These 3 games provide some extra speaking practice when discussing functions of such verbs as: should, shouldn’t, must, have to, and not have to to express advice, obligation, and prohibition. It is a good idea for pre-intermediate and intermediate students, adults and teenagers alike.
intermediate
An interview with your future self: speaking / writing activity
The aim of this activity is to provide students with a context to revise present, past, and perfect tenses. I planned it with my teenage students in mind and the inspiration came from this article. It might be executed as a speaking or writing activity. Suitable for levels intermediate and higher.
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 …
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.
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 …
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 …
Teaching phrasal verbs: phrasal verbs about money
A lot of my students claim phrasal verbs are the most difficult part of any given English course. They are not sure how to learn them, and even less sure how to use them. As a result, they try to memorise long lists but never risk using any in speaking or writing. I wrote more on how to approach learning phrasal verbs in my guest post for Keep Smiling English here. Continue Reading …
Business email writing lesson plan
The aim of this class is to talk about business email writing etiquette, and practice composing and replying to emails. It is perfect for in-company students, both groups, and individual.
