With thanks to Bruce Downie for this lesson.

Level:

Any

Topic:

Vocabulary revision

Application / software:

armoredpenguin.com

Skills:

Vocabulary

Time:

60+ minutes

Preparation:

None

In class:

Ask students to visit armoredpenguin.com and create a crossword based on vocabulary you have recently covered in your lessons. Once created, print out the crosswords and exchange with another student. Complete in class or for homework.

Remarks:

You may have to go through some of the conventions of crosswords such as following the clue with the number of letters in brackets.

You could allow students to use an online dictionary such as the Longman Online Dictionary, but monitor to ensure they are not simply copying the definitions as a clue.

With thanks to Bruce Downie for this lesson.

Level:

Any

Topic:

Vocabulary revision

Application / software:

wordprocessing software, Google images

Skills:

Vocabulary

Time:

60+ minutes

Preparation:

None.

In class:

As a group, brainstorm vocabulary beginning with a given letter. Ask students to find images using Google images or clipart to make worksheets with. Students do this individually or in pairs. Students then exchange worksheets and complete.

Remarks:

This could also work with vocabulary around a topic or as a follow up to a vocabulary lesson as consolidation.

Level:

Good pre-int and above

Topic:

Class interviews

Application / software:

digital video recorder, wiki, other file sharing site (e.g. box.net)

Skills:

Speaking

Time:

60 – 90 minutes

Preparation:

It would be useful to use this lesson having previously done the Nation Interviews and The Resident lessons.

In class:

In groups or pairs, students prepare interview questions on a given topic and then video each other as they ask the questions.

Upload the video clips to a wiki. You could then get students to comment on perfermance or on language perhaps.

Remarks:

The use of video is very motivating for many learners. I’ve seen students who usually struggle with grammar and syntax become much more accurate when they have to “perform” for the camera.

Be sensitive – some students may not wish to be filmed. Using groups gets around this as the group can elect an extrovert (strategically placed in the group by you the teacher) to be interviewed.

Editing and publishing footage from digital video cameras can be problematic. You may have a technician in your institution who can do it for you, but make sure they know what you want to do with it. The format for publishing on the web and on DVD is different. It is getting easier and easier however in this Web2.0 age. Flip have a really nice simple to use video camera that plugs straight into your USB port.

Level:

Pre-Int and above.

Topic:

IELTS writing task 2 practice

Application / software:

Wordprocessing software or wiki.

Skills:

Writing

Time:

60 minutes or less

Preparation:

You will need to prepare some topics appropriate to IELTS writing task 2 and to your class’s interests.

In class:

Brainstorm essay planning points as a whole group. Each group then has 5 minutes to type up the topic and a few supporting sentences. Group feedback via projection screen. Groups awarded marks along loose IELTS criteria (task completion, structure, vocabulary, grammar).

Remarks:

Level:

With thanks to Bruce Downie for this lesson.

Level:

Pre-Int and above

Topic:

Using translation in the classroom.

Application / software:

News websites in the students’ own language.

Skills:

Reading and translation.

Time:

60 minutes

Preparation:

None or find news websites in the students’ own language.

In class:

Ask students to find a news story they are in terested in on a website in their own language.  Get them to translate the headline into English.  You could focus on the grammar of English newspaper headlines (present simple tense, passive without auxilliary, absense of articles, etc.) before they do this.

Feedback to the class with each student explaining a bit about the story behind their headline.

Remarks:

For higher levels, you could also focus on the use of wordplay and idiom in (especially tabloid) newspaper headlines.

BBC world news has links to its pages in a number of languages including Arabic, Farsi, Spanish and Chinese.

Level:

Pre-int and above

Topic:

Interviewing about your home country

Application / software:

www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/

mp3 recorders

Skills:

Speaking

Time:

120+ minutes

Preparation:

None

In class:

This lesson only really works in multilingual classes.

Mentally pair up or group your students so that each pair or group has more than one nationality. Give each student a nationality (not their own) from their group or pair. Ask them to visit the CIA World Factbook website, research that country and to write three or four questions based on the information they find. Tell them (or show them if you have a PC connected to a projector) that there is a lot of detailed information they should ignore but that there are also a lot of interesting facts there. Give the students time to do the research and to write their questions.

Next, put the students into their groups each with an mp3 recorder and get them to record an interview together using the questions about the other person/people’s country/ies. This could either be an exchange of questions about each other’s countries or separate interviews focussed on one student’s country.

Encourage turn taking and follow-up questions to avoid short or one word answers.

Once you have the audio files, you can upload them to a wiki or file sharing site such as box.net.

Remarks:

For a follow up activity, see Powerpoint Quiz.

With thanks to David Broadbent for this lesson.

Level:

Pre-int and above

Topic:

Argument and opinion essays

Application / software:

MS Word or other wordprocessing package; or wiki

Skills:

Writing

Time:

60 – 90 minutes

Preparation:

None

In class:

Ask students to write an essay giving arguments for and against a topic. Once written, students should apply different colours to the introduction, arguments for, arguments against and the conclusion. This will immediately show them whether their essay is a balanced one.

If you are preparing for the IELTS exam, the writing should, of course, be 250 words and take 40 minutes to handwrite. If it is more appropriate, students could type up their essay once written.

Remarks:

For pre-int to intermediate students who are struggling with structure in their IELTS writing, there is an excellent model to be found at www.writefix.com. They recommend using a 3773 structure – three sentences introduction, seven sentences for or against (topic sentence plus three points each with supporting evidence/argument), seven sentences against or for and three sentences conclusion.

Using colour allows learners to quickly see whether they have been successful in following the model.

Pre-Int and above depending on IT experience.

Topic:

Supporting learners with their course of study.

Application / software:

delicious.com

Skills:

Reading and listening

Time:

n/a

Preparation:

Create an account on delicious and research and link to some resources suitable for your learners.

In class:

This is not really a class activity but will support learners in their study programme with extra reading and listening practice.

Delicious is a social bookmarking facility which stores your links online and also allows others in your network to see what you are bookmarking.

You will need to create an account yourself and then research some appropriate web resources for your learners.  Save them as bookmarks in delicious.  Think carefully about how you use tags to allow your students to easily find what they are interested in.

Get your students to create an account and add you to their network.  In this way, whenever you add a link, they will be able to see what you’ve linked to.  You could link to news stories related to your course topic, for example.

Remarks:

To support an IELTS course, you could link to related articles on the web.  For example, National Geographic videos on environmental and wildlife issues.  For pre-int to intermediate learners, the online edition of the Daily Mail has a good science&tech section.

You could include a weekly class quiz based on the reading they should have done to encourage learners to engage with what you are posting.

For those students with phones with 3G capability they will be able to access resources and their learning anywhere!

In pairs, students tell each other what the documentary was about giving as much detail as they can remember. This will provide an opportunity for students to jog each other’s memories and draw out points they didn’t notice or didn’t understand.

Students listen again and improve their notes. Tell them that they will be writing summaries after their second listening.

With thanks to David Broadbent for this lesson.

Level:

Elementary – Advanced

Topic:

Story writing

Application / software:

MS Word or other wordprocessing and/or wiki. PC with projector if possible.

Skills:

Narrative Writing

Time:

90+ minutes

Preparation:

None. Or you could use the Colour Stories – Characters lesson as preparation.

In class:

As a lead-in, you could ask in pairs students to briefly tell eachother a story they remember from their childhood.

Begin as a whole class by brainstorming the beginning of a story. Here you are the scribe and students give you ideas. It is up to you how much you correct at this stage, but I would suggest as little as possible is best.

Once you have the introduction and the beginnings of a story, stop and ask learners to point out all the verbs. Format the font colour to, say, red. Repeat with nouns and a different colour. You could repeat for articles, pronouns and adjectives. These are useful in story telling, but the grammar you focus on is up to you.

Students now use the introduction you created as a class and continue and complete the story.

Students compare their stories with eachother.

Remarks:

The use of colour allows a very quick analysis of grammar. For example, if you chose green for articles, students at a glance can see that their writing doesn’t have much green, so perhaps they need to think more carefully about that area of grammar. Or, perhaps, this sentence doesn’t have any red in it – where’s the verb?

This example uses stories, but you could equally use this technique with whatever writing genre you are focussing on during the course.