A Valentine's Day Activity for Free-Talk Lessons This Week

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For the week of Valentine's Day, a fun activity your students can do is write short messages to people they love in English. This can be their friends, significant others, or anyone else they want to show some love to!

During this activity, let's encourage students to express their love in different ways. For example, besides saying "I love you," they can:

show appreciation for something the other person has done
share how happy they feel to have met them
talk about how they're a good match for each other

To give students some ideas for how they can do the above and more, here are 10 expressions you can introduce (listed from easiest to hardest).

I heart you.
I love how you are so caring.
You mean the world to me.
You make me a better person.
Thanks for always being there for me.
I’m so lucky to have you in my life.
I fall in love with you again everyday.
You’re just like bacon. You make everything better!
You’re the peanut butter to my jelly.
Thanks for being my partner in crime.

1. I heart you.

Students can probably guess that this cute alternative to “I love you” comes from the heart emoji ("I ❤️ You"). You can show them pop songs which use the phrase to give them a feel for it.

2. I love how you are so caring.

Students can use "I love how (you are) ... " to describe something they like about someone.

I love how you are always so cheerful even on bad days.
I love how beautiful you look even when you’re doing the simplest things.

3. You mean the world to me.

"You mean the world to me" is a good way to tell someone how important they are to you. However, students may wonder what "the world" means here. You can explain that the world is a big place, so if someone “means the world” to you, they mean a lot to you.

Students who like this phrase might also like:

You mean everything to me.
You’re my everything.
When you’re with me, I have everything I need.
All I need is you.

4. You make me a better person.

If your student feels their partner has helped them grow, they'll like "You make me a better person" and these phrases too:

You bring out my better side.
You really know how to bring out the best in me.
I love the way I am when I’m with you.

5. Thanks for being there for me.

You may need to explain to students that "being there" for someone is more than being in the same space as them. It also means being supportive.

Thanks for always being there for me when I need you the most.
Thanks for being there for me today and everyday.

6. I’m so lucky to have you in my life.

If your student feels lucky to have met their special person, they'll like the phrase "I'm so lucky to have you in my life" as well as these related phrases:

I’m so thankful you walked into my life.
You don’t know how thankful I am to have you in my life.
You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

7. I fall in love with you again everyday.

"I fall in love with you again everyday" is a classic expression of love that has appeared in love songs from Frank Sinatra to Ed Sheeran. Here are some more ways to say this:

I fall more deeply in love with you everyday.
I fall in love with you every single day.

8. You’re just like bacon. You make everything better!

Encourage students to get creative with this one by replacing "bacon" with anything they like. This can be natto, hot sauce, or any food product that they would willingly add to any meal.

9. You’re the peanut butter to my jelly.

In the US, a lot of parents make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their kids for lunch. This type of sandwich is so popular it even has a nickname: "PB&J."

Americans' love for this combination of ingredients gave birth to the phrase "You're the peanut butter to my jelly" – a fun way to say "You're the perfect match for me."

Of course, your students can replace peanut butter and jelly with anything they want. Here are some examples:

You’re the butter to my bread.
You’re the maple syrup to my pancake.
You're the natto to my rice.

If your students like any movies or TV shows, they can switch out the "peanut butter" and "jelly" for their favorite characters: e.g. Fans of the TV show, Friends, could say “You’re the Ross to my Rachel.”

You might just need to explain how the preposition "to" is used in the phrase: it's not indicating a direction, but used to make an analogy.

10. Thanks for being my partner in crime.

Many students will be confused about the term "partner in crime." You can ask students to think about what qualities partners in crime must have to get away with their bad deeds.

First, they need to trust each other a lot – even knowing all the bad things the other person has done. They also need to be able to work together smoothly. Otherwise, how could they successfully escape from all those crime scenes?

So you can explain that "partner in crime" is a loving way to describe a good relationship where you always have each other's back!

👋 That’s It For Now!

We hope this gives you an idea of what expressions you can teach this week. If your students want to have discussions, check out these Daily News articles:

While you're at it, don't forget to use our virtual Valentine's Day background and emojis!

Happy Valentine's Day and happy tutoring!