We had a merry granny Christmas last year. We ate chocolate, played wicked games, but there was one thing missing – gift exchange. This year Granny is back with a new add-on – a White Elephant Gift Exchange or Dirty Santa. Eat…
Poetry in the Classroom Now, when we are all getting into the festive mood, probably makes an ideal time to discuss some holiday hotspots (or ‘cold’spots). This activity is built around an extremely ‘cold’spot – Ice Hotel – to spark…
Sustainability and Living an Eco-Friendly Life: Lesson Plan ‘Not everything is a hero’s journey.’ This is an activity from one of my lessons designed around the ideas of sustainability and living an eco-friendly life. It’s used to revise and consolidate…
Homework Matters For nearly two decades, James Randi Educational Foundation has been offering a one-million-dollar prize to anyone who could show, ‘under proper observing conditions’, evidence of any supernatural or paranormal power. Unfortunately for teachers, the only super power which…
Fluency Matters: How to Help Learners Keep the Conversation Going They say that every chef has his or her own way of making the broth. Similarly, every teacher has his or her own way of leading learners through the journey…
Guessing Game: The Voice in the Classroom The other day I came across some wonderful suggestions for the use of game shows in the classroom given in 30 ACTIVITIES INSPIRED BY GAME SHOWS by Pete from ELT-PLANNING. Game shows and TV…
Speaking Games for Language Learners: Personality Poker How do you know you are a teacher? Whenever you read, hear or see something new, you immediately start thinking of how you can tweak it for the classroom. The other day I…
Song Activities for Language Learners Researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that adults who sang words or short phrases in a foreign language were twice as good at speaking it later (see more here). However, not everyone will sing along…
Fun Speaking Games for Language Learners: The Secret Keeper They say that applicants for membership in secret societies in ancient Greece were voted upon by having the existing members drop beans into a pottery jar. Those who approved of the…
– Are your wands real magic wands? – Yes! They are! But magic comes from within you, not the wand. A wand is a tool. You’ve probably already heard about the ‘shocking’ findings of the recent OECD study revealing that the use…