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There are a lot of outdoor activities that can help us, teachers, to make students feel that learning English is not only about grammar exercises, reading old fashioned texts and writing some unnecessary essays. It is actually great fun. You may ask, what can help us to change our minds and believe that learning English is fun? My answer is to treat it like a game. For example, I will now list some of the outdoors activities that I have used to help my students learn English in the most fun possible way. I want to add that all activities contain receptive and productive skills, which is our aim when teaching. Task: Letter to a friend/parents Purpose The main purpose of this activity is to use adjectives and to familiarize students with the letter construction. Instructions Student will be instructed to write a letter to either a friend or their parents. In the letter, the student will be required to describe the weather to the reader. For the learning to begin, I will read out my own letter and ask students to note all adjectives that they hear. When the students have finished, I will ask a volunteer to come and write two adjectives that they heard on a white board. I will repeat this with other volunteers until all adjectives have been written on the board. The students will then be asked to volunteer and repeat the same exercise. Task: Map your route Purpose While doing this activity students learn to be attentive to detail and to use the necessary vocabulary for directions before drawing a map. Instructions Before going for a short walk, instruct your students to be attentive and notice landmarks or sights during the walk. After coming back to the class, pair the students and ask them to draw a map with the route you have just finished and include everything interesting they just saw. Give the students a time limit to complete the task. When all maps are ready divide the class into two groups and ask them to draw their maps on the board. After it is done pair the students and do the following. Ask a volunteer to tell you the route from one point on the map to another. This will be an example for the pairs of students to follow. The students will then ask each other for directions using the maps. Task: The mime Purpose In my experience, this is the most fun activity for young learners. You can use this activity for vocabulary and practicing some grammar structures. Instructions You need to do some preparation before going outdoors. First decide what topic you will use for your mime game, then print some pictures on this topic. Bear in mind that the pictures must be clear for the students to understand. Put all the pictures in a bag or hat. While outside split the class into two teams then take one student from each team and ask them to take one picture each. You will then instruct the students to tell their partners that their picture shows using only their bodies. The team who shouts the correct answer first will gain a point. The team which has the most points and the end will win a prize. As you can see both learning and teaching English can be fun. Engaging in outdoor activities is a very good option, not only for the students learning process but also for their physical health. A teacher should keep in mind that the weather should be good as doing outdoor activities in the rain or in stormy weather will not be much fun.
