A big part of the Cambridge YLE exams relies on learners knowing prepositions of place. They need to be able to put images in positions on a picture, describe where things are and colour the correct object depending on its position in the listening paper. It’s therefore really important to make sure that our learners know their prepositions of place as early as possible.
This TPR game is a great way for students to get to grips with the new lexis while still having fun.
Get your class to stand up and teach the prepositions of place with some basic instructions.
“Put your hand on your head”
“Put your hand in front of your face”
“Put your hand next to your head”
“Put your hand in your mouth”
“Put your head between your hands”
“Put your hand under your head” etc
Model the gesture as you say the instruction and get the students to copy. Then stop modelling and check that they are still following the instructions correctly.
Next, reduce the command so that you are only saying the preposition, “in”; “under”, “behind” etc
When you feel the students are at a good point, tell them to close their eyes and explain that you are going to repeat the activity but with their eyes closed. If the teacher touches their shoulder they must sit down.
Give the instructions and tap the shoulder of any student who makes a mistake. The purpose of this is that you can see who really understands the prepositions and which ones are still proving problematic.
Increase the speed of the instructions until you are left with one last student standing.
Reward with a sticker and fend off screams of “Repeat!”
Learning lessons from TEFL 