Opposites

1. Ask the students to write down the 'opposites' of these words: good, running, real, angry, Monday
2. Ask the students to suggest the 'opposites' they have come up with. Jot down the various acceptable 'opposites' on the board. Good has produced: naughty, evil, bad, nasty. Get students to explain why they propose a given word as the opposite of one on the list.
3. Write the following scene up on the board and ask the students to write its opposite or reversal: The waitress came up to Table No.3 and offered the tall man the menu. He chose and ordered. She went back to the kitchen to get what he wanted. Don't give examples of how to do this as, if you do, this will reduce the diversity of the students' reactions to the task.
4. Now tell the students that your are going to tell them the reversal of a bad experience from your own life. We once told this story in class: 'I went to work as an au pair in France. It was a marvellous family with very few children. My hostess was very kind and understanding. I had almost no work to do and oceans of free time. I had been going to stay for 2 weeks, but in the end I stayed for 6 month.'
5. Ask the students to prepare their reversed experience.