Tips for More Entertaining Homework

We all know that most of the time homework is found really boring by our kids especially when they have loads of it. Even teachers get bored while preparing it. So, I came up with a few ideas on how to improve our homework to lure our kids ^.^

-Using qr code : Kids love their smart phones and never want to leave it. So, they can use their phones while they are on task. You can put I have already mentioned how to use QR Codes in homework. You can either use it if you want them to watch a video or listen to a song.  Here you can find more information.

- Putting students' own work: Wouldn't you feel surprised if you wrote a paragraph and got published? I bet you would! That's how kids feel, as well. You can use their texts as a part of homework with related questions. I do it and they love it. 

-Songs: Of course you can use songs in many ways- especially in teaching English. But also you can use songs just for fun. Putting a song and asking for the genre, for instance, is fun! This one is my favourite these days and you can talk / write about what A Cappella means.

- Tongue Twisters or Riddles: You can always finish the worksheet with a funny riddle or tongue twister. You can even put it in a QR Code so the kids can get excited. My kids always wonder what Ms Aysu will ask them the next week =)

-Using the Names of the Students: That's a small step for us, but not for them. Using their names helps students integrate more. You can turn it into a game and use it as an award. If they see their names on the worksheet, they know that they have deserved it

-Using Your Own Picture As A Story Starter: I found out that my kids love to hear stories about my own life. Though I don't talk about everything that is going on in my life, I sometimes share stories from my childhood when they get bored. This made me think using my own pictures in worksheets and ask them to write a story.

You can either leave them alone while writing or give them some guiding questions such as: 

*Where are they?                                   *Who is Ms Aysu's friend?    

*Why is Ms Aysu happy while her friend is not?

              *What happened?               *What didn't happen?   

       
      Here is an example from one of my students:

-Using Funny but Creative Pictures That Are All Over the Internet: Internet is a great source for everything. It just depends on how you use it. Here are some examples to entertain the kids while boosting their creativity:

In the first one can you spot the panda?

With these, homework turns into something that kids become curious about. They ask me from Monday what they will see in the homework sheets. To be honest, they would still be happy having a weekend without any homework, but still they look forward to it. 

Me, Myself and I

Now that the summer holiday has gone (at least for us teachers – Yes, I know I’m sorry, too), it is time for me to go back to blogging. I know that my blog also has rested, sunburnt and swam (and read a lot) like I did.

All I can do for summer holiday is to go back to the photos I took – and of course ideas have been coming through). When I saw one of my photos, which is absolutely one of my favorite selfies, I decided that I could use that one in one of my lessons.

I think that one can be used if I ever have a cover lesson or simply for speaking using Past Simple Tense. After speaking, the kids also can write about it, and they can create their own photos like that and present it to the classroom the next day. 

Here is the original photo that I have chosen :

I used my phone skills, which I barely have, to cover it like this:

 I'm sure you have better skills -anything can be done. I thought about my fifth graders from last year, so I know them, which means they would love this one. Simply because they know that I am definitely terrible at drawing and they call me Ms. Picasso Simsek =) I'm sure we would laugh a lot at this. 

When I show this one of course the first question would be "Who is this?" They most probably would guess. Then more questions would be asked like:

-Where was I?

-Who was that standing next to me?

-Where was I before?

-Where was I going?

-How was I related to that "thing next to me? etc.

-Was I alone? If not, how many people were there with me? Who were they?

Then the next one comes:

I thought showing the cow would be more surprising than showing me =) 

Then, questions about the cow  like "Is it real?", "What's her name?" etc. might come. You can always add more according to the class.

This exercise can also be done when students themselves ask questions. After this speaking session, they can write a story by answering similar questions and as I stated above they can bring their own surprise photo and present it to the classroom.

By bringing my own photo to the classroom may result in having more students interested in the lesson. Nearly every day more and more students add me on instagram, but I, as a teacher, do not like the idea of having students in my personal life. So, in this way they might keep away for a while - or the opposite! 

P.S.: If I can ever have the opportunity to use these in my lesson, I will definitely write about my kids' reaction ^.^