The most romantic holiday of the year is around the corner and teachers want to create a special atmosphere on February,14. Here are some ideas of practicing vocabulary and speaking in an engaging context. Since adults tend to be more skeptical about St. Valentine’s day than other age groups, choose one task from the list as a warm-up or a filler.
The activities are suitable for intermediate level and above.
Romantic movies to watch
Due to its authenticity, the task is very interesting for all learners. Select 3 film trailers and play them in the lesson. Ask students to work in pairs and choose one film that they are going to see on St. Valentine’s day.
For example,
The dating list
Isn’t it romantic?
Long shot
Useful phrases:
Funny love quotes
Choose 3-5 gapped quotes and hand them out to students. In pairs, let them decide what the missing words are. Elicit the answers and say if learners are right.
Quotes:
- I love you with all my ___. I would say heart, but my ___ is bigger.
- Always follow your heart, but remember to bring your __ along!
- Love; A temporary insanity curable by ___.(~ Ambrose Bierce)
- He stole my heart so I’m planning revenge… I am going to take his ____ ____.
- What’s the best way to have your husband remember your anniversary? Get married on his ____.(~ Cindy Garner)
- The four most important words in any marriage: “I’ll do the _____”.
Key:
I love you with all my belly. I would say heart, but my belly is bigger.
Always follow your heart, but remember to bring your brain along!
Love; A temporary insanity curable by marriage.(~ Ambrose Bierce)
He stole my heart so I’m planning revenge… I am going to take his last name.
What’s the best way to have your husband remember your anniversary? Get married on his birthday. (~ Cindy Garner)
The four most important words in any marriage: “I’ll do the dishes”.
The quotes are taken from this website.
Useful expressions on the topic ‘Love and relationships’
Give learners a list of phrases and ask them to put the expressions in a logical order. There is more than one correct answer.
- chat somebody up;
- get engaged with somebody;
- split up with somebody;
- fancy somebody;
- get back together with somebody;
- get divorced;
- get on well with somebody;
- fall out with somebody;
- make up with somebody;
- ask somebody out;
- get married to somebody;
- fall in love;
- go out with somebody.
After that students make a picture story using time expressions: after that, six months later, finally, for two weeks, before.
Find someone who…
Hand out a worksheet to each student. Let them read the statements and help with difficult words. Then learners walk around the room trying to find a person who matches a description and collects extra information by asking follow-up questions.
After they completed the task, let them share one interesting fact about one person.
If you work one-on-one, transform this activity to discussion questions.