Get your English class out of their seats to review previously learned material at the beginning of class. Make a list of review questions to go over with the class, such as reviewing definitions of new vocabulary words or identifying the characters in a story based on clues. Ask students to stand up and face one another in a circle. Toss a small soft ball, bean bag or stuffed toy to a student while asking them a question from your list. After the student answers the question, he throws it to the next student and you ask the class the next question on your list. Ask students to continue passing the object to one another until each student has fielded a question at least once. If a student does not know the answer, he can skip it and move on to a new question.
Use a scavenger hunt to get students moving around the classroom. Plan a scavenger hunt for young English students to find objects with similar sounds: for example, students might look for objects that rhyme with a specific word. For older students, develop a worksheet with questions and write the answers on blank index cards hidden around the classroom for students to find. You can even include English lessons in the clues you write to help the students locate the items.
Centers are a popular way to arrange classrooms for younger students, in which different activities are placed throughout the classroom, allowing students to move from one activity to the next during a class period. Bring back centers for your older language arts students. Plan a series of short activities for students to complete during the lesson. Choose activities that include writing, group work, research and something creative such as making a poster or collage to present to the class. Set up each activities in different parts of the classroom along with all materials students will need at that center. Assign students to different centers and have them rotate to the other centers during the class period.
Use role playing in your classroom to get students involved in the lesson. While reading a story, ask students to get out of their seats and act out specific scenes for the rest of the class. Make grammar lessons come alive by asking students to act out new verbs, such as walk, jump or skip.