April Topic: Spring Cleaning!

SPRING CLEANING, is an annual ritual of deep cleaning that comes to us from several cultures; Chinese, Jewish and Iranian. The tradition of cleaning and refreshing one's home is tied to nature's springtime renewal. In Western culture, spring cleaning is not only a time to air out the home, but a time to clean, scrub and dust every corner of the house in order to get rid of all the germs and other toxins that build up during the winter. Your ESL students may enjoy learning about/reviewing the various verbs associated with cleaning. Talking about their own personal habits, routines or secrets for keeping their homes clean can help increase engagement and even make the conversation fun! 

WARM-UP CONVERSATION QUESTIONS ON THE TOPIC ON SPRING CLEANING By ESL Made Easy:

1. Do people engage in 'spring cleaning' in your home country? If so, what do most people typically do?
2. How important is a clean home to you? Do you enjoy cleaning your home? How does it usually make you feel when you have just finished cleaning your home?
3. Do you have a preferred day to clean your home? What do you usually do on a typical 'cleaning' day?
4. Do you usually clean alone or do you have other members of your family helping? Is it ever difficult to get yourself or others to clean the house?
5. What cleaning products and items have helped make your cleaning easier?

RECOMMENDED LINKS FOR ESL STUDENTS AROUND THE TOPIC OF CLEANING:

Learn English Feel Good: Fill in the blanks with cleaning verb exercise
ISL Collective: Worksheets on cleaning    donation site
ESL Fast: Cleaning rooms - 3 listening dialogues
Eng Vid: Video lesson on cleaning your houseESL-Literacy: Perminder's Cleaning Day learning activities 
5 Minute English: Listening activity on chores 
Breaking New English: Reading and follow up activities on housework  
Daily ESL: Listen and read about kitchen cleaning
English-Test: Online quiz on cleaning supplies
English Club: Housingkeeping vocabulary
ESL Pod: Listening podcast on spring cleaning with vocabulary
Drew's ESL Fluency Lessons: Cleaning the house vocabulary with listeningESL Holiday Lessons: Reading with follow up activities on Clean Up Your Desk Day 
Neat and Tidy: A PDF cleaning checklist
My Frugal Home: a PDF checklist for cleaning the house (lots of verbs)
How Stuff Works: The history behind spring cleaning The Free Dictionary: "Clean" idioms and expressions