​Designers. There Is / There Are.

Age: any

Level: from elementary to intermediate

Concerns: describing buildings, ambiences.

Procedure:

Students decide on a building to be described with there is/are + (not). 

A list of suggested ideas includes:

• the worst/best school ever
• a newly built sport club in the suburbs
• a shabby building of the theatre/cinema
• a modern computerised library
• a ski resort in the desert
• a summer resort on the island
• a thematic cafe (students choose a theme for a cafe)
• a science museum with rare exhibits
• an extremely poor district (favela) for the destitute
• a newly decorated and furnished office,
• any ideas of yours.

Students do not tell each other which building they have chosen. While speaking in pairs or in a group they guess each other’s idea. 

Let students ask a plethora of questions to make their choice more precise.

This activity can be done only in a form of “question-answer” to practise more interrogatives. Students either choose a card with one of the ideas or choose it from a list. Then ask as many questions as possible to guess. 

“Is there a gym there?” 

“No, there is not”

Moreover, you may also modify the activity for using prepositions of place. Ask students to draw a plan of their building with no mentioning the names of the rooms or sections. Students speak in pairs asking “Is there a hall in the middle?” or “What is there in the corner?” , etc.

Another step is design any room or section in the building and describe it in detail: “There are not any comfortable seats in the old theatre.”…