Lesson plans

Summer suitcase mingle for YLs

This lesson plan might come in useful if you're teaching summer courses with Young Learners! I tried out this lesson before the pandemic, so I'll show you what I did then, and how I adapted it to be photocopy-free and online-friendly to use with my groups this year. Language point and vocabulary: possessive pronouns (mine/yours/his/hers… Continue reading Summer suitcase mingle for YLs

Classroom ideas

When all is said and NOT done

We’ve all been there: you’re in class, you’ve read a text or done a listening activity, you’ve done the controlled activities in the books, and now comes freer practice. In a lot of coursebooks, this will involve a discussion in pairs with an open question which should invite students to extend their answers, and ideally… Continue reading When all is said and NOT done

Classroom ideas, Games

Online games in a paperless classroom

My school's policy on sharing materials and photocopies at the start of the 2020-2021 school year was simple: don't share anything, don't give handouts. Easier said than done when you don't have a lot of time to digitalise (digitise?) resources you've spent several years building up. Despite an abundance of online resources and tools that… Continue reading Online games in a paperless classroom

Exam prep

Writing at CAE: milking the test books and upping the game

Do you currently teach CAE? Maybe you'll be familiar with some of these complaints from students in the months leading up to the exam. And if you don't teach it at the moment, but might in the future, then see below for the trials and tribulations of the average CAE student, and some ideas which… Continue reading Writing at CAE: milking the test books and upping the game

Lesson plans

Desert Island Discs – conditionals, micro-listening and music

Photo by Asad Photo Maldives on Pexels.com I'm a huge fan of Desert Island Discs. If you haven't heard of it, here's quick breakdown: a celebrity, referred to as a castaway, is interviewed on BBC Radio 4, and is asked which 8 discs they would take with them if they were cast away to a… Continue reading Desert Island Discs – conditionals, micro-listening and music