On November 8, Americans will cast their ballots and decide who is going to be their new president. I don’t know about your country but, in Spain, the “war” between H. Clinton and D. Trump is every day in the news and the “poisonous” debates are thoroughly discussed ad nauseam on TV current affairs programmes.
Being this an issue of so much interest, I thought my students would welcome a brief explanation of what the presidential election in the US entails.
Level: suitable for upper intermediate (B2) and advanced (C1) level English students.
In this lesson students will get listening practice, learn new vocabulary, improve their communicative skills by discussing some interesting quotes and also, their writing skills by choosing one of the quotes to write an opinion essay.
The lesson starts off with some questions about politics which will be discussed in pairs or small groups, followed by some vocabulary exercises extracted from the video in preparation for the listening task that follows. The video for the listening activity is from “The Telegraph” and lasts 2.16. It will be followed by group discussion of two controversial quotes.
I’m currently really tied up with checking exams, so I’m going to make the introduction to this blog post really brief. I’m sure you have enough on your plate, too. June is usually a hectic month for almost everybody, isn’t it?
So, how do you keep up with the latest news? Or maybe, are you one of those who, sick and tired of reading bad news, have decided to completely isolate yourself from the world? I wouldn’t blame you!
If you are one of those, I kindly suggest you make an exception for the sake of learning and improving your English. You won’t regret it! Reading is one of the best ways of acquiring vocabulary and learning grammar without studying.If you read and listen to one article every day, or two if you feel overzealous, your reading and listening skills will improve very quickly. Trust me on this!
This is my selection of the best audio/video news and current affairs websites to learn English.
I have looked at the following features in all the websites:
If the news is written in levels
If the same news is written/read at different levels
If it is audio news or video news
If the transcript is provided
If the site provides a ready-to-use lesson plan for the news
Any other relevant additional content
The image below is interactive. Click on the icon and read what each website has to offer.
How else can I use these sites in the classroom?
• Choose one news website from above and ask students, as homework, to read a piece of news they find interesting. Ask them to read the news several times until they feel confident they can retell it. In the next class, ask students to work in threes and share their news.
• The news. Same procedure as above but this time, at home, students will need to rewrite the piece of news in their own words. In class, and again working in threes, students will be asked to assume the role of newsreaders and present the news to the rest of the class.
The interactive image has been created with Genial.ly,a free online tool for creating visual interactive content.
“Maybe all one can do is hope to end up with the right regrets”. Arthur Miller.
Hopefully! I surely have had my fair share of mistakes, and consequently a few regrets too although to be honest, I don’t really know if the are of the right kind. There are a couple of things, or maybe more, that I would probably have done differently if given the chance but…. this is now water over the bridge and it’s no use crying over spilt milk! What about you? Do you have any regrets?
Let’s talk about regrets today.
Aim: to teach students how to express regrets using the structures I wish/if only
Level: B2
Lead in: Play this 45-second audio clip and ask students to try to identify the next structure you are going to teach them.
1. I WISH (THAT)/IF ONLY+SIMPLE PAST
Introducing: display the picture below and draw students’ attention to the reflection of the man in the mirror. Ask: What does the old man see in the mirror? What is he thinking?
Listen to the students’ suggestions and use each of them to introduce
I wish (that)/if only + simple past
I wish/if only I was younger or I wish I was in my twenties.
I wish/if only I was handsome or I wish I was stronger… etc
Explaining the grammar: we use this structure to express a desire for a situation that does not exist right now in the present. A wish is a desire to change a real situation into an unreal one. This unreal situation is expressed in the simple past. In a wish sentence, the simple past does not indicate past time; it only indicates that the situation is unreal.
That is optional.
I wish/if only I lived in the countryside, but I don’t. I live in a city.
Were is used for both singular and plural subjects in a formal context
I wish/if only he were younger, but he’s not. He is old.
Practising. Guided practice.
1. Pictures.
Students look at the pictures and make a sentence using “wish”. Flip them to see a possible answer.
2. The power of music. A meditation activity.
Ask students to close their eyes. Turn off the lights, close windows and play some soft music to create the right atmosphere and help them relax. Tell them you are going to ask them some questions about themselves. Use a low, slow, soothing voice. They will need to imagine how they would answer the question using the structure I wish/if only + past tense. Read out the questions one by one, take your time and remember to keep your voice slow and calm.
If you could change something in your body, what would it be?
If you could change something about your personality, what would you change?
If you could change anything about your job, what would it be?
