Touch and tell

Objectives

The learner can describe an object by touching it.

Material

• A non-transparent bag with a small opening
• Objects related to the treated topic, e.g. Food: a pepper mill, an orange, broccoli, a spoon…

Preparation

• Fill the bag with a dozen objects.
• Teach relevant words, e.g. colours, shapes, materials, size, flavours, etc.
• Teach relevant sentences to describe the objects, e;g.
  It is …
  You can eat, bake, cook it …
  I like it, because it is …

Instructions

• Sit in a circle around a table.
• Explain how the exercise works by touching and describing an object in the bag, for instance a strawberry: It’s small, it’s red, it’s sweet. On the inside there are white seeds. The outside is smooth. You can eat it. It is healthy. It is a fruit. A small piece is green, which you cannot eat.
• Don’t mention the name of the object!
• Ask the leaners to guess what the object is you have been describing.
• Then ask a learner to do the same thing.

Variant

• Let the other learners ask questions about the touched object and let them guess.
• When everyone has had a turn, take all the objects out of the bag and ask each learners to choose, name and describe an object.
• Record the learners when they are talking and listen to this recording together.
• Ask them Who talks easily?
  What’s it like to hear your own voice?
  What’s it like to hear yourself speaking in another language?