TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS 

Abracadabra!
Chris Payne has some
magic tricks up his sleeve.
N
owadays, teachers can avail
themselves of a variety of
methods and approaches to
teaching English. Whatever
your preferred approach and pedagogic
are mostly mathematical and work out
by themselves. They don’t require the
sleight of hand of a skilled conjuror, just
a little practice.

beliefs are, it is generally agreed that it

is of paramount importance to recycle
It’s magic!
language in different contexts in order The six easy tricks suggested below
to consolidate learning. revise lexical fields of your choice,
A fun way to revisit language is to prepositions of place, months, clock
use a few simple magic tricks in your times, and numbers and adding skills.
classroom. Magic has the power to As you will see, these tricks, and many
enthral, entertain and motivate young others, are waiting to be exploited for
learners, which in turn makes the revision of language, and you can
language more memorable. Another involve your students more by
advantage is that some students will encouraging them to try out their own
know tricks in their L1 and will be keen tricks in class. You will notice how,
to come and share them with the class. thanks to magic, your pupils will make
Trying to do them in English has the an effort to communicate in English
potential to generate a lot of new lexis. because they genuinely have something
they want to say – surely the Holy
Grail of ELT!
It’s serious
Don’t be put off by the apparent 1 Guess the word!
frivolity of magic, because as well as
engaging your pupils, it can help foster a Language focus: Any lexical field
positive attitude towards learning. Materials: Flashcards of your chosen
According to Stephen Krashen’s lexical set.This example uses jobs. If
Affective Filter hypothesis, the learner’s you have been revising jobs, then this
emotional state can block or favour trick is a fun way to end the class.
language acquisition. For Krashen, a low
affective filter is desirable for learners Procedure
to be more receptive to input. I believe  Shuffle the job flashcards and spread
that magic in the classroom can lower them out in a line face up on your
the affective filter and be highly desk or on the floor to show the
conducive to learning. Here I hope to class that they are mixed up. As you
share with you its valid contribution to do this, glimpse and remember the
language acquisition. ninth card from the left.
 Now turn the cards face down and
It’s easy gather them into a pack (your
remembered card will be the ninth
I must point out, too, that you don’t from the top) and ask a student to
need to be a professional magician to choose a number between ten and
perform the tricks I use in class. I am a 19. Let’s say they choose 14. Deal
teacher, not a magician, and the tricks 14 cards face down onto the floor

22 • Issue 61 March 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •

 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS 
or your desk. Deal slowly and show  You will see the thirteenth card, which

Phillip Burrows
the class each one before you put it will tell you the month your
down so that they can name the volunteer was born in. Go through
jobs, eg firefighter, police officer, all the months and then at the end,
farmer, etc. with a flourish, amaze the class by
naming both the chosen card and the
 Next, ask another student to add
month your volunteer was born in.
the digits of 14: 1 + 4 = 5. This pupil
deals five cards from the 14 cards Variation
used earlier, again showing each one If you prefer, you could ask your
so that the jobs can be named. volunteer to choose the month a friend
or family member was born in. If you
 Ask a third volunteer to take the
do this, nobody can accuse you of
next card and show it to the class
 When they have snapped it in half knowing the month in advance.
without showing it to you. This card
is the ninth card which you glimpsed (or more pieces), unfold the
earlier, and they will all be amazed handkerchief and show the class 4 The magic clock
when you guess the job depicted that the match is still perfectly
Language focus: Telling the time
on it! intact. They will be baffled, but
remember not to let them examine Materials: A normal pack of playing
the handkerchief after the trick! cards
2 The magic match
Procedure
Language focus: Prepositions of place Birthday cards
3  At the appropriate time in the class,
Materials: A box of matches and a Language focus: The months place two piles of cards on the desk
handkerchief with a hem or the floor, one with 13 cards and
Materials: A normal pack of playing the other with the rest of the deck.
Procedure cards
 Before the class begins, you need to  Give the pile with 13 cards to a
push a match into the hem of one Procedure student and ask them to remove
of the corners of the handkerchief.  Before performing the trick, some of the cards while your back is
memorise the thirteenth card from turned and put them in their pocket.
 At the appropriate moment in the the top of a pack of cards. Tell them to shuffle the remainder
class, lay out the handkerchief on
 After having focused on the names of their pile, memorise the bottom
the floor or on your desk.
of the months, take the cards and card and show it to the class. Then
 Ask a volunteer to take a match and quickly show them to the class so ask them to put their pile face down
place it in front of the handkerchief. that they can see that they are all on top of the rest of the deck.
Then other students take turns to different, but be careful not to  On the floor, deal out 12 cards face
place the match behind, next to, shuffle them! down in an anticlockwise direction
under, on, and between the
 Now put the pack face down. Turn to represent a clock face, as in the
handkerchief and something else.
your back and ask a volunteer to illustration.
Finally, ask someone to put the
match in the middle of the take from the top of the pack the First
card at
handkerchief. number of cards corresponding to 12 o’clock
the month they were born in. For position
 Pick up the corners of the example, if they were born in July,
handkerchief and fold them in, so they take seven cards.
that the student’s match is covered.
Make sure that the corner with the  Turn round and deal 12 cards face
hidden match is not the last one to down from the top of the pack, one
be folded in. for each month. As you deal them,
the whole class name the months:
 Now pick up the handkerchief and January, February, etc. Pick up these Remainder
take the hidden match in your 12 cards and deal each one face up, of pack
fingers. Ask a volunteer to feel your again getting the class to call out the
match through the handkerchief and months. As you do so, ask your
hold it. Ask them if they are strong volunteer to memorise the card
or weak, and whether they can corresponding to the month they
break the match. were born in. 3 o’clock position 

• www.etprofessional.com • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • Issue 61 March 2009 • 23

 TEACHING YOUNG LEARNERS 
up the numbers shown on the top Procedure


Abracadabra!
 Before continuing with the trick, ask
of the dice. For example: 3 + 2 + 6
= 11.
 Next, ask a different student to
 With the cards face down so that
the four is the bottom card, tell the
class that together you are going to
make the cards appear when you
choose one of the dice and add the
the students to touch the cards and spell out the word for the number
number on the bottom to 11. If they
go round the clock, saying one correctly. But the cards will only
choose the 6, they add 1 (which is
o’clock, two o’clock, etc. obey the class if the teacher spells
the number on the opposing face),
 Using two Cuisenaire rods, or the words, too!
to give a new total of 12. Then they
simply two pencils of different throw that same dice again, and add  First you and the class spell out one.
lengths, practise other clock times, its new top number to the overall Take the top card and place it
such as half-past two, a quarter to total. Let’s assume it is a 3, so the underneath the pack as you all say
three, a quarter past eight, etc. The final total is 15. O. Take the new top card and you all
students can take turns to arrange say N as you put it underneath the
 The student who initially left the
the rods into a time for the others pack. Turn over the next card as you
room now comes back in and
to tell. say E. It will be the ace!
bedazzles the class by correctly
 Now back to the trick. Ask your proclaiming 15 as the final number.  Put it face up on your desk or on
volunteer how many cards they put the floor.
What’s the secret?
in their pocket. Let’s assume they
The student who leaves the room is  You all spell two and three in the
have six cards. Ask them the name
secretly instructed to add seven to the same way, so that as you say the
of the card they memorised.
total of the top numbers showing on last letter of the words, the
 Now count round the cards with the dice when they return. In this corresponding number cards are
the class from twelve o’clock to the example, the student sees 3 + 2 + 3, revealed and placed face up next to
card in the six o’clock position and plus 7, equals 15. the ace.
turn it over. It will be your student’s This short trick can be done more
 Now for some fun! Ask the class to
chosen card! (Obviously if they had than once so that different students
spell four without your help. They
four cards, you turn over the card in learn it.
will turn over the joker. It is vital
the four o’clock position.)
that you always replace the joker on
 In this trick, it’s a good idea for the 6 Spell the numbers top of the pack. Now you spell four
whole class to see the memorised Language focus: Spelling the words of with them ... and the four will
card because it involves everyone, numbers 1 to 9 appear!
and your volunteer might forget
Materials: The ten playing cards  Invite them to spell five and six, and
which card it was. This can happen if
shown in the illustration, arranged in again they’ll get the joker! You help
the playing cards are unfamiliar to
this exact order. I use four black cards the class with five, six and then seven.
the class.
and five red ones, but the cards can be  Finally, agree to give them one last
of any suit. chance to spell eight and nine
5 Seven up
without you. The joker will reappear
Language focus: Numbers and adding yet again, and they will be astounded
skills when they see that the number
Materials: Three dice cards will only appear with your
magical help. ETp
This is a very short trick and is a good
one to teach the students. Although
professional magicians don’t normally Chris Payne is the owner
reveal their secrets, in a class situation of Paddington School of
English. He has been
students will be more involved and teaching in Spain since
motivated if they know you are going 1993 and is a Cambridge
oral examiner trainer
to teach them how to do a trick. for examiners of young
learners.
Procedure
 After having revised numbers, ask
one student to leave the classroom.
Another student then throws the
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three dice. The class must then add

24 • Issue 61 March 2009 • ENGLISH TEACHING professional • www.etprofessional.com •