If you could change something about you partner, what would it be?
If you could change something about your life, what would it be?
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
Practising. Freer practice.
Students in pairs talk about their anwers to the questions above. Let them choose the ones they want to talk about as some answers could be a bit personal.
2. I WISH (THAT)/IF ONLY+ WOULD
Introducing: display the picture below and ask students to describe what they see.
Now, ask students to provide a sentence with “wish” about the picture. At this stage, students will probably suggest “She wishes he didn’t see so much TV”.
Draw students’ attention to the girl’s mood and offer this alternative sentence
She wishes/if only he wouldn’t watch so much football
Explaining grammar: the structure wish+ (that)/if only +would is used to talk about what other people do that annoys or irritates us and that we wish was different.
Practising. Guided practice.
Play the video and ask students to make sentences based on the pictures using I wish+would.
Practising. Freer Practice.
Students in pairs answer these questions:
What annoys you about living where you live now?
What annoys you most about living at home with your family?
What annoying habits does your best friend have?
What is the most annoying thing about your partner?
Is there anything about your teacher that annoys you? 🙂
3. I WISH/IF ONLY + (THAT) + PAST PERFECT
Introducing. Display the picture below and ask: do you think he has any regrets?
Elicit: He wishes he hadn’t drunk so much or he wishes he hadn’t danced so much
Photo by JeanJulien
Explaining the grammar:
We use ‘wish’ + past perfect to talk about regrets from the past. These are things that have already happened but we wish they had happened in a different way.
Practising. Guided Practice.
Introduce the activity by asking students to think back to the time when they were teenagers. Ask them if they have any regrets.
For example: I wish I hadn’t given up my studies.
Tell students they are going to watch a video of a song Mistakes of my Youth by the American rock band Eels. In this video, the singer thinks back on his childhood and all the things he did wrong. Ask them to watch the video and write down as many I wish/if only + past perfect sentences they can think of based on the video.
Freer practice.
What are your regrets when you think back on your life? Make a list of three regrets and tell the story to your partner.
Writing a dialogue. Working in pairs, the students should write a conversation among two friends who are complaining about their boyfriends/girlfriends or bosses. Tell them to use as many I wish/if only sentences as possible. Ask students to act it out.
Writing about being the opposite gender. Ask students to write a compositions about how their lives would be different if they were the opposite sex. Ask them to use I wish/ if only sentences
Discussion about cultural customs. Lead a class discussion about what customs in their country wish were different.
When I was a kid in my hometown, a little village in the north of Spain, there used to be a cinema. Not any more and not for a long time. In fact, it seems to me there are very few towns or even cities which still have a cinema and I’m not talking about the outdoor cinemas, which are so popular in summer, I am talking about the real thing. Cinemas with endless rows of seats smelling oldish and where the usher always told you off before you even got to your seat and started cracking up. I remember we didn’t get to see the latest films until they were 4 or 5 years old and then, they were not new any more as our friends from the capital city kindly reminded us rolling their eyes in disbelief when they came on holiday, but all the same it brings back very good memories. I must be getting old!
So today I’m sharing with you an engaging lesson with lots of activities around the theme of films and the cinema. Hope you enjoy it!
This lesson is aimed at students with a language level of B2 (upper-intermediate) and focuses on revising, learning and using vocabulary related to films and the cinemathrough a variety of engaging activities which will help them improve listening, writing and speaking.
Activity 1. Warming-up. Learning and using vocabulary.
Step 1.Wordcloud.
Display the word cloud and ask students to guess the topic. Click on the words you want to highlight and ask students to guess meanings and try to use them in a sentence. Alternatively, you can choose the latest box-office hit and ask students to give you a sentence about this film containing the targeted word.
Step 2. Mind mapping. Handout with vocabulary here
Ask students to work in pairs. Write on the board a mind map as the one below (give them only the words inside the circles) to help them revise vocabulary related to this thematic area. Allow them some minutes to complete their mind maps and get feedback from the whole class, completing the mind map on the board with their suggestions.
The class is divided into two groups. In turns, one member from each group sits on the Hot Chair facing away from the whiteboard. The members of their group have one minute to describe the film being displayed without mentioning the title ( that goes without saying, but just in case, I’m saying it). The aim is to guess as many films as possible in one minute. Then, it’s the other team’s turn.
They will need to talk about:
Kind of film/ Nationality of the film/ director/ plot/
Some hints:
♥The film ‘_______’ is a(n) _______ film which takes place in _______.
