Giving Opinions Four Corners ESL/EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 25 Minutes In this fun class activity, students practice expressing and defending their opinions. The teacher places a different sign (Strongly Agree, Agree, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree) in each corner of the classroom. Four Corners.PDF Our Opinions ESL/EFL Writing and Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 40 Minutes In this productive teaching activity, students practice expressing and giving reasons for opinions, and writing simple sentences summarizing the results of a questionnaire. Our Opinions.PDF How to improve your English ESL/EFL Speaking Activity - Pre-intermediate - 30 Minutes This engaging teaching activity helps to teach students how to express opinions and ask others for their opinion. How to improve your English.PDF I Think That ... Here is a useful teaching activity to help your students practice making opinions. I Think That....PDF The Cycling Holiday The Cycling Holiday.PDF What's your opinion? What's your opinion?.
Educational Leadership:Technology-Rich Learning:New Literacies and the Common Core A group of high school students stares intently at the famous crop-duster sequence from Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. Cary Grant is standing alone at the side of a deserted highway. As film buffs know, Grant isn't alone for long; a mysterious crop-duster plane soon appears out of nowhere and begins dive-bombing him, chasing him down the road until he is forced to take cover in a cornfield. As the students watch the film, they look for moments when editing cuts have been made by the film editor. This activity is just one of many that I've seen over the last 15 years as I've observed teachers around the world experimenting with a variety of new (and old) media in their classrooms.1 More recently, I've also witnessed the serious work going on in the United States to implement the Common Core State Standards by 2013–14. It makes sense that an emphasis on new ways of reading and writing fits easily within the Common Core umbrella. Give Students Practice Reading Screen-Based Texts
Discussion topics for English language learners Prepare for Discussion 28 topics-- for the Higher Intermediate & Advanced levels----START 01 Alternative Beliefs 02 Animal Welfare 03 The Arts 04 Crime & Punishment 05 Cultural Differences 06 Economics 07 Education 08 Environment 09 Fashion 10 Food 11 Health 12 Holidays 13 Language Learning 14 Male & Female Roles 15 Marriage 16 The Media 17 Political Systems 18 Religion 19 Rich & Poor World 20 Science & Technology 21 Society 22 Sport 23 Tradition 24 Transport 25 Travel 26 Violence 27 Work 28 Youth & Old Age -----© Ted Power Glossary of Ten Discussion Techniques - detailed index List of the 28 Topics for Discussion [ This list of the 28 topics can be printed out for learners' or teachers' reference ] -- Higher Intermediate vocabulary and discussion - topics 1 to 10: 1. -- Higher Intermediate vocabulary and discussion - topics 11 to 20: 11. -- Higher Intermediate vocabulary and discussion - topics 21 to 28: 21. Return to the TOP of this page
Conversation Classes In this lesson C2 students will develop their understanding of idiomatic expressions that often come up in the Cambridge C2 Proficiency exam. They will encounter the expressions in a text about a bank heist gone wrong. Download the student handout below: Credit to: for the planning a bank robbery activity. You may also wish to use this quizizz game for spaced repetition of the target language. Procedure Students start by discussing common tropes of heist movies. Students then answer the detail questions: How had they planned for the robbery? Language Focus Students now focus on the expressions in bold. Students now flip the paper over and look at version 2 of the same text. Set the key word transformations testing the expressions for homework. Plan a heist Put students in small groups and have them plan a bank heist using the prompts on pages 2 and 3, which are adapted from Text Version 1 The Heist
My one-to-one student just wants to chat | Recipes for the EFL Classroom So, after planning a lesson tailored to the needs of the individual student, all they seem to want to do is have a chat. You start to wonder if it is worth planning the lesson at all. Then there’s an occasional pang of guilt when you think about how much the student is paying just for ‘a chat’. This is, I’m sure, a familiar situation for many an EFL teacher. A one-to-one lesson naturally lends itself to a less structured approach. One thing that can really make a difference is ensuring that there is a good amount of feedback and error correction. Dealing with feedback The teacher could devote the final 10 minutes or so of the lesson to language feedback/upgrading. The student can be encouraged to self-correct their slips and the teacher can work with the student to upgrade their language.The emerging language can be revisited and recycled, perhaps with the teacher ‘testing’ the student. Advantages of this approach: Feedback and suggestions are very welcome in the comments below: Like this:
Intro to debate Place A Cylindrical Mirror On These Drawings And They Instantly Come To Life István Orosz is a Hungarian artist who is known for his use of the technique anamorphosis. Orosz will create a drawing, that at first glance could seem abstract. It is not until he places a cylindrical mirror on the artwork that the illustration comes to life. Sometimes, hidden pictures are revealed, or the image itself is totally transformed. He has combined several drawings to complete a whole picture as well. He attended school for graphic design, but after graduation began to design for the theatre and animated films. How to Teach an English Conversation Class Conversation courses are usually taken by students who want to use and improve their speaking (and listening) skills. Their needs are different from students who take ordinary textbook-based classes. Run more often in non-English speaking countries, these classes cater to EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students, who have little contact with English in their day to day life. There is no right way to teach such classes, there is no textbook to guide lessons and no structure to follow. My experience: I have taught English conversation classes in Japan and Germany, and at times found them exceptionally challenging to prepare for and teach. Why take a conversation course? Students have many reasons to sign up for a class. When a teacher knows why students are attending, they can tailor lessons to meet students' needs. My students in Japan and Germany had four main reasons for joining an English conversation class. English for travel: English in the workplace: English for further study: Comments
10-step guide to Teaching Effective Conversation Classes In this post, I’ll present my 10-step guide for teaching effective conversation classes to adult English learners. Many adult learners enrol in conversation classes to improve their speaking skills. However, student numbers often drop as the course progresses. This can be due to several reasons: Students are not interested in the topics.Students don’t feel they are learning anything new.Students don’t feel they are actually improving their speaking skills.Students want more traditional grammar-structured classes.Students feel they are learning new language rather than practising speaking.Classes lack variety (just question and answer discussions). Conversation classes are not always taken seriously by learners (just chatting), teachers (just listening to learners chatting) or academy owners (promotional tool for paid classes). This is a great shame as conversation classes can be a really effective way to help our learners improve their speaking skills. Step 1: Get to know your learners Task: