Five-Minute Activities: A Resource Book of Short Activities (Cambridge Handbooks for Language Teachers) (Paperback)

~ Penny Ur (Author), Andrew Wright (Author)
Key Phrases: Cambridge University Press, Andrew Wright, Oxford University Press (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The activities can be used at any level and adapted to any teaching situation. I would therefore definitely recommend this book to EVERYONE.' Standpoints

Review

'The activities can be used at any level and adapted to any teaching situation. I would therefore definitely recommend this book to EVERYONE.' Standpoints

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Product Details

• Paperback: 117 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (March 27, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521397812
• ISBN-13: 978-0521397810
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #59,648 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars English for EFL purposes?, November 20, 2001

By	Chris Elvin (Kanagawa, Japan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Five-minute Activities contains over 130 ideas for the foreign language classroom in its 100 pages. I read this book from cover to cover, and was pleased to be able to make many notes for my future lessons. Some of the activities are actually quite common, and perhaps most teachers would be aware of them, but there were many good ones that I'd never come across, including a few gems. Some are literally five-minute fillers, while others are worthy of spending maybe a whole lesson on. If I had to make a tentative criticism, it'd be that many of the suggestions have students generating language that would never be heard beyond the walls of an EFL classroom. For example, "A pencil is thinner than an elephant." I have mixed feelings about whether this is such a bad thing or not. On the one hand, students can practice structurally correct forms of language and learn whilst having fun. On the other hand, Five-minute Activities doesn't really present them with many opportunities to practise for situations in the real world, which may, of course, not be as fun. Also, I felt that there was a bias for activities that focused on self-disclosure, or competing to be the best in the class. Great, perhaps, for European or South American students of English, but not quite so good for students at my secondary school here in Japan. Overall, I'm pleased to have this book for reference, and I'd recommend it to most of my colleagues, even if some of the suggestions reminded me of what it used to be like as a pupil at a British elementary school.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Extremely good for all levels, a teacher's pet!, September 2, 1999

By A Customer

I've had a copy of this book since 1995. I keep it in my bag of things for class as it helps to fill in those odd minutes of leftover time.

Here in China I find the activities can be used for much longer than 5 minutes.

I highly recommend it. Money well spent.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I take exception for its usefulness for EVERY teaching situation..., March 20, 2006

By	Steven D. Ward "Editor" (Seoul, South Korea) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This book has been of limited usefullness for me. I've found only a few activities in here that would be practical for my classes of 40 Korean middle schoolers, but I also believe I'm in a bit of an unusual situation trying to teach English to such big classes. That being said, I did find it useful for, if nothing else, getting my own ideas rolling. I would also like to add that it's rather pricey for a flimsy little book, but I'm sure that if my situation were different it would have been well worth the money. I can pretty much recommend it to everyone EXCEPT those with unusually large class sizes, but it would be good for them too if they could find it used. Otherwise there are good resources to be found online for free.