Just a quick share – something we’ve been doing in EAL. Our learners in KS3 and KS4 are developing their knowledge of task types, both for in-class activities and for their exams. I’m doing little ‘command word challenges’ as starters… Read More ›

ESL
Overview: EAL resources from Ellii
There’s a new section on Ellii (great site) for Academic Vocabulary. Here’s the blurb: ‘A content- and language-integrated learning approach gives K–12 students a chance to learn English and an academic subject at the same time. The resources in this… Read More ›
Materials writing news and views, January 2022
Not much to report at the start of the year, but a few bits and bobs. New releases I haven’t really been on the lookout for these recently tbh, but I did see Michelle Worgan’s book Move! For A1 Movers… Read More ›
Drama activity: Frozen in Time
We’ve been doing lots of drama tasks recently. Here’s one that worked really well. (See these slides on Genially) Excuse any spelling errors etc, I took the link from a draft of mine and Rich McCully’s TEFL role play book…. Read More ›
What’s it like to write for ESL Library?
I’ve been working on a cool new series of functional Business English lessons for ESL Library. Here’s a bit about the approach taken and my experience of working with ESL Library. The overall content Here’s the basic info: And here… Read More ›
EAL Science and CLILing it
I’m supporting in some really interesting classes this term, especially Science. The subject knowledge of those Science teachers is pretty impressive, especially once you get to KS4. The need for language support in our class tends to be high. The… Read More ›
Daily Dose of Internet #5
Some more Daily Dose springboards for you. Activity 1: Watch from 0:00 – 0:39 Write a short news report (150-200 words) for a local paper on this event. Possible titles: Fairground fiasco! Near-fatal fairground Activity 2: Watch from 0:00-0:39 Write… Read More ›
Daily Dose of Internet #4
Getting Venny today. Overall activity: Watch all clips. Step 1 – Make quick notes on each clip so you remember it. Examples: caterpillar screams hoverboard in city Step 2 – Add the videos to the diagram based on how you… Read More ›
Daily Dose of Internet #3
Some more Daily Dose activities! Pick one, run with it, see where it leads… Activity 1: *Avoid showing the name of the video!* Pause at 0:14 after the knock on the door. What happens next? Activity 2: Watch from 0:33… Read More ›
Poetry lesson: What do you hear?
Here’s a short poetry task that worked well with YLs and teens. It’s based on a poem from A Nest Full of Stars by James Berry. Before you ask, no. I haven’t suddenly gone all NLP. Aims Create a… Read More ›