One of the skills that our students must improve is writing. I believe if you have something to say it is easier to write. Usually the students do the reading tasks, vocabulary and grammar exercises eagerly but when it comes to write they can’t produce. I think it has many reasons but I still…
Joyce is one of the most difficult authors. It is not easy to understand him so he is not usually in high school teachers’ lists. However, if you have a class who loves reading short stories, you can give it a try to Dubliners. I’m not saying that we can read all the stories but…
This week we, teachers on blogosphere, have a homework assigned by Darren Elliot. I really like this idea as Mike Harrison said ‘We need a project to uncover all these hidden gems’ The good thing about this project and It’s worth taking a look at this blog is we have a chance to examine the blogs…
1. STORIES Students listen to a piece of music. Preferably something in an other language or instrumental. While listening, they just write the words that go with the melody. After listening, ask what they have listed. A student writes all the words on the board. Then they write a paragraph with the words on the board….
Sometimes you can set unusual tasks that challenge thinking. Set time limit and tell your students to describe Some ideas Create a 5th season and describe it. Create a country and describe it. Create a new era and describe it. Create an other planet where people can live. Imagine a day is 36 hours. Describe the typical…
Flashcards were the most important visuals of EFL classrooms, and they are now widely available online. You can find great sites here and here. You can always create your own material so you can create your flashcards by cutting up magazine pictures or writing the words and definitions on the cards or you can use…
I really love ‘Go and Open the Door‘ by Miroslav Holub and when I come across with it in Creative Poetry Writing with a great activity and as we were doing conditionals, even if, as long as and some other conjunctions I wanted to do the activity with my students. I’ll quickly summarize it. Tell your students…
This is an activity I did with one of my classes last week. Choose a soundtrack of a movie (preferably an instrumental piece) Tell them that piece of music is from a movie Ask the students to relax and listen to the music When the music is finished tell them they are going to listen…
When I’m sixty-four is a wonderful song that works in the English Language classroom. I’ve just used the song with my students. Here is what we did: In pairs brainstorm ideas: 1. When is the retirement age? 2. What do people do when they are retired? You can talk about what people do in our…
Reading Tara Benwell’s blog post was so much fun that I immediately wanted to create my own list. See my kids grow up I want to see them grow up and find the right job and the person for them:-) Learn Italian I have always wanted to learn Italian but I can’t find the time,…
Why do we use pre activities before a reading text or a speaking topic? 1. to raise learners’ awareness 2. to wake them up 3. to generate ideas 4. to learn the necessary vocabulary that may appear in the text or conversation 5. to stimulate discussion Why do we use post activities after the reading…
Types of Dictations for EFL Classrooms I started a ‘train the trainer’ course in January. At today’s session, we looked into some listening activities and dictation techniques. As a teacher, I have never liked doing dictation in my class. It’s something I neglected. The only one I use is the wall dictation AKA the running dictation…
