Play ball games, have fun and learn vocab!

Teaching the days of the week in English might sound somewhat trivial, but it is not so if your students are absolute beginners and Spaniards.

First, for Spaniards it is awkward that weeks start on Sunday and not on Monday.

Secondly, we tend to pronounce the last syllable for each day of the week as dipthong /ei/ when you should pronounce it as short vowel /i/. Well, in fact, we tend to pronounce every word as it is written.

Thirdly, rhythm when learning English is important, from the very beginning, and our rhythm when speaking Spanish is nothing like rhythm in English.

So, maybe now that you have read these three reasons (I could name but a few more), you are starting to think of a fun way to practise pronunciation, rhythm and intonation when drilling days of the week in English.

Well, then, let's play a ball game!

Steps for fun days playing ball games:

1. The whole class stands up and gets ready for catching the ball that you, the teacher, are holding and about to throw to somebody in class, while you pronounce 'Sunday' (the first day of the week).

2. The classmate who catches the ball must say the next day of the week and throw it to a new peer, who will catch it, say the following day of the week and throw it to somebody else.

The drilling ball game follows this pace until every day of the week is pronounced and the ball finally returns to the teacher.

You may also use this kind of ball game for numbers, or to drill the days of the week from Friday to Sunday, or the months of the year. I have also played the game in order to revise greetings, nationalities, countries, personal pronouns and contractions. It has gone well in every way.

It is up to you what you play a ball game for, it will all depend on your teaching/learning needs, but one thing is sure: you are bound to have fun, get rhythm, have a dynamic activity and cheer up your bunch of students.

Besides, if you give out some sweet rewards such as some candy or gummies, it will end up being an awesomely satisfactory class activity, for whose settings you just need a nice soft ball and several bags of candy. The latter is even more necessary than the former, believe me!

Have fun while you learn!

Images retrieved from Pixabay. CC0