This lesson plan focuses on the issue of combating throwaway culture by giving tax breaks to people who decide to repair their broken possessions instead of throwing them out. It is based on an actual initiative of the Swedish government and is based on the article published by The Guardian and the video issued by World Economic Forum. I would recommend it for B2/C1 students, especially adults. The lesson takes around an hour to complete and it comes with a worksheet for the students and an answer key for the teacher. Continue Reading …
Upper-intermediate
Grammar revision with a music video: 4 ideas
The aim if this class is for your students to revise a number of grammar points: using narrative tenses, modal verbs, third conditional, and wish/if only to express wishes about the present and the past. The lesson is based on the music video to the song Shot at the Night by The Killers. It is suitable for levels upper-intermediate, advanced and students preparing for Cambridge exams.
Using past modals for speculation and deduction
In this post, I am describing activities where students practice using past modal verbs for speculation and deduction. I have been using them with upper-intermediate, advanced, FCE, and CAE students who often struggle with the concept of using modal verbs for something other than expressing ability or obligation.
5-minute reading activity: misheard lyrics
The aim of this brief reading activity is for students to identify and correct misheard lyrics in popular songs. It is a fun activity for both older and younger students which tests their reading comprehension and memory, and also encourages creativity. It is a great way to either start or finish the class.
Used to speaking activity: life before smartphones
The aim of this activity is for students to practice using used to to describe their lives before they had smartphones. The idea came from seeing this photo collection by Eric Pickersgill and reading this article in The Guardian. Continue Reading …
Speaking prompts for advanced students: photos
How far would a conversation class go if the only discussion prompt was a single photo? No topic, no questions, no pre-determined outcome. Just the picture. Does it even make sense? This post describes how I decided to find answers to these questions.
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Country themed emojis speaking activity
The aim of this speaking activity is to discuss notions that students find representative of their countries. It is suitable for intermediate and more advanced students and complements such topics as national stereotypes, culture, and cultural differences. It was inspired by this article about Finland releasing a Christmas calendar that “is all about Finnish feelings represented in a set of emojis.” Continue Reading …
Our lives without … speaking activity
This speaking activity encourages students to imagine their lives without something considered quite vital nowadays and describe the new reality. It is a fun activity for levels intermediate and higher, teenagers and adults alike. It offers the opportunity for students to collaborate, exchange ideas, and practice such grammar points as modal verbs or second conditional.
Speed Discussions speaking activity
Speaking activities often rely on pairing students up with the same speaking partner. This might result in boring, predictable, and demotivating speaking practice. In order to mix things up and expose students to a variety of speaking partners, I propose a speaking activity which I called Speed Discussions as its format resembles Speed Dating. Speed Discussions is a very dynamic activity and guarantees plenty of student talking time. It is a great idea for larger groups but might also be adapted for smaller classes.
Online games for advanced students
The Internet is full of fun and eye-catching games for younger learners or even low-level adults. What I have been struggling with, was finding suitable online activities for more advanced students that would not be more of the same exam practice or grammar fill-in exercises. Feeling my students would appreciate (and deserved!) some language fun, I started looking for online games and activities I could use in the classroom. Continue Reading …
