First published online 05.02.09
American symbols
Teacher s Notes
by Hubert Karbowy
Type of activity: Pair work Follow-up:
Focus: Reading and Speaking 1. Students can try to describe the symbols of
their country.
Level: Pre-Intermediate
2. If you have a more imaginative class, you can
Time: About 15 minutes
ask your students to invent a new country and
design its symbols  the flag, the emblem and
Preparation:
the national plant. They should also be able
Photocopy worksheet 1 (one for the whole class)
to justify their decisions.
and worksheet 2 (one per pair). Cut up the slips
from worksheet 1 and stick them randomly on
the classroom walls. If you want to make this
activity more difficult, you can cut off the
pictures on the slips, so that students will not be
able to tell what the slip describes without
reading it.
Procedure:
1. Get students to work in pairs. Give them
exactly one minute to list anything that comes
to their mind when they think about the
United States of America. Get feedback.
2. Explain that in this activity students will learn
about four important American symbols: the
flag, Uncle Sam, the Independence Day and
the Statue of Liberty.
3. In each pair there should be one person who
does the writing (Student A) and the other
who does the running (Student B). Hand out
worksheet 2 to every Student A.
4. Student A now reads one question from the
worksheet to Student B, who must find the
answer on one of the slips stuck on the walls.
Emphasize that only one question at a time
may be read.
5. The pair who correctly answers all the
questions first is the winner.
© Macmillan Polska 2009 PHOTOCOPIABLE