15 fun activities for prepositions of time
By Alex Case
1. Prepositions of time SNAP
Prepare playing cards with the preposition of time replaced with a gap, with at least two different prepositions in the pack and approximately the same number of cards for each preposition- for example, 10 cards with “at” missing, 10 cards with “in” missing, plus maybe 10 cards with “on” missing. Give one pack of cards to each group of two or three students. One person should shuffle the pack and deal out the cards face down. Students take their cards but can’t look at them. The first person turns over one card and places it face up on the table so that everyone can see it. The next person does the same thing, placing their card next to the first one. If the two cards need the same preposition, the first person to shout “Snap!” wins all the cards so far and can put them at the bottom of their pack. If they don’t match, those two cards stay on the table and future cards go on top of them to make two packs of cards. The person with most cards at the end of the game wins.
2. Prepositions of time pellmanism (= pairs = memory game)
This can be played with exactly the same cards as SNAP above, but is a slower game. The pack of cards is spread face down across the table and then people take turns turning over cards to try and find pairs that have the same preposition missing. If they match, they keep the cards and score two points. If they need different prepositions, they have to put them back in the same place and it is the next person’s go.
3. Prepositions of time sentence completion
Prepare a worksheet or OHP with between 10 and 20 uncompleted personal sentences that contain prepositions of time, e.g. “I wish my birthday was in __________” or “I wake up at __________, but I don’t get up until __________” (if you want the time clauses to be the missing part) or “I __________ at quarter past seven” or “I love __________ing in winter” (if you want to include the time clauses in the gapped sentences). Students fill in at least half the gaps, then read out just the part they have written so that their partners can try and guess which sentence it comes from.
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Alex Case has been a teacher, teacher trainer, Director of Studies, ELT writer and editor in Turkey, Thailand, Spain, Greece, Italy, Japan, UK and now Korea, and writes TEFLtastic blog (www.tefl.net/alexcase)
*ELTWeekly would like to thank Alex Case for contributing this article.