English Language Day is on the 23rd of April and this day is extra special for two other reasons. It is St George’s Day and Shakespeare’s birthday. A day to celebrate in your English Language Class.
Have a look through ideas, games and activities you can use to celebrate with your learners.
Quiz Questions
1. Can you name three countries that use English as their first language?
2. Can you name three Shakespeare plays?
3. Can you say hello in English in five different ways?
4. What two polite words do English people use a lot?
Answers:
1. England, Canada, America, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand etc.
2. Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, The Tempest, A Midsummer’s Night Dream etc.
3. Hi, hello, hiya, hey, what’s up, good morning.
4. Please and thank you
Silent Letters
How quickly can you read the words below? Have you read them correctly? Can you identify the silent letter in each case?
Lamb
Castle
Island
Gnaw
Handkerchief
Calm
Raspberry
Whistle
Foreign
English can be quite a tricky language, it is not always easy to recognise the silent letter! Recognising silent letters in an important tool for both spelling and pronunciation.
Tongue Twisters
Pronunciation is hard work in English. English is not a phonetic language and what we write is not always what we say. This can be difficult for students whose own language is phonetic!
How quickly can you say the tongue twisters below?
She sells sea shells on the sea shore.
Red lorry yellow lorry.
Peter Piper pocked a peck of pickled peppers.
Nine nimble noblemen nibbling nuts.
Extensions task: ask learners to make their own tongue twisters! This could be similar sounding words or words that are difficult to pronounce.
Formal, Informal or Slang
Look at all the different ways you c
an say goodbye in English. Can you identify the words in degrees of formality?
Cheerio!
Bye
See ya
See you later
Goodbye
See you soon
Laters!
Bye-Bye
Farewell
Activity to celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday.
Choose a Shakespeare play that you think will be suitable for your group of learners . Find an important scene and play it from the film version. Turn off all the sound and play the short scene to the learners, they have to come up with the dialogue in two different ways.
0. In modern day language
0. In Shakespearean language
Focus on the differences in the language.
Shakespeare’s birthday party
Can you plan a party for Shakespeare? think about a suitable venue, dress code and food. Present your ideas to the class.
English is used as a first language in over 100 countries! It is the global business language and many people aspire to have a good command of the language. Celebrate this special day in your classroom and motivate the next generation with the importance of learning a language.
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