Englicious

Chains For All Occasions

A chain is an activity in which one student passes something on to the next, and this continues until stopped. If you can think of an appropriate chain for a subject of study, you've just saved yourself some preparation time—and a good chain will let the students entertain themselves for a while (shifting the burden from your shoulders). You just need to monitor and make occasional corrections.

Chains come in different types, including simple, binary, and accumulating. In a simple chain, Student A says something to which Student B responds. Then Student B says something to which Student C responds. Binary chains are intended for two students. In an accumulating chain, each student adds something onto a list that keeps growing. You can set a length to restart at.

What kinds of chains can you do for different learning topics? Here are a few. You'll find that most of these chain activities are pretty open-ended; students can pull from recent class vocabulary, and some students can flaunt special words from their personal vocabularies.

Present Simple — Daily Routine (accumulating)

  1. "Every day, I get up."
  2. "Every day, I get up and brush my teeth."
  3. "Every day, I get up, brush my teeth, and call the police."

Past Simple — How I escaped from the cops (accumulating)

  1. "First, I hid when they knocked on my door."
  2. "First, I hid when they knocked on my door. Then I climbed out the bathroom window."
  3. "First, I hid when they knocked on my door. Then I climbed out the bathroom window. Then I stole the neighbor's motorcycle and rode ten miles."

Future Simple — Quarreling Psychics

  1. "Next year, the President will visit Spain."
  2. "Oh, no he won't, because Spain will be hit by an asteroid before he leaves."
  3. "Oh, no it won't. Some Japanese scientists will destroy the asteroid before it hits."
  4. "Oh, no they won't. Mount Fuji will explode and Japan will sink into the Pacific Ocean."

The Infinitive of Purpose — To Where, to Do What??

  1. "Joey, I hear you're going to Miami to go fishing."
  2. "No, I'm going to Miami to swim with dolphins. Mary, I hear you're going to Hollywood to be in the movies."
  3. "No, I'm going to Hollywood to track down my ex-husband. Marge, I hear you're going to the zoo to visit some penguins."

(etc.)

Comparatives — I'm Better Because…

Twin chain:

  1. "I'm better, because my shoes are more modern."
  2. "My bike is more expensive than your shoes!"
  3. "My motorcycle is faster than your bike!"

Accumulating chain (for fancy people):

  1. "I have a castle. It's bigger than Marty's house."
  2. "Pam's castle is bigger than my house, but my garden is more beautiful than Olivia's car."
  3. "Marty's garden is more beautiful than my car, but my rocket is more exciting than Phyllis's garden."
  4. "Olivia's rocket is more exciting than my garden, but my anaconda is deadlier than Davey's pit bull."

First Conditional

  1. "If he sings again, I'll scream."
  2. "If she screams, I'll run out of the room."
  3. "If she runs out of the room, she'll miss the rest of English class."
  4. "If she misses the rest of English class, she won't pass the test."
  5. "If she doesn't pass the test, I'll laugh in her face."

Second Conditional

  1. "If I were a bird, I'd fly out the window."
  2. "If you flew out the window, I'd throw a book at you."
  3. "If Tom threw a book at you, I'd call Greenpeace."
  4. "If you called Greenpeace, they'd arrest Tom."

Third Conditional — If Life Had Been Different (accumulating)

  1. "If I had been born in Brazil, I would have lived by the sea."
  2. "If I had been born in Brazil, I would have lived by the sea and I would have gone swimming every day."
  3. "If I had been born in Brazil, I would have lived by the sea, I would have gone swimming every day, and I would have had a beautiful suntan."

Phrasal Verbs — Mean People Doing Mean Things

  1. "I'm mean. I took off my shoe and threw it at you."
  2. "He took off his shoe and threw it at me, so I put out my cigarette on your arm."
  3. "She put out her cigarette on my arm, so I put your wallet away in a safe and locked it."

Vocabulary — I Saw Our Teacher… (accumulating)

For this example, we'll use clothing names. To force students to visualize the clothing and reinforce their knowledge of the definition, ask them to point to the part of the body where the clothing is worn.

  1. "I saw our teacher yesterday. He was wearing a purple hat."
  2. "I saw our teacher yesterday, too. He was wearing a purple hat and white boots."
  3. "I saw our teacher yesterday, too. He was wearing a purple hat, white boots, and a long, green skirt with black polka-dots."

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