♥The film is set in __(ancient Greece)__.
♥The story is based on __(a popular novel)__.
♥The film is directed by _______.
♥The main character(s) in the film is/are _______.
♥_______ is a character who _______.
♥__(Johnny Depp)__ stars as __(Captain Sparks)__.
♥In the film, __(Jack Black)__ plays __(a rock guitarist). The story is about _______
♥The best scene of the film is_____
Activity 3. A listening : interview with Hitchcock talking about his film Psycho.
Ask students: What kind of films do you like? Do you have a favourite director?
Write on the board Alfred Hitchcock and Psycho and ask students if they know who he is and if they know any of his films. Students most probably will have heard about Hitchcock and seen some of his films, but in case they haven’t, tell them Hitchcock is considered “the master of suspense” and “Psycho”(1960) s is arguably Hitchcock’s best-known film.
Play the video and ask students to answer the questions. (Find the answers at the end of this post).
What’s Hitchcock’s opinion of films such as Frankenstein?
What’s his idea of a horror film?
When he made Psycho, did he have a mind a horror film or an amusing film?
Was the film “Psycho” a very violent film? If not, why did it make people scream? Explain in your own words.
Activity 4. Speaking.
Ask students to work in pairs or in small groups and answer the following questions.
Activity 5. Writing a film review.
Handout with the task and useful vocabulary and expressions to use in your review.
What’s Hitchcock’s opinion of films such as Frankenstein?He thinks they are very easy to make and that they are props.
What’s his idea of a horror film?
He believes in putting the horror in the mind of the audience and not necessarily on the screen.
When he made Psycho, did he have a mind a horror film or an amusing film?
An amusing film
Was the film “Psycho” a very violent film? If not, why did it make people scream? Explain in your own words.
There is only one violent scene in the film, which is at the beginning when the girl is violently murdered in the shower. As the film developed, there is less and less violence. The horror and the tension are transferred to the mind of the viewers, which are the end of the film are screaming.
Tools used
Tagul, Hot Potatoes, Picture Trail, Thematic
Funny thing! Every single year, no matter the level I’m teaching one of my lessons is dedicated, without fail, to mobile phones.
This year, in November, I published a lesson for my B2 (upper-intermediate) students (lesson here) and now, it seems to be the turn of my B1 (intermediate) students.
This year my lessons about this topic seem to revolve around Adele’s hit “Hello”. Hey! What else did you expect? It’s not like every single year we have a song with
so many scenes where the leading actor is the mighty mobile phone. We certainly need to take advantage of this. Besides, I love Adele.
The lesson
This lesson is aimed at students with a language level of B1 and focuses on discussing, reading and writing about mobile phones.There is also some general phone vocabulary and a song.
Warm-up: Speaking. Ask students as a whole class some of these questions.
What do you use your mobile phone for?
Have you ever lost your mobile phone?
How many text messages do you send every day?
Would you say you’re addicted to your mobile or the Internet?
Have you ever…?
lost you phone?
sent a message to the wrong person?
forgotten to turn your phone off/set to silent or vibrate mode (with embarrassing consequences)?
Teaching Vocabulary. You might want to show the slides twice to consolidate vocabulary. I would suggest doing it a third time at the end of the lesson.
The song. Warm-up. Students are going to listen to a song, so it may be a good idea to get them into the right mood by introducing the activity in a lively way.
Don’t tell students just yet we are going to listen to a song. After revising the vocabulary from the previous exercise, make a long pause until you have all the students staring at you, and say “hello”; I assume everybody should say “hello”. Pause again. Say “Adele”. I bet half the class would add “It’s me”. There you are! The perfect introduction!
(you might want to remind students that to introduce yourself over the phone “ It’s “ or “this is” are used ie. It’s Adele (speaking)/ this is Adele (speaking))
Task 1. Give students a list of words or expressions from the song. Give them some time to read them. If necessary, review how to pronounce the most difficult words. Depending on your class, you might want to keep the words in the order they are going to hear them or if you want a bigger challenge you can shuffle them and/or add some words that are not in the lyrics. Play the song and ask students to cross off the words as they hear them. Play the song once or twice depending on how challenging you want the activity to be. Handout here
Task 2. Give students a photocopy with the lyrics of the song and ask them to sing/read along focusing on pronunciation.
Reading and writing. Ask students to read online “7 strange stories of lost cell phones” from the website mentalfloss.com and write a similar short story about something strange, funny or unusual that happened to them using their mobile phones.
