Best of NTC: No Pens Day Wednesday
Teaching tip
Let your students put away their pens and enjoy a lesson exclusively dedicated to those important language skills - listening and speaking. The current event? - No Pens Day Wednesday on 7 October, one of the topics in Did you know? last year.
No Pens Day Wednesday, now in its fifth year, will be held on Wednesday 7 October 2015. It’s an opportunity for teachers to concentrate on speaking and listening activities, rather than writing and reading.
You can read more about the day’s history and purpose and also find a link to the The Communication Trust who sponsors the day, by clicking on the left button below. You’ll also find four speaking activities at A1 level and at A2.2 level with accompanying teaching notes.
And if you would like another speaking activity on B1 level for No Pens Day Wednesday, click on the right button below.
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Tell a story (level B1, 10+ minutes)
- Explain that you are going to tell a class story together and each student is going to tell one word (or one short phrase) of the story.
- You start by introducing the first few words of the story: A long time ago, a …
- Point to the first student who says one word or phrase (handsome prince, for example). The next student adds another word (saw, for example), and so on around the class.
- Help students if necessary.
- Carry on until the story has reached an end.
- Other possible beginnings: Yesterday, when I arrived home …; If I win a million pounds, …; A little girl was walking through the forest to her grandmother’s house when …
- Encourage students to provide their own opening lines.
