"I’m a star!"

An activity designed for beginning or intermediate ESL students

(but adaptable to others!)

In this activity, students colour in a star glyph according to instructions given by the teacher. The glyphs are posted on a bulletin board (perhaps under the caption "I’m a star!") and the fun begins!

material:

notions and linguistic skills:

procedure:

1. As a warm-up to the activity, orally ask students for some of the information that will be used on the glyph (see below).
2. Hand out a copy of the star glyph to each student.
3. Examine it together, calling students’ attention to the fact that the star has been divided into 10 different sections. Tell them that each section will be coloured according to their answers for the information you will be asking.
4. Tell them to use their "best colouring" since their work will be posted on the bulletin board.
5. If necessary, also do a quick review of colours.
6. Ask students to find section number 1. Tell them that if they are a boy, they should colour it purple; if they are a girl, they should colour it red. Give them time to do so.
7. Proceed with the other 9 instructions.
8. I suggest doing them orally together as a class, and they may be written out on the board or on a separate sheet as well.
9. Ask students to print their first names in the rectangle (on the star glyph page).* They should do this in a dark colour or with a marker since this will later be used to identify their star.
10. Once completed, both the star and the rectangle should be cut out and handed in.*
11. Post the finished stars on a bulletin board and give students a few minutes to go up and have a good look at them. They will enjoy trying to find theirs and pick out those of their friends.
12. Also be sure to post a large copy of the list of instructions for easy reference.
13. The stars may then be exploited in several different ways. Here are a few:

• Since the stars have not yet been identified, play an identification game with the students: choose a star and read some of the characteristics. Say, for example, here we have a girl whose favourite colour is red and who prefers basketball and chicken. She’s left-handed. Do you know who she is?
• Students may also be asked to choose a star and read some of its characteristics for others to guess. Each time a star is correctly identified, add the student’s name (rectangle).
• The stars may also be numbered and students asked to write down the number and the person of any stars they feel they can identify. (A good way to do this is in co-op groups; while students work at something else, each group gets a turn having a close look at the bulletin board. Decisions are group decisions.)
• Students may also simply be asked to come and point out their star and explain one or two things about themselves.

* Note : You may prefer not to have students cut their stars out. In that case, write in (or have students write in) their name once the class has identified the owner.

Once the stars have been identified and labelled, they can be used for a variety of activities. Here are a few:

• Surveys: ask students to find various stars. Some examples include: find a girl who is left-handed and likes blue best of all; find three people who do not prefer pizza to chicken, etc. These may be done individually or in small groups; they may be written or oral.
• Statistics: How many students in the class are right-handed? How many boys prefer basketball?…
• Graphs: Students may be asked to make graphs of various information on the stars. This could be done in groups with each group working on one characteristic for a "final" class graph.
• Venn diagrams: ask students to compare their star with someone else’s. They can be asked to add five new elements to their diagrams.
• Writing: students may be asked to write a few statements about themselves using the info on the star.

list of instructions for filling in the glyph

(Of course, these can be modified at will!)

(Note : They are listed here in order; however, I do not do them in order, and I always leave number two until last.)

1. If you are a boy, colour number 1 purple; if you are a girl, colour it red.
2. Add a face to your star. Use the number 2 as the nose! (You may add hair, glasses, etc. if you like.)
3. Colour number 3 your favourite season. If it is Fall, colour it orange. If it is Winter, colour it light blue. If it is Spring, colour number 3 green, and if it Summer, colour it yellow.
4. Colour number 4 the colour that you like the least.
5. Colour number 5 blue if you prefer reading to math; colour number 5 orange if you prefer math to reading.
6. Number 6 are the feet (shoes). Colour the feet black if you prefer soccer to basketball; colour the feet brown if you prefer basketball to soccer.
7. Colour number 7 grey if you have sisters; colour it brown if you have brothers. If you have both brothers and sisters, colour number 7 both brown and black; if you are an only child, leave number 7 white.
8. Colour the hands (gloves) blue if you are right-handed; colour the hands pink if you are left-handed.
9. Colour number 9 your very most favourite colour. If you have two favourites, you may colour number 9 half one colour and half the other.
10. Colour number 10 red if you prefer pizza to chicken; colour number 10 yellow if you prefer chicken to pizza.