RLA’s Reader’s Program is now open, so it’s also time to open our Learner’s Lounge up to you all. Over on Instagram, we’re sharing mini-extensions for the Novel Study we’re conducting on Alex T. Smith’s charming book Claude on Holiday. If you plan on following this novel study closely, you could follow us on Insta for more immediate updates and a first look at our posts, but Tumblr’s the place to be for more in depth resources and information. Here, we’ll dig in a little deeper, link to additional practice, and share a few more ideas for you lovely people.
Claude on Holiday Novel Study | Day 1: Clothes
Summer is all about having fun in the sun, so it’s the perfect season for trying new things and going on new adventures. But what should we wear? Let’s get some ideas!
First, Review what you already know.
What would you wear in your country for...
a seaside adventure / a day at the beach
an adventure at sea / a sailing or cruise ship adventure
a camping / a hiking adventure
Think about it with a class brainstorm and then make it a game! One way to review clothing vocab is through a dress-up drawing challenge. We’ve already provided some summer specific “adventures” for you to start off with. Pick one at random and grab a piece of paper. Then, try to draw and label the perfect outfit for it showing at least five items of clothing (for easy scoring-- 5x20 = 100!).
Make it a race against time by adding a 1 minute time limit (solo challenge), or make it a team challenge by allowing teams to work together to draw and label a picture with as many items as possible before 2 or 3 minutes runs out. The team with the most items labeled wins!
Visit Links to Summer Fashion Sites (to Expand your Vocab)
Here are some resources to find out more about the names of certain summer clothes:
Jetsetter’s 5 Outfits (for Men and Women)
Beachbrella’s Ideas (for Men and Women)
What to Wear in Goa (for Men and Women)
Please note that all of the sites above have ads and depending on how old (or how conservative) you or your audience may be, be cautious and remember it’s the vocab that counts! ^^
For Parents | Games to Try at Home
For parents who are hoping to study this novel with their kids, try a closet rush or a fashion show game to practice clothing related vocabulary.
The closet rush game is quick and simple. Lay out (or pile up) a few items of clothing for your young one to use. Then get the stopwatch on your phone ready. Tell your child you will call out 3-5 items of clothing and they need to find and put those clothes on as fast as they can. When they’re ready, start the stopwatch and call out the items one by one until the list is finished. Stop the clock when they’ve finished getting dressed and let them know their time! They might want to go again to see if they can find the items even faster!
The (closet) fashion show will help your little one learn planning skills. Together, set a theme for the fashion show (one of the summer adventures listed above can be a start!). Now the planning begins! Who will be in the fashion show? What should each person wear? What do we have at home that can make this outfit a reality? What should we say to introduce each outfit? After planning all of the details, you can help them realize their plan! Have a family fashion show using all of the details you’ve discussed, take pictures or record a video, and use that memory to review clothes again later if needed!
Rivers Learning on Teachers Pay Teachers
So, did you learn a lot from this mini-lesson? We hope so! We got our ideas from the emphasis on clothing items featured throughout Alex T. Smith’s Claude on Holiday! Our goal is to show ESL Learners and Teachers that English can be interesting if you read authentic material and allow yourself to be inspired by it! SLOWLY, we are taking the resources from our classes and putting them up on our Teachers Pay Teachers Store so that they’re easier for y’all to access. Note that our classes, of course, include some additional, interactive materials that can make Learning even more fun, but for those of you who can teach yourselves, don’t limit yourselves! There’s so much to know and so much room to grow. Be inspired and keep in touch!
If you plan to continue following this Novel Study, we highly encourage you to BUY THE BOOK and grab some of our resources from TpT! We’ve handpicked some vocabulary from this book and have collected 100 useful British English/ summery words for you to learn in this Claude Novel Study Flashcard Set.
Happy Learning!
Rivers Learning Academy
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