What would your face look like if…..

This is a simple activity, that I tried for the first time today. I found it in the book 101 games that teach storytelling skills by Bucher and Bucher. In it are lots of good, simple activities that I think would work well in a language based classroom. I tried it because I am looking for activities that I think will work well for TEYL (Teaching English to Young Learners) as I will be conducting workshops for teachers in this field in Cambodia this summer (June-July 2019). I think this one fits the bill. This activity has the leader say the prompt: “What would your face look like if….” and then add something that evokes some facial expression from the students.

“What would your face look like if you ate a lemon?” “What would your face look like if you saw a ghost?” “…if you stepped in dog poop?”…you get the idea.

Today, over 1/2 my class was missing due to a grade level field trip and some absences, so I tried it with only 10 students (what a luxury). I took a video after we practiced it a few times. I like it and the kids liked it as well. It allowed me as a teacher to informally assess student understanding. I enjoyed watching the students different expressions for the same prompt. I could see adding language to this, but for now the focus being on how facial expression is part of language and communication was enough.