The last class before the Christmas break might be a challenge as even adult students expect it to be light and holiday oriented. This short video issued by WestJet airlines in 2013 has inspired my Christmas conversation classes with more advanced students. I then came up with different activity ideas for all levels, focusing on speaking and listening.
adults
Office Christmas parties lesson plan
The aim of this lesson is talking and writing about the dos and don’ts of office Christmas parties. It is a great opportunity to revise and practice different ways of giving advice. The lesson is suitable for adult students, levels pre-intermediate and above. The lesson is based on the article published in The Telegraph.
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.
Continue Reading …
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 …
Vocabulary dice game for all levels
This easy and extremely versatile vocabulary dice game is suitable for all levels and age groups of English learners. It is a great idea to revise vocabulary and might be used as a warm-up activity or to conclude the class. All you need to play it is a list of words you would like your students to revise, sheets of paper, pencils, and some dice. Continue Reading …
Phrasal verbs about sport: speaking activity
This speaking activity helps students learn and practice different Workplace dilemmas speaking activity
This speaking activity presents students with four workplace dilemmas in which they need to make a decision. It is a perfect fit for adult students, levels intermediate and above. It might be used during conversation classes as well as to complement lessons about workplace or career. Continue Reading …
