Whether the weather is horrible or terrific, it seems to be a universal topic of conversation! Teaching students weather-related vocabulary and expressions not only enhances their communication skills but also provides insights into the climate and culture of target-language countries. By engaging in interactive lessons like weather reports, storytelling, and idiom exploration, students are more likely to remember what they learn and enjoy the process along the way.
Build Vocabulary
If students aren’t already familiar with the vocabulary for basic weather conditions, teach them the terms for sunny, rainy, windy, cloudy, and snowy. Be sure to include words for temperature and climate like hot, cold, chilly, and mild. From there, you can add severe weather events, including, thunderstorm, hurricane, tornado, and blizzard. If a particular weather-related incident is common in the target-language countries (e.g. floods, wildfires), you might want to mention those as well. Consider having students create classroom visuals of the vocab to help them while doing the activities.
Research Weather Forecasts
Once you’ve introduced the vocabulary, put it in practice by having students research the weather forecast for the week, either locally or in a region where the target language is spoken. Many countries have governmental websites that are easy to understand. They can share their findings with the class using their new vocabulary. If they learn any additional words while doing their research, you can add it to the classroom list.
Seasonal Storytelling
Students can practice their presentational writing and speaking by writing and illustrating short stories about a particular season in an assigned country. The weather can be incorporated either in the description of the setting or a central part of the story, such as a problem characters face. A wonder aspect of this activity is that it adjusts to the students’ level since the stories will be as simple or as detailed as their proficiency allows.
Weather Reporting Role Play
Have students create and present weather reports as if they were news broadcasters. They can use the information they gathered from the region they already researched, or they can choose another. If possible, watch a few forecasters in the target language first so students can get a feel for the gestures and expressions used. This can be a comical, over-the-top, role paly or a subdued delivery, depending on your preference.
Weather Idioms and Expressions
Every language has unique weather-related idioms, for example, “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
Encourage students to use these idioms in the previous activities described. They could also act them out for a game of charades or illustrate them to help with comprehension. Comparing idioms in the target language and native language can serve as a catalyst for discussions about cultural differences in how people view and talk about the weather.
By Kelli Drummer-Avendano
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