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TeachingEnglish Young Learners Activity Book
Activities
Activity 36: The house seller
Maria Elena Placido – Italy
Age: 9+
40–50 minutes Large classes? Yes Mixed level? Yes
Materials: Paper and pens.
Organisation: Whole class activity.
Aim: To revise house vocabulary and to
role play buying or selling a house.
Description: Children are divided into small
groups. They are either buyers or sellers of
houses. The sellers design a house and the
buyers decide what sort of house they want.
Buyers then visit sellers to try to find the perfect
house for their family.
Preparation: No preparation is needed for this activity.
Procedure
1. Revise house vocabulary – room names (e.g. bathroom, lounge, bedroom), floors
(e.g. ground, cellar, first, attic) and other parts such as stairs, garden, balcony and so on.
2. Divide the class into small groups of three to four. Make sure you have an even number
of groups. Tell half the groups they are going to be sellers and half the groups they are
going to be buyers.
3. The sellers design a house. Each group of sellers draws a picture and labels it, and writes
a description. Each group of buyers draws a picture of a family. Each member of the family
has a ‘thought bubble’ in which the buyers write what they want in their new house.
4. Set up the classroom as a shop. Sellers sit behind desks with their houses and buyers visit
the shops. Buyers visit all the sellers to find out about their houses and to tell the sellers
about their needs.
5. Buyers then decide which house would suit them best and sellers decide which family
would suit their houses.
6. Buyers and sellers explain their choices to the class.
Notes
This activity is good for mixed level classes as there is a lot of drawing and labelling as well as
writing to be done.
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© British Council 2012