Some materials:

- Worksheet with vocab, dialogs, interview activity and unscramble;
- Modified four corners game
- PPT introducing hello/goodbye in different languages
- List of questions for a game (along the lines of dodgeball, but with questions) we'll play with the above PPT

Nope, on the US West Coast we definitely say "We say" (like I...just did, haha).  It would sound a bit weird if I said "On the west coast you say ___" instead of "We say ___", especially if it's a direct question about saying something in a particular country or region.
On the other hand, if someone asked "What do you say when you want to order a coffee?" or something about proper situational language, we answer "Okay, to order a latte you say 'I'd like a ___'".
So:
 "We say 'Hella' a lot in California."
 "You say 'to-go' if you want to take your food home."

Teachers Book in English for this lesson.

What a weird book!

teachers - when teaching this chapter - please teach the truth to the kids - and tell them the book is wrong.

"There is no snow in my country. We don’t have winter. "

(1)  Australia does have winter - it has four seasons.  Winter is June, July & August in Australia.

(2)  There is snow in Australia.  Just look at all these pictures of all the ski resorts in Australian -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skiing_in_Australia

It is these false things - that is the reason I refuse to use the YBM book, - I prefer to teach my students the truth.

It was referring to Malaysia, not Australia. Then they said Australia does have winter, but it's summer there now.

I made this game using an idea i heard from another teacher. the game was called "storm the castle"

directions:
1. draw a big castle on the board
2. divide the castle into sections based on the number of students you have
3. students will answer a question
4. if they are right, they will throw a sticky ball at the board. whatever number it hits, dies
5. students can revive by aiming for a revive spot. this is usually the castle gate.
6. you can include yourself, but make sure it is very difficult because they will aim for you ;)

sounds like a lot of fun right? problem was finding that sticky ball. think of that sticky hand we used to play with as kids. couldnt find anything remotely close to it. emart, lotte, daiso, morning glory... nothing.

so I made a game with materials i can easily manipulate. i call it the unlucky lottery.

directions:
1. print out and cut up a number for each student. put the cards in a bag
2. make a ppt, or not, with all the questions you want to ask. i used a bunch of bomb game slides and just pasted them in there to save myself time.
3. you can have students volunteer before the question or after it is revealed
4. when they answer correctly, they choose a number form the bag. that person is out.
5. students can revive by answering a question, and making a skill shot. i have this small trashcan and this paper ball i made just small enough to fit in the trashcan. the bigger the ball, the harder the shot. carnival game style. i then put the can on a chair and moved back far away and let them take a shot. my students wanted 1-3, so i made it 2.
6. if they make the shot, they are back in the game.
7. i rewarded the alive students by letting them leave early.

i only did this one time and it was great. i had about 90% participation or attempted participation. students just loved the lottery idea. having a chance to revive kept everyone in the game. try it. tell me what you think.

i am adding more questions to the ppt i am posting, but what i have lasted about 10-15 minutes.

''Have you ever had a conversation with a foreigner?''  WTF????? What do they do with me every day?! 

Praying I won't have to use this awful textbook again next year so I can BURN it 

This is a vocabulary PPT for the unit.

You can elicit the vocabulary the students already know and you can play a simple guessing game with these words. It is also a good idea to have a quick writing quiz with the words so that students not only know what they mean but can also write them without looking too.

Just wanted to add this video as well. I used it before for a different class and they loved it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtdQ8bTvRc

Okay, simple but effective first lesson intro.

-All the key words as asked for by the book (pictures, then words. They like to guess for points.)

-Practice the expression "Where are you from? I'm from..." with flags from a vast range of countries, including a handful of quirky ones they won't know.

-Not a great work of TEFL art but gets the job done for the first lesson!

I'm starting classes off with some classic world capitals memorization (since my students apparently can't even place Korea on a map  ). So here's a series of short PPTs: each one covers one region of the world, providing the flag, name and capital of five different nations, as well as some pictures. Will add some more over the next couple weeks.