Category Archives: Lesson Plan: Advanced

Lesson Plan: New Year Resolutions

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , ,

Happy New Year to everyone  and good luck with your New Year Resolutions. I have a dozen  resolutions myself  but I no longer believe I am going to keep them. The title of this post is not what one might think it means though it’s true that I have had the same New Year Resolutions for quite a number of years. But I want to be positive, start off on the right foot and mentally prepare myself for, this time, keeping them. Time will tell!

Why the title, then?  There is a very funny lesson that I prepared two years ago called Bridget Jones’s Diary that has to do with Resolutions. A few days  I got a comment to a post in this blog where I introduced this  lesson (here) and so I thought I might show it again .

Film mistakes,goofs and bloopers

Lesson Plan: Advanced, Listening, , , ,

Have no fear of perfection- you’ll never reach it! Salvador Dalí

We all make mistakes from time to time, don’t we? But of course! We are all humans after all. Sometimes the mistakes we make are not too significant, some other times they are pretty serious but the good thing is that we always learn from our mistakes, don’t we? Well, there are, of course, those who think they can do nothing wrong and those who never do anything and therefore, never make mistakes! But for me, I am willing to make mistakes if someone else is willing to learn from them.


Today we are going to put all our attention on film mistakes. The film industry is a huge industry and everybody working there has a role to fulfil, from filmmakers to production crews and many more. What is more, there is usually a lot of money involved in making a film. However, film mistakes are there for everybody to see.

Have you ever thought how much work goes behind the scenes in order to make a film as realistic and authentic as possible? Unfortunately, no matter how hard people working in the film industry try, mistakes which they should have noticed always manage to turn up. Even worse, when the film is released, there are people who actually make a point of looking for these mistakes. Are you one of these?

Spot these mistakes by watching this video.

 

Creative Writing : Using Wordle

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , ,

I’ve been using Wordle for quite a long time now but this idea is something I have not yet tried. This task involves using this great little tool called Wordle and the very popular Breaking News English site.
I read about this idea in Marisa Constantinides’ blog, which I highly recommend if you’re a teacher.

Lesson Plan:
• Tell students they are going to write a short news report. Write on the backboard the following heading

” Teacher on trial for attacking student”

and ask students to comment of this heading and what they think  might lead a teacher to attack a student.

• Display with the OHP the Wordle and ask students in pairs to brainstorm ideas for an article using the words in the Wordle Cloud. Explain new vocabulary if necessary

• Give students about 15 minutes to write the first draft of the article.
• Play the audio from Breaking News English twice and ask students to add, improve or edit their articles.
• Students write the final draft of the article on a coloured sheet of paper, which is them posted out on the walls of the classroom. Students stand up, read everybody’s article and vote for the best.

Students compare their aticle with the real one. Click here

• Finally, it would be interesting to talk a bit about the role a teacher plays in our society. These questions might be helpful to get them started.

Do you think being a teacher is easy or difficult?

Do you feel sorry for Mr Harvey or the student?

What kind of behaviour do you see in your classroom?

What can society do to make students respect their teachers?

If web cameras were put in classrooms, teachers would teach better classes and students would behave better. What do you think?

The Weather: The British National Passion

Lesson Plan: Advanced, , , , ,

Isn’t it true that one of the first things that comes into your mind when you hear the word “England “is bad weather?

Contrary to the popular belief IT does NOT RAIN everyday but the thing is that talking about the weather is a national obsession and pastime. In England this is an ever-interesting, even thrilling topic, and you must be good at discussing the weather . It’s also important to learn this rule:”Never ever contradict anybody when discussing the weather”. Should it hail and snow, should hurricanes uproot the trees from the sides of the road, and should someone remark to you: “Nice day, isn’t it?” – answer without hesitation: “Isn’t it lovely?” (adapted from How to be an Alien)

It’s therefore important that you know how to respond to comments about weather as it often seems to be the device to start a conversation. Now that you have been warned, don’t miss the opportunity to do this lesson plan I have prepared for my Advanced students on The Weather. Click here to see the whole Lesson Plan

Related Posts:

 

Explore

Lesson Plan: Advanced, Listening, , , , , , , ,

The video you are about to watch is part of  an activity I will be doing with my students one of these days. The videos of Mali and Dubai and all the exercises from the videos have been provided  by my colleague MªJosé (visit her blog here). My only contribution has been to arrange what she so generously provided into a Lesson Plan which you will find here: Lesson Plan

[flashvideo filename=https://www.cristinacabal.com/videos/Mali.flv /]

Related Posts

Taking Risks: Lesson Plan

Bridget Jones’s New Year’s Resolutions: Lesson Plan