English as a Second Language Class Activity: Talking About the Weather

Subject: English language conversational practice - Talking about the weather.

Objectives: Developing English language speaking skills in an ESL activity large class setting.

Prior Knowledge: Students will already be familiar with the weather concept, the only difference being in the type of weather. For example, if you talk about winter snow, that may be a new experience for students from places where it does not snow. On the whole though, weather is a familiar concept, and using something familiar to learn something new can make the learning process easier.

Materials:

• Posters showing different weather scenarios
• Flashcards on weather elements
• List of vocabulary
• List of phrases
• Chalkboard
• Chalk

Procedure:

Tell the students that they are going to practice talking about the weather in English, and mention that talking about the weather is often a conversational starter with English-language speakers.

Read through the vocabulary and phrase lists, and have the students repeat the words and phrases after you. Explain the meanings as you read and inquire if anyone has any difficulty in following you. Here are some lists -

Words to know -

• Afternoon
• Autumn
• Clothes
• Clouds
• Cold
• Day
• Drink
• Fire
• Frost
• Good
• Hello
• Home
• I
• Ice-cream
• Landscape
• Lightning
• Me
• Morning
• Nice
• Night
• Rain
• Rainbow
• Rotten
• Shade
• Sky
• Snow
• Spring
• Summer
• Sun
• Thunder
• Trees
• Warm
• We
• Weather
• Winter
• You

Phrases to know -

• Hello, how are you/how do you do?
• Nice weather.
• Rotten weather.
• It's very cold.
• It's nice and warm today.
• It looks like rain.
• It's been raining all day/morning/night/afternoon/evening.
• It's stopped raining.
• Look, there's a rainbow.
• I like summer/winter/autumn/spring.
• We walk in the rain.

Ask the students to write down the words and phrases, and read through them once more.

Divide the large class into smaller groups, and have each student in turn ask the others questions about the weather that they will then answer. They can play out different weather scenarios.

Talk about how things look just before it rains. The clouds gather. The sky darkens. There is thunder and lightning. Then the rain comes down. There is the smell of the earth.

Talk about a warm day. The sun is shining. It feels hot. You would like a cold drink or an ice-cream. You would prefer to sit in the shade under a tree.

Talk about a cold day. It is snowing. The landscape is white. The trees are covered with snow. The pavement is slippery. Everyone wears warm clothes. People light fires in their fireplaces to stay warm inside their homes.

Assessment:

Ask students questions about the weather and have them answer correctly. Pay attention to their pronunciation.

Extensions:

Sing a song about the weather. Ask the students if they have any favorite English songs about the weather.

See these language learning articles -

Seasonal Poetry for Reading in ESL Classes

Using Music to Improve Listening Comprehension Skills