'Teaching reading' is a subject at the very heart of learning. What steps can we take to make students more confident readers? And how can we find a variety of materials - or 'texts' - for our students to read?
Whether you're starting with a new class or just changing direction a little the decision of how to structure a course without a coursebook can sometimes be difficult for a new or even experienced teacher.
A fourteen year old finds himself in trouble with the school Principal – again. This time, however, he has a genuine excuse, but is he likely to be believed?
Draw/show a carpet/rug on the board and elicit what it is. Ask Ss if they know of any stories with a special carpet, and what the carpet can do (fly).
Play the Ali and the magic carpet story. Ss complete part 1 of the activity sheet. Play the story again – Ss can check/complete their answers.
Ask Ss if they remember what the weather is like in the story. Drill the weather language (It’s sunny, etc). You might like to use these flashcards. Ss complete part 2 of the activity sheet.
Give Ss the text of the story. They read the story and complete part 3 of the activity sheet. Check answers. Finally, Ss complete part 4 of the worksheet.
Ss complete the weather map worksheet. If the language is too difficult, it could be simplified to a map of the UK describing the weather in different cities. Then provide Ss with a map of their own country. They draw their own weather map, with different weather in different cities or regions.
Either: play a memory game – Ss in pairs swap weather maps, and test each other: “What’s the weather like in Paris/the north-east?” Or: do a drawing dictation – give Ss a blank copy of the map, and in pairs they ask and dictate to each other the weather from their own map to draw. While demonstrating either of these activities, be sure to drill the question form.
TV weather forecast project! Ss work in groups of 3 or 4. Find simple maps showing 10-15 major cities of any countries, one country per group, on A3 paper. Ss then decide what the weather’s like in each city and make weather symbols on card for those cities, which can be attached using Blu-tack or similar. While still in their groups, help Ss plan and rehearse their weather forecast presentation. Depending on the Ss, you might like to demonstrate with a map and presentation of your own before getting the Ss to start the project. When the groups are ready, introduce each group as if the news has just finished, and each group presents the weather for that country, sticking on the weather symbols as they go. This might be a nice project to film.
Finally, Ss can re-imagine the story. Either individually or in pairs, they imagine where they would go if they found a magic carpet. This would be great story-boarded, Ss draw a picture and write a caption for each place they go, and where they start and finish. The original story text could be used to help Ss write captions. Then the stories could be displayed for the other Ss to read, or some pairs might like to act their stories out.
Submitted by Sally Trowbridge on 15 May, 2012 - 12:26
For many people, the idea of walking into a room full of strangers and trying to socialise with them can be terrifying, especially if you have to use a foreign language. The barriers to ‘breaking the ice’ in a situation like this are just as much psychological as linguistic, which is why this lesson aims to get students thinking about the situation (through a quiz-based discussion and jigsaw reading) as much as speaking and practicing the skill of starting conversations with strangers.
Submitted by Sally Trowbridge on 14 May, 2012 - 12:27
This lesson focuses on two important aspects of managing a meeting: setting up the meeting with a series of emails, and keep the meeting under control. Two other important parts of managing a meeting, introducing the meeting and closing the meeting, are covered in lessons 1 and 5.
Submitted by Sally Trowbridge on 14 May, 2012 - 10:31
The key to successful negotiation is preparation and research. This means finding out exactly what you want from the negotiation, and why you want it. This lesson includes a discussion, vocabulary input, a reading activity, useful language for negotiation, team problem solving and a role play in pairs.
Submitted by Sally Trowbridge on 13 May, 2012 - 11:00
In a negotiation, it’s very important to know when to speak, when to ask and when to shut up and listen. In this lesson students rank and discuss the stages of negotiation, do a reading activity and look at negotiations vocabulary, examine question types, then finish with a role play to practise clarifying, summarising and responding.
Submitted by Sally Trowbridge on 12 May, 2012 - 13:10
Why is it that when you go to a conference or business gathering, everyone else seems to know each other already? At least part of the answer to the puzzle seems to be social networking: getting to know business contacts online first, so that by the time you meet face to face for the first time, you already have plenty to talk about. For many people, social networking is seen as something to do instead of work. This lesson emphasises that social networking is real work. The lesson introduces useful language and techniques, building up to a large social networking simulation at the end.
