Here are a bunch of ideas for teaching about weather. Activities are organized under different headings, but some can be used at various stages of a lesson, and adapted to other lessons too. Choose the activities that you feel suit you and, most importantly, your students best. Arrange them in a lesson plan as you see fit alongside your own activities. Be sure to give students as much help with the target expressions/language as they need. Feel free to improve the example handouts as much as you like. Greeting/Introduction Ideas: JTE and ALT have a discussion about the recent weather/weather in the ALT's country/seasons, etc. Check understanding with students.
JTE and ALT ask questions about the recent weather and elicit responses from students, or ask some students which season they like best and why. Warm-ups/Vocab Activities: Weather Vocab Game:
All students stand up. ALT holds up weather picture cards one by one. The first student to say the vocabulary correctly can sit down.
Match the Season:
Write the 4 seasons on the board and divide students into teams. Each team gets a set of different weather vocab cards, face down. When the ALT says go, teams must turn over the cards and race to put them on the blackboard under the right season. The ALT can then review the vocab and explain new words, etc. This activity requires a lot of magnets.
Seasonal Row Relay:
Each row is a team. The first student in each row stands up. The ALT calls out a season and, using chalk as a relay baton, the teams try to write as many weather words on the blackboard that are related to that season. Each team gets a point for every correct word. ALT then calls out the next season. Practice Activities: Weather Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow:
Students work in pairs in this information gap activity, using A and B handouts. Both students have a chart of the weather yesterday, today and tomorrow, in different places. They both have half the info, but different halves and must ask each other for the rest of the info, and fill in the chart completely. Here are some example handouts: 1, 2
Weather Forecast:
Students receive a weather map (either of Japan, the ALT's home country or the world). The ALT reads out a realistic weather forecast, students listen and fill in the weather map. Here is an example handout.
World Weather:
Each student receives a handout with factual information concerning the weather of a particular country. You will need to prepare handouts for a few different countries. Students speak to several different partners to try to find out about the weather of the other countries, e.g. "What country are you from?" "What's the weather like in the summer?" To make the activity more advanced, students could research the country themselves (if given the necessary materials and support) and create their own country factsheet, including the weather, before asking about other countries. Consolidation/Filler Activities: Postcards I:
Students write individual postcards to the ALT describing the weather in a particular country. If they have time, they can draw a picture on the front.
Postcards II:
Students work in pairs. Each student receives a postcard/picture depicting weather (e.g. a skiing holiday in France or a beach holiday in Bermuda). He/she must then describe the holiday verbally to their partner. The partner could try to draw a postcard. It is not absolutely necessary, but helps to check that they understand. The ALT and JTE must help some students as this is quite an advanced activity. Advanced Activities: Many of the activities in this section can be made more sophisticated to include severe weather (e.g. blizzards, drought, etc.) and natural disasters that commonly occur in Japan.
Possible debate and discussions could focus on climate change and the environment.
Postcards II: see above. Easier Activities: All of the above activities can also be simplified for lower level schools.
Weather Karuta:
Students work in pairs or small groups. Each pair/group gets a set of weather vocab cards and spreads them out on their table. ALT calls out the vocab or a clue to the vocab. Students try to take the card first. Student with the most cards wins.
Weather Bingo:
Simple Bingo game using weather vocab. You can use as difficult or easy vocab as you like, but you need to have enough for all the squares (probably 16, maybe 25).
Weather Pictures:
The ALT describes simple outdoor scene(s) that include the weather. Students listen and draw the scene(s). |