Larry Slater

Do you know Joey Green? He’s been on just about all the talk shows using dramatic demonstrations how to use everyday items instead of name brand products.

Want to polish your table? Use Spam.

Want to shine that table? Use pantyhose.

I found his Web site, wackyuses.com, and I believe I have hit a gold mine.

The video clips on this site are worth the visit but the links down the lest side give you hundreds of ways to save money and make your life simpler.

He has written numerous books and each one can save you time and money and are well worth buying.

I’ve been enjoying this for a while so I better share it with my friends.

Do you believe in a free lunch? Well, if you look on the back of your Arby’s receipt, you will find they have an online survey that takes about 3 minutes. They give you a number and you take it to an Arby’s and you get a free roast beef sandwich. I like to add lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise to make mine a custom sandwich. Price? Less the .50. Oh, you can also put Swiss cheese and all those onions from their Philly Beef and Swiss sandwich for about the same price if you prefer.

Here’s the kicker. When you pay for those extras, they will normally give you another receipt with another survey offer. Milk this as long as you can but give then accurate info. They DO look at them so here is your chance to sound off and earn yourself a free lunch.

I’m releasing this gem of an idea because, frankly, I didn’t think it would pan out. But it has, in Spades.

You may have seen those TV commercials for Dryer Balls, rock hard balls put into your dryer to fluff up your clothes so you won’t need chemicals or those softener sheets that can coat the inside of your dryer with a chemically film. Can you imagine the noise those these balls would make? Maybe you can. And the kicker is two of these commercial Dryer Balls go for around $10 even at Walmart. OUCH!

But never fear. The Life Hacker is here.

While walking through one of my favorite stores, Dollar Tree, I happened to meander down the Toy isle and saw these little squishy Spikey Footballs and 3” Spiky vinyl balls. Hum. Could they be a substitute for those hard and expensive commercial Dryer Balls? Splurging like I do at the Dollar Tree where everything is a buck, I bought about six spickey (spicky?) balls of different colors and styles. Thinking I could make some points with my Mother and have her do a little test marketing at the same time, I went over and gave her these toy balls. The first thing out of her mouth?

“What are these for?”

“Dryer Balls.” I said.

After explaining what Dryer Balls are and how these little toy balls could replace her ever more expensive softener sheets and how they were much quieter then the those hard Dryer Balls on her ears, she agreed to try them.

She was hooked.

Not only do they fluff up her clothes but they also tend to remove any lint that clings to them. Since they are so cheap she uses up to eight balls in dryer at a time. I think she just likes to hunt for the balls in various pockets, sort of a game for her.

She has recommend them to her friends and they are as happy as she is. These things really work!

Don’t believe me? Then spend a couple of bucks and prove me wrong; or right and enjoy softer clothes, savings on not buying dryer sheets or other chemicals and have some fun.

It has now been over a year later and she has gone through a set of these toy Dryer Balls. After this amount of time then tend to deflate and some can discolor a bit. So being a good son and wanting to keep my Mom on my side because I really enjoy her baking, I make a little trip to the Dollar Tree and bought a few more.

Okay, so call me cheap but I just don’t want to spend $20, $30 or more for a pair of leather gloves with a cloth insert to keep my fingers from freezing together while walking to my car.

So I pulled a rabbit out of my worker’s hat and found a way to have my leather gloves with cloth inserts for $5. How? Read on dear reader and learn what a resourceful miser can do.

Having worked my share of blue-collar jobs, I knew that gloves can be bought quite cheaply at your local building supply company. For this little experiment, I choose Menards as they always have a nice selection of worker’s gloves at good prices.

While scanning the racks, I found a pair of goatskin gloves looked okay but the grayish cast didn’t thrill me none. But it was the best buy I could find so I got them for $4.

Then I went to my ole standbys, the basic workman’s cotton glove for a buck. While they had are brown, I’m not going to complain because they aren’t quite as dark as I might prefer.

But the leather gloves did bother me a bit. The uneven coloring caused me to dip into my trusty shoe kit and pull out my black shoe polish with a stained sweat sock. After a healthy daub of black polish on the sock, I rubbed that grey right out of my hair…or rather off the gloves so now they look a respectable black.

Stuffing the cotton gloves into the large leather gloves made for a snug but acceptable fit so now I had a double layered pair of gloves for a total of $5.

As a reward I took myself to a lunch of Coney Island Hot Dogs. Hey, you have to celebrate when a plan comes together.

Guys and their wallets. Guys will gladly carry a worn out wallet in our back pockets and never give it another thoughts other then it is just getting broken in. Why go to all the bother to buy a new one and then have to transfer all your stuff from one wallet to another just because of a few white, worn edges? I mean, we have more important things to do with our money. Even if we get a new one as a gift, it will soon be looking just like the old one.

But there is a solution; for those who think this is a problem.

Just go dig out your can of shoe polish, pull out a worn sweat sock, get a good dab of polish and rub all those worn, white marks away. Within a minute you will have your wallet looking like new and not have to move one item. And if you are “the other person” who is doing this, I’ll beat that he won’t even notice you’ve done anything at all.

Sorry. But we ARE just guys after all.

Ah the cap. A forgotten item in our modern day but one that was a staple in days gone by. Light weight. Keeps your head warm. Rather sophisticated in some circles. But very useful when all you want is a little warmth on the old doom.

If you have not bought a cap because you think they cost more then you want to pay, then this may come as a surprise.

At the start of the fall season, some stores start to clear their shelves of seasonal items like hats/caps. During one of my tours through the local Kmart, I came across a shopping cart of these new yet deeply discounted hats and found one that fit my fancy. It cost a whopping 2 dollars.

Now I can look rather dapper sauntering down the boulevard without much of a pinch to my wallet.

When your having one of those days, and so many of us are having too many of those these days, read this…

• At a Proctologist’s door: “To expedite your visit, please back in. “
• On a Plumber’s truck: “We repair what your husband fixed.”
• On another Plumber’s truck: “Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.”
• On a Church’s Bill board: “7 days without God makes one weak.”
• At a Tire Shop in Milwaukee : “Invite us to your next blowout.”
• At a Towing company: “We don’t charge an arm and a leg. We want tows….”
• On an Electrician’s truck: “Let us remove your shorts.”
• In a Non-smoking Area: “If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.”
• On a Maternity Room door: “Push. Push. Push.”
• At an Optometrist’s Office: “If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.”
• On a Taxidermist’s window: “We really know our stuff.”
• On a Fence: “Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive!”
• At a Car Dealership: “The best way to get back on your feet – miss a car payment.”
• Outside a Muffler Shop: “No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.”
• In a Veterinarian’s waiting room: “Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!”

Once again I think my friend Carol for passing along these amazingly simple home remedies that will save you both time and money; along with giving you a chuckle.

1. If you are choking on an ice cube, don’t panic. Simply pour a cup of boiling water down your throat and, presto, the blockage will be removed.
2. Clumsy? Avoid cutting yourself while slicing vegetables by getting someone else to hold them while you chop away.
3. Avoid arguments with your wife about lifting the toilet seat by simply using the sink.
4. For high-blood-pressure sufferers: simply cut yourself and bleed for a few minutes, thus reducing the pressure in your veins. Remember to use a timer.
5. A mousetrap, placed on top of your alarm clock, will prevent you from rolling over and going back to sleep after you hit the snooze button.
6. If you have a bad cough, take a large dose of laxatives, then you will be afraid to cough.
7. Sometimes, we just need to remember what the rules of life really are: You only need two tools – WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it doesn’t move and should, use the WD-40; if it shouldn’t move and does, use the duct tape.
8. Remember: Everyone seems normal until you get to know them. So be brief  with people.
9. Never pass up an opportunity to go to the bathroom.
10. If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You get another chance.
11. Be really nice to your family and friends; you never know when you might need them to empty your bedpan.
12. Some people are like “slinkies”. They’re not really good for anything; but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down a  flight of stairs.

This was passed on to me via email from a friend. I wanted to include it because I remember my Grandfather growing garlic and wearing a bit of it around his neck. I never knew why until I read this article.

In 1919 when the flu killed 40 million people there was this Doctor that visited the many farmers to see if he could help them combat the flu.  Many of the farmers and their family had contracted it and many died.

The doctor came upon this one farmer and to his surprise, everyone was very healthy.  When the doctor asked what the farmer was doing that was different the wife replied that she had placed an unpeeled onion in a dish in the rooms of the home, (probably only two rooms back then).  The doctor couldn’t believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and place it under the microscope.  She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion.  It obviously absorbed the bacteria, therefore, keeping the family healthy.

Now, I heard this story from my hairdresser in AZ.   She said that several years ago many of her employees were coming down with the flu and so were many of her customers.  The next year she placed several bowls with onions around in her shop.  To her surprise, none of her staff got sick.  It must work…  (And no, she is not in the onion business.)

The moral of the story is, buy some onions and place them in bowls around your home.  If you work at a desk, place one or two in your office or under your desk or even on top somewhere.  Try it and see what happens.   We did it last year and we never got the flu.

If this helps you and your loved ones from getting sick, all the better.  If you do get the flu, it just might be a mild case..

Whatever, what have you to lose?  Just a few bucks on onions!!!!!! !!!!!!!!

Now there is a P. S. to this for I sent it to a friend who regularly contributes material to me on health issues.  She replied with this most interesting experience about onions:

Oscar, thanks for the reminder.  I don’t know about the farmers story….but, I do know that I contacted pneumonia and needless to say I was very ill…I came across an article that said to cut both ends off an onion put one end on a fork and then place the forked end into an empty jar…placing the jar next to the sick patient at night. It said the onion would be black in the morning from the germs…sure enough it happened just like that….the onion was a mess and I began to feel better.

Another thing I read in the article was that onions and garlic placed around the room saved many from the black plague years ago. They have powerful antibacterial, antiseptic properties.

Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when our hearts lowly bend,
And we gather to Jesus, our Savior and Friend;
If we come to Him in faith, His protection to share,
What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there!

‘Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when the Savior draws near,
With a tender compassion His children to hear;
When He tells us we may cast at His feet every care,
What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there!

‘Tis the blessed hour of prayer, when the tempted and tried
To the Savior who loves them their sorrow confide;
With a sympathizing heart He removes every care;
What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there!

At the blessed hour of prayer, trusting Him, we believe
That the blessing we’re needing we’ll surely receive;
In the fullness of this trust we shall lose every care;
What a balm for the weary! O how sweet to be there!
—Fanny J. Crosby.

When we call on God, He bends down His ear to listen, as a father bends down to listen to his little child. Yes, God listens.
—Elizabeth Charles.

Dearest Sister Helen;

I know you have been struggling with your faith lately and I am concerned that you are making a mountain out of a mole hill. You are so worried that you don’t have enough faith. But dear sister, I think you just don’t fully understand what faith actually is.

When we talk of “faith,” we act like we are talking only about “spiritual” things. We say “Catholic Faith” or “Jewish Faith” or “Muslim Faith.” Or we use generic terms such as “Religious Faith” or just plain Faith as an all-encompassing, “politically correct” term so as not to “offend” anyone. But this is just plain wrong-headedness. Why? Because faith is so much more.

Jesus taught us that unless we had the same faith as little children, we would never be able to understand God. Think about that for a minute. From the time we are born someone has to take care of us. All we know is when we feel hunger or feel dirty or cold or wet or anything uncomfortable. Then we let the whole world know about it until someone “fixes” it for us. We are totally incapable of taking care of it ourselves so we have to have “faith” that someone will do it for us. We grow in this belief as we grow in age so that we hardly even give it a second taught that there may come a time when no one will take care of our demands for comfort. Someone is almost always there.

As we grow, we learn that those “someones” are our parents and we know that as they have taken care of us in the past, or at least as long as we can remember, they will take care of us in the future. I have to wonder if at a young age we ever really understand how much effort our parents do in our behalf. It may not be until we take on the role of parenting ourselves that we begin to understand what it means to have someone truly believe in us; that we will take care of them first before our own needs are meet.

As we grow older, we begin to see our parent’s frailties, their humanness, and we have to learn to love them in a totally different way. Now we learn to love them for themselves and not for what they can do for us. In fact, we may have to start to take care of them ourselves and love comes full circle.

So how can we have the faith of a child? We have to forget how to be an “adult” that knows all too well the trails and tribulations of meeting the needs of others in a very uncertain world. We have to remember what it is to trust that someone who is always there and who we just know will take care of us. And we have to forget our thinking of that person as not meeting our every whim because we now know there are more important things then our own comfort. Not that God becomes frail or limited in our eyes although I’m sure many do as they fail to receive the total care they expect from Him. But we must learn to understand God in a totally different way, one where we love him for all he has done for us and for who He is; doing whatever we can to show our love for Him.

Are we strong enough to have the faith of a child yet have the love of an adult at the same time? Maybe when we learn how weak we really are and must depend on the care of others, then maybe we will remember what it is to trust the God who takes care of us every day of our lives. Then we just may learn to how to enter into the Kingdom of God.

I hope this has helped you and am always at your service.

Brother Lawrence

Ere you left your room this morning,
Did you think to pray?
In the name of Christ our Savior,
Did you sue for loving favor,
As a shield today/

When you met with great temptation,
Did you think to pray?
By His dying love and merit,
Did you claim the Holy Spirit
As your guide and stay?

When your heart was filled with anger,
Did you think to pray?
Did you plead for grace, my brother,
That you might forgive another
Who had crossed your way?

When sore trails came upon you,
Did you thing to pray?
When your soul was bowed in sorrow,
Balm of Gilead did you borrow,
At the gates of day?

Oh, how praying rests the weary!
Prayer will change the night to day;
So in sorrow and in gladness,
Don’t forget to pray.

-Mrs. M. A. Kidder

First, there must be an understanding – a working agreement, a fixed, invariable Law of Prayer.

Secondly, there must be a time and place spent in communication in accord with the working agreement.

Thirdly, sooner or later the known results will come.
But the Law of Prayer, what is it?

1. The prayer must be in Jesus’ name.
2. The prayer must be by a man in full touch with Jesus in heart, habit and life.
3. The prayer must be in harmony with the teaching of the bible.
4. The prayer must be actual, simple, definite and confident – “in faith believing”.

-S. D. Gordon

Do you have several solid colored sock-balls? Have each team place the balls into different shapes that are drawn on the ground, say square, circle, etc. Place a solid colored sock-ball in each shape. Tell the students they must hop (or jump or crawl) to a shape and pick up the colored sock. The difficulty lies in doing so in a pre-determined sequence; the blue sock in the circle first, next the green sock in the triangle, etc. Judges determine if the sequence in correct. This involves two different subjects, shapes and colors along with memory. It could be especially good for small students.

This need not be only done with sock-balls. Other items could be laid out, like plastic fruit, and picked up in sequence. It may get rather noisy though when each team is yelling directions to their teammate. Just be sure they do so in English.

Give two teams one word that you want them to learn. Each player is to say the word and then throw the sock-ball to a person on the other team. That person must repeat the word and then toss the sock-ball back to another person on the first team. For people who cannot repeat the word, their team receives a point. The team with the fewest points wins. Giving the student two words that rhyme can expand this. Each kid then repeats them in a sing-song manner before tossing the sock-ball to a kid on the other team. The objective is to try to keep the sock-ball going in time with the chant. Of course you can do this with three or more words or even make whole phrases or sentences to say. How about using “please, thank-you and your welcome”?

You may have to learn these words, especially “excuse me” or “I’m sorry” if the student’s aim is a little off.

Do you want to add some physical fitness to English learning? Try this one on for size. Fill a couple of plastic sandwich bags full of sand. Stuff these into the toes of a long tube sock and then tie off its end. You now have a very soft dumb-bell. The soft dumb-bells can be draped over the ankle or wrist. They can be held in the hand or behind the head, anywhere and anyway a standard dumbbell can be used. Now have teams compete with each other over how many times each of them can lift the dumb-bells. Each contestant must count out loud in English as they do the exercise. The team that does the most reps wins.

Here’s another interesting way to emphasize the different parts of the human body. Divide the group up into teams. Give each team a sock-ball and line them up. Then call out a name of the body, such as “head”. The first person is to balance the sock-ball on their head. Now is where the fun begins. Each person is then to walk a certain distance while calling out the word “head”. The first to finish is given a point. This continues using different body parts. Think of having a kid with a sock-ball balanced on their foot hopping along shouting “foot”, “foot”, “foot”. If this doesn’t create fun then you have a really dull group of kids.

Set up several items that you want the kids to learn the names of, say cup, pot, pan, trashcan, bowl, etc. Place a number of these items on the floor in front of them. Now break up the kids into teams and place them behind a line some distance from the items. Give the first kid a sock-ball and tell him to throw the ball into one of the items. Whichever item they manage to get the sock-ball into, they must tell you the name of it before you can give their team two points. If the kid cannot tell you the name give his team one point and then ask someone on the other team if they can tell you the name. If they can then their team receives one point also.

You can be creative with the items by making them different colors, putting numbers or pictures on them, etc.. You may even have several items at a greater distance and give the person two points just for making a “basket” and then give them the opportunity to make an additional point if they can tell you the correct word.

While each card has their items arranged differently, there should be two cards for each number. Have these pairs mixed up and then the students must match them up while saying which cards they are trying to match.

Place ten cards out and take one card out of the ten. Have a student hide their eyes while you take the one card away. When they are told to look they must tell you which card is missing.

Glue a certain number of items to a playing card. This card will then represent the number that the items add up to. Make cards with a different number of items while arranging the items differently on each card.

Place the cards face down on the table. As one card is turned up the student must think of another word that starts with the same sound. Or, upon picking up a card, the student must think about a word that rhymes with the card. You could also reverse the play by playing with the cards facing up. The student is required to pick up a card that begins with the sound that you choose. Or you can have the student pick up a card that sounds like or rhymes with a word you give them.

Some English words have similar sounds but entirely different meanings. Hat and cat. Sink and mink. Cape and cap. Etc. Make up picture cards of some of these pairs and place them out in a 4 by 4 square. Now the teacher asks which is the first and which is the second of the pairs. The students must choose the right matches.

Show a card to a team. Have the team create a sentence from it. If the sentence is a good sentence then the team gets a point. If it is not then they lose a point.

Place your cards face down on a table. Have a student turn over three cards. With these three cards the student has to create a sentence. If the student can make a complete sentence then they keep the cards. If the student can’t make a sentence then the cards are placed face down on the table again. Keep playing until all the cards have been used. If the cards are baby, car and train then the sentence might be: “I played with the baby and the train in the car.”

This is a more advanced game and requires some preparation. First either makes up cards with new vocabulary words on them or use special ready-made cards. Lay these cards out in front of you. Now start to make up a story using the words on the cards. Write up the story on a large sheet of paper or on the board. Leave blank spaces where the vocabulary words go. You can also list the missing vocabulary words on the board to the side of the story. Now you are ready. Read the story to the class. As you come to the blank spaces, see if the students can tell you which word goes in the blank space. Continue until all the blank spaces are filled and the story is ended.

You could do without listing the missing words but this would make it harder. You could also use phrases instead of single words. In addition, you could also hand out the story to each student and have them fill in the missing words or you could just fill in the missing words with randomly selected vocabulary words and get a really funny story.

If you thought it was hard for one student to follow directions, what will it be like for two to do it together? Place two blindfolded students into one hoop. Have them hold the hoop around them. The other students must then instruct them to move together to a certain spot. The hitch is that their directions must be entirely by speaking. Make sure you have plenty of room for this one and somewhere that noise won’t bother others.

To make this even more interesting divide the class into teams. Place a blindfolded student from each team into a hoop. The object is to find a hidden balloon. The balloon may be taped up on a wall, placed under a table, etc. Be creative. The other team members must direct them. The student that grabs the balloon first gets a point for their team.

Lay out several hula-hoops on the floor. Give several verbs to each team. Each student on the team is to hop into the first hoop and act out the first verb. The student then hops into the next hoop and acts out the next verb and so on. Judges will determine if they have acted the verbs out correctly. The team with the best acting job wins. Points can also be given for finishing first, most creative, etc. .

Having one team choose a word and then telling the other team a word that rhymes with the chosen word play this game. For example: if the chosen word is ‘hot’, then the word given to the other team could be ‘pot’. The other team would have several guesses to discover the chosen word. If they failed, they receive a point. The team getting five points first would loose.

An old game, Crambo can be used after you have taught rhyming words in your phonics lessons. Try to keep the words simple at first. It may also help if you have pictures of rhyming words on charts on the wall or in open phonics’ book.

Simulate a telephone conversation. Use an old telephone to give it some theater. Choose two students as talkers. On the board have pictures that represent what one of the talkers must talk about. The other talker must respond accordingly. The number of pictures determines the length of the conversation. To make it very interesting, both students have cards that represent subjects that they have to talk about. The first one to mention all of their subjects gets a point provided they maintain proper telephone etiquette.

Here’s one that will help in teaching words that rhyme. As you say words such as rule and mule, slap your hands against your thighs and then clap them together. This creates a one-two beat. As in the example: ru-le, mu-le, etc. This same beat can be used with three syllable words where you stomp your feet, slap your thighs and clap your hands. This adds lots of fun to boring recitation of strange words. The only problems may be that the kids get too rowdy on you. (See also Rhythm Sockball).

The teacher says two sentences and a student must determine whether they were the same or different. Make sure you say the sentences in as exactly the same way as possible.

“You are big.”

“You are big.”

The same.

“I am tall.”

“I am small.”

Different. So don’t just use sentences but also use minimal pairs as well. (Example: Leaf – leave. She – she – he. etc.) Why not do the same only substitute phonetic sounds for words?

Two teams are used. A student from one team is instructed to touch or point to an object and ask “What’s this?” or “What’s that?” The student next to them must answer by making a complete sentence like: “It’s a clock.” or “It’s your watch.” If the student is wrong than a point is taken away. If the student is right than their team wins a point.

An advanced form would be for the student who asks the question to add: “Is it a _____?” with the blank being something either correct or incorrect. Then the other team must decide which it is.

Collect a number of items that can be put up for sale. Place a price tag of a certain number. You use buttons for currency. A is worth two buttons. A crayon is worth 1 and a piece of paper is worth 3 buttons, etc. Give the students a certain number of buttons to purchase the items. Have them ask the ‘clerk’ how much each item is. “How much is this pencil?” “How much is the paper?” You can even mix currency by adding bottle caps or something else and assigning it a value so as to force the making of change. Here the emphasis is on speaking English and not arithmetic.

Try to count everything as you touch it. Count the buttons on a shirt as you touch them. Count paper clips as you put them into a box. Every time you see a number have the student say the word for that number. If there are a number of items of anything, count them as the student touches them. (Example: Ask the student how many toes they have. The student then counts them.)

Make a clock by fastening clock hands onto a paper plate using a string. Add numbers to the clock, preferably 3,6,9,12. Now list a daily schedule that the student keeps. Show the time on the clock. For a digital readout, just write out the time before the event. Example: 7:30 – Breakfast. 8:00 – Go to School. Etc.

Teach a word and teach its opposite at the same time. If you are trying to teach ‘up’ then also teach ‘down’. Left then right. Open then close. Short than tall and so on.

Both you and a student have a toy car. As you roll the car along the table or floor or wall or whatever, make up a commentary of where you are and how the car is going. (Example: The car going fast. The car is under the table. The car is beside Tom.) The student then repeats the direction to you. Take turns with the child about doing the ‘play by play’.

You could also make up an imaginary commentary of where you are going in the car, what you are seeing, how everything is. Etc. This can be a great way to create interesting stories out of separate sentences.

Each student whispers a simple thing for the next student to do. For example: Smile, Sit down, Stand up, touch you head, etc. The student must then act out the directions.

Make up a scrapbook with each page dedicated to one letter. On the page collect and paste pictures of things that begin with that letter. Select pictures that only begin with the simple sound and not the compound sound, i.e. sail and not shell.

Letters represent sounds but this may not be easy for a student to understand. Have the student give their name. As you say the name have the student think of which letters makes the correct sounds. You can have letters such as those furnished with scrabble or other games. Have the letters laid out face up and then have the student pick out which letters make the correct sounds. Lay the letters side by side to make up the word. You can then lie out the words to make sentences.

You could make up cardboard blocks with letters on them. Lay out the cardboard so that when folded the cardboard will create a block. Draw the letters on the sides, fold and paste. Make up the blocks like you did for letters only this time put words on them. Have blocks with nouns, verbs, pronouns, etc. Then take turns turning the blocks around and making new sentences.

Not everything is viewed from the side. Think of something that everyone knows the name of; let’s say a tree. Draw two pictures of a tree on two cards; one picture is your standard side view the other may be one from above the tree. Now show the students first the card with the view from above and ask them what it is a picture of. If no one can guess then say that it is a picture from above. If no one can guess then show him or her the side view.

Try using other perspectives such as below, besides, etc.

Get a large manila envelope and a piece of cardboard that just fits into it. Find a large picture of just one item that will fit on the cardboard and paste it on. Put the cardboard in the envelope. When you are in front of the class, begin to pull out the picture in stages. The first stage will show just a little bit of the picture. Ask if anyone knows what the picture is. If no one knows the answer then ask them what they do see. If they need hints then suggest something. Pull out a little more of the picture and ask if anyone knows what the picture is of or what they see. Continue until someone correctly identifies the picture.

As you go around the room, have each student ask a question of the student next to him. The only words they can’t use is yes or no or maybe. For example:

Q. “Are you hungry?”

A. “I am hungry.”

Q. “Do you like hamburger?”

A. “I like hamburger.”

While this is not a competitive game, it is a very useful way to teach What, Where, When, How and Why. These words will cover a lot of the questions your students will ask in their usage of English.

Start our by asking your students simple questions. These can be answered with one word such as:

“What color is the sky?”

“What do you like to eat?”

“When do you get up?”

“When do you go to school?”

“How many fingers do you have?”

You can progress to questions that require more involved answers such as:

“How are you today?”

“Where do you live?”

“Where is your bike?”

“Why does your finger hurt?”

“Why are you hungry?”

To help them along with the why question, you may have to prompt them a little with a hint or two. Even better than you asking the questions, why not have the students ask each other the questions. Not all questions are serious ones. You can ask the students silly questions and have them answer with a yes or no. This makes them want to listen carefully and see how different words go with each other or can be made into sentences.

How can you teach a student sounds? Well, here’s a very useful game to do just that. The teacher says a word and then asks a student what sound the word started with (or ended with or what sound is in the middle of the word). The student gets one chance and receives a point for their team if they are right. If they are wrong then one point is subtracted from their teams score and the other team is given a chance. You can use any word you choose.

You can make the game harder by using longer words where there are several clear sounds in the middle of the word. You can also have the student say the word after you and then have them say a word that also starts/ end with the same sound. You may have to give the student a hint about what other words start/end with the sound your word does. What about words that rhyme with your word? Rhyming words are fun to do and you can even make a game out of saying the words they come up with. Say the words several different ways to make a jingle out of the sounds. Sometimes you could even do a Dr. Sues type of rhyming by making up nonsense words that rhyme with your word.

Collect ten small objects from the students and place them in a box. As you put them in the box, have the class see them and say what they are. Put your hand into the box and grab hold of one object but do not show it to the class.

Teacher: “What do I have in my hand?”

Student1: “A comb.” or “The comb.”

Teacher: “No.”

Student2: “A watch.” or “The watch.”

Teacher: “Yes.”

Now for some fast thinking on the students’ part. Whoever guessed the object has a chance to ‘keep’ the object but so do the other students. Before the student gets the object anyone may say a true statement about the object and then they get to keep it if no one else says a true statement about the object.

Things such as it being a silver watch or it is fast or slow or some other true statement about it. When everything has been ‘won’, the teacher begins to distribute the objects to their rightful owners. The teacher says: “Whose is this?” The student says “It’s mine/his/John’s, etc. You could also make the students ask questions instead of you asking about what objects are in your hand. (“Have you got a . . .?”)

Hold up pictures that exemplify a single concept; something like running or swimming. Make up a simple sentence about the picture and tell it to the class. If it is true then the class will repeat the sentence back to you. Here you as the teacher can compete against the class. If the class repeats something that is false then you receive a point. If the class responds correctly by repeating a true sentence or not repeating a false one then they receive a point.

As you are leaning the names of the body parts, this little ‘art project’ might be fun to do. A large piece of paper is folded into fifths. The teacher tells the first student to draw a head on the paper. The next student is told to draw hair, the next eyes, the next a nose, the next a mouth, and the next ears. Now the paper is folded over and the next student is told to draw a neck and the next shoulders. The paper is folded over again and the next student is told to draw arms and the next a chest. The paper is folded over again and the next student is told to draw hands and the next a stomach. The paper is folded over again and the next student is told to draw legs. The paper is folded over one last time and the next student is told to draw feet. When the paper is unfolded, the result is very funny. Can the students name the body parts? They sure can.