Here’s a quick idea for revising some conditionals. I used this the other day and it worked well: Ask students the following: What would you do if you were the last person on earth? Encourage creativity: If I were the… Read More ›
Lesson Ideas
Lesson idea: using sports commentaries in class
Have you ever heard of the ‘instantaneous present simple’? I hadn’t until a recent diploma module. Apparently it’s used to describe events or occurrences with some level of immediacy. You find it in newspaper headlines (like ‘Brad marries Angelina’), verbs… Read More ›
British History Lesson: Boudica
I recently taught a great group of upper-intermediate Italian college students. They were from a humanities college, they requested lessons in history, psychology, sociology and so on. It was International Women’s Day the weekend before, so I thought it was… Read More ›
Lesson idea: exploring the characters in a short movie
Here’s a great video to shape your own lesson around. In a previous blog I mentioned a few websites where you can find one minute long videos, which are great for a lesson starter. Here’s my favourite: Source: http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/10-fantastic-short-films-that-are-only-a-minute-long.php I think… Read More ›
A fun lesson idea using Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking out loud’
How do you encourage a really shy class to express themselves? It’s a question I’ve been asking all week. My latest group of single nationality pre-intermediate teenagers are a lovely bunch, but they can be so timid. I haven’t found… Read More ›
Using Google Doodles to revise dates
I read a great post from Svetlana Kandybovich yesterday on using Google games in the classroom. Her comments on Google matched my experience. I used to fight against technology and hated it when students always tapped away on their smart phones… Read More ›
Video resource: a one minute guide to planet earth
Here’s a fluency based activity to challenge those adult advanced classes. I am always on the hunt for activities that will stretch my strongest students, and get them talking about rather alien topics. After all, if you’ve mastered a language… Read More ›
A fun way to introduce graphs in class
I stumbled across Google Trends on the net last year after reading a blog by Jeremy Kritt. I did a project on Trends back in June, and found it a great resource for lessons. Google Trends provides information of what… Read More ›
Video lesson: sickness benefits in the UK
Here’s a fairly topical upper-intermediate level lesson, as we get closer to the general election. I saw this report on Sky News back in mid-February and thought it would be a really good talking point. Apparently, David Cameron is thinking… Read More ›
Teach Petr Cech English – a lesson using British Council Premier Skills
I’ve only just discovered the British Council Premier Skills site. It’s a great resource for some of the groups I teach. They’ve got a lesson planning competition going on at the moment, which inspired me to create a little something…. Read More ›
ELT Planning 