Category Archives: Activities

Ideas for creative workbook use

Introduction: Setting the Scene I know that I am generalising, but so often workbooks are relegated to the ‘also ran’ or ‘lemon’ status of materials. Lacking vivid magazine-like colour and language (read grammar) input, workbook exercises are often given as a homework after thought…
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Activity: Planning a holiday

Here is a very simple activity that is very useful to have in your toolbox as a no materials activity. Aims: Fluency in speaking, listening and group negotiation. Giving advise and suggestions. Skills: Speaking and listening. Materials: A board and board pen. Level: Elementary and above. Preparation time: None, save a little time thinking…
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Activity: Why are these things important to me?

Here is a very simple activity that is very useful to have in your toolbox as a no materials activity. Aims: Question forms and demonstrative pronouns. Giving personal information/getting to know you. Skills: Speaking and listening Materials: A board and board pen. Level: All but the most early beginners. Preparation time: None save a little time thinking…
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Activity: Dicey Questions

Here is a very simple activity that is very useful to have in your toolbox as a no materials (save a die) and no preparation required… Aims: Question and answer forms, targeted vocabulary recycling. Skills: Speaking and listening Materials: Set of dice for learners – or, if you have internet and a large enough screen, why not try [...]
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Some more speaking activities

Do you teach speaking with few or no materials? Here are some speaking activities that you can try with your classes.
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Fifty Links for learners

Here is a selection of links for learners to use for their own language learning purposes. There are links to resources under the following categories: language links topics: Texts to read and listen to, pronunciation practice, spelling practice, … listening: over 400 activities. native speaker: VOA Special English – limited to 1500 lexical items. on line [...]
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Activity: vocabulary tennis

This is an activity that requires no setting up and can be done at the drop of a hat just the kind of activity that I love to have in my toolbox! Essentially, the idea is to promote automatization through quick responses, under moderately stressful conditions. Aim: learners will recycle vocabulary and/or create short sentences under [...]
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Recycling specific vocabulary: the vocabox

The Vocabox Activities for developing and activating vocabulary in the English classroom (the original idea came from Johanna Stirling July 2000 Bell Teacher Training Summerfest). The original article can be found here: http://www.elgweb.net/articles.html. A review of Johanna’s site can be found on this site, here. Introduction One constantly hears of presenting this that and the other. In fact [...]
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The sequence game

This milling activity is very simple. Each student has a different sequential series written on a strip of paper. Their task is to find the participant wıith the exactly the same sequence as them self. For this to be a speaking and listening task, monitor the learners carefully to ensure they don’t show their [...]
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You Say and I Listen

The circle game: You say and I listen This type of activity lends itself to ımproving group cohesion through a cooperative or collaborative task involving listening and speaking.
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47 things you can do with a text…

Perhaps you are very limited in terms of resources for teaching, or you find your resources are inadequete to your learners’ needs. Here are some ideas that you can use with texts. I developed this list while working in Azerbaijan where we only used authentic material – for every level, including beginners…
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Drawing dictation

Drawing dictation is an activity adapted from Christopher Sion’s excellent: Recipes for Tired Teachers. Download the plan here Download the key here. Aim: To introduce and recycle simple lexis related to geometry in a project. Level: Pre-int and higher. Materials: The plan and key. Time: For all stages, allow 180 minutes depending on how you exploit [...]
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