. They
should listen and write the names of the buildings on the plan.
4. Read the following text aloud. Read slowly, and repeat if necessary:
•
Begin at YOU ARE HERE. Walk straight on. Walk across the bridge and over
the river. On the left, there is a big building. It’s a hotel. Opposite the hotel,
there is another big building. It’s a museum. Walk past the hotel and the
museum. Next to the hotel, on the left, there is a police station. Opposite the
police station, on the right, there is a post office. Now you are at London
Road. On the corner of the road, on the left, there is a restaurant. On the
other corner, on the right, there is a theatre.
5. Walk around the room as you read the text to check that children understand
what they need to do, and help where necessary.
6. Elicit feedback (see key to step 6, below).
7. Elicit other places that people could see in a town (park, zoo, station, hospital,
etc.).
Key (step 6)
1) hotel
2) museum
3) police station
4) post office
5) restaurant
6) theatre
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
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Follow-up
Give children another copy of the worksheet, or ask them to copy the town plan. Tell
them to label the buildings with the places that they want. In pairs, child A describes
the plan, and child B listens and writes what the buildings are. Write phrases on the
board to help (e.g. walk straight on/across/past; on the left/right; on the corner;
opposite/next to).
Further activities
If your class is taking the Cambridge English: Flyers test, use the Sample Papers
Volumes 1 and 2 to practise exam skills using the topic of directions and places. For
example, Volume 2, Reading and Writing Part 6 is a factual description of a hospital,
and children have to complete the gaps in the text with words from the list below.
Volume 1, Reading and Writing Part 4 and Speaking Part 1 share the topic of
museums, and there is also an interactive game ‘At the museum’, available on the
Cambridge English website: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/learningenglish/parents-and-children/activities-for-children/a2-level/f-s-03-at-the-museum/.
Sample Papers Volume 2, Listening Part 3 also uses the topic of a trip to a
supermarket. The Sample Papers and audio recordings are available from the
Teachers’ Resources section of the Cambridge English website:
http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/teaching-english/resources-for-teachers/.
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USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
Worksheet: A town plan
West
Street
5
6
London Road
3
4
1
2
East
River
YOU
ARE
HERE
USING A TOPIC-BASED APPROACH FOR CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH: FLYERS